7 comments

• 

  Lloyd Duggan

  9 months ago

  Jake,
  You are right on in your assessment. Poor customer service is rampant in American business. I had a somewhat similar experience I wrote about in my blog; (http://wordofmouthguru.wordpress.com/2008/09/15...) I think the point about classifying customer facing employees as brand managers is a good one that more companies should consider. Great post!
  reply
• 

  Kady

  9 months ago

  I believe you 100%! Having been a frequent traveler for the last 10 years, I have seen the service getting worse and worse. Often I feel like I am at the mercy of the flight attendent. I don't see things getting better though.
  reply
• 

  TammyAllen

  9 months ago

  I used to work for American Airlines. Their policies are inane. It's a hideous place to work. People stay for the benefits. They get trapped there.
  I was in the Management Training Program and one of my jobs was to call disgruntled passengers and deal with their concerns. I had to call a man whose wife had fallen down a flight of stairs and broken her neck and died. He couldn't take a trip he had purchased a ticket for. he had documentation for everything. American would not refund his money. I had to repeat over and over "I'm so sorry for your loss, I understand your frustration but your ticket is non-refundable." It was agonizing and hideous and I should have walked out that day. I lasted 3 years with American. I just went to the retirement party of someone who has worked there for 35 years. It's mind boggling.
  reply
• 

  Greg

  9 months ago

  I'm having similar issues with DELL right now. Endless loop about making ME the technician to troubleshoot. My warrenty DOESNT COVER damage done by DELL technicians. 40 days later I'm waiting for Hurricane Ike to release it's hold on the laptop shipment. ARGH
  reply
• 

  Mandy Minor

  9 months ago

  I couldn’t be more on-board with what CommunityGuy says. It seems like all of the “big boy” companies – American Airlines, UPS, etc. – are completely out of touch with what happens on the ground and amazingly ignorant of the fact that each of those interactions goes toward their brand perception. I have a great UPS story similar to CommunityGuy’s AA story…
  
  Our street address is some sort of USPS/UPS/FedEx vortex of misdelivered packages. We get at least one package a week for a very similar address that is in an entirely different zip code way across town. Every time we get one I call any number I can find on the package to report it. If I’m lucky it’s the number of the sender. If I’m not it’s the number of USPS/UPS/FedEx.
  
  Most recent package I got the privilege of calling UPS, who not only did not apologize profusely and promise to come get the wayward package straightaway, but told me I would have to call their 800 number, repeat everything I just spent 10 minutes telling them (to two different people), and wait for a return call before they would come get it. If I was a cartoon, my eyeballs would’ve popped right out of their sockets.
  
  Me – not the sender, not the receiver, not UPS, just someone trying to do the right thing – would have to spend more of my time to help UPS do the one thing they are supposed to do?!?! Are you effing kidding me? I told the girl on the phone – who was nice but definitely not a brand manager and definitely not interested in much besides her next break – that she was working for a company that couldn’t correctly do the one thing they are supposed to do and that she should think about career longevity with such a company. I’m pretty sure she didn’t know what I was taking about.
  reply
• 

  BIG Kahuibn

  9 months ago

  What most companies don't understand is that EVERY interaction is a brand interaction. It's really sad. The airlines are a lost cause as they have completely commoditized their business. With the exception of JetBlue and Southwest...
  
  Part of the big problem is lack of brand identity that gets translated internally. Companies that have a clear brand identity (like Zappos) and then communicate it internally are the companies that people connect with.
  
  Just my thoughts as a branding guy.
  reply
• 

  Olga Slavkina

  6 months ago

  The Target guy is right -- it's the front line personnel who're the real brand ambassadors in service brands. Unfortunately, even marketing specialists who work for services companies often manage them as if they were product, not services, brands, that's one of the reasons we witness lots of unfortunate examples like AA. If you manage a services brand, the first thing to do is to engage your employees in understanding your brand values. They will do the rest and engage your customers.
  reply