United Airlines Closes Customer Complaint Phones in India

Will wonders never cease? The people have spoken - consumers are dissatisfied when talking to US companies unreasonable Customer Relations representatives in India...and United Airlines heard them!United is dropping the Customer Relations Phone Center in India. They will no longer publish a customer complaint telephone number. Callers to United for compliments or complaints must write or e-mail. I guess I'm not the only person to call United and come away frustrated.

Now, maybe Microsoft and Chase Bank, my personal choices for discontinuing farming out a service that requires detailed explanation - to a repetitive, think-stuck, slow thinking company representative that has no personal points of reference when we speak - and, is reading from a script - reading from a different script, trying to sell a new product in between - repeating the first "there is nothing we can do, sir" ( I usually comment...I'm a lady...at least I was when this phone call began.". ..that doesn't get a laugh...we do not have a sense of humor trigger in common!) Now, after the levity breather...the script is read in it's entirety...over and over...gasp,gasp,gasp...

...after that angry sentence, I'm gasping for breath just the way I breath with difficulty when talking to a Customer Relations Center in India. United listened to customers and did something...will others follow United's lead?

I hope this only the first of a rash of businesses that realizes that putting people that think and communicate with the detail conscious point of view of a different culture, rather than the "let's cut to the chase" American point of view, on the other end of a telephone complaint or service question is a disaster for the consumer. And overall, whatever is saved in cheaper salaries is lost when customers flee to a company that has reasonable phone representatives.

So, this is a #5 "surprises happen" Personal Day for me...and Castro came back to life to comment that Rahm Emanuel has a "strange surname." Ultra rich fashionistas are having swap parties...that's clothes they're sharing this year. Madoff is still living in his NY penthouse. And, today, I saw a positive change. Will wonders never cease?