First off, thank you, thank you, thank you! I am so grateful for good friends and acts of kindess from those I don’t know. You all make a difference.
Today I posted a link to this blog post on Facebook and Twitter. The reactions were strong and quick. And soon, I had a tweet from Elisabeth Osmeloski (@elisabethos), mentioning that perhaps Christopher Elliott (@elliottdotorg), might be interested in my story. Christopher, who is a “reader advocate for National Geographic Traveler, Tribune Media Services and The Washington Post,” quickly tweeted back with a request for my paper trail to be emailed over. I sent all of my emails and tweets over and before I knew it, he had responded to my email and had tweeted, letting me know he had also contacted Delta on my behalf and further instructions if I had no result.
Well, I got a result. The social media manager for @DeltaAssist, Jerry F., direct messaged me this,
“Hi, I’m the manager of the social media team. Sorry for your trouble. I’ve spoken to my colleague in Baggage. Expect a call shortly. *JF.”
I responded back and thanked him for his help. Once again, while I was frustrated that for several days, @DeltaAssist did not answer any of my tweets, I tend to think they do an amazing job. I greatly appreciate the service they provide and I have not had a negative incident with any of their hard-working social agents.
And then I waited. Would baggage actually call this time? I made sure my phone was not on silent and was also not on “do not disturb.”
Magic. My phone rang. When I answered it, I couldn’t get a word in. Yvonne, from Customer Care went through a barrage of “hello, this is …from delta, customer care, you contacted us, i understand you weren’t happy” and it kept going. I waited for a pause and said “Hi. Yes, I did. How are you doing today?” Yvonne seemed caught off guard that I wanted to do a proper greeting. She replied back and then apologized for the trouble and expressed that they understood double strollers were important and that Delta would be sending me an additional Visa to make up the difference from the original $250 offer. I thanked Yvonne. She gave me her name and direct line in case of any other issues and we hung up. The phone call lasted not quite two minutes. Yvonne was pleasant, but I felt rushed and felt more like Delta just wanted to quiet me rather than address the issues.
I hate to seem like I am beating a dead horse – but – has anything really changed? Don’t get me wrong, I am grateful that I am taken care of. But Delta still has a bogus rule. And what if my social media friends hadn’t come to my rescue? If I was a regular joe schmo who didn’t happen to be on Twitter, the probability of me receiving anything past $250 would have been slim to none. I’m guessing none as after the last email I received from Delta, I also received notification that they were sending my funds. Almost, as if to toss a check at me and run away and indicate that would be the last of our dealings.
Either way, I’m glad a difference was made today for one person. Now what can we do for all of the others? One thing is for sure, I became a big fan of a few new people, Christopher Elliott being one of them. I don’t know if that was the difference or not – but his simple existence and purpose are important and he has gained a new advocate.
Thanks again, friends.
