Who is This??

A woman calls up in a snit. She says she is late and cannot board the plane. The agent tries to find her information but nothing comes up. The woman starts to yell at her, telling her she is stupid, says she booked it through our company and cannot believe we can't find her information. Problem is, she mentioned the name of the wrong company! The agent lets her know who she actually dialed. The woman stops yelling, there is a long pause, and she quickly hangs up. Gotta love the customers.

Have you been to the South of France?

A caller calls up and wants to know if the agent has been to the South of France. He is wanting to book a hotel, so he wants a personal recommendation. OK, well, first of all with the income we have as agents there is no way we can afford to go to France. The south of France? Just a fantasy. The agent, ever polite person that he is, says no, he has not been there but he is familiar with the area and he would be happy to help him find a great hotel to stay in. To which the customer says "Well, I used to live there so I need someone who is a little more than "familiar" with the area".

So why are you not "familiar" with the area? Were you in a coma while you lived there?

Where are you Located?

I guess the newest thing in call centers is to train the agents to have American accents. I guess so many people have fussed about calls to foreign countries that they have attempted to disguise that fact that the calls are going overseas.

One agent recently got a call from someone who right away wanted to know where he was from and seemed to want to "test" him to see if he really was in the USA.

The agent told him he was in Greensboro, North Carolina to which the customer replied "Oh, I have relatives in Columbia, North Carolina!" The agent replied, "I've never been there, but I have been to the BMW plant in Columbia SOUTH Carolina." That seemed to win him over.

Oh My...

The customer has frequent flier miles she would like to use for a flight. She also has reward points with her credit card. Therefore she wants to book two separate reservations so she can take advantage of both options. I stress to her over and over the pitfalls of that idea, she may not be able to get the same flight for both reservations if done separately, she may not be able to get seats next to each other, the price may change, any number of scenarios. She has me look up the flights and apparently she is dyslexic because she transposed the flight numbers. So again I stress the pitfalls of her idea and try to convince her to book both flights with me. She doesn't want to do that, but she is insisting she needs the seats together. Again, I tell her that may not be possible. Then she tells me it has to be that way because she is booking the reservation for her and her 4 year old!!!

Too Cheap to Travel

A customer needs a hotel room in Las Vegas for one night. He tells me he has a test to take there, so he is questioning why he should have to pay the resort fee. I look up the hotel, it's a three star hotel, on the strip, and it's on sale for $32. He is wanting me to see if the hotel will waive the resort fee of a huge whopping $13 dollars. If only we could get him to run for President....

Definition of Stupid

The definition of a truly stupid person is doing the same thing over and over and somehow expecting a different result to happen. If you have selected a hotel or a flight or a car and each time it comes back with a message that it is no longer available, then it is no longer available. If you call me and I get the same message that you got, does it make any sense at all to ask me to "try again"? Stop with your grown up tantrum and select another hotel, car or flight. Save yourself from looking like a moron.

It's Too Late, Baby

A woman called up and complained about being transferred eight times in the past hour. She had spoken to a specific agent yesterday, received a quote on a trip and wanted that agent and that price, again. After probing questions I realized why she had been transferred multiple times. The rate was TRIPLE what it was yesterday. She was indignant and wanted me to pull up the information again, same as the other EIGHT agents, who by the way all had the exact same price. Can you say obsessive/compulsive? Shoulda booked it YESTERDAY!!!

Ski Dude

Most people will avoid a layover at all cost. So I was surprised to have someone ask for the longest possible layover in Salt Lake City, Utah. I suggested maybe making his flight a multi-destination and get a hotel for the evening but he didn't want that. I found a flight with a layover of a little over three hours. Boy, was he happy! So obviously, I asked him why he wanted such a long layover. Turns out he wanted to go skiing in Park City, Utah. He somehow got in his mind that he could get from the airport to Park city, to the ski resorts, get in a few runs and get back to the airport to catch his connecting flights. The thing is Salt Lake City, like most cities, has the airport on the outskirts of town. And like most cities in the west, Salt lake is spread out over a large geographic area. In this case it also happens to be on the opposite side of the valley from Park City. Park City, like most ski towns is nestled in the valley. The ski resorts are above the town in the mountains. It's also very popular and very busy. I tried to explain to him why this wouldn't work: By the time he gets off the plane and finds transportation to the lifts, he still has a ride of at least 40 minutes to get to Park City (remember the airport is on the opposite side of the valley). Then he would need to wait in line for the lift tickets. Then wait again to rent the ski equipment. Add another wait for the lifts and you already have well over an hour, minimum. You might get a couple of runs in before you'd need to reverse the process to get back to the airport. If he missed his flight and had to reschedule it would require a re-booking fee which is substantial. If he is going to pay a re-booking fee he might as well stay in Park City for the night and just get a hotel. I did my best to explain this to him but he would not listen. So how do I know this? Well, I lived in Utah for many years and part of that time was in Park City. Even though I don't ski I made a fortune babysitting for neighbors who did. I heard over and over how busy it is and how much time it takes to get to the slopes. This is by far the most ridiculous scenario I have heard to date.

PLEASE! Rip me off

A customer calls in wanting to book a hotel in Connecticut. OK. I can do that. But you called from a crowed restaurant. Did it not occur to you that you would need to give your credit card number, the security code and your full billing name and address? Even with the best identity protection in the world you have no idea if you are sitting within earshot of a serial killer or at the very least a prolific burglar. Not to mention how rude it is to be on you phone while dining it's very difficult to hear you with so much commotion going on around you. Can you not wait until you get home or at least get to a quiet area?