This blog was not intended to be a place to whinge about poor IT/digital/customer experiences, but I think it might become a handy place to do so as a secondary purpose.
Today I want to highlight a poor experience of 1) digital/web platform problems and 1b) the poor customer services response to that issue being reported. Then secondly 2) the poor (IE ‘mis-‘) alignment of call center experience versus digital web.
I won’t name the company, but it’s an airline – not a major brand in the UK – who I fly regularly with. In fact I am about to become a ‘premium’ customer due to my purchases year to date…. I wonder if they will listen to me more seriously when that happens?….
Payment methods – cards on file.
This airline allows me to have an account, and to have payment cards – that I have used on previous bookings – to be stored to be used again. When you are checking-out from a new booking, change or check-in/seat choice payment you are presented with the list of cards or the option to use a new one. For existing cards, you have to enter the CCV to be able to use it. If the card expiry date passes, this is highlighted.
All very standard so far.
What appears to be somewhat random is – My amex cards (mainly – but also some visa cards sometimes) are listed as ‘Unavailable’ and cannot be selected to be used for payment.
To further annoy : 1) the website shows an Amex logo amongst many others to be able to use as a new card, but actually the drop down does not include Amex and it fails validation if you try to sneak in a 37….. card number in.
I like to use my Amex card because of the loyalty points on it, especially as I am spending a few thousand a year now on flights at the moment…..
and….. 2) it’s random as today I had this issue when I was completed a check-out, but then 5 minutes later did the exact same kind of transaction again and this time the card was active and selectable!!
(note: not the ‘Expired’ Amex logo one ‘xxxx 8008’ but the other card not obviously Amex but just ‘xxxxx 2001’)
Response:
Raising this to the Twitter account for the airline, they at first mistakenly talked about the Expired Visa card, then the Expired Amex one, but then just ended up saying ‘We apologise, in this case please call customer services sales to make your booking with this (amex) payment method’.
I have tweeted them about it a few times through the year actually.
I think I also took the time to fill in their contact form online too, which itself is quite painful to get to/through!
Context: the website is provided by a third party supplier
The footer of the booking pages does suggest that it is not an in-house website/booking engine. A travel brand tech company logo is there saying it’s ‘Powered by’ but that might be the travel connector back-end (ie to Sabre/Amadeus or whatever it is.)
Digital only services.
So being a bit stubborn, I decided to stick to the Amex payment method and so did take the time, cost and effort to call the customer services sales line. After a bit of un-sure/checking with colleague they were happy to take Amex payment which all went ahead ok.
BUT
They couldn’t add additional services onto the booking. I normally pay about £12 extra for a ‘missed flight’ cover, and £5 for a ‘flex fly’ service that means you avoid the normal £50 change admin fee if you need to move the flight dates. Apparently these are only possible when you book online.
So how annoying. Poor experience, random/variable behaviour, mixed messaging re accepted payment methods, and then mis-alignment of digital vs call center phone channel products available.
Is this where I try to find the CEO on linked in or twitter or something and go direct ‘to the top’ for results? :>
Business & Technology - Clarke blogs 