This weekend I am off down to London
to see a football match at Wembley Stadium. I
booked my hotel (Wembley Travelodge) several months ago in order to
secure the best possible price.
This week I looked at my travel schedule
and realised that it would be very useful to be able to check-in to the hotel a
few hours earlier than normal. This is an option that is offered by Travelodge
for £10 extra, so I went online and logged into my account.
What happened next illustrated the best
and also the worst of customer service centres today, and it got me thinking
that some companies do customer service very well in some departments but very
badly in others.
So, first of all I clicked on the
button saying “Amend your booking” and then filled in my details so that I
could pay extra for the early check-in.
But, to borrow a famous punchline from
the ‘Little Britain’ TV show: “COMPUTER SAYS NO!!!”
So I tried again. And again. And again.
But the Travelodge computer system
just kept saying that I was not able to amend my booking. And this is me trying
to GIVE them extra money!!
So the next step was to call their
helpline number. It’s a premium rate number, and when called from a mobile
phone it is flipping expensive! I’m sure that by now you have guessed the
outcome. “Press Option 1 for this, Press option 2 for that, Press Option 3 for…etc,
etc.”
I eventually got round to the option I
needed and I pressed the relevant button. Then I was put on hold. For nearly
five minutes.
This call was costing me a lot of
money, so I hung-up and waited a while. Then I called again. Same problem.
Again I was put on hold for an inordinately long time on a premium rate number.
And all I am trying to do is pay them ten quid for early check-in.
Eventually I got through to a human
being and (Hallelujah!) it’s even someone in a British call centre, not someone
half way round the world who doesn’t speak very good English. Now that’s a
bonus in itself.
And what did this “customer service”
person say? He said he wasn’t able to help me and I should call the hotel direct. And
it’s another premium rate phone number. Thanks mate.
So he gives me the hotel’s direct
number (which incidentally isn’t advertised anywhere on their website) and I
call it. And you’ve guessed it - after going through a long list of options, I was
put on hold yet again!
This time I was waiting for what
seemed like a decade, with the phone just continually ringing and no one at the
hotel answering it.
By this point I had had enough. I was
tearing my hair out. I estimated that I’d now spent about £6 in phone charges,
just for trying to give Travelodge some extra money for early check-in.
My faith in Travelodge’s customer
service operation was at breaking point.
Then a thought occurred to me. Why not
try their online advisers instead? So I went back to the website and clicked
on the button that says: “Chat with an adviser online”.
A few seconds after clicking the
button, a chap called Ben appeared online. Below is an exact transcript
of our online conversation:
Ben: Hello, my name is Ben. How can I
help you today?
Darren: Hello - my booking reference
is 1325643961 - I am trying to amend my booking to add early check-in. I am not
able to do this online. I have spoken to one of your colleagues who told me to
call the hotel direct. I have tried doing this but no one is answering. This
has now cost me over £6 in phone charges, in waiting on hold on your premium
rate number. Could you help please?
Ben: OK, please bear with me while I
check our system.
Ben: OK, due to the problems you have
had I have added this to your booking free of charge.
Ben: Is there anything else that I can
help you with?
Darren: No, that's fantastic thanks. Will the hotel know automatically that this has been added?
Ben: Yes, this will appear on their
systems.
Darren: Great, thanks Ben.
Ben: No problem, thank you for
contacting us and have a nice day.
The entire problem was solved efficiently and
effectively in just a couple of minutes - and with no expensive phone
charges. The result? A happy customer who will never call the Travelodge customer
service phone line again, when it is so much cheaper and easier to 'speak' to an
adviser online.
So I will conclude by posing an interesting
question: is it just coincidence, or have Travelodge deliberately made it
really difficult (and expensive) for customers to use their phone line, so that people will use the online system instead?
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