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!