Compare the customer service

I’ve recently had two very different experiences of customer service; in one case they really went the extra mile and in the other they didn’t – actually they went quite literally zero miles in seven hours.

Don’t get me wrong I don’t blame Continental Airlines for the snow storm that closed Newark airport the other week, when 16 inches of snow falls in four hours you've got to expect delays but they are responsible for the poor, almost non-existent customer service provided to me and my fellow passengers during that time.

Turned-off flight CO112 as de-icing and re-fuelling had taken more than three hours and it was now snowing too heavily for us to depart, we were offered no advice or assistance from flight crew other than that as the airport was now closed, customers would have to re-book and queues would be very long. So, off we went back through security to find just three Continental staff handing out contact numbers (they were either unable or unwilling to communicate anything more) which, when you were finally able to get through, were recorded messages advising that 'due to adverse weather conditions and heavy demand we cannot take your call'. When through the magic of iPhone, I was finally able to load the Continental website to try to re-book, the system crashed at the final hurdle. Still no actual Continental personnel to talk to. The next day I boarded another CO flight bound for London but this time due to a catalogue of mis-communication and the resulting delay, the flight was unable to depart as the Heathrow curfew had been missed. Finally, three planes and over 40 hours later I arrive back at Heathrow – my luggage did not as they forgot to load the bags! and once again no Continental Airlines leadership communication nor support. I’m still waiting for a response from Continental to my feedback; still trying to find someone to talk to.

Now contrast this with Amazon. As I have mentioned in an earlier blog I was sceptical about the joys of the Kindle but since receiving one as a gift I’m a convert so it was really disappointing when the screen broke. Even though it was under warranty I expected a repair or replacement to take time so was more than happy when having spoken to a member of the Amazon customer service team I was told that a new Kindle would be sent immediately and that returning the broken device was a easy as boxing it up, applying the return label they would email me and using the web link to contact DHL who collected it from an address of my choice at a time convenient to me. Two days later my new Kindle arrive – that’s what I call customer service.