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Hampton Inn & Suites Complaint - Rude desk clerk - Customer service
Customer service - Complaint
We recently traveled to Waterville ME and I had booked my reservations there. We have stayed there on 2 other occasions without any problems other than very thin walls. When my daughter and I arrived after a long 6 hour car trip, we went into an empty lobby. The desk clerk, Doreen, was on the phone and did not look up or acknowledge us in any way. She clearly saw us but apparently was choosing to ignore us. She was on the phone attempting to rectify some problem with a "very upset guest" (per the manager's explanation via email after my complaint). She proceeded to stay on the phone for 25 minutes- yes I did time it as it was so incredibly rude- my daughter and I actaully had to go sit down in the lobby chairs. I finally approached her to ask how much longer and was told "just a minute". At this point I told her to cancel my reservation and she said "have a nice day" as we left. So besides being thoroughly rude to the customer standing directly in front of her, it was also obvious from her conversation that she couldn't assist this other person and said so several times. She kept telling her to call the manager on Monday but then would launch into another attempt to solve a reservation issues for April and September for this person. My complaint to the manager generated an email that defended the desk clerk as she was dealing with a "very upset guest" and then the majority of the email was about valuing customer service and was obviously not personalized but a cut and paste response- totally unsatifactory. I return emailed her again- no answer.
Comments:
Posted by littleyaya on 2010-03-26:
Did you want the desk clerk to hang up on a customer just because you walked in? She was clearly on the phone with an angry customer and her hands were tied at the moment. If you were the one on the phone, you would have gotten upset if the clerk put you on hold to help someone else.
Posted by MRM on 2010-03-26:
Yaya, have you heard of the incident in Phoenix where the SUV plows into several motorcycles? What caused them to plow into them? Did he have medical condtion or just plain crazy?
Posted by goduke on 2010-03-26:
That's just not a fair complaint against the front desk person. And a bit selfish. I voted NH.
Posted by beanbagbritches on 2010-03-26:
Actually, it might have been a good idea to put an irate person on hold to allow her/him to calm down while helping someone who needed to check in. You can go back to the call when the customer has gone & have a little more time to assist the person.
Posted by i_am_canadian on 2010-03-26:
This is a hard one to call in my opinion. At every retail store or hotel I've worked in, if the phone rings and your'e assisting a customer standing in front of you, that customer continues to get your full attention. The person on the phone can leave a message or call back. I think she could have been a little more considerate, perhaps after a few minutes told the person on the phone, 'I have other guests to assist at the moment sir or ma'am, you are more than welcome to call back and speak to our manager at XX date and time.'
People in my experience despise waiting on hold, so this is the only solution I can think of that would satisfy everyone.
I've had excellent experiences with Hampton Inn so I would advise you to give them another chance, don't let this one incident sour your opinion.
People in my experience despise waiting on hold, so this is the only solution I can think of that would satisfy everyone.
I've had excellent experiences with Hampton Inn so I would advise you to give them another chance, don't let this one incident sour your opinion.
Posted by KingJames on 2010-03-26:
this is a tough one. for doreen. dependent on how upset the customer on the phone was, the she may have sensed she best not put him/her on hold. but, she indeed should have handled the situation better. could have been as simple as telling the person on the phone that she had a customer in the lobby and needed to pause for a second to explain it would be a while. to not acknowledge someone standing in front of you is quite frankly very poor customer service in my opinion. momxx3, I'd have been upset too. looks to me like all you were looking for was a simple acknowledgement that dorren saw you, and would be with you when she could. sounds fair enough to me. good review.
Posted by SloMo on 2010-03-26:
MRM, It wasn't a SUV, it was a truck.
Posted by MRM on 2010-03-26:
Slo, thanks for the correction, it was a garbage truck. What I didnt hear from the report is why did the truck to plow into the motorcycles?
Posted by i_am_canadian on 2010-03-26:
If a person on the phone has been monopolizing your time for 25 minutes, chances are they've run out of anything relevant to say and are now just ranting mindlessly. Politely refer them to your manager, disengage yourself from the call and assist the customer in the lobby. That would be the right thing to do.
Posted by SloMo on 2010-03-26:
No one knows yet why. When I was riding motorcycles, I had a lot of close calls involving cars and trucks. One of the reasons why I parked it.
Posted by momsey on 2010-03-26:
This IS a fair complaint. It is not unreasonable for the desk clerk to ask to put the person on hold for several minutes in order to check in the guest who is standing in front of her. It's not fair to keep someone else waiting for 25 minutes while you allow an irate customer to rant.
Posted by bearkatkitten on 2010-03-26:
"obvious from her conversation that she couldn't assist this other person and said so several times."
Or maybe the angry customer on the phone was one of those customers you can't please no matter what you do.
There's been many times, in my experience of customer service, you have to repeat the same things over and over again because the person on the other end just simply isn't listening to you.
Or maybe the angry customer on the phone was one of those customers you can't please no matter what you do.
There's been many times, in my experience of customer service, you have to repeat the same things over and over again because the person on the other end just simply isn't listening to you.
Posted by Marymc on 2010-03-26:
She should have just told the caller that she would call them back after she checked in the guests. That's what's happened in the past when I have arrived at a hotel and the check-in person was on the phone. Sometimes the check-in people do not have the experience or training they need to do their jobs properly.
Posted by yoke on 2010-03-26:
I would love to know the clerks side of the story.
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