Otaku, Cedric's weblog: Travelocity stupidity

January 04, 2005

Travelocity stupidity

I was trying to pull the record for my trip last week from Travelocity, which is the site I used to make the reservation. Since I was receiving a "trip not found" on the Web site when I typed the trip ID, I decided to call them. After thirty minutes on hold (thank goodness for headsets), I finally reach a Real Human Being and I explain my problem.

"I am trying to pull the record for a trip I made last week but I can't find it."

"That's normal, it's an old trip."

"You don't keep records of past trips?!?"

"We do, but we don't give access to this functionality."

"Why not?!?"

"It's not needed."

"Well, I certainly need it now, and your competitors and other Web sites keep track of past orders for the convenience of their users..."

"... <silence>... Would you like me to email you a copy of your receipt, sir?"

"Yes, that would be great." <sigh>

Some companies really don't get it.

Posted by cedric at January 4, 2005 06:57 AM

Comments

you should be happy that you got to speak to a reall person and that he/she did not try to sell you something at the end of the conversation

i bet someone with a very complex Excel model has worked out that not making available x old trips for y number of users for z number of days equates to $$$$$$$ savings in hardware and that is of greater worth than the lost of goodwill to the small % of customers who may require to access old trips ;-)

Posted by: at January 4, 2005 10:18 AM

I agree. And the next time you have to go on a trip you wouldnt hesitate for a second to buy a lower priced ticket on travelocity, if one is available.

And what happend to the itenarary they emailed you?

And by the way, since when is Che@p is a bad word. Your blog calls it "questionable" content.

Posted by: at January 5, 2005 12:00 AM

Thoughts on J2EE, Java, AOP and software development in general.

keep focus ! thanks!

Posted by: bob at January 5, 2005 01:44 PM

Another call center in India!

We need to start bringing back the jobs here, and stop this bs overseas.

Posted by: Kelly at January 5, 2005 01:51 PM

I forwarded your post to the folks on Travelocity's site quality team for consideration as an enhancement. Retrieving traveled itineraries - they thought it was a great idea and have added it to the queue for discussion.

Posted by: Gary Potter at January 6, 2005 12:42 PM

i bet someone with a very complex Excel model has worked out that...

if you've worked in a software development environment where feature decisions are that methodical, then i am jealous. in companies big and small i am used to seeing a much more subjective (and at times insane) process.

Posted by: at January 12, 2005 12:49 PM

Any one heard of a process/methodology/bull$#!T called Six Sigma? That involves a lot of Excel to make these kind of decisions.

Posted by: at January 14, 2005 08:59 AM