It would only have taken a phone call.

I’ve been married for 30 years and we recently went away for a long weekend to celebrate!

We had a wonderful trip and if you had asked me yesterday I would have said I thought the hotel was great too. We had excellent service and when we left, the concierge assured us that the 50 Euro deposit they had taken on arrival would be reimbursed within 3 working days.

I left confident in the knowledge that I would have the money back on my card by the end of the week. Sadly it wasn’t. So I rang and at their request followed up with an email detailing all the information required. The gentleman on the phone told me he would look into it immediately and get back to me.

I waited 24 hours and when I hadn’t heard I emailed them again. Then I got an email saying that they had contacted the credit card company and asked them to resolve the problem as it is they who hadn’t done what they need to do, not the hotel. (Obviously that’s not how they phrased it but that was the gist).

Now (perhaps irrationally) I am more annoyed that I had to chase them for this information than I am, that I haven’t had my money refunded. I understand that they have done their bit and it’s not their fault … but I’m still irritated that they didn’t think it was important enough to let me know.

All it would have taken is a call or an email to say they were sorting it.  The email I received tells me all I need to know and who to follow up with … but they didn’t send it to me when I would have felt a valued customer … they made me ask twice. And now, yes it was a good hotel and a fun trip but would I give them 10/10 for service … probably not … and all for the want of a quick call or email.

If you have customers and want to be considered different then let them know what is happening … always ring back … whether you have news or not … and definitely if there is bad news! Don’t make them ask twice. I would rather know that it is still on someone’s to-do list than imagine that they have forgotten about me.

Let me know if you agree that being left hanging is one of the customer service cardinal sins … or is there something that you think is worse?