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I don’t usually go on in this forum about my family and personal life. This story, however, has bearing on any person caring for a member of the aging population. The elderly are at constant risk for scams and they are also at risk for not asserting themselves when faced with a financial mistake.
Are companies today responsible enough to do the right thing or do they blindly adhere to policies without regard to personal situations? You be the judge.
Here’s my story:
My father is 81 years old and like so many retirees, lives on a fixed income (especially with the recent market downturn). He decided to try and treat the family to one last family vacation while he was still able to travel and enjoy the grandchildren. He spent over $6,000 on plane tickets with Continental Airlines for a planned trip in August and surprised us over the recent Thanksgiving Holiday weekend.
My sisters and I were alarmed at the expenditure and when he said to block out a week for a vacation in August, we thought it might be to the beach or something. Not a trip for 9 to Mexico. We knew he couldn’t afford the cost and we weren’t sure that we could afford the ancillary costs of food, rental cars, etc given the state of the economy.
Continental Airlines Adds Insult to Injury
Three days later he finds out that his house’s fuel oil tank was just filled and leaked out into the surrounding ground and has contaminated the well and possibly nearby wells. The cost per home to hook up to city water – $5,000. The projected cost of clean-up of the soil due to the toxic spill – $30,000 plus!
He may have to pay over $50,000 when all is said and done.
Needless to say the trip was off, even if he could afford the $6,000+ in Continental Airline Tickets, the cost of the hotel rooms for the nine of us was too much and now he has the added expense of an EPA Clean-up to fund.
I told him to contact Continental Airlines and explain the situation, offer to pay a penalty for getting a refund on non-refundable tickets and try to get at least some of his money back. Continental Airlines told him – predictably – sorry, you can’t get a refund. No Way, No How!
That’s right, Continental Airlines refused to step up and do the right thing and refund an 81 year old man’s money after a financial catastrophe.
I am sure this is a mistake and I am going to call Continental Airlines today on his behalf to see if there can’t be some kind of resolution to this issue.
Check back here or listen to the Nursing Show episodes over the next few weeks to see if I can get Continental Airlines to do the right thing for a loyal 81 year old customer who has used them exclusively to travel for the last 25 years or more.
If you have a blog or podcast, feel free to share this story. Perhaps we can find out if Continental Airlines wants new customers or not.
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In the mean time – until I get this resolved here are some links to Continental Airlines competitors (notice I won’t give them a link).
These are NOT paid links. I just don’t think Continental Airlines should get any business from me or the thousands of listeners and readers of this site so I’m giving you all some options. I’ve travelled with each of these in the past and have been mostly pleased with their level of service.
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Updates to the Story
Update #1
Talked to a manager. Coivee told me she was authorized to over ride the 24 hour refund policy but that she wasn’t going to. I asked to speak to her manager and was told it would take 24 to 72 hours to get a response.
I hope they like bad press! Three days is a long time when I’m speaking to 10,000 listeners a week on my shows and websites. Bad Continental, Bad!
Update #2
Got a call back later in the evening from Gwen who said she had the authority to override the policy but saw no need to do so since Continental Airlines did nothing wrong. I admitted it was my father’s mistake and offered to pay a penalty if necessary to obtain the refund.
She then said they could not refund tickets when they were in other people’s names (even when paid with a single credit card). Beware Continental Airlines Ticket Buyers! Don’t buy tickets for other people, they don’t belong to you anymore and according to this policy you may not be entitled to refund since they’re not in your name.
Gwen also stated that it is not the policy of Continental airlines to refund tickets for any reason if you have not paid the premium to have that option. Corporate inflexibility has caused customer service to fly out the window again.
Fly Any Airline BUT CONTINENTAL AIRLINES!
Short end of this is – Continental Airlines has lost way more money long term because of interest in short sighted profits. Most people don’t have a forum on which to expose their shortcomings in customer service. I do. It is my hope that what ever you do, fly anyone BUT CONTINENTAL AIRLINES.
They have lost my family as a customer and I hope that they will lose your business as well. Send them a message and tell them that this type of corporate greed and short sightedness is unacceptable.
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my latest twitter entry:
Is there a Continental Airlines Executive using my dad’s $6 K to lite his cigar and laugh at his refund request?
Continental should do the right thing but it is risky business using your forum for personal reasons. I support you in doing this though because you are not compromising principal at the risk of losing future advertising revenue. Good luck!
PS Doesn’t insurance cover some of the repair and cleanup?
Gerry,
Thanks for responding. I have to approve all initial comments. After this, as long as you use the same email address and info to log in, you should be able to comment and have it show up more quickly.
I appreciate your candor and I was reluctant to move forward but I hate that corporate customer service has become an oxymoron. Most people don’t have a forum like this in which to stand up for themselves and perhaps cause a real financial impact on a major company. It is my hope that by doing this and calling attention to the situation, their policies and service will change. If they don’t then this single entry will serve as a caution to others and urge them to reconsider the companies with which they do business.
You mentioned advertisers and that I might be putting the future ad revenue of the site and program at risk. I don’t feel that way. I would never accept advertising from a company that didn’t treat customers as a precious asset to their business. That is my commitment to the listeners whom I value greatly. If I lose ad business because of it, it won’t be at the expense of good listeners.
Continental has made a conscious decision to hold on to the small amount of money now rather than gain a long term supporter and loyal group of customers for the future. I travel frequently as does my wife and my sister’s family. Over the next several years Continental Airlines would have recovered the refunded money many times over and I would have given them a free plug on the shows here as well because I support them.
Recently a listener had an issue with an advertised company. I contacted them, they promptly fixed a miscommunication, made the situation right and gained another loyal customer from both that listener and from me.
Thanks for supporting the show. This will be a very rare occurrence and will likely never occur again but it was my play at getting back something for the little guy who can’t usually stand up to such stonewall tactics.
Jamie Davis, the Podmedic