Northwest Airlines non-existent customers service

I flew Northwest airline from Honolulu to Philadelphia via San Francisco and

St Paul on January 7, 2006 with two suitcases. At the baggage claim in

Philadelphia I only find one of my suitcases, the other one was nowhere in

sight. I filed a “lost article report” with Northwest; a form was filled

out for me and was informed that the computer was down. I was also informed

that my report will be entered in the computer and I would need to call PHL

baggage claim later on to get my find out what happened to my suitcase and

to obtain my report confirmation number.

I called a few times in the next several days and left messages in the

answering machine, since no one answered the phone. My call was finally

returned and I was told that my report was not in their system; therefore, I

had to file another lost article report. They tracked my suitcase and said

that it was boarded on the flight after mine; they will try to locate it.

If within five days they could not find it then they will send a claim form

for me to fill out.

I went back to Hawaii, filled out the claim form and mailed it on January

30, 2006. Because I was relocating, I put in my new temporary Pennsylvania

address in the claim form.

I left Hawaii on February 9, 2006 and moved to Pennsylvania.

I called early March to check the status of my claim since I have not heard

anything from them. The central luggage service said that they received and

documented my claim on February 22; I was given a case number, informed that

the claim process should take around 5 weeks and I should received my check

then.

March 23, 3006 I again relocated to Virginia.

On April 10, 2006 I called the Central Luggage Service again and was told

that they mailed my check early March to my Honolulu address. I informed

them that I put my new Pennsylvania address in my claim form and their

response was that it was sent to my Honolulu address because that was the

address I have on my “World Perks” account. I was advised to speak to the

person who handled my case, Tiffany. I called her and left a message on her

voicemail.

She returned my call, said that she will put a stop on the check and will

mail me a new one; I should receive my check within 10 days.

I informed her that I am commuting back and forth between Virginia and

Pennsylvania, and it would be more convenient to mail the check to my

Virginia address. She returned my call; we spoke on the phone, she repeated

the address I gave her and confirmed the address change on April 12, 2006.

April 26, 2006, 14 days later, I called again since I have not received

anything in the mail. Tiffany told me that she mailed me the check on

Monday (which is April 24, 2 days after I supposedly received the check) to

my Honolulu address.

I reminded her that we spoke on the phone about my change of address and she

had confirmed my new mailing address. Her answer was it is not their fault

that there was a change of address; so it is pretty much my fault for moving

around regardless the fact that I put down my Pennsylvania address in the

claim form, with no Hawaii address in sight, as well as calling and spoke to

her to confirm the correct mailing address.

She said mistake happens and she made a mistake in mailing it to my old

address.

If she sent it to Pennsylvania (which is again the address I had in my claim

form) I would understand, no problem and I would just pick it up while I am

in the area. But she sent it the second time to the same exact mailing

address, knowing that she had to cancel the check because the mailing

address was wrong?

Again she will put a stop to the check and mail me a new one, and said maybe

I will receive it in 10 days.

Northwest handled this whole ordeal in the worse possible way. Throughout

this whole process, I have spoken to quite a few people in different

departments. It is obvious that customer service is not their priority and

most probably foreign to the company’s culture. I was passed around, given

no straight answer, the agents are unbelievably rude and unpleasant.

Although Tiffany was the most polite amongst them, I cannot say that I am

pleased with her.

I will continue sharing this unpleasant experience. For some reason I do

not think that there will be an end to this whole “saga” anytime soon.

Good luck for those who fly Northwest Airlines.

I.N.