“Here’s a customer service horror story that might be of interest to your readers,” one reader wrote to me while stranded at the airport in Manila, Philippines.
Posted at 7:15 p.m.
Even though I’m the type to run away from horror, I read his story. Nothing is too scary to help consumers.
I assure you, there won’t be any blood, just cold sweats, frustration… and a few life lessons to keep in mind.
Janique is a well-informed traveler who has been organizing trips all over the world “for the past 15-20 years”. As usual, she bought her plane tickets online to discover Bali. The return trip included two stops, one in Manila, the other in Tokyo. The transaction was concluded on Booking. com “for a question of price”.
The stay was wonderful. It got messed up on the way back.
Once they arrived in Manila for their first stopover, the travelers realized they were going to land at Japan’s Haneda Airport, and depart from another airport called Narita. About 80 kilometers separate the two.
“We were disappointed and angry. We should have been clearly advised of this inefficient logistics. But we booked $175 private transportation between the two airports, thinking it would all be sorted,” says Janique.
When boarding for Japan, the two friends learn that they will not be allowed on board. Because once in the country of Toyota, they would need a “transit visa” to leave the secure area of the airport and take their taxi. Verifiable information on the website of the Canadian Embassy in Japan.
The Japanese portion of the plane tickets was therefore good for the trash.
Taken in a no man’s land at Manila airport, Janique contacted Booking.com five times for assistance.
We hung up on him, suggested calling the embassy (which did not work), offered to buy a flight for US$7000. He was told that it was his responsibility to find out about Japanese laws. The travelers spent hours on the phone to find a solution themselves.
“You cannot sell an unusable product! she flares up. You wouldn’t sell a car without an engine. I take it for granted that I bought a flight that I can take. It is unreasonable to expect clients to know international laws. Customer service had no authority to resolve the situation. Still, it’s a big, well-known company worth billions. »
With her friend, she spent 27 hours in a small room at the airport where you had to insist on getting water and people slept on the floor. An employee who seemed to pity the travelers finally took them on a free flight that allowed them to see Montreal again.
Janique rushed to write to the president of Booking.com asking for a refund and compensation. She never got an answer. The company did not respond to my questions either.
Even if this story is out of the ordinary, it nonetheless reveals a number of consumer issues that affect everyone. Starting with our reflexes in the face of modernity.
With the arrival of websites that allow you to do everything yourself without resorting to the services of professionals — everything from investing in the stock market to buying braces for teething — we come to think that it’s very 1997 to talk to humans. Real humans, on the phone, for services. Travel in person? Here we are in 1988.
Many people who buy plane tickets online are under the impression that it will be cheaper because they are cutting out a middleman.
Moscow Côté, President of the Association of Travel Agents of Quebec (AAVQ)
However, this is not the case, he swears, because the prices are dictated by the airlines. Each sale provides a commission to travel agents, as seen in the insurance and real estate industry. When this remuneration is too low for the work performed (this is the case for $400 tickets to Toronto, for example), service charges are sometimes required.
I told Janique’s story to Moscow Côté. “It’s a classic mistake! “, he reacted spontaneously. It is not uncommon for consumers to find very low prices online precisely because the matches do not make sense.
By the way, Booking.com, a Dutch site with Canadian headquarters in British Columbia, does not have a license from the Office of Consumer Protection.
Other online travel sellers, such as Expedia and Travelocity, hold one, which allows claims to be made against the Travel Agent Customer Compensation Fund (FICAV).
In the case of Janique, a permit would not have changed much, because the traveler’s ticket was not “unusable”, according to Moscow Côté. It was usable… with a visa. A travel agent would have had the legal obligation to mention this important fact. And in case of omission, the client would have had recourse.
But the travel agency license made all the difference for many when planes were grounded at the start of the pandemic.
Turning to the web giants in the hope of saving money can lead to all sorts of unpleasant situations, and not just in the travel sector.
“Amazon doesn’t even have a phone number if you want to file a complaint! “, told me, outraged, a former classmate, recently. To offer low prices, you have to make cuts somewhere… like in customer service.
What about the misleading presentation. We saw it with the leggings falsely made in Granby1. With the “affordable Montessori toys” of Le Petit Écolier2. In 2016, I bought six dresses3 of businesses listed on Facebook with no stores in Canada. They had nothing to do with the photos, and impossible to return them to China.
Storefront businesses aren’t necessarily better, you might say. But at least we can go there in person to express our grumbling to someone.