Great Customer Service from Lufthansa

Aine, a Movable Type user writes quite a nice post entitled "I'm an MT user, and I'm not ashamed." As I wrote in her comments, it's rewarding to see someone take the time to write positive words about our company in an honest way (calling out of strengths and weaknesses).

It's incredibly easy to rant when you're upset about a service or company. But, writing when you're pleased is something that does not occur as often as it should.

This reminds me of an experience Barak, Loic and I experienced last week on a business trip in Europe. We had a multi-city trip planned (Paris, Frankfurt, London, Paris) but had yet to book the various legs until we were already in France. So, Barak booked online through the Lufthansa web site. After dealing with a particularly frustrating and hopeless online booking system for about an hour, Barak reserved our e-tickets.

When we went to the airport to fly to Frankfurt, we were informed that Barak had booked three tickets under his own name (why this behaviour is even allowed baffled us). The person at the airport told us there was nothing that she could do since the e-tickets had been already issues and names could not be changed. The only option was for us to purchase two additional tickets with Loic and my name on them for the price that they currently cost.

Needless to say, this was incredibly frustrating and the idea of paying more and possibly not being refunded for the original tickets left us uneasy. The woman at the ticket counter, who was unable to do anything about a refund, did however give Barak the number of one of Lufthansa's managers.

Once Barak was able to get a hold of Lydia M., the Management Team Assistant, she was incredibly helpful and accommodating. Lufthansa is notorious for rigid and unforgiving customer service and Lydia proved the exception. She not only told Barak how to apply for the refund over the phone, but she sent an email to him with detail information on the process. When we landed, she had already done most of the work.

To top things off, she sent Barak and email the next day that read:

Re our telephone conversation earlier today, please accept my sincere apologies for the inconvenience and added expenditure incurred due to an etix error. Please send me your original etix confirmation and your used/travelled etix. I will ensure your refund receives immediate attention.

It was incredibly refreshing to deal with such a friendly and helpful person at Lufthansa and her interaction with us not only made us happy for choosing to fly with Lufthansa, but also helped ease the annoyance we felt about the online booking service.

The power of weblogging enables us to point out the problems we have with services and companies (i.e. Kryptonite) in hopes for quick remedies and changes in policies and products. However, in order to be fair, it's important to remember to point out -- every once in a while -- when a company or a person at a company does something good.

Update: Jay recommended that I should encourage people to TrackBack to this entry with their own experience with great customer service. Basically, who has been your Lydia M and how has that affected your relationship with a company?