Travel complaints that fail: 5 kinds of emails you should never write

What kind of a complainer are you?

Maybe you’re the squeaky wheel — the guest who keeps writing back over and over, even after you’ve been told “no” in a dozen different ways. Or maybe your grievances fall into the “special circumstances” category — you’re sick, you’re broke, you’re having a bad year.

Perhaps you’re a name-dropper, copying a vice president or CEO on every customer service inquiry to ensure it receives the proper attention.

You could be the litigious type: “Give me what I want, or I’ll sue.”

At the right time, these are all perfectly reasonably ways to complain to a travel company. At the wrong time, they can doom your customer service request to failure at the hands of a dreaded form response.

A few weeks ago, I was invited to speak at the Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals’ annual conference in Atlanta. After my speech, I witnessed a surprisingly lively and candid discussion among the participants, all of which were customer service managers in the travel industry. The topic? How to value your customer. Specifically, how do you prioritize requests from customers based on their elite status?

During our debate, the audience referred to the kinds of complaints they get, and much to my surprise, I found I had categorized them in a similar way. You need to know about these groupings, because being in one or another can make a big difference in how your grievance is handled.

The squeaky wheel

These gripes are easy to identify because the correspondence runs on for pages and pages. Also, look for phrases like, “This is my fifth attempt to contact you,” or “I called you a dozen times yesterday.” Squeaky-wheel queries usually have no more merit than garden-variety inquiries, except that they are repeated endlessly until the aggrieved party gets its way. (“I don’t know what to do about the squeaky wheel,” a manager for a cruise line confided. “Except maybe to give them what they want.” Neither do I.)

This is an effective tactic — if you’re two years old. Adults should try the squeaky wheel strategy only if they plan to never ever do business with the company again. Why? Because this infraction will go on their record, and believe me, companies keep track of difficult customers. You will pay for it down the line.

The special circumstances

Every traveler’s circumstances are unique, maybe even special. But there are a few words that really hurt your chances when you’re filing a grievance. “We are seniors on a fixed income,” probably tops the list. Not to be insensitive, but in a way, everyone is on a fixed income, and if you don’t have the money, you shouldn’t be spending it — at least that’s the view of the travel company you’re complaining to. “I’m an elite-level customer” is another. Also popular: A relative got sick or died, I lost my job, I got a new job, my son’s soccer team made it to the finals — you get the idea.

Look, these are all perfectly valid excuses, unless you’re holding a nonrefundable ticket or room reservation. If you can’t afford to lose those, consider insurance or book a room that can be refunded. Travel companies don’t want to hear about you as much as they are concerned about your experience. If you had a bad flight or hotel stay, they want to know. Are you retired? Did you just have a death in the family? Not so much.

The name-dropper

Sometimes, in order to underscore the seriousness of their complaint, a traveler will copy everyone in the world on a grievance: The VP of customer service, the CEO, the CFO, the Better Business Bureau, the cleaning lady and even yours truly. Also, they’ll mention that their uncle happens to know the company’s president. Well, big deal. Carpet-bombing, as it’s frequently called — particularly on the first run — actually hurts your chances of getting a successful resolution.
Instead of making you out to be a serious customer, it paints you as a crybaby. Instead of turning up the volume on your first try, give the system some time to work. Then, appeal to the powers that be. The string of e-mails in the “cc:” field isn’t making you look good.

The laundry list

A careful inventory of every single problem on a trip confuses folks in the customer-service department. I see a lot of these on cruises. “We didn’t get the 8 p.m. dinner seating we requested.” Then, “Our shore excursion was canceled because of bad weather.” And then, “We missed a port of call,” or “We heard engine noise in our room.” Save it for the next dinner party. Why don’t laundry lists work? Because it makes you look petty, and it makes it difficult for a customer-service professional to identify an issue they can effectively address in a response. You’re better off sticking to one problem and then telling the company what it can do to fix it. But long lists almost never further your cause. If anything, they could set you back.

The break-up

This complaint comes in two flavors: The one that ends with “I’ll never do business with your company again,” and the one that concludes with “If you don’t do exactly what I want, I’ll sue you.” Both are to be avoided. If you tell a company you’ll never do business with it again, then why should it even bother responding? If you threaten to sue, your letter will get forwarded to the legal department, where it could languish for months before being answered. (By the way, you don’t have to use the “s” word to be threatening. Someone just copied me on an e-mail to an airline that promised, “I will use every tool necessary, including Facebook and YouTube, to make sure that everyone knows that you lose people’s luggage.”)

Break-ups — real and imagined — are almost always completely unnecessary. Instead, tell the company how disappointed you are, and that you’re looking for a reason to do business with it again. Turning a negative into a positive gives the airline or hotel the incentive to make things right. Threatening it doesn’t.

Of course, there are times when you’ll want to employ some of these tactics, which is a topic for another column. But until then, my advice is to stay away from threats, name-dropping, lengthy complaints and sob stories. And don’t be annoying.

These grievances almost always hurt you more than they help. Take it from someone who spends all day reading complaints.

(Photo: Pedro K lien/Flickr Creative Commons)

  • SirWired

    I’m in customer service (albeit customer service for stuff a heck of a lot more expensive than any vacation), and I’ll add that threats of any kind are usually ignored. This includes telling all your friends, threatening to escalate to management, Never Buying Again, the BBB, the AG office, writing Chris, local media, YouTube, Facebook, the Consumerist, Twitter, lawsuits (class action or otherwise), whatever. I am NOT saying that those cannot be effective things to do; I’m merely saying that telling the company ahead of time that you will do them is counterproductive.

    In my line of work, fully 20% of my customers say: “If it’s not working by Next Friday, I’m sending the equipment back to the loading dock.” (Curiously, it’s always “Next Friday” no matter how long the problem has been opened, and no matter how long it takes me to fix the issue.) I’ve been working in service for 11 years now, and I’ve had precisely ONE customer, actually carry out that threat, and we weren’t sorry to see them go. Trust me, we can tell when you are bluffing.

    It is equally effective if, after you cannot get the resolution you seek, you actually DO those things. The threat PRIOR to doing those things accomplishes NOTHING but to annoy the customer service person that is supposed to handle your complaint. Even if they are clearly violating the law, the threat doesn’t do anything, they can make the gamble that the likelihood of the average consumer following through is low.

    The last thing I’ll add is that if you are pleading exceptional circumstances to get a company to go beyond their contract with you, acknowledge that you are doing so, and phrase your request kindly. Calling it “outrageous” that the call-center phone jockey won’t give you a full $5000 cruise refund because your beloved Aunt Flo died and you didn’t purchase insurance will get your request denied. To be frank, groveling is perfectly appropriate here, as is perhaps requesting a compromise such as a $2500 credit goes a long way towards getting on the good side of the service person.

  • Edmond

    SirWired’s last sentence resonates with me. Writing an email that allows the company a way out seems to work best for me on numerous levels. First, you show you are willing to work with them, that you are not just out to pluck every dime you can out of their pocket. Second, you are opening up the negotiations which are now in your favor, because you sent the initial volley. You may feel in a situation that you deserve a $300 credit, but you would be more than happy with $100, start at $300 and you just may get it.

  • Eric

    I don’t see the problem with gently reminding a travel company that how they respond to my grievance may be the difference between keeping/losing a customer. I would, in fact, be even more inclined to go back to a company that made an honest effort to do right by me when there was a problem, than I would be if everything went off without a hitch, and I would make sure they know this.

    Any travel company is OK when things go right. What separates the good, the bad, and the ugly is how they respond when things go wrong. In my book, a company that fixes a problem gets slightly higher marks than a company that didn’t have a problem at all.

  • jayne52

    Sometimes, all people want is a “We’re Sorry”. I am in hospitality business and get many complaints every year. Most people don’t narrow down what really upset them, and begin their complaint with their life story, instead of the actual problem. Also making a complaint right away helps. Using a product or service, then getting home and asking for a full refund, is immediately questionable.

  • Tom

    I agree with everything said by those above.

    I especially agree with staying with & even promoting a company which goes the extra mile. Just as I have with American Airlines.

    It is also most appropriate to “hurt” any company that has done you wrong!

    As an example, I screwed up in forgeting when a airline ticket credit expired. I emailed American customer service, explaining what happened & asked if they could help me.

    Within 2 days I had received an answer from them say they had extended my credit.

    I immediately thanked them & sent a ltr to the CEO thanking him & letting him know what fine service I had received from his people & that I would promote AA & let people know on various blogs, starting with Christophe Elliott’s, & any others as the chance presented. (like here)

    Now, conversely, United lost our luggage on a trip to Hawaii for 5 days. It was “all” our clothes etc. They would not even provide toilet articles or underwear.

    They, in fact, completely blew us off. I called everyone, even the corporate office, to no avail.

    After everything was said & done, they offered a $50 voucher to be used within 1 year. Welllllll, that didn’t fly. (pun intended)

    As C. Elliott wrote, I didn’t get mad, I got even!

    Besides posting on all the blogs etc., I had a venue to get even.

    I was Officer in Charge of Recruiting & we made many trips from Alaska to the East coast & various other parts of tue US.

    In my 3+ years I ensured that “NO” business went United’s way! This amounted to a potential loss for them in the 100k+ range.

    As evedenced by this posting, I am still going after them after all these years.

    So, support those that do you right, & never stop hurting those that do you wrong!

    Thank you American! United, I havn’t forgot!

  • Aaron

    Great post. Knowing what not to do when complaining is as valuable as knowing what to do.

    Aaron

  • Bill

    So I just have to share this one.

    I was reading a tripadvisor review on a particular hotel. The person that was writing complained that there were no freshly baked cookies this time on check in nor check out – and THIS WAS THE REASON she booked at that hotel! It wasn’t due to the beds or the room or the staff or anything like that..the hotel was chosen on the basis of cookies! Unbelieveable.

  • Ella

    Having dealt with vacationers complaints and legal actions for over 7 years, there is not much that would shock me when it comes to the content of complaint letters!

    Much of what has been posted here is spot on – briefly explain your issue, what has been done to address this to date and what you expect to be done about it to resolve the situation. Furthermore, always give the company the chance to resolve the issue at the time it happens. I wonder if the Tripadvisor reviewer mentioned above, actually brought the cookie issue of mass importance to the attention of the hotel at the time of check in. Perhaps cookies could then have been provided or at least the an explaination as to why they were not with the chance to apologise and double check the service was available for her check out. Sometimes the consumer needs to be responsible and act fairly, the same way they should expect to be treated by any company.

    I am the first to ensure a fair deal for the consumer where it is merited but the above points (waffling on, stories of woe etc) will not encourage me to do this any more so, and will probably ensure your correspondence is sent to the back of the pile. Perhaps not altogether fair but dealing with this type of work is no easy task so when you do come across a “serial/professional complainer”, it can bring a small (and probably immoral) sense of victory to the person handling your complaint.

  • Elisa

    Brilliant article. I’d like to add my experience running the correspondence department of a major worldwide consumer products company.

    The customers who demand things: get exactly what the law says they’re entitled to and not a scrap more. These are the kind of people who get a curt form letter as reply.

    The customers who drop BBB or the Ombudsman or threaten going to the media: They get the form letter too, this time checked with the legal department. Their name gets recorded as a difficult customer, and you can bet that next time they need a favour from the company they will get nothing.

    The customers who are rude and threaten to never buy again: The rep might accidentally call them at 5am in the morning and might accidentally wait a week before bothering. Or accidentally lose the letter. After all, what’s in it for the company? The customer hates them anyway and will never buy again. There’s no sense in them being nice to such a customer.

    The ones who get what they want are nice, honest, nice, straightforward, nice, polite, nice, thankful, nice, PERSISTENT and did I mention nice? Be even nicer than you need to be. Thank the agent profusely even though you feel like an idiot. Then thank them again. Remind them over and over that you just KNOW they’ll do anything they can and that you are just so very very grateful for all their help. The agent will think of you as “that crazy customer who is just so nice and always says thank you” and in the end they’re likely to give you what you want just to make you go away. You have never given them a reason to be nasty (because how can anyone hate someone so nice?).

    If you get a form letter, write back thanking them but stating again what you need – ask it to be escalated (thanks again!) and gush over how helpful they’ve been and how much you appreciate them giving you a reply. It never hurts to throw in that you just knew this company would be helpful and that you’re thankful for their great customer service.

    In essence: Always write your letter while thinking how the company will feel as they read it. If you’re angry, put your pen down and go for a walk. Then write calmly and politely stating only the annoyances that matter TO THE COMPANY and TO THE PURCHASE YOU MADE. For instance, the fact that it depressed your Nanna? The fact that you no longer want to leave your house and your hamster just got diagnosed with some rare illness? Not relevent, you want the company to fix the fact your printer’s broken or you missed out on your guided tour, so stay focussed. Then add sugar.

  • Steve

    I would add a related point to writing complaint emails: don’t assume the worst. I had an experience where I purchased a concert ticket for one of my favorite artists, only to find out a week later that they had added a different ticket package that guaranteed a much better seat; I’d have purchased that one even given the added cost if I’d known about it. I fired off a testy (though not rude or profane) email to his website saying that I felt deceived by the addition of the better ticket package after I’d already bought my regular ticket and that I felt it showed a total lack of regard for the fans. Imagine my surprise when I got the reply, which was an apology for not being more transparent about what tickets would be offered, and an offer to upgrade my regular ticket to a VIP one at no extra charge.

    The other thing I’d add is that while you don’t want to threaten to sue, swear you’ll never to business with them again, etc, if the issue isn’t resolved to your satisfaction it doesn’t hurt to politely inform them of how you’ll respond. I stayed several nights at a hotel for a business trip, but the loyalty points were never credited to my account. When I asked them to check into it, I got an email stating that the rate I’d been given was too deeply discounted to be awarded points. I found that unreasonable mainly because since the points are awarded based on room rate, the discounted rate meant to me that I should get fewer of them than I would at a normal rate – which is perfectly fair – rather than none at all. (Moreover, I didn’t get credit for the nights stayed, which would in that case have moved me up a level in the program). I responded to that email by stating my disappointment politely, pointing out that I’d never experienced a similar issue with two competing brands, and stating that since I couldn’t be sure if I’d be awarded points when I stayed with them, I’d contact my company’s travel department and communicate that I preferred to stay elsewhere. It was mostly an empty threat, since I don’t have much say in where I stay, but someone must have looked up the amount of business my company does with the brand (which is substantial) and the next day I received another email saying that they were happy to credit me the points.

  • http://funclimbsaroundtheworld.com/ sibylle

    Elisa, I found your comment in response very helpful. My question after reading the post was,”We’ve been told what NOT to do — but what is it that we should do?”
    Thanks for the information.

  • Beth

    Got to second Tom’s comments above about United. Worst flight of my life was with United — first they lose our luggage (at Xmas), and then bump us from our return flight without informing us of the change. The only thing we went after United on was the clothes we purchased (it’s a real drag buying clothes on Xmas Eve day). Went three rounds with them, always presented them with the facts of what United did wrong, and eventually got the money we demanded. What truly set me off was United lying to us about our return flight — they said they didn’t have our phone number. You can’t make a plane reservation without a telephone number, and there was no call on our voicemail. We would have eaten the clothes money if not for their chicanery. I also insisted on money — there was no way I would accept a next to worthless travel voucher which couldn’t get us anywhere. Believe me, I told everyone I know about United’s incompetence, including that wonderful website Untied.com (a compilation of complaints).

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_OWR37YYF7IGXV55UWCLFFU44C4 Herbert

    I agree with this post. I have just settled with a major cruise line for extremely poor service on a recent 34 day cruise. When I returned home I went to my travel agent and complained to her concerning many of the issues that occurred on the cruise. She informed us she had heard of three others similarily situated clients that had the exact same problems unbeknownest to us. She informed us to sit down and write the CEO of the company about our most grievous concerns and to try and keep it short. We did, but it was still four [4] pages in length due to describing the circumstances behind each grievance. We did. Sent it out with a return receipt. Received a phone call within 2 days of them receiving the letter. The cruise line called my travel agent first to check us out and see if she had been notified. As we had. He called us and we immediately got back to him reiterating our letter and accepting his apology for such poor service. He then stated he was going to see if he could “entice you to come back and try us again” by making us an offer he felt was fair. It was: $6500 per person for the next cruise[s] we book before December 2012 and $1000 ships money per person. Yep, that’s right $15,000!! That is fair I might add. Plus we can spread the money over two or more cruises if we wish. This is customer service. If only the cruise ship captain and officers done their job none of this would have been needed, but that is another story.

  • expatinasia

    Despite flying for 25 years for business, I only had a single occasion to write a complaint letter (this was before email). Bad weather prevented an on-time flight, and Platinum members got a free hotel room – I had to pay for mine. When I returned home, I called AA, and was told to write a letter. I did and, within a few days, I received a full refund for the hotel room. No ranting. No raving. Everyone on both sides behaved properly.

  • Letshaveateaparty

    What ever happened to good old customer service? You take the stance that everyone is out for something. Did it ever occur to you that your company is actually liable and that these are actual grievences? I am amazed at the lack of sympathy and rightousness inbred into customer service people.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_7OYQKEIFR6P2HLIWRHSVNOBQU4 Gromit801

    The guy had a blog wherein he purports to to be a travel expert, and he doesn’t know the difference between a direct flight and a non-stop flight?  He’s a scam artist.