American Airlines: Listen!
Earlier this week fellow St. Louisian Bob McCarty who writes the blog Bob McCarty Writes sent me a link for some photos he had taken at Lambert St Louis Airport of the American Airlines pilots who were apparently picketing for their cause, customer service. Bob also posted about this.
Bob asked in his post whether protests like this do more harm than good. Finger pointing in the middle of a crisis often does more harm than good.
As everyone knows, this has just been a really bad week for the airlines business in general; especially American.
But that customer service sticky wicket.…
As American Airlines canceled flights last week, Hitwise noted a 74% increase in visits to social networks and forums. Customer service was most likely a hot topic.
As Internet Marketing Blog by NonanNight notes on April 16th , there were 134,000 results for “American Airlines sucks” on Google. Perhaps a data point for customer service.
Bruce Temkin at Forrester gives American a D+ for customer service as it related directly to their website. For his grades, he refers to his four componenets of good customer service, ACES:
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Accountability (take responsibility for fixing the problem)
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Communication (clearly communicate the process and set expectations)
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Empathy (acknowledge the impact that the situation has on the customer)
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Solution (at the end of the day, make sure to solve the problem)
American launched their own blog and assured the public on April 13th that AA Service Had Returned to Normal. If I were giving grades for blogs, this one would get an “F”. As passenger dissatisfaction continues to be expressed, they quickly moved on from “normal” to another topic, airline consolidation and then nothing on their blog since April 15th.
American Airlines and those folks on their own blogs and social networks may have a different definition of “normal.” Read what Janis Petit, Julie McManus, and Terry Maxon among others have to say.
So, calling all airlines including American, pilots, employees and management: this is made up of lots of messes; listen to what is being said.
Finally, I really do have a question for the picketing pilots: Have you all ever heard of Eastern Airlines?
Thanks for the link to your photos, Bob.
How Many Different Ways Does This Say Disconnect?
Bob McCarty at Bob McCarty Writes sent me an email today thanking me for using his photos in my recent post about the tragic shooting in Kirkwood, MO and suggesting that since I was in marketing I might be interested in his photos of an Ameren UE billboard.
As he notes on his blog, this billboard which is partialy obscured by hanging cable and phone lines, is part of the $1billion Power On program that has as one of its components a “substantial underground cabling effort.”
The program apparently was initiated following numerous power outages over the last several years throughout the AmerenUE service area. We live in AmerenUE land and have been through several multi-day power outages resulting from trees falling on power lines. I have written about these adventures in the context of gratitude for the hot coffee and free Wi-fi at Panera Bread.
However, Bob’s photos illustrate the other aspect of those power outages: power lines disconnecting the company from its customers.
During both power outages that we experienced (one in the depth of winter and one in the summer heat) AmerenUE was completely inept at communicating with its powerless customers. During the first outage, when one was finally able to reach AmerenUE, the first choice granted by the automated system was to make a payment. It went downhill from there.
In a world of technology the friendly folks at AmerenUE insisted day after day that they had no idea when crews would be working in my neighborhood as if the guys in the trucks got in them each morning and flipped a coin to decide where they were going to work that day. No schedules or plans here.
During the second outage, similar disconnect. At the end of our ordeal we received an automated call informing us that crews would be in our neighborhood that very afternoon after our neighbors had phoned to tell us that the lights were on and the crews were leaving.
As I read the press release tonight about Project On which is a three year program(I must have missed it in July…..damn wires!) I was struck by four especially disconnected statements by AmerenUE:
- Thomas Voss, Ameren UE President and CEO states: “We know what out customers want. When they flip the switch they want their lights to come on.” Now, this is what I call keen customer insight.
- Voss is appointing a FULL TIME project manager for the{$1 billion} project. Well, I think that is probably warranted….500,000 residents without power in November 2006. Yes, this is a full time job for a company that has 1.2mm customers.
- In April 2007, AmerenUE hired an “experienced consultant” to evaluate “its reliability and storm response.” Hmmmm, well 1.2 million customers and a storm, half a million without power I would have to say unreliable. No charge.
- And maybe the “forward look statement” clause is my favorite: ” Statements in this release not based on historical facts are considered “forward-looking” and, accordingly, involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed. Although such forward-looking statements have been made in good faith and are based on reasonable assumptions, there is no assurance that the expected results will be achieved. These statements include (without limitation) statements as to future expectations, beliefs, plans, strategies, objectives, events, conditions, and financial performance.” Sorry, about all those things we just said….well, maybe/maybe not. But we are interested in a dialogue with our customers. Press 1 to pay your bill.
So Bob, thanks for the photo heads up of yet another company that disconnects with their customers. Unfortunately, we don’t have a choice about doing business with this one.
Perspective: Senseless Shootings in Kirkwood, MO
What were you doing last Thursday evening at 7PM? An ordinary night probably for most of us ordinary people.
There was a city council meeting at the Kirkwood, Missouri City Hall, A zoning meeting. Ordinary stuff. And then something far out of the ordinary, something mind numbing happened in a town that describes itself as “where community and spirit meet.”
A gunman who had recently lost a lawsuit against the city of Kirkwood who had banned him from speaking at city council meetings, opened fire, killing five people before he was shot to death. The mayor, Mike Swoboda was wounded and is in critical condition. Suburban Journal reporter Todd Smith was shot in the hand.
Those killed were Police Officer William Biggs, Police Officer Tom Ballman, Councilwoman Connie Karr, Councilman Mike Lynch and Public Works Director Kenneth Yost. I didn’t know any of them but I would imagine they were not expecting that on February 7th that they had a rendezvous with death.
Officer Biggs was on his way to get a pizza when he crossed paths with the shooter. One minute he was probably thinking ordinary pizza thoughts as he headed to IMO’s. The next minute he was gunned down but managed the extraordinary as he died; he pushed the alert button on his radio and probably saved many lives in the community of Kirkwood.
Officer Biggs died a hero; no doubt those who knew him and loved him and miss him would have preferred that he had lived an ordinary Kirkwood police officer.
We live in a town that borders Kirkwood. My sister raised her family there and her daughter, my niece, lives there now. Kirkwood IS a community. A community that does not Bowl Alone but seems to personify the currency of social capital: trust, community, involvement, neighbors, belonging. Kirkwood has annual festivals and a hundred year old football rivalry with neighboring Webster Groves that is the subject of a recent book, The Turkey Day Game.
As I read about the lives of those gunned down, they stood in stark, tragic contrast to the shooter who seemed to believe that the community was against him and that he was “at war” with Kirkwood.
According to his brother, he left a “suicide note” stating “the truth will come out in the end.”
The truth as I see it is captured by the words of the Deputy Mayor Thomas Griffin as reported in the New York Times : “This is a tragedy of untold magnitude.”
Earlier today I had to run a quick errand to Ace Hardware, just across Manchester less than a mile from home. My mother asked me to get her some lunch at the Daily Bread.
As I walked to my car I noticed a number of people walking across the parking lot towards Manchester. Then I noticed car lights; finally realizing as I got to my car that there were hundred of police cars from all over the city driving in a procession down Manchester Road.
I sat in my car for over a half an hour, traffic halted in every direction as the funeral procession for Officer Thomas F. Ballman drove from his home in Ballwin to Kirkwood City Park. I used my Blackberry camera to take the picture above. It was something to see….
Bob McCarty Writes has photos on Fickr of “the sights and sounds of Kirkwood the morning after the shooting.”
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