Responding When Bad Things Happen

Many times we expect companies to be perfect and serve us well, but occassionally things happen, and I like to judge some companies I deal with on how they treat me when something adverse happens. Many of us choose Car or Home Insurance because the premiums are low, but I would never leave my insurance company (USAA) even if I didn't think they had good rates, because when I have had a claim, they have responded quickly. I had claims with other companies in the past, and they were a lot less responsive.

How about another industry--airlines for instance. Obviously they have been forced to cut back on services as they individually try to survive. I have been flying for business for the past 6+ years and have likes and dislikes about some of the airlines I have flown on. Since 2006, I have been flying almost exclusively on Frontier Airlines, based here in Denver. I find their flight attendants generally more friendlier than the others, the only delays I have experienced were weather related and never mechanical.

Last week, my wife and I flew to Nashville, as we went to visit our daughter and son-in-law in Knoxville. We checked three bags, none of them arrived in Nashville on our flight. Now in all the time I have flown, I have only had a lost bag once which is amazing in itself. In that instance it took nearly 24 hours to get the bag back. Kimmy, who was The agent on duty dutifully took our information (along with several others who were missing bags.) We told her we were driving to Knoxville (about 3 hours away) and she told us that it would be no problem to get them to us once they came in there. I asked her to call us if the bags came in on the later flight that night and she told me she would. She not only called me, but also had a courier ready on stand by to drive to Knoxville, Thursday night to deliver them around 3:00 in the morning as it turns out. We made arrangements with them to leave a signed note on the door and they were there the next morning for us.

When I checked in last night for the flight home, I happened to see Kimmy again and I thanked her for taking care of getting the bags to us with minimal delay. She apologized again for the delay (as if she personally had not loaded the bags onto the plane) and asked how our visit with our daughter went.

It's people like Kimmy who make a difference when things go wrong and I'm pretty sure I will continue to fly Frontier as long as they continue to fly.

As for the rest of us who are in the service industry, remember that it's not necessarily how things go right that will keep your customers, but it's how you handle things when they don't go right. Even if it's not your personal fault, you need to accept responsibility for your company and take care of the customer.

Here's to Kimmy, from one Totally Gruntled customer!