Keep Your Customers Informed

1 November, 2007 - General Business - 1 Comment

I’ll stamp on your head if you don’t keep me informed.

Those are not my words, but the words of somebody on the same coach as me as we got picked up from Corfu airport to be taken to our hotel.

There are many poor ways to communicate with your customers, but by far the worst is not communicating with them enough.

We arrived on the Greek island of Corfu in the early hours of the morning and were scheduled to meet our coach outside the airport, as were many other holiday makers on the same flight as us. We thought we were doing really well, because for once our bags were the first to come around the belt in the airport. We were the first on the coach and we were expecting to arrive at the hotel with plenty of time to spare before the sun came up.

Two hours after stepping on the coach, we were still sat in the car park outside the airport

Yes, that’s right. Two hours, and we hadn’t even set off yet. I now know that the reason for this was because we were waiting for a second flight to arrive as the passengers from that flight were travelling on the same coach as us. At the time, we were never told this. We were left annoyed and confused. It was only after some passengers got very annoyed that they decided to ask the rep why we were waiting. He stepped on the coach and gave us a quick and dirty explanation, with no apology.

We finally set off!

After two hours of waiting, by this time 4am, we set off. What was described to us in the brochure as a 35 minute transfer from airport to hotel turned out to be a four hour transfer, comprised of two hours sat in a car park and two hours travelling. We went from one end of the island and back again, dropping people off at various hotels in every corner of the typically simple Greek island.

The Rep Left Us

Half way through the journey, the rep got off the coach to introduce the guests to their hotel… then he didn’t get back on. The Greek coach driver set off without him. As you can imagine, we were wondering what the heck was going on. The rep who was supposed to be taking care of us and conversing with the Greek driver to get us to our hotel was now nowhere to be seen.

It turns out the rep was meeting us further down the road. But we didn’t know that at the time. We spent five minutes nervously looking at each other, wondering if the driver had forgotten about the rep. If only the rep had explained to us what he was going to do before he got off, rather than after he got back on!

By the time we got to our hotel, the sun was beaming! It had taken us longer much longer to get from Corfu airport to our hotel than it had to fly from England to the Greek island… and the best part of it all? We missed half a day of our holiday because we spent it in bed catching up on missed sleep, then we moved hotel to accommodation that was actually worthy of living in, and then we waited outside the airport for two hours with no explanation when we travelled back to England.

The Moral to the Story?

The moral is clear. Keep your customers informed while you deal with problems. As Sara said to me earlier, “I’d rather hear the worst than wait for three hours not knowing what is going on and THEN hear the worst”. Sara might not stamp on your head, but there are other people who will if you don’t communicate with them properly!

Do you keep your customers informed while you deal with problems?

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Posted on 1 November, 2007 by Jamie Harrop
Filed Under General Business |

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1 Comment»

Comment by Sara
2007-11-02 03:15:47

Jamie,

I would be seriously pissed if I got jerked around that much. Especially on vacation. Hopefully your next one goes off without a hitch. =)

Thanks for the links.

Sara

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