Well, my saga with United continues. They still aren’t proving to be very customer friendly.
They went 0 for 2 with the on-line check in process. You would expect that once you log in you can hit a button and check in. But, that’s not the case. I had to go through three screens of advertisements for things that I didn’t want when I bought the tickets and suprisingly still didn’t want. First screen – more legroom. Thanks for offering to upgrade me to a confortable seat. I appreciate it. Not! Actually, not only did you waste my time, you just reminded me how uncomfortable this trip was going to be. Next screen – the “premier” line. If I don’t want to wait in a long line at security, etc, I can pay extra to get into a speedier one. Interesting. Maybe I should take some lessons from United and apply them to my business. I’ll do the work. But if you want me to do be good (e.g., more legroom) you’ve got to pay more. And, my processes are pretty clunky, but for an extra $50, I’ll try to be more efficient. That’s brilliant. It used to be that companies invested in improving their inefficient processes. United seems to have found a way to make a profit from them.
I don’t even remember what the third screen was. At that point, I just went straight to the bottom and said “skip this offer”.
So, United has successfully violated most of the principles that Paco Underhill talked about in “Why we buy”, United has designed a process that is clearly optimized for their needs and desires rather than their customers.
But, the story doesn’t end. They then went for 0 for 3. Once I actually got past the commercials and “checked in” I printed by boarding passes. Much to my suprise, the seats weren’t the ones I selected when I purchased the tickets. I guess they figured that I didn’t really mean it when I took the time to specifically select five seats during the purchase process. Who knows, maybe these new tickets have a better view. I did see a button that would have let me change my seats. However, it never occured to me that the ones I had at check in were going to be different than the ones I selected in the first place so I didn’t even check. I guess that’s my fault as a customer. I shouldn’t just assume that because I select something that I’ll actually get it. Shame on me, right?
So, in my book, United is currently 0 for 3 in being customer-driven.
I just cant’ wait until the actual flight. Ugh.
Wow. I am really sorry about that. I really, really hope that the flight is uneventful. Try to get some rest on it!
Incredible. Well I wish y’all the best of luck with the flight (and in trying to get the boarding attendant to change your seats).
I am just so incredibly surpirsed at the lack of competance here. How have they managed to stay in business?
-Kyle
Actually, I don’t think it’s a lack of competence. It’s a lack of customer-centric behavior. I think the two things are different. I work with a lot of competent people and organizations whose mistakes are simply that they look at the world from the inside out.
I’ve been in so many meetings where people will say, “but we want them to read about the benefits before we show them the price” That’s a reasonable response, it’s just no longer a realistic one given changes in consumer behavior.
So, for now at least, I’m not going to knock them on their competence. I just wish they’d focus on things from the customer perspective rather than their own perspective. Ironically, I think if they made it easier for the customer to control his or her experience, they’d probably get better results and achieve many of the things that their current processes appear to be attempting.