Southwest owns up to mistake
In this job of mine, I get to hear a lot about bad businesses. I hear story after story about businesses that failed to fix things once a problem was pointed out to them. I am often drowning in stories about thoughtless, rude, inexplicable behavior from businesses toward their customers. So it's really nice to hear something nice about a business once in awhile.
Bargain Hunter Jerry must have known I needed an end-of-the-year pick-me-up because he shared this story with me:
Having an email provider that stores all my emails paid off today. Back in September, I booked flights for my mother during Southwest Airlines' buy-two-get-one-free promotion offering a free ticket to Rapid Rewards members for booking and completing two flights between qualifying cities before Nov. 15th. I managed to get her tickets between St. Louis and Baltimore and Kansas City and Tucson for just over $300 total, not shabby considering she was also getting a free ticket out of the deal.
Unfortunately, sometime after we booked the flights, Southwest amended their list of qualifying routes to eliminate routes under 1250 miles. St. Louis to Baltimore no longer qualified. After realizing she hadn't gotten credit for a free ticket, I found all the original confirmation emails in my gmail account and called Southwest. I provided them with confirmation numbers and date and time stamps to prove that the tickets were booked before the terms changed. Without argument, they credited her account.
See what I mean? Jerry proves that by being a smart consumer -- holding on to e-mails and documentation that proves your purchase and the deal you got with it -- you can resolve problems on your own. As a credit to Southwest, they looked at Jerry's proof and had the sense to admit right away that they were wrong. It only took Jerry two quick phone calls. Good job to both!
Anyone else out there have a good story to tell about a business? I could use some warm & fuzzy consumer stories to warm my jaded, cold heart!
(AP Photo)
A native of Vietnam, 