Originally Posted By WilliamK99 <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24711659/" target="_blank">http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24711659/</a> This is brilliant, a company is exercising their rights to ban avid complainers from sailing on their cruise ships. I am hoping other companies start doing the same thing. In this case it wasn't one or two complaints, it was numerous complaints over numerous trips, so the company banned them! DCA is about to get a whole lot less crowded once Disney starts doing this, I can see Darkbeer and the other DCA haters getting banned quick ;o)
Originally Posted By X-san Their complaints actually sound reasonable to me (and obviously the cruise line agreed, giving them compensation). Sounds like the issue is more to the fact that they complained online and also revealed the extent of their compensation. That wouldn't work for Disney anyway. It's not like they can identify every patron as they walk into the parks (AP holders should watch out though lol).
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Another reason why our world and society sucks. Can we ban me from it!
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost >>>Their complaints actually sound reasonable to me (and obviously the cruise line agreed, giving them compensation).<<< Real world check time. Many service related companies do this to make a problem go away. It has been my experience that the person awarding the compensations thinks that they are dealing with wing nuts from the word go, so they are given "gifts" to basically keep them quiet. Sometimes that works, other times if you gave them the whole ship it wouldn't matter because the complain because of what they get for it. This whole society of "entitled people" are seeing the profit in being a pain in the butt. It is expensive for the companies and if it happens enough and a pattern starts to develop it becomes obvious that it is all for show. You take care of customers to insure continued business. Customers that cost you money every time they go near you are not required. They hurt the bottom line and defeat the purpose of customer service. I applaud this action. I wish more would do it. Then you would be dealing with taking care of real problems and not those that see a free ride and take advantage of it. I am embarrassed by how dishonest some of my fellow human beings are. I see no difference in this and outright theft. Problems happen and I would like to meet the individuals that have never screwed up and caused some problem for someone. The meat of the situation is not that a problem existed, but, how it was taken care of. You don't have to be in public relations very long before you can get a real sense of who is scamming and who isn't. Unfortunately, until recently it didn't matter. The customer is always right. Yea, and I am a dead ringer for Brad Pitt.
Originally Posted By sherrytodd Professional complaining can be very profitable. It's a scam and it hurts people who have real valid complaints. That's what these people sound like.
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 Now that they have been publicily outed, I doubt they will be able to scam any other business. I love how they contacted the media to garner sympathy but instead were made out to be greedy bastards by the press and blogger community.
Originally Posted By LadyKluck Sprint did this a year or so ago as well. They cancelled the accounts of a thousand people or so because the customers were calling in and complaining/being rude to reps on a consistent basis. I know that we (T-Mobile) do it on occasion too, but mainly with people that are extremely rude, threatening, violent, etc. to the reps on a consistent basis. (Just got one on the phone the other day in fact - and like true form he began cussing & threatening me with bodily harm if I didn't resume his service.) >>>>I applaud this action. I wish more would do it. Then you would be dealing with taking care of real problems and not those that see a free ride and take advantage of it.<<< I agree 100% - working in customer care and dealing with people who feel they are "entitled" on a daily basis takes up WAY more of my time that I could actually be helping people with real issues. Its sad that people have gotten to be that way - almost like Pavlov's (sp?) Dogs. They've learned that all they have to do is complain enough and someone will just give them what they want just to get them to shut up.
Originally Posted By sherrytodd I work as an insurance adjuster and when you get one of these complainers it is intolerable. They will start screaming at you from the get-go and I've had many of them call up the management chain and make up stories about me. Fortunately, it typically backfires on them, because as soon as someone starts to become a problem, we kick in with the legal sense and everything gets doubly documented and they will get only what they are owed and nothing more and this tends to slow down the process and their payment. The thing is, they think that they are the first person who has ever done this, but enough people do it, that we can recognize the trend when it happens. Plus every conversation that we have is documented so it will typically contradict what these people say. When I am dealing with someone who is nice, friendly and honest, it is usually a better experience and since I'm not having to cross all my t's and dot my i's I have a little more leeway to make things a better experience for people.
Originally Posted By SuperDry I liked how they were big proponents of their "free speech" rights but then got a taste on the receiving end of another right: the right of a private business owner to refuse service. As LadyKluck and others have shared, it really is quite amazing how terrible some people can act in a customer service situation. Plus, there is definitely a number of people in society that uses complaining to try to gain maximum advantage out of every situation. Unfortunately, service businesses must be defensive against such situation or things quickly get out of control, even if the number of people abusing the situation is small in percentage terms. Also, there is the notion of sometimes the product or service just not being the right one for the customer, but rather than the customer finding something else, they keep coming back and complaining each time. There have been stories in the media about retailers of various sorts "firing" customers, at least at the return counter. When a customer is identified as a habitual returner, they get notified that although their future business is welcome, no returns will be permitted on any future purchase. I'd much rather that it be handled this way instead of changing the return policy to be onerous for all customers.
