Last week was indeed a very rough week for everyone in RedRibbon Days. At RedRibbon Days, we take pride in what we do, and each and every experience is of penultimate importance to us. Hence, when a customer come to us and passed crude remarks about our service and how we should be doing it, it was really upsetting. Especially so when the customer kept expecting us to compensate them despite the fact that it is totally not our fault and beyond our control.
In this very instance, one of our flight and flying experience was grounded for this week. And unfortunately, one of our customer had purchased this experience in conjunction with her dad's 60th birthday. I can totally comprehend the excitement and how eager they (the buyer and the recipient) must be. So on the very morning of the experience day, we received a phone call from the buyer, ranting to us about the cancelled flight. We then contacted our provider and asked them for a full explanation in regards to the cancelled flight. We then conveyed the reason to the client (the buyer and the dad) and even our provider called her to explain the situation. What happened next was unimaginable!
Instead of being totally understanding about the whole situation, this customer wrote us a threatening email saying that she will expose about how bad we are in doing what we do to her family/friends and even the media! My response upon reading the email ? I was appalled. It was made clearly that the flight was cancelled due to some last minute regulation that was imposed by DCA and even the Captain who was accompanying the customer (the buyer and the dad) tried to explain it to the customer, but it fell on deaf ears. In her email, she even asked me to close down my business ! What audacity ! And she even asked me to put herself in her shoe!
Quite frankly speaking, I was very apologetic and upset about the whole thing, especially when I found out that it was a gift bought in lieu with a 60th birthday and it was something the dad has always wanted to do. Yes, and I can totally comprehend how disheartening it is when the customer has to walk away without experiencing "the experience". It is after all what we had promised to deliver : an amazing and unforgettable experience for everyone; convenience of buying for the buyer and for the recipient, the opportunity to do a once in a lifetime experience.
I wonder if this customer can actually put herself in our position and try to understand the whole situation. We do try very hard to convey information as accurate as we can to all customers prior to their experience day, but when it comes to experiences that could be affected by weather, technical issues, airport security - these are simply beyond our control and we are not in the position to be liable for the inconveniences caused. So to come back to us and holler rude remarks and to ask for full refund(including delivery and packaging cost!) this is totally unacceptable for us.
I do try very hard to make our customers happy ; making sure their experience (from the minute the establish contact with us, to after the experience) is as pleasant as possible. For issues which is our fault, I have no qualms on bowing down, apologise and offer a compensation. However, for issues which are totally beyond our control, it is then not our obligation to please and compensate.
ey, u dont put any disclaimer meh? from the get go at customer ordering/on-boarding stage should be very clear in ur terms and conditions that where 3rd parties have responsibility for components of the experience (especially things like flying) if safety regulations do not permit, then it is solely within your rights and responsibilities as service provider/broker to reassign to different date etc.
ReplyDeleteHave u got any of this at the sign on/ordering stage?
Hi shadowloo, we do put disclaimer upfront in all our correspondence to the client(both buyer and recipient). It's even on their gift pack voucher and our confirmation email when they booked for their experience day.
ReplyDelete