Travel agent shares satisfying story of teaching lesson to 'customer from hell.'
We've all experienced annoyances with travel, especially over the last few years. Unexpected cancellations and trouble getting refunds became standard. But some people take it too far. Here's one of those stories.
From TrainingOutcome5466:
'Want to try to embarrass me in front of my clients? Um....you brought this on yourself then.'
So I'm a Travel Agent and have a nice little office where my clients come to meet us or book travel.
One of my clients, we'll call her K, has had issues with everything we have done for her. She booked a trip that was cancelled due to COVID lockdowns in April 2020. Most places were closed and she wasn't flexible about destinations so we couldn't do much and finally offered to refund her the full amount, therefore making no money despite putting in hours of effort.
K has decided that she wants us to give her a free trip because it's our fault she couldn't go on her original trip (again, COVID-19, lockdowns, government regulations). So every week she makes one visit to our office to harass us into getting something for free. It never works but she has been doing this since we issued her a refund.
Last week i was talking to a couple of new potential clients in my office and K comes in. Our waiting area is centrally located and all our cabins are around the waiting area. She saw me busy and started knocking on my door constantly. I had no option but to excuse myself and open the door to tell her to please take a seat as I'm with other clients.
She wouldn't have it and demanded i speak to her about the trip that i cancelled and ruined for her. Now this obviously concerns my new clients and i can see them ready to get up. I decide that I've had enough of her.
I look to my new clients 'would it be okay if K stepped in and i gave her a couple of minutes? Y'all are comfortable so don't need to move. She can use the other chair there.'
New clients shrug because let's be honest, it's a weird situation.
Me: K, please confirm you were supposed to go to [random international destinations] in March 2020?
K: Yes
Me: The airline cancelled your flight due to COVID-19 and did not offer a refund. Am I right?
K: Yes, but...
Me: I'm sorry ma'am please let me finish this verification as I need to make sure I have all the information. I'll certainly hear what you have to say.
K: ...
Me: Did we offer to rebook you on flights to ___, ___, ____, ____, and ____?
K: yes
Me: did you decline those destinations with no explanation?
K: yes
Me: did you reply to any of our emails asking you to let us know what you were looking for on this trip so we could plan the trip for you?
K: Oh I'm sorry I need to head out I forgot I have a meeting
Me: ma'am please give me a couple more minutes. I going want to waste your trip to our office
K: ...ok
Me: when you did not reply to our emails, we issued you a full refund and absorbed the cancellation fees/deposits of your non refundable reservations.
K: yes
Me: ma'am please tell me what you would like us to do? As you know we did not cause the cancellation. The cancellations were beyond our control and we even gave you a refund, losing money ourselves. How can I help you?
K: ...no nothing I'm sorry, have a great day!
Once she left I apologized to my new clients that they had to see this. They were super understanding but my favorite part happened after that. One of the couple said 'Isn't that K? She goes to our church. She's very active.' I immediately go 'Yes. Y'all go to the same church? What a small world!' (Continue reading for the twist?)
Clients end up making a huge reservation and I'm a happy camper!
3 days later, a friend calls and asks what happened with K in my office and I walk her through the entire episode. She laughs and asks 'So did you make her go through this because you knew they both go to my church?'
Me: 'Why yes ofcourse! You referred them both and told me they're from your church. She's been harassing me for months and my employees detest her. She had told us how active she is in church and how much she deserves a vacation so I knew others in your church would know her but she didn't seem to recognize them'
Later found out from my new clients that she loved to berate people to get what she wanted. Turns out she was expecting more money from us for her lost time and efforts. In return, her church now knows how she harassed us and we have gotten a lot of free marketing from this story!