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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.
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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
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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.
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.
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
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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
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