American Airlines sent another response, this time much much better. And to think, all it took to get them to treat me decently (not well, but I’ll touch on that in coming days) was either speaking with 4 people, or the appearance of this Debacle on Google Alerts.
The response:
The representative whom you have been corresponding with is out of the office. We don’t want to keep you waiting, and I am pleased to assist you.
I tend to believe that everyone is entitled to an exception to what is standard policy on rare occasions. I understand what the last agents have replied with what we have been taught are our standard guidelines throughout the Aadvantage program. There comes a time when we have to set rules and guidelines aside, and just do what is best for our customer, and ourselves. Please reply to this message with some information so I can assist you.
I need the credit card number that the 50.00 was charged on, the name exactly how it appears on the credit card, and I need the MSR number. This number will begin with a 001 followed by either a 06 or a 07 long 10 ten digit number. You should be able to retrieve this off your credit card statement or call the credit card company they can provide it for you. Once I have that information, I will process the request for a refund. It does take 1-2 billing cycles, and unfortunately there is no way to expedite that for you. I am sorry.
I do need to explain that in future events that fees are to be waived, we will not be able to assist you if the fees fall under standard policies. It is my pleasure to be able to assist you at this time though. You have been a long time customer, and I personally would like to say thank you for your loyalty you show American Airlines.
Thank you for participating in the AAdvantage program. We appreciate your business.
Regards,
Stephen F.
AAdvantage Customer Service
American Airlines
Good response – personal, appreciative, and acknowledging that there is a time to set aside the standard policies. I’d like to see a better way to refund the money, but a refund and this mail makes me feel pretty good. I’ll be following in the coming days about my thoughts on the subject – namely the reaction that other readers have had to this story (including calling me a liar, self-centered, and otherwise clueless).
This mail arrived while I was on a flight (AA, by the way) to NYC. So that puts resolution time at about 5.5 days, I’d give the resolution a grade of C+ overall – acceptable, and even passing. Not wonderful, certainly not amazing, but completely acceptable. Basically, I won’t cut and run, but I’ve not yet made up my mind to stop questioning my future loyalty.
I will pass along a bit of praise for AA, however. Good job to both the ticket agent and security line agent today who both asked me for my license extension. I’m waiting on my new license to arrive in the mail, and since it didn’t come in time for this trip, I have my passport as a supplement. I was very happy to see that both times it came up, the AA employees were spot on in their checking. Great work.
