Customer disservice | Complaints

The Form Letter

I received e-mail from the individual who signed his name to this, stating that he no longer works for United and that the letter was his original creation. He has asked me to remove the letter (along with his name) from my web pages. However, a quick glance at the letter that another disatisfied customer received from a different customer relations representative of United (many months before I received mine) reveals that this is not true. Obviously, United receives too many letters of complaint to answer each personally, so they have to send generic form letters in reply.

In any case, to comply with the sender's request, I have simply removed his name, (let's just call him "M"), and paraphrased the portions that were not identical to the older letter. As for whether or not the letter to me was an "original creation," you can be the judge. I've reproduced the two letters here, side-by-side.

July 24, 1996

Dear Mr. Cooperstock:

Thank you for writing to us about your recent flight experience. We are sympathetic to the inconvenience and dissatisfaction caused by flight problems. Please accept our apology for the unacceptable service you report.

We fully recognize the importance of on-time performance to you, and we don't question any customer's unhappiness with flight irregularities. It's unfortunate that a number of factors sometimes result in our having to delay or cancel a flight. Please know that our top management closely monitors our daily performance, and demands prompt attention to those problems which are avoidable.

Paraphrase of following three sentences:
United is concerned by your report and your criticism will be helpful to us. Please accept the enclosed as an expression of our appreciation for your support.

Paraphrase of following sentence:
We will do our best to meet your expectations of excellent service in the future.

Sincerely,

"M"
Customer Relations

REF #: 0220779A
"M"/csc
Enclosure

January (?), 1996

Dear Liam O'Shea:

Thank you for writing to us about your flight to Osaka on October 1. We are sympathetic to the inconvenience and dissatisfaction caused by flight problems. Please accept our apology for the unacceptable service you report.

Please accept the enclosed as an expression of our appreciation for your support. As proud owners of United Airlines, we will do our utmost to meet your expectations of excellent service when you travel with us in the future.

Sincerely,

Michael G. Antikauskas
Customer Relations

Enclosed with the reply letter were two vouchers for $100 (less than 10% of our original ticket price) toward travel on United Airlines flights, made out to myself and Vinita D'Souza. I'm told this is fairly standard in the industry. In this case though, asking me to spend several hundred dollars on another United flight as a way of expressing their desire to serve me well, just doesn't cut it.

Now check out the envelope

This is really funny, because for a company that "recognizes the importance of on-time performance" (see the text of their reply letter), you would think they would mail a letter shortly after writing it. But no, the letter is dated July 24, 1996 and the postmark is stamped August 22, 1996.

The postmark enlarged