Fired For Customer Service
Customer service, or lack thereof, is an enormous part of thriving in business today. Yet, as one airline employee discovered, people must be cautious with how they respond to frustrated consumers. Otherwise, they may get fired.
An article posted on switched.com reported on an American Airlines web designer, anonymously named ”Mr. X”, who was fired after responding to a dissatisfied customer’s complaint. According to the airline, his e-mail to the disgruntled individual “violated a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) that he had signed with the airline and that prohibited him from revealing ‘sensitive information.’” Yet to Dustin Curtis, the frustrated customer, Mr. X’s response was the only positive outcome he received from the company:
AA fired Mr. X because he cared. They fired him because he cared enough to reach out to a dissatisfied customer and help clear the company’s name in the best way he could.
Though this story has several points of view and varying issues that can be argued, there is one common factor: disconnect. By reading Mr. Curtis’ original letter and Mr. X’s email response, you may gather there is an obvious disconnect not only between American Airlines and its customers, but between the airline and its employees as well. As the Methodology Blog has covered before, insufficient leadership and bad management styles can create unhappy employees. And where there are dissatisfied employees, there are dissatisfied customers.
As cliché as it sounds, if problems persist in a top-down fashion through a company, a sweeping domino effect can occur; leaving all stakeholders at a loss. For Mr. Curtis, his conclusions on how American Airlines operates are reason enough for him to steer clear of becoming a reoccuring customer:
The reason large companies with bad design are the way they are is because they are run poorly from the top, with philosophies that force the entire company to behave like its lowest common denominator. The company ends up making bad products. It ends up treating its customers badly. And if the company is being run by people who don’t have taste, it gets stuck. Eventually, the company’s brand suffers.
If your company is suffering from countercompetence which results in a loss of clientele, problems within management or a lack in successful and productive work, contact Slaughter Development today. We help organizations leverage innovation from the bottom up.
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February 27th, 2012 at 12:06 pm
I read the original response from the AA employee at http://www.dustincurtis.com/dear_dustin_curtis.html and it really wasn’t good customer service. When dealing with customers/clients, it’s best not to overload someone with information that makes your company look bad.
Citing issues such as “the culture and processes employed here at American Airlines.” and really, any statement that something isn’t done because of the corporate culture sounds like the comment of a disgruntled employee. He said FAR MORE than he should have. I read the whole letter. WHOA. Totally inappropriate. The employee was unnecessarily verbose.
Giving too much information just gives a ticked-off customer (or in this case, a never-again customer) too much ammunition. The employee created enough rope to hang himself. The employee really should have been given a warning. Also, a company so large must have employees who are hired to deal with this sort of thing; like a PR dept.
For example, a more appropriate response to the complaint (which I found and read as well) might go something like this:
“Dear Mr. Curtis,
I’m a UX Architect at AA.com, and I read your “Dear American Airlines” letter.
Thank you for choosing American Airlines. It’s great to have feedback as well as suggestions. I do like your use of (…cite an example from the suggestions…) and we do have some similar changes in the works.
As you can imagine, a large company does require an approval process for changes as significant as a website change, and it does take a considerable amount of time.
From reading your open letter, I gather that you did not reserve the flight and that you have vowed never to fly our airline again. I understand your frustration with the site, and I understand if you prefer not to change your mind about American Airlines. If you don’t mind, I’d be glad to send you a message to let you know when our site is updated if you’d like to see the changes.
Sincerely, ….”
Even at the end of the employee’s letter, he mentioned that he might get fired for what he did. Strange how he realized this might be a bad idea, but plowed on ahead and did it anyway.
February 27th, 2012 at 12:55 pm
Thanks for the comment, Marla!
You are right that Mr. X’s letter is not an example of particularly good customer service.
But nevertheless, he was trying to help. He doesn’t through his employer under the bus. And certainly, the information he provided to Dustin Curtis isn’t exactly mind-blowing. But—as you pointed out—Mr. X knew that he might get in trouble for speaking his mind.
The fundamental question is whether or not employers and employees are aligned with a common vision. In the case of AA and Mr. X, the clear answer is “no.”
February 27th, 2012 at 1:31 pm
Big business…red tape…inefficiency…American Airlines should give Robby Slaughter a call!