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Technology replacing human touch when it comes to complaints
Travelers are faced with regular problems: a flight is delayed, a hotel room is flooded or a rental car breaks down. And they’re made an offer that they have to accept or reject on the spot.
“Increasingly, those offers are being generated with the help of technology, either directly or indirectly,” writes consumer advocate Christopher Elliott.
Carnival Cruise, for example, relies on external technologies such as its Twitter account to keep passengers updated about delays or changes.
“Another new way in which technology is used to preemptively offer compensation is during an airline mechanical delay. Some carriers now e-mail apologies to customers before they land at their destination, hoping to avert a lengthy post-flight negotiation,” Elliott says.
An optimist might see these automated compensation offers as a genuine effort by companies to improve their customer service.
“After all, what could be better than touching down at your destination, firing up your iPhone and finding a letter of apology from your airline before you have to ask for anything? Or boarding a ship and finding that the cruise line had already tried to remedy your problem?” he writes.
But a cynic might view this as just the latest in a long series of initiatives to streamline and automate functions that used to be handled by a real person, in an attempt to offer customers the least possible compensation when something goes wrong.
At a time like this, say experts, it’s more important than ever to evaluate the merits of your grievance and to appeal your case to the right person.
“You have to talk with a manager,” said Holly Schroth, a negotiating expert and senior lecturer at the University of California at Berkeley. “The first person you’re likely to talk to is charged with making you go away. They want to brush you off.”
People who deal with dispute resolution say that the sooner you talk with someone in authority — and preferably in person — the greater your chances of skipping the automated systems that can generate lowball offers. But they’re quick to add that a manager should only be called when the situation warrants it.
By David Wilkening
David
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