It´s rolling

Siehe da, welch Überraschung, dieses Mal antwortet tatsächlich ein Mensch im Dienste von Air Malaysia.

Dear Mr. Doerken,

Thank you for your feedback in relation to the experience encountered at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) when our flight, MH 16 on
02 April 2011 to Amsterdam was delay.

We understand the inconveniences that you had to go through when our flight was retimed. Our check showed that the flight departed to Amsterdam after 13 hours and 32 minutes delay due to engineering and maintenance works as the flight was detected to have technical problem. Even though we understand that any decision of flight retiming would definitely disrupt our customers’ travel plans, it was inevitable in view of customers’ safety.

Nevertheless, it does not mean we tolerate on the way the situation was handled by our Airport Operations team. The staffs are trained to handle delay situations and are expected to ensure customers are kept informed and assisted, whenever needed. Therefore, it is with deep concern that we note your experience, as it is certainly not in line with our service standards. We note that the retiming of our flight could have been handled more effectively, and recognize that it is the treatment of our customers in these situations that is the key factor in our efforts to provide complete customer satisfaction. To that, your comments have been escalated to the management of the team for their immediate corrective action. As to the late delivery of your luggage, please forward us the report number for our investigation and to determine the compensation you are entitled to, based on the standard operating guidelines.

Mr. Doerken, please accept our sincere apologies for the inconveniences that you had to encounter. In appreciation to your valuable feedback and as a gesture of goodwill, we are pleased to extend 40 percent discount on our Economy Class nett fare to you, for your next travel with us from Perth to Amsterdam and return. This offer is valid for one year from the date of this letter. Bookings and ticketing are to be made with Malaysia Airlines offices only. We would like to also advise that this rebate is not valid on promotional fares, Golden Holidays packages or any travel fairs that Malaysia Airlines may participate in. Should you wish to utilise the offer, please contact our Reservations team in Adelaide at 132 627 for flight reservations. Then, please email us back at >>>@malaysiaairlines.com and copy to customer@malaysiaairlines.com the reference number of the flight reservations to enable us to formalize the issuance of the ticket.

The time taken in sharing your experience with us is appreciated and we hope to serve you better in future.

Yours sincerely
for Malaysia Airlines,

Nur Hafizah Ghazali
Customer Relations Department

This email is sent without prejudice

Hmmm, sie haben auf jeden Fall bemerkt, dass da einiges ziemlich schief gelaufen ist.
Trotzdem, das Wiedergutmachungsangebot finde ich doch ein klein wenig gängelnd.
40 % Rabatt auf einen Flug, allerdings ausschliesslich von Amsterdam nach Perth Roundtrip.
Ausserdem nur über Air Malaysia in Adelaide(!) zu buchen und dann bitte per E-Mail woanders registrieren, das klingt eher nach einer Fortführung der Odyssee.
Mal sehen, ich sende Air Malaysia die Report Number zu, vielleicht bekomme ich ja Schadenersatz für die aus meinem Rucksack verschwundenen Gegenstände.
Anbei.

Dear Nur Hafizah Ghazali,

Thank you for your reply.

The report number for my removed/damaged luggage is
TXLBD11350

Missing items:
North Face Gore Tex Windbreaker Jacket
Adidas Clima Lite Running Shorts
Hickory Clima-active Hiking Pants

Also the backpack itself was damaged, somebody had removed the two stabilizing aluminium bars integrated in the back side of the backpack.

I understand your 40% discount offer is meant as a gesture of goodwill.
Though this offer is limited to one possible destination only, for some reason has to be booked through an Air Malaysia office in Adelaide and then needs to be registered via email somewhere else?
That sounds terribly unflexible and quite bureaucratic.

best regards,
Martin Doerken

(Ich habe auch hier weider die persönlichen E-Mailadressen an mit “>>>” gekennzeichneten Stellen entfernt)

Air Malaysia haben tatsächlich geantwortet, ein anderer Absender, dafür aber wieder der gleiche Inhalt.
Hmmm, das sieht ganz schön maschinell aus. Eine tolle Serviceabteilung, so schön robotisiert.
Anbei die E-Mail:

Date : 27/06/2011

Case Reference : GTS195-05/2011

Dear Martin Doerken,

Thank you for reaching out to Malaysia Airlines and for taking the time and effort to write to us.

We would appreciate it if you could allow us between 3-14 working days to reply to your feedback. I have been assigned to attend to your email and will be responsible for providing a reply on behalf of Malaysia Airlines.

If you have further enquiries and would like to know the status of your feedback, please send your email to >>>

Thank you.

Best Regards,
Tengku Zuraya Tengku Yaccob
Customer Relations
Malaysia Airlines
Email >>>

(Ich habe auchhier weider die persönliche E-Mailadresse des Ansprechpartners an den beiden mit “>>>” gekennzeichneten Stellen entfernt)

Vielleicht sollte ich ja auch einen ähnlichen Auto-Responder ein- bzw anrichten?
Dann schicken sich die beiden E-Mailaccounts schön automatisch gegenseitig Bestätigungen ihrer unpersönlichen Betroffenheit bis in alle Ewigkeit…

Oh, so sinnlos, so postmodern.

Da der Flug von Perth über Kuala Lumpur nach Berlin aus welchen Gründen auch immer sich um ungefähr 14 Stunden verspätet hatte und auch ansonsten kein Versuch unterlassen wurde, die ganze Aktion so unerträglich wie auch nur irgend möglich zu gestalten…
fyi der Schriftverkehr:

Meine E-Mail an den Kundenservice:

Ladies and Gentlemen,

i´m afraid i have to file this complaint because of the incompetence und unfriendliness of some staff of Air Malaysia.

Initially i had booked the following transfer from Perth via Kuala Lumpur via Amsterdam to Berlin.

02APR MH 124 Perth 16:25 Kuala Lumpur 22:05
02APR MH 016 Kuala Lumpur 23:55 Amsterdam 06:35+1
03APR KL1821 Amsterdam 08:10 Berlin Tegel 09:30

Flight MH 016 from KLIA to Amsterdam was cancelled.

Interestingly staff of Air Malaysia already had knowledge of this cancellation even before i boarded the plane in Perth, they just didn´t bother telling me. I definitely wouldn´t have boarded the plane if i had known of these complications.

Arriving in KLIA together with other passengers i waited a long time before an airport security officer eventually gave us the information that flight MH016 had been cancelled, obviously none of Air Malaysia staff were interested in providing that information to their customers. Again.

When i spoke to the Air Malaysia representatives at KLIA a little bit later they tried to shoo me off with a 20 rn food voucher, probably knowing that the minimum price for a meal at KLIA is more than 20 rn.
They seemed to be interested in anything but their customers.
Also they wanted me to wait until the next afternoon to then take a plane to Amsterdam.

I managed to book a different flight to London Heathrow the next morning and a connection to Berlin with British Midland after tiring negotiations with Air Malaysia ground personnel.

When i eventually arrived in Berlin more than 13 hours later than originally expected my luggage had been lost somewhere on the way, and yes, i was not really surprised.

My luggage was delivered to me the next day in the afternoon, unfortunately i had to learn that somebody had stolen the following items from my bag:
North Face Gore Tex Windbreaker Jacket
Adidas Clima Lite Running Shorts
Clima-active Hiking Pants
Also the backpack was damaged, somebody had removed the two stabilizing aluminium bars integrated in the back side of the backpack.

Is this only a series of very unfortunate events?

Looking forward to hearing from you,
your disappointed customer
Martin Doerken

Hier die Antwort von Air Malaysia, gesendet von meinem „persönlichen“ Ansprechpartner, Betreff: Acknowledgement from Malaysia Airlines:

Date : 05/05/2011

Case Reference : GTS195-05/2011

Dear Martin Doerken,

Thank you for reaching out to Malaysia Airlines and for taking the time and effort to write to us.

We would appreciate it if you could allow us between 3-14 working days to reply to your feedback. I have been assigned to attend to your email and will be responsible for providing a reply on behalf of Malaysia Airlines.

If you have further enquiries and would like to know the status of your feedback, please send your email to >>>

Thank you.

Best Regards,
Tengku Zuraya Tengku Yaccob
Customer Relations
Malaysia Airlines
Email: >>>

(Ich habe die persönliche E-Mailadresse des Ansprechpartners an den beiden mit „>>>“ gekennzeichneten Stellen entfernt)

Nachdem ich über einen Monat später immer noch keine Antwort erhalten hatte, dachte ich, es sei an der Zeit noch einmal nachzufragen:

Dear Tengku Zuraya Tengku Yaccob,

You have asked me to be patient and wait 3-14 working days for your reply to my complaint.

„We would appreciate it if you could allow us between 3-14 working days to reply to your feedback. I have been assigned to attend to your email and will be responsible for providing a reply on behalf of Malaysia Airlines.“

That was more than one month ago.
Nothing has happened at all.

I´m afraid i have the impression this is NOT only a series of very unfortunate events.
It seems like your company doesn´t care about its customers, their belongings or well-being.

Still looking forward to hearing from you,
your very disappointed customer
Martin Doerken

Ich bleibe weiterhin gespannt.