A visit to Verizon’s website one day when I was furious with them, provided the inspiration for this series of postings. It was there that I saw “Customer Service Innovation” and immediately thought “Lip Service Innovation” more apropos. I post my customer service experiences here in the hopes that other businesses can avoid committing similar offenses.

And for those of you thinking of pledging great customer service, as Verizon did, you may want to read my article, “Keep Your Mission to Yourself!”

Transgression #1:

I have reservations to fly Northwest Airlines to Minneapolis in 2 days. I recently received an email from NWA promoting a great sale for the holidays. I decided to run a price check against my ticket, just out of curiosity. I thought it interesting to see that NWA was running flights in both directions very close to mine. Then I noticed that one of the two had the same flight number as mine. I investigated further.

Both of my flights had been moved up 20 and 30 minutes, respectively. One had even changed flight numbers. I don’t like surprises like this. When do you suppose they are planning to tell me?

The scenarios I picture that involve losing up to 30 minutes upon arrival at the airport are not pretty. They range from physical discomfort due to missed restroom and snack opportunities to a destroyed vacation were I to miss my plane.

Through sheer luck, I am thankful that this complaint is all about the scenarios I envision after thwarting any surprise, and not dreadful tales of actual consequences.

It is possible Northwest sent me an email informing me of the change. If they did, I didn’t get it. In my book, communication requires both transmission and reception of information. It is a two-way deal.

Today’s Lesson: If, after taking a customer’s money, you decide to deliver anything other than what they paid for, it is totally your responsibility to ensure they are informed AND given the option to bow out and get their money back. I don’t care what kind of disclaimers you post on your website or in your literature. I don’t care if you are a beleaguered airline.