I still remember preparing for my 1994 German-language-study trip to Austria: I lost count of people who misunderstood that I was going to Australia . Indeed, at a bank in Montreal I was wiring money in Austrian schillings to pay my tuition. Upon seeing that Australian money was Dollars, the teller said to her supervisor, 'C'est pas Australie?' upon which I said, 'Non--c'est l'Autriche!'

I once told someone in Ohio that I was going to fly from PIT to Calgary, Canada. He asked me 'Why fly when you can drive to Canada in 4 hours?'! He had no clue that Calgary was nowhere near Niagara/ Toronto.

------------------
Play the travel game 3 vacations into the future!

 

Every call center should have a large sign posted quoting the words etched on the famous granite boulder that resides in front of Stew Leonard's Dairy Stores, to wit:

"Rule #1 -- The Customer is Always Right"

"Rule #2 - If the Customer is Ever Wrong, Re-Read Rule #1."

While call center associates often are faced with dealing with upset customers, that is part of their job. So long as the customer is not profane nor personally abusive, they should be expected to handle the call professionally and skillfully. That includes at least a basic knowledge of geography when working for a multinational organization.

 

I think by telling someone you don't have time to deal with something and hanging up, most people would consider you to be rude. Being once in the service profession and now in the corporate world (a platinum traveller with Starwood myself) I think many people can attribute the decline in the service industry to their poor attitude. I NEVER have problems that are not immediately taken care of at any Starwood hotel. But I may be one of the few people who don't expect something for nothing like so many other platinum guests do.

 

As for St. Petersburg, there are several cities in the US called St. Petersburg, namely on in Florida. Maybe you should take a little time to learn geography. Also I see nothing rude about the agent asking you if you were sure it's in Russia....it may be a little ignorant, but far from rude.

 

There is a world of difference between:

"Do you mean St. Petersburg, in Russia?" (e.g. as opposed to St. Petersburg in Florida)

and

"Are you sure St. Petersburg is in Russia?"

The first question seeks clarification, and is entirely appropriate and polite. The second question implies that the caller is confused, and reveals a fundamental lack of geographical knowledge on the part of the questioner.

 

For most of my life, there was no St Petersburg and no Russia.

 

I thought you were rude based on your original post and how YOU stated you responded to agents and asked questions...for ex "You gotta be kidding, its Italy!""

not saying agents may need to be better trained but I don't think your attitude was helpful. MANY agents are faced ever day with people who swear up and down they know were they want to go only to find that they want OAKLAND and not AUCKLAND (for ex)

i find in most sitations that if I am patient I can usually make myself and my needs understood without berating the person's lack of knowledge. Some very smart people are bad spellers or not brilliant on geography...and none of us know everything...

Just because someone works for a chain doesnt mean they will know all you would like them to kmnw....you get what you pay for , in my experience, and I doubt the reps make enough to warrant their studying world geography.

And if somene asked me "Are you sure it's in Russia" - I don't know that I would automatically take that as rude....


edited for spelling

[This message has been edited by squeakr (edited 05-07-2003).]

 

This is just another example of:

Employees being either poorly trained, poorly educated, poorly mannered, or a combination of all. Then, when questioned, they immediately turn the tables and "accuse" the accuser of being rude, hostile, etc.

Guys....Russia is that BIG country over there near China. They speak Russian (as well as many other languages), and the currency was the Ruble, although not sure what it is now...St. Petersburg (aka Leningrad??) is a really nice city north of Moscow. Nancy and Ron Reagan were taken there by the Gorbachevs. Milan is a city in Italy. They speak Italian. They used to use Lira, but now are using the Euro. They have amazing food....Milan is also the name of a prison town in Michigan. See? All that and I haven't traveled internationally since 1978, and have never been to Russia.

And, some would think me rude for pointing this out, but I would expect reservations agents who represent businesses in those very places to have a RUDIMENTARY knowledge of them.

To wit, I would point out that ignorance of the agents is inexcusable. If they didn't know the answer to the posters questions, they should have put the caller ON HOLD, and gotten someone who knew. And then, get ahold of an atlas. And maybe a Frommers guide.

 

I think we have legitimate difference in opinion here and to me, it's appalling to see agents with so little knowledge of what it's required for their job. In my view, a working knowledge of your company's business is essential for any employees. However, the corporate culture in the U.S. is such that employees are not expected to know everything and doesn't have to. I tend to agree with that. However, I must point out that in other cultures such as German or Japanese, this would be unacceptable. I remember recently when I was in Japan, calling the SPG Platinum line in Tokyo is like light years ahead of the services provided in the U.S. and thousands of light years ahead of the European call centers. Not only you don't need to wait, you don't need to punch in any numbers as you are directly connnected to a professional, courteous and very polite dedicated agent. You think there is a chance they won't know where Milan is? Not a chance, they would be fired or be so ashamed of themselves even if they weren't. You know it's same comapny we are talking about - SPG or Starwood.

Why has the North American standard rarely being associated with high world standard recently? It's because of the attitude of many agents who aren't services oriented. A company doesn't need to hire a very smart person to do a good job. Intelligence is irrelevant, we are not talking about letting monkeys do a human's job. We only need an average and hard working employee who is willing to learn and who most likely have taken geography lessons in high school or sometimes in his life and who has some basic ability of spelling. There is always a minimum standard and I think the original request wasn't unreasonable.

And there is no point in making the case larger than it is - the agent wasn't subjected to a whole series of geography test, it was simply one or two basic questions that they failed to demonstrate some really basic understanding. It's far from expecting them to know everything. Imagine this, if the agent has trouble with the word Milan, what do you think is the chance the same person will have with Palma Mallorca, Rayavede, Sapporo, Xian and etc. The fact they are working for SPG means they should at least have a high school diploma which means they should have some basic knowledge of world geography and ability to spell simple words without help. Otherwise, why go to school? Their incompetences is causing delays to answering the calls so instead of being able to service say 10 clients an hour, they serve only 5 - thus costing the company money due to time loss and infuriating some very important customers. And these customers pay a lot of money so for what they pay for, they get very little.

 

My point precisiely, MatthewClement!

 

Guava,

I could not say this better!

It is great to see that people do recognize this moronic and ignorant behaviour of incompetent res agents as something to be ashamed of (for the agents), instead of making excuses for these i.iots, something that slowly becoming a norm for more and more people countrywide (Can't spell Milan? Use the spell check! Can't find Austria? Ask the computer! Not sure there is St Petersburg in Russia? Question the customer's intelligence! Computer is down? Well, for the lack of brains, mutter something incomprehensible and make a fool out of yourself!......these seem to be guidelines that some (Im sure its a complete minority, as I do recognize Starwood as a great hotel company that would not hire i.diots or these i.iots would be fired or quit shortly) agents to follow in the moments of "brain overloads", that would include any moment when The Great Computer is not cooperating with their often incorrect queries, and they don't possess enough intelligence to figure things out themselves.

In any event, I am happy to report that most Starwood agents are absolutely great to do business with, and the only advise I can give to Starwood is to better screen the new hires.

 

asnovici,

You asked "dauncey39" how he/she decided that you were rude. And you claimed to be "an extremely gentle and polite individual". Yet how would you describe someone who has made the following statements to or about someone that they don't know:

"I'm sorry, I don't have time for this"

"You gotta be kidding, it's Italy!"

"I don't have time right now, I'm sorry I'll have to call back"

"moronic and ignorant behaviour"

"incompetent res agents"

"for the lack of brains"

"they don't posses enough intelligence to figure things out themselves"

Will I agree with you that some of the agents are a little inexperienced - yes! Will I agree that as a whole that we as Americans are not very good at geography - yes! But I would also have to agree with dauncey39 after reading the statements you've made in this column. You do not come across as someone who "would like to avoid arguements if at all possible". In fact the opposite would appear to be true. IMHO

[This message has been edited by jmoreita (edited 05-07-2003).]

 

jmoreita,


i dont think the argument here is about who is "gentle" and who is not. I think the initial concern was with the several agents that I encountered and them being :

and yes, I will stand by my subjective definitions based on their actions and attitude:

-i.iotic
-moronic
-incompetent
-clueless
-ignorant

As a customer, I would like to be treated with respect, and not have my intelligence questioned by the "customer service" individuals. I would also like for the people that took on responsibility of helping customers to make travel arrangements to be knowlegeable in geography, know how to spell, be polite, and use their brains (when the Great and Mighty Computer is not helping them). That is NOT too much to ask. That is a bare minimum. The agents are there to help customers, not to shamelessly parade their lack of education and common sense.


If these agents cannot do their job, they either get fired or quit, as I stated before, and no, being an American is not an excuse, jmoreita, in fact that should NOT be used as an excuse, as it degrades all the Americans that are good in geography, know how to spell, and use their brains.

I personally find your excuse of agents being American offensive, as I know that nationality has little to do with being professional in whatever you do.

[This message has been edited by asnovici (edited 05-07-2003).]

[This message has been edited by asnovici (edited 05-07-2003).]

 

deleted

[This message has been edited by asnovici (edited 05-07-2003).]

 

I'm not trying to excuse bad customer service. I am frustrated all the time with cr**py CS reps in a variety of industries and it drives me nuts. My point really is (now that I think about it) that I don't then blame the 7/hr CSR for not kmowing their job.If an itnernational rez agent doesn't know where Milan is, or doesn't take the time to be polite, then my assumption with a company like Starwood is that they have done a cost benefit analysis and figures out it's cheaper to p**s off a few platinums then to pay decently and train people well.

Not that there aren;t individual bad apples. But if agents who should kmow geography for a hotel chain don't, then I think it's a corporate decision to some extent.

AND I still think patience and a good attitude helps.

FWIW, I roomed w/ a woman a couple of years ago who worked the plat concierge desk for AMEX as a part time job. She spoke 4 languages and was y pleasant, but she was paid min wage, no overtime even for 10-12 hour shifts, and had to field calls quickly and efficiently and never say no. She knew nothing about restaurants, hotels, or geography and after the first few weeks, she didn't bother to learn much . It was really sad to see this bright person who liked people and initially felt lucky to have the job, burn out on the stress and lack of training....