Customer Service???

Ok, I'm going to have to vent a bit, but I think I've had adequate time to cool off about it - a week or so to be exact. We have planned to take our next R&R trip to Singapore. I know - we went there last year, but we couldn't decide where else to go for a few days, and after it seemed bombings were becoming more frequent in the North, we decided not to go to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. The big kicker is the airport in Agra is not in service right now. The best option to get there is to fly to Delhi then take a train - (2 1/2hr. ride) or rent a car for a 5-6hr. drive to Agra. Since the car would be expensive and mass transit seems to be where they like to bomb the most, we decided to not go there right now.

I then went online to book our hotel. Since we had a great time at The Four Seasons in Maldives, we've chosen to stay at one in Singapore too. I booked the room and then we went in search of airfare. Singapore is only a 4hr flight from Madras. The two best airlines to take a direct flight from here to there are SingAir and JetAirways. SingAir is quite a bit higher and JetAirways showed that we could take a flight for Rs. 7500 per leg. (US$185 per leg). This was listed as Special Economy - while regular economy was around 22,000. No brainer right, I thought the same. We then tried to search the site to find out what "special economy" entailed. There was nothing listed except some long alphabet soup saying, "Classes K,G,H,I, etc. cannot have xyz" and so on and so forth. No where on the site could we find out what ticket class the Special Economy was - so I decided it would be best to call Jet and find out what the fare restrictions were before we had purchased the tickets.

I call Jet and get a gentleman in Ticketing and Bookings. He informs me the services received are the same as economy, except the fare restrictions were different and these are listed on the site. I told him, we had searched the site and couldn't find the information, which was why I was calling. He was unable to give me an answer, but instead gave me a number to call to get help.

I call the next number, "Special Packages". I explained what I needed to know and she said, "I am not ticketing and booking, you should call there." I told her I had and they referred me to her. She was then going to give me another number to call. I said, "I don't want to have to call another number where they still will not have an answer and will give me yet another number and so on and so forth." She then said, give me your number and I will try to have someone contact you. I told her to never mind. I would go to the local ticket office to get my answers there.

My first clue that this was not going to be a good trip should've been when I arrived and there were approximately 10 men waiting to be helped, none of them looking very happy. I added my name to the list and sat down with my iPod. There was only 1 clerk working the desk and she wasn't moving with any sense of urgency. Eventually there were 4 men that got together and decided to complain, very loudly. Apparently, they had been waiting there since before 2pm. (It was now 2:45) There were told everyone was at lunch until 2 and would then return and be able to help more people. They went into a tirade about how is this customer service, isn't our time as valuable as theirs? They just said, "please sit down and someone will help you soon." The lady then left and there was no one at the counter for about 5 minutes. She did eventually come back with reinforcements and things started moving along. My name was called and I came forward.

He then asked my name again and started looking for a booking. I advised him I didn't yet have one since I needed some clarification. He had a mad look of panic on his face and his floor manager rushed over. (You see, I asked a question that didn't have an answer on the computer screen in front of him and it wasn't in any manual that he had read to prep for this job.) She told him to look at the routes and fares available and we would go from there. The lowest price he had was Rs. 9500 per leg plus taxes. I asked what happened to the Rs. 7500 rate. He said it doesn't exist. I asked how the rate could disappear in just 3 hours. He had no answer. The manager came to his rescue and said this is most likely an Internet rate that they cannot offer there. I explained I didn't want to book a ticket without knowing all of the rules and restrictions and end up with tickets we couldn't use or refund.

She told me that the fare rules and restrictions were very clearly stated on the site and I could find them there as she did not have access to this information. (Did I mention I was at the Jet office?) I informed her that both my husband and I searched the site thoroughly and could not find the answer which is why we called Delhi, who had us call special packages and they were going to refer us to another number, most likely this office. She said again, "It's very clearly stated on the site under terms and conditions." I told her, " we looked and unless you know the booking class - A,B,D G,K, etc. - I have not been able to find it. Could you please tell me the booking class?" She just repeated, "It's CLEARLY STATED on the site." I said, "My husband is an engineer with an MBA, I have 2 degrees and a Masters. We are not stupid and understand how to search a site. The answer is not there." She just looked disbelievingly at me. I then asked her to show me on the site where the answer was. She said, "I do not have access to this information here and cannot show this to you." BIG HELP THERE! I asked, "Have you looked at your site recently, because the information is not clearly stated." She just repeated herself again that it is CLEARLY STATED ON THE SITE. Now is the point where I come unglued.

I said to her, "Do you want to know why all of these gentlemen are upset with you? This is exactly why. You are supposed to be customer service and be able to assist the customer. None of what you have done today reflects any of this. This is exactly why you are losing customers to SingAir and other airlines. No one can give any answers from any office. No one tries to think outside of the box an help customers." She repeated again how all information is clearly stated on the site and she was sorry she couldn't help me. I started walking out and said, "No, you aren't sorry. Because if you were you would be able to help me instead of repeating yourself over and over. Not one of you actually know what is going on here and you are useless!"

So in conclusion - did I get the tickets to get to Singapore. Yes I did. About one week later online from JetAirways. The best part was it was at the original rate we found AND I did not have to go into the office to get the tickets. For the first time I was able to pay online and get an e-ticket.

I can't wait to get to The Four Seasons where they truly know the meaning of Customer Service!

Trick or Treat - Madras Style

Halloween is not an Indian holiday, but any holiday that involves sweets is definitely one they will look into! Each year the OWC Madras puts on a Halloween Craft Day and Trick or Treating the day following. The children's committee will pick a neighborhood in Chennai with many expat and/or Indian neighbors that are willing to help out. The route is planned and voila, Trick or Treat is good to go!

Sophia decided this year she would be a princess - I know, you're all shocked! I got her dressed up at home and added a little bit of mascara, eye shadow, blusher and of course lipstick. She also didn't want to leave without getting a spritz of Mommy's Versace perfume. She truly is a little princess!!

We practiced how to say - Trick or Treat and also thank you. She was pumped up and ready to go. She was even more excited that she was going to get to see her friends Manni and Julien. She's already boy crazy - we are in sooooooo much trouble when she's older!

We got to Boat Club where we were having the trick or treat route and as luck would have it, Manni hadn't left yet, so they were going to get to go together.

In the picture above, she's with Manni - her own personal Superman to keep her safe. the next one is her getting some goodies. It took a while to get her to warm up and get the treats. As when we arrived there was a boy wearing a white mask with black hood and cape. There was red splashed all over the mask to look like blood. Sophia freaked out and said, "I want to go home - RIGHT NOW!" The boy's mom said the costume was actually supposed to spurt fake blood, but fortunately that part wasn't working properly.

After this happened I convinced Sophia it was Ok and the scary ones weren't going to get her. She wasn't truly convinced until I saw a boy in a Spiderman costume and told her that Spiderman would scare away all of the scary guys! This seemed to work and as long as we stayed a ways behind the large group of older children, we were ok.

Off we went again to several other houses. I think the best treats were at Danie's house. You can click on her name to get her take on everything! She did a great job and Sophia especially liked that Danie let her go through and pick out a bunch of purple and pink Starbursts. Which she did eat and loved.

All in all - I think she had a pretty good time. I wonder what she will think someday when she gets to have Halloween back in the states. It will probably be a complete shock and she will most likely still want to be a princess, or somedays, SPIDERMAN!

Maldives - This is living

Want to know what paradise looks like? This is a photo from our lanai at sunset. Oh yeah baby - This was the life. We arrived in Male after an 8hr. layover in Columbo, Sri Lanka. We got off the plane, picked up our luggage and was escorted directly to the speed boat taking us to The Four Seasons at Kuda Huraa. About 1/2hr. Later, we arrived at our island. We were escorted to the open air reception area where Sophia received a backpack with a starfish, stuffed dolphin, crayons and coloring book. We were all given welcome drinks and they checked us in while we were sitting on the couch there. After we finished our juices, we were escorted to a golf cart which drove us to our bungalow. Sophia was loving all the attention to be sure!

We got there checked in and were in awe, then shortly thereafter, fell asleep. The next morning was pretty much spent the same every day. We got up, went to breakfast, came back and went and sat on the beach in front of our bungalow or hung out on the lanai and played in our splash pool. Then it was either going to lunch or ordering lunch in the bungalow. It cost about the same either way.

In the afternoons we would hang out in the room watching kids videos we borrowed from the hotel or we would take Sophia to Kudamas - Kid's club. There she played with toys, painted, colored, played in the sand some more, got her nails done by a lady at the spa. She also got to go to a touch tank where she touched a pincushion starfish and a sea cucumber that spit water. She thought that was hilarious, but wasn't so much into touching them.

A couple of the afternoons she got to feed the fish off of the main jetty. She saw a huge jack fish and lots of damsel fish. She loved throwing the tuna in and watching all of the fish scramble to get it. It was fun for us to watch her! She didn't like it when we were on the beach and small fish would be near or when we had a baby ray swimming along our beach! Daddy and I thought it was pretty cool! Daddy even had his first snorkeling adventures. I think it's something we may try to do more of!

One evening we went to the crab races. There are quite a few hermit crabs on the island so you always had to check the shells you picked up on the beach to make sure it wasn't some one's home. Both Sophia and I got surprised at different times! Anyway - they caught some, put numbers on the shells and drew circles in the sand. Sophia won 2 of 3 and won a drink. She got - guess what - apple juice!!! There's a close up picture of one of the winning crabs. Mine never even left it's shell. I got the dud!!!

We also took a dolphin cruise. W went to a talk about spinner dolphins and whales. Sophia was pseudo interested but really enjoyed the boat ride and watching the dolphins jump up and spin around. It was definitely worth the money to do this. We were there during the season when the dolphins were most active and got to go on a calm night so there was a lot of activity.

So in summary - would be want to come back here? Most definitely! My advice - try to get here at least once in your life as it was a truly relaxing trip!

Long Time No Post

OK, OK, I know I've waited waaaayyy too long to get back to posting. We went away to the Maldives, got back and I had all sorts of craziness getting ready for the OWC Fire and Ice Ball, then It's been a week of time relaxing from that. But anyway, I'm back and will have to back track on postings. Instead of doing 1 giant post, I'll be splitting them up. Glad to be back and have you all reading.... Now like a good girl, I'm off to do my homework!