I know I have pretty high standards for customer service. If I'm paying for something, I want it to be done well and I want to be satisfied with what I get. I have recently had two terrible customer service experiences that make me advise people from giving their money to either
Pentax or
America West.
Pentax: I'll keep this brief. My fairly expensive digital SLR broke when I got it. Fixed under warranty, took about 2 months. It broke again in February. Supposedly should have been a rush job but was lost by UPS (Pentax's incorrect label), then delayed in service. The service department can't give me answers as to what is wrong or how long it will take. Service reps are lecturing me on camera use and why it could be my fault the camera broke. No one seems to care I am without camera for so long. Parts are ordered from Japan and should take a few days. A few days later, they make take a month or more. There is still no word on when the camera is coming back.
I already ordered my Canon camera and it should arrive tomorrow. My Pentax lenses are on ebay, and I'll sell the body when I get it back. How is it acceptable to spend so much money on a camera, and have it be in service for so long? How can I take a camera on vacation with me if I can't depend on it to turn on and take a picture when I need it?
America West Airlines: I booked my travel to go to Las Vegas for the NAB conference through the Apple Travel service. I don't remember exactly why, but for some reason I was put on America West flights. I think the times were better or the flights were direct. A week later it turned out I was going to San Francisco after Vegas to work at Apple HQ for a few days.
I called Apple Travel and they changed my fights. It cost an extra $200, which seemed steep, but it was a whole extra flight so it's possible. But there was also a $100 change fee. Ouch! Apple covered this, since I am going to Cupertino on work related business.
I later decided that I wanted to fly out of San Jose instead of San Francisco since it's easier to leave my car at Apple and take a taxi to SJC rather than SFO. I called America West directly to do this since I don't feel Apple should be responsible for handling or paying for this change. I have done this before with Southwest and NAB fights and just pay any fare difference out of my own pocket.
The cost to change one leg of my flights from SFO to SJC was adding $200 to the fare, and another $100 change fee! How ridiculous! If priced on the America West website, the flight out of SJC was less expensive by $100! But they were trying to pull another $300 out of me. Southwest would have just changed my flights for free, and maybe left me with a credit of $100 (not sure on this fact).
I spoke to a supervisor to express how ridiculous their policies are. I understand airlines need to book seats and they can't be absolutely flexible, but charging $300 to change to a cheaper flight makes no sense at all. As I was speaking to the supervisor, I looked up a fresh flight on JetBlue and saw I could get a better, direct flight from SJC to JFK for $160 including taxes. The supervisor on the phone told me (nicely) that was probably what I should do as America West wouldn't be able to help me at all.
So what if I just cancel that last leg and take the JetBlue flight instead? My fare goes
up since I now have a one way flight, which costs more. The supervisor told me I should just leave my ticket as is and not just show up for the last leg. How crazy!
What if I cancel the whole flight? I now have a credit for the total amount of the flight *which I must use all at once*. If I use half of it for a flight, I just lose the other half. With Southwest it's just credit and you can use it as you need it over time. No penalties, no fees.
And get this: if you change a flight and the value of your flight goes down, you lose that value. For example, if you book a flight that's $600. Then you change it to a flight that's $550 so you have to pay the $100 change fee. Now you call back later to change it again and pick a flight that's $600. You pay another $100 change fee (of course) and your ticket is now worth only $550 so you pay them *another* $50.
America West has a system in place to take money from their customers, and keep taking money from them over and over again as much as possible. I told the supervisor that I was very disappointed in America West's policies and I would be informing my company of 20,000 employees that I don't recommend using America West, given that business travel is often last minute and should be flexible.
It's not even the money here but the fact that their policies make no sense to me at all and are designed to push you into a corner and take more money out of you. The minute you say "i'll take that flight" you are risking a $100 change fee for anything at all. I could probably call Apple Travel and have them change the flight and they would pay the fees just like that, which is wrong. I don't want Apple to pay those fees, and that's why I called directly.
Don't book with America West as you lose all flexibility. Southwest (and JetBlue) have much better policies about changing flights and using credit.
Update: FUCK I hate eBay and PayPal so much!!! They have the worst customer service of any companies out there. They do whatever they can to screw people over. I wish they would just go bankrupt.
