Friday, October 31, 2008

Fiji, anyone?

I recently read about a problem that happened with a popular and sucessful travel-planning company wherein a fare to Fuji was improperly posted as costing nothing, save taxes.

Bloggers and reporters doing what they do, this error was publicized far and wide on the internet. Many people took advantage of this error and booked very inexpensive flights to Fuji.

This travel company was faced with a dilema. Do they lose thousands (maybe tens or hundreds of thousands) of dollars and honor the tickets booked, or do they admit that there was an error and refuse to honor the tickets?

The company decided that they cared more about their customer's opinion of them than their potential losses. They issued a letter to the ticket-holders stating that they hoped that the travelers had a fun time in Fiji, and that they would never let an error on their website compromise their customers' experience with their company. To top it all off, the letter was humorous, stated that they were sure that the general public were aware that the fare price was an error, but that they would never renig on a promise to a customer.

Because I found out about this situation from a document shared with me by an independent contractor for a company that I'm affiliated with, I have no documentation to support this story. If nothing else, you can take this as an allegorical example of the message that "the customer is always right". Whether or not you think the company was foolish in their decision, you have to admit that this is exemplary customer service at its best.

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