Hotel Complaints Can Be Resolved
Yuck! Hotel Cleanliness and what you can do!
Now that you have gotten your room key, you are ready to pick up your bags and relax in your comfortable, clean room before you begin your vacation, or go off to that important meeting that requires your attendance. Oops, there is a problem with the room, and it is making you a very un-happy camper.
The bathroom is not clean, the beds are not properly made, there is a big stain on the carpeting, or the room smells like their was an all night party in it. Any one of these reasons is enough to ask for another room, or a discount on the room you are presently in. Most people would do nothing because they are too embarrassed to speak up, or because they are in a hurry, and they don’t have the time to do anything about the condition of the room.
Here are a few things you can do that don’t require much time or effort on your part, but will usually get the problem resolved. If your room has a phone, use it. Call the front desk, and immediately tell them about the problem. Ask them how long it will take to get fixed, and let the desk know that you would like a dis-count on your room for the night. If it is late, and there is no maintenance available, request another room, and let the desk clerk know that you would like another room, and that you do not want to be charged anything for the night.
If the fix is a simple one, you should still ask for a discount of at least 25% off of your entire bill. If you need to, ask for the manager, and firmly but always politely state your case, and offer a resolution to your complaint. If your complaint involves something not in your room, like perhaps in the pool or exercise room, or in the children’s play area or dining room, you should speak up.
If the desk clerk or manager won’t help you, call your credit card company and put in a dispute for the charges on your card. You can also ask for the address of the corporate office, and let the manager know that you will be filing a complaint with customer relations.
If you really want to ramp up things, you can file a complaint via www.directcomplaint.com and use the Hotel Motel complaint form in the Consumer Complaint Center.
Extended Service Plans- Do we really need them?
Extended Warranties: Worth The Investment?
When the customer service representative offers an extended service agreement on a product you are buying in the store, or ordering over the telephone, do they really understand what they are talking about?
I just hate it when I receive a call, especially from Sears, and the person on the other end of the telephone is trying to sell me an extended service agreement on everything I have ever bought from Sears. It doesn’t matter if the item is twenty years old, dis-continued, or even if I have thrown it out years ago. As long as Sears has a record of it, you can always get it covered. It’s just as bad when you purchase home electronics, computers, car accessories, and even head phones from your local consumer electronics store.
A $39.00 pair of head phones will get you an extended service plan for three years at $49.00. A $400.00 computer will earn you an extended agreement for only two years, and cost you $199.00. Most of the extended service agreements don’t even offer you any coverage while the product is still under the manufacturers warrantee, and that makes the actual coverage even shorter.
If you ask the customer service representative when the extended service plan takes effect, the answer you are most likely to hear, is “as of today” and that couldn’t be further from the truth.
The customer service person or sales representative makes extra money each time they up-sell, and get you to buy an extended service agreement, or service maintenance plan.
The store is betting that you will forget that you bought the plan.
If you were to buy an insurance policy for your car, or invest in the stock market, the representatives would all have to be licensed by your state or the federal government. Doesn’t it make sense to require people selling us service plans to know more about their companies plans, and the coverage’s they offer?
Attitude is everything
I think everyone can agree that we all get a sense of anxiety before we call customer service. We all wonder who or if anyone is going to pick up on the other side. I can say that 50% of the time I call customer service; the representative for the company does not speak English, is hard to understand or has a bad attitude. How can the person representing the company understand your problem or concern if they do not fluently speak your language? I’ll tell you how; the script they are told to follow. But, the conversation doesn’t always go as smoothly as planned.
If a company knows the best way to succeed in providing good customer service, they should guarantee their employees will display a positive attitude, concern, empathy and interest in the costumers feelings. Doing this can generate positive customer feedback, even when delivering bad news. From the famous Winston Churchill, “Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” There are many ways a rep can display positive attitude, for example smiling, it has been proven that smiling when on the telephone or even during an online customer service “chat” sends out positive signals to your customer. The rep should also always learn active listening; hearing should not be confused with listening, by listening this will enhance the customer service contact, they should be displaying that they have listened to you closely; they should give you the proper information to solve your problem. You should all know how a customer service rep should treat you, but if you have experienced bad attitude, no concern or disinterest for the problem you are calling about, than as a consumer the power is in your hands and you should use it!
I think everyone should be convinced that attitude is a big part in solving a problem,
Customer service starts and ends with attitude.
Customer Service, always get their name.
Why is it, that when we call a customer service center, the representatives are often un-willing to give us their names or the name of the state or country where they are located?
Could it be that the policy of the company is to not be consumer friendly, or that the representative doesn’t want to give us the information because if they give us wrong information, or can’t help us, they don’t want to get in trouble?
Even if we get the representative to give us their name and or location, we truly don’t know if it is correct. I mean, it’s hard to believe a person who says they are in India, or Thailand, when they say their name is Jack or Jill. Even if the representative offers us their “ID” number, the chances of it being correct are generally low, and if they don’t make any notes in the computer, or give us a confirmation call number, we can unfortunately assume that their will never be a record of our telephone call.
I recommend that when you call customer service with a problem or complaint, that you begin each conversation by calmly asking the rep. for their name, ID number, and state or country of the service center you are calling.
If they refuse to give it to you, calmly ask for the supervisor, and tell the representative that you don’t want to be placed on hold, or put into a voice mail box. When you are transferred to a “supervisor” ask the person the same aforementioned questions, and if they are a supervisor. Unfortunately, many customer service reps. will just dump your call back into their call system. If this happens, immediately ask to be connected to a supervisor, get the name, and try again.
You can also post your complaint for free at http://wwwdirectcomplaint.com on the consumer poster board, and let the world know how you feel.
If you would like to know more about customer service telephone etiquette that is: suppose to make your call a pleasurable experience,
You call customer service, but nobody’s home!
As we begin the new decade, I can’t help but think of the ways that customer service has changed. Companies spend a lot of money to “improve” and “streamline” their customer service centers and policies, but they have over looked the customer.
It is probably easier to call the White House, then to call most companies customer service lines. The first problem is the menu of choices we hear telling us to press a number, only to get into another menu and press yet another number. Once we get to the end of the selection lines, we are then requested to hold for who knows how much time, only to get dis-connected, or speak to a person who informs us that we are in the wrong department, and they need to transfer the call.
The micro management of customer service has only served to rain more confusion down on our heads. I think that many companies are secretly hoping that if they make the customer service experience complicated, then consumers will just quietly go away. What ever happened to good old time phone systems, with humans answering the phone, speaking in English, and knowledgeable about the products?
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