If you've followed me and this blog for the past 2 years, you would have no doubt heard about Delta Skelter, the story of how an airline broke up a relationship with a loyal, valuable and tenured customer.
- Part of the story was how poorly they treated a Platinum Medallion customer that had purchased a Business class fare - both in the moment and after the fact.
- Part of the story was how anemically they responded and how they gave up and literally "went away" when they got tired/bored of the customer interaction.
- Part of the story was how they refused to "haggle" and negotiate a win-win solution with me (I asked for the moon, they delivered a grain of sand)
- Part of the story was how - 1 and 2 years later - they still haven't "acknowledged" me (hat tip to "Flip the Funnel") and my problem
- Part of the story was the meme (do a search on Google for Delta Platinum Business Class) and the conversation around "will they or won't they" and my attempt at walking my talk (I ain't no Dave Carroll apparently)
So long story short, I cut up my American Express Skymiles credit card. I went from Gold Medallion to Silver Medallion to No Status in 2 years. In fact I flew less than 10,000 miles the first calendar year after #deltaskelter.
I flew only when I absolutely had no other choice to fly Delta Skelter, but this year - after a trip to South Africa (sadly, American does not fly there), I suddenly noticed I had Silver status and with only 16,000 miles to go to Gold (plus I've already qualified for Executive Platinum on American for 2011), I decided to give Delta Skelter a second chance to lose the "Skelter" once and for all.
Big mistake.
I paid $2,500 to fly Business Class to San Francisco, expecting their advertised BusinessElite(tm) service. Instead, they did the ole switcheroo....changed planes and seating configurations....put me in a seat I didn't want to be in....and offered me a choice of chicken or beef (when I don't eat either). I spoke to the flight attendant who very kindly offered me the cheese and crackers from the coach food for purchase menu (she didn't charge).
...and then I tweeted using their GoGo service.
To my surprise I get back this:
OK, so maybe you've changed. Maybe you've read "Flip the Funnel" and the story of Delta Skelter included in the book. Maybe you've learned your lesson and this begins an entirely new chapter in our turbulent relationship:
So 24 hours without response and in the spirit of full disclosure, here's a DM (direct message) I got from them within moments of my follow-up tweet:
And I don't accept your apology.
You didn't reach out until I reminded you.
It's not my problem that you have no contact management/hand off process in place.
And if so, you need to communicate that.
And FYI: you still haven't resolved my June 2008 issue.
And you still haven't resolved this one.
#deltafail all over again
PS Think I'll do an entire series of posts about the "new rules of customer service" and how Delta can improve their service by following this protocol.
Update: It's one week since "Delta Twitter Skelter" and I have received a number of Direct Message tweets from @DeltaAssist with messages like "Saw your video & know you've waited far too long for a proper reply. Pls give us until next week & I assure you we'll make this right." We'll see on both counts...
Recent Comments