« "Brush My Hair" | Main | Improved customer service from Kayak.com »
March 21, 2008
Simply awful customer service from Kayak.com
Apparently, Kayak.com thinks reprising MAD Magazine's "Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions" is the best model for their corporate blog:
Feedback of the Week (New!)by Tyler
Did your teachers always tell you there’s no such thing as a dumb question? Yeah, us too…but sometimes you have to wonder what people are thinking when they leave feedback on a site.
Now, every Friday you can check out the “Feedback of the Week” and see what users are saying, thinking, and need help with from Kayak.com…leave a comment and let’s see how YOU would answer!
Here’s the first installment:
“We are RETIRED, Flight dates are NOT important to us ONLY THE PRICE IS!
Please make it possible to search “within a window” say; in the month of April, OR From April 15 to May 15. I believe you do a lot of people a pleasure.
Please reply by E-mail
Thank you”Now is your chance to show us how we should be answering feedback! Leave a comment below.
Liz has blogged about this over at Cracking Foxy, but here's the comment I left in response to Tyler's post, just in case it doesn't pass Kayak's moderation:
I'm more than a little shocked that you'd insult your customers like this instead of thanking them for their suggestion. I'm a veteran of several startups, and many great ideas sprang from observing how our users interacted with the products we'd offered in ways we hadn't anticipated.You may not know this, but many retired people live on fixed incomes. Since they're not working, travel price is more important than the travel date. I'm guessing Kayak's API would easily accommodate this feature. One suggestion: have Kayak's product marketing team create a keyword-rich landing page with calls to action for retirees who are seeking a winter getaway or a trip to see grandchildren.
Travel searches that are pegged only to a time window could provide value for many people -- why are you making fun of them?
If you're going to represent Kayak on this corporate blog, please do a little research about community-based marketing and product management. The suggestions and requests you don't anticipate can lead you in positive directions, if you have the ability to listen. This is a valuable teaching moment for you -- I hope you can admit your mistake and learn from it.
Sorry if this comes off as sanctimonious, but I'm really staggered by your tone.(disclaimer: I share an IP address with someone else who's left a comment.)
Posted by Your Protagonist at March 21, 2008 04:18 AM