So, as many of you know, I work in a call center working for an online travel site (won’t say which one, but it’s not hard to figure out). I must say I never realized how dumb people really can be until I started here!!! I can’t tell you how many calls I’ve had that people misspell their own names on airline tickets!!! One man, in particular called in to get his money back because the airline wouldn’t allow him to board the plane, but he entered the passenger name as “Rrrr T Nnnn”!!!!! His name was Waled something or another, certainly not all consenants! I basically had to tell him he can call the a/l, but when they couldn’t help, he was SOL. What a dummy! I had one kid call saying he booked a ticket for his mother, but didn’t put in her legal name, he said he put in her nickname, and wanted to know if that would be a problem, and of course it was if it wasn’t on her license!! DUH!!!! My favorite, however, is when people think they’re just looking at prices for tickets or hotel rooms AFTER they enter in the credit card information!!!!! Even I, and I’m not the sharpest at times, know you don’t have to enter in the credit card information to price shop.
Now, when you name your own price on a hotel, you don’t get the option to select your hotel, you just put in the criteria (area, dates, star level) and it selects a hotel for you. I literally had one woman call because she had said she read bad reviews for her hotel, which happened to be a one-star!!! She must not have realized that you’re lucky if you get clean sheets w/ that star level!!!! And one thing I can’t get over is when people use name your own price (NYOP) for their honeymoons!!! Now, I’m all about getting the best rate, but would you really wanna take a chance on such an occasion???? I’ve had people call me upset that the hotel they got for their anniversaries are in bad parts of town, or just downright nasty, again, why would you book a 2-star for an anniversary??? I, personally, would rather stay home!
Last night, I had, by far, the strangest call I’ve ever had. A woman called (she had an accent, I could tell she was Asian), and was so upset that the hotel she received on NYOP (looked like a beautiful 4-star hotel) only had their standard rooms facing a cemetery! I advised she close the blinds, but she said it was a psychological issue!! Her husband then got on the line, and he then decided to tell me that her not wanting to be near a cemetery is a cultural difference. I did later look it up, and in some cultures, it is an issue, but the hotel was in Hong Kong!!!! Now, the hotel did offer her an opportunity to upgrade her room so she would be on another side of the building, but she didn’t feel she should be expected to pay more. Let’s just say we didn’t exactly see eye to eye! Anyhoo, the reservations are oh so restricted, and unless it’s pretty much life or death, we can’t cancel or change the reservation, of which customers think they can argue their way out of the contracts, and they really can’t!!!! I have only been called a dumbass and a bitch once, but I’ve heard agents get verbally abused, and it just makes you wonder who these people think they are!!! I would much rather deal with people on a face-to-face basis because people feel they are still fairly anonymous over the phone, and I know people wouldn’t act in that manner if they were in front of you!!! Lately, I’ve been getting the customers asking how it is that I sleep at night working for such a lousy company, and I have been dying to say “just fine, I roll right over” and to be honest, I don’t think about this job whatsoever when I walk out the door! When I went to the doctor, I was so suprised my blood pressure was normal, because there are some customers that get to me, and then a few minutes later, I’m fine, but this job has worn me down, I think I’ve become less sympathetic toward people, and that’s not a good thing, but as soon as I find another job where people aren’t so rude and blame me for their errors, I think I’ll be back to my normal, nice self….pray I find that job REAL SOON!!!!
I, honestly do think the NYOP option is great, as long as you don’t make any errors (they can be quite costly), and are EXTREMELY FLEXIBLE as to when you can travel, or where you stay!!!! I’m actually going to try to get my dad a hotel using it when he comes into town, and if I end up not liking where he ends up, I can find a way out of it lol.
TIP FOR USING NYOP: READ THE CONTRACT PAGE, IT’S NOT LONG, BUT IT DOES TELL YOU EVERYTHING!!!
Schmidt Happens 