Good and Bad Customer Service Experience AND Counting my blessings

Wednesday, January 18, 2023

Good and Bad Customer Service Experience AND Counting my blessings

I am not going to name this institution because why bother.

It is Saturday and I am trying to make a hotel reservation for a relative who needs to be near their sick relative. I go to the website of a hotel my family has used since the 1970s and there is a phone number to make a reservation. I do that, good doobie that I am and for 45 minutes I am on hold "32 callers ahead of you" "31 callers ahead of you" "21 callers ahead of you" etc.

I lost patience since I was on our road trip with dodgy cell coverage so I decided to hang up. Mind you I had been on hold for a while, and my relative was waiting to hear what hotel I had booked so I called and got through to the front desk.

The person at the front desk could tell that I was frustrated and did the exact wrong thing "Ma'am I cannot talk to you with that tone in your voice" and hung up on me. I was gobsmacked. We have been staying at this hotel for 50 years and had never had anything but stellar customer experience. I empathized with him knowing that COVID and PTSD has hit us all including me. AND I was frustrated and angry and impatient.

I called back the same number I had just been on hold for 45 minutes with. Why did I keep trying this hotel? I am a loyal person and our family has used this hotel for over 4 decades. I got "32 callers ahead of you" etc. I waited 25 minutes this time. I finally got a live voice and requested the room.

It was so painful to give her my personal information to rent the room and the personal information of my relative. Multiple times she repeated back the wrong name, number or letter. AND just as she put me on hold right after getting my credit card number and security code she said "I am going to put you on hold to get your confirmation number........"

Wait for it, the line went dead.

You can ask Murg but I could have had a heart attack right then I was so frustrated and angry.

I called the hotel right across the street from this one and made a reservation in 10 minutes. The two experiences were night and day. I know this is a first world problem and I lead a very privileged life and in the grand scheme of things this was not a huge deal. My relative had just had a stroke and it was unclear how bad it was. This put my own life in perspective.

A few days later I called the original hotel back, explained the situation and the Manager was excellent. He said they had rooms that night and the process was for the front desk person to make a reservation. He reassured me he would address it and gave me his email address. I felt much better and might stay there the next time I am in that area.

My learnings,

In the grand scheme of things it was not such a huge deal that I insisted on making it
The person at the front desk, and the person on the phone deal every day with impatient, demanding, angry people like me. YIKES I cannot imagine implementing all those techniques I taught so long ago in customer service training.
COVID has effected me and most of the rest of the world
I have a choice about how to react to things and do not have to wind myself up the way I did
I am human and will make mistakes AND hopefully learn from them

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Quote of the "Day" Archive

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"Nobody listens to me until they believe me" Sarah Hazel Swartzbaugh age 6

Always Asking Why (?) - Sarah's ramblings

Wednesday, January 18, 2023

Good and Bad Customer Service Experience AND Counting my blessings

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