06-20-2017
06:42 PM
06-20-2017
06:42 PM
Hello Southwest, Since there is a 40-50 minute wait time every time I call and no way to receive a call back from your corporate custom relations number (855-234-4654), I reluctantly decided to send you a detailed picture of my horrific experience flying Southwest this past week. I am actually sitting on hold as I type this… The nature of my trip was business, a broker seminar in Hartford, CT. I flew out of San Diego with a layover in Chicago's Midway airport. On Flight 1419 departing from Midway to Hartford, our planes right engine failed, resulting in an emergency landing at O'Hare. This is something I have never experienced in my fairly extensive flying experience, so you can imagine it was a very scary event. One thing that was extremely concerning was, after watching flames come out of the right engine (I was sitting just above the wing), immense turbulence, drops through the air and much fearful confusion from everyone aboard, it took the flight attendants and captain 15 minutes to even let us know what was happening and make an announcement. Allowing a full flight of your customers to sit in idle panic with no explanation was unacceptable customer service and seemingly improper protocol. Since Southwest does not fly out of O'Hare, we had to hook the compromised plane up at a United gate and United proceeded to take very good care of us after our brief and extremely rattling flight. We were then told to come check back in an hour for answers on how we would now get to our final destination of CT. After five hours of checking back every hour on the hour with no real news or update, a SW plane and some semblance of Southwest staff arrived to fill us in on next steps. We boarded the plane with much confusion about order and took off. Our flight finally landed in CT around 10:45 pm. At that point, I had been up since 4 am San Diego time. As we sat in wait for hours on end at O'Hare, I was actually supposed to arrive in CT around 4 pm, in order to make it to a 6 o'clock dinner reception that I was speaking at. I cannot tell you how much it outraged me to miss this crucial piece of my business trip. Fast forward to this past Thursday June 14, when I called Southwest to update my Friday, June 15 flight to depart CT @ 12:30 instead of 4:45. I had to call because, as I later found out, there were "glitches" on the website that prevented me from updating my flight myself. I spoke with a woman named Leah out of Oklahoma City. Throughout the course of our 1 hour and 15 minute phone call, Leah was sweet but very slow and unmoved by my dilemma - putting me on numerous holds (lasting 20 and 30 minutes). I called thinking I was simply updating my flight and stepped outside of my business seminar to make the call, but apparently Leah discovered there were many "errors" connected to my return flight and account that had to be straightened out. I lost over an hour of my seminar, mostly on hold, in excruciating and mindless agony, for Leah to perform a task that should take no more than 10 minutes of a customer’s time and I should have been able to do myself. Leah put me on hold for 30 min without ever checking back to take a pulse with her customer and let me know she was working with a manager, the system, etc. she just let me sit there, wondering if she would ever come back and when she did come back on the line after 30 min, she was actually laughing it off and apologizing as an afterthought for the long hold. I have worked in a call center and consistently in customer service and this is just not acceptable. It was not until I began sobbing out of frustration (yes, sobbing - listen to the tape) that she began to take me seriously and offer any sort of viable customer service and successfully update my flight. I then asked Leah if I could speak with her supervisor, she put me on hold again (this time only 10-15 minutes) and then came back to tell me she couldn't get her supervisor and she suggested I call the corporate customer relations line. Which I did - about 10 times since last Thursday and every single time there is a 40-50 minute hold time, with no way to leave a call back number and receive a call from someone, anyone. I assume this strategy is because you guys hope angry customers will eventually give up calling. I also sat on hold for 45 minutes and managed to speak with a supervisor named Bobby – out of Albuquerque who was extremely unhelpful and would not even oblige me by taking notes on my account to document that I had called trying to receive help with my return flight errors. Throughout this horrific experience, I have lost 7 + hours of time on a business trip, been scared for my life at the engine failing with no reassurance from SW staff, and been frustrated beyond imagination. The frightening moments during the engine failure that have been left unexplained would have been enough to make me question your airline but that has now been compounded with repeated and extremely unsatisfactory customer service. I received a $200 voucher as recompense for my "inconvenience" which I have to tell you is just not going to do it. This in no way makes me, as a customer, feel whole again after such a terribly inconveniencing and scary experience. In my opinion, as someone in sales and client retention, a billion dollar company like Southwest should have called each and every customer affected by this engine failure, explained in a clear and concise manner what it was that even happened and WHY it happened - apologized for inconveniencing everyone (especially affecting the livelihood of those individuals on business trips) and provided vouchers refunding the entire trip. This would have been a more appropriate response, instead you sent an email with a $200 voucher, which comes off as a last minute consolation, not a true apology for the frightening experience and incredible amount of lost time. I have been a loyal customer, exclusively flying Southwest since I was an infant and always stuck with you - loving your rapid rewards program and otherwise, great customer service, but I am beyond disappointed with my experience and will now be vetting other airlines. I know this letter is lengthy but please take it to heart and consider methods to avoid the above customer service blunders in the future, if you wish to avoid losing further business. Sincerely, Erin Gage
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