One of the things that stands out for customers that receive and value great customer service is the perception that their vendor is always “there for them” whenever the customer is in need.
The opposite also rings very true for companies or vendors that fail to offer “support” or “help” to their customers after the sale or transaction is completed.
Recently a friend of mine was seeing a doctor for some emotional psychology sessions. My friend experienced an event on a Saturday afternoon that caused my friend to reach out to his doctor, only for my friend to receive a phone text message from his doctor telling him to contact Lifeline Support for a solution.
I wonder how that situation would have panned out for the doctor if my friend had ended up in a state of harm as a result of the doctor’s lack of after-hours support and perceived absence of care on that Saturday afternoon?
Recently in Australia, the nation’s Number 1 airline Qantas has experienced a doubling of complaints this year about lost baggage, as it struggles in post-pandemic times to meet pre-pandemic standards and expectations.
That’s twice as many passengers having to get by without their belongings either at their destination or at their home as a result of Qantas’s poor systems.
This increase in complaints from 20% of passengers to 40% of passengers is a SERIOUS FAIL in anyone’s language when you take into consideration that airfares have risen dramatically and check in and arrival periods are now taking way longer.
In fact in some cases, the time taken for luggage to travel from the landed plane to the luggage carousel is longer than the time taken for the plane to fly from one city to another.
Along with this, passengers are being asked to arrive at the airport two hours prior to their departure, even for a one hour flight!
That’s not really creating a WOW factor at all for the paying public!
The complaints about the airline have seen it receive the national consumer service’s annual GONG AWARD for poor service.
Interestingly a spokesman for Qantas today said that he felt the award was now not justified as Qantas had recently “improved” on its earlier in the year performances.
But to me bouncing a few inches off the bottom of the bottom is no reason for celebration.
Qantas seems to be celebrating the fact that they have marginally risen from rock bottom, but the fact that they had fallen to rock bottom in the first palace seems to have sailed through over their executives’ collective heads.
That’s like a badly out of form football team running a victory lap when they win the pre-game coin toss….
Congratulations Qantas, you believe that you’ve improved from Rock Bottom.
Whoopie do!
Note 1. to Qantas:
You should never have fallen so low in the first place.
Note 2. to Qantas (with thanks to rock legends AC/DC):
“It’s a long way to the top [if you want to rock’n’roll]”
You won’t regain my trust by applying a band-aid….
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Dr. David Moffet BDS FPFA CSP is a certified CX Experience coach. David works with his wife Jayne Bandy to help SME businesses improve their Customer Service Systems to create memorable World Class experiences for their valued clients and customers. Click here to find out how David and Jayne can help your business