There are so many examples of companies who do go the extra mile to help their customers when they make a mistake. Those very same firms end up inevitably reaping the rewards of their efforts with the positive message they send the consumer. There is evidence to prove that if handled correctly, some customer-service disasters actually end up generating improved long-term customer relationships….if those affected are handled with fairness and empathy.
Remember the Tylenol Scare of 1982? A bunch of people died in Chicago, when tampered product was laced with cyanide. In just 7 days the company pulled 31 million bottles off the shelves. Think that was an easy choice to make? Tylenol initiated the very first major recall in history and ultimately would pave the way for renewed corporate responsibility.
And what were the outcomes of Tylenol’s bold and costly response to the disaster?
The development of the first tamper-proof Gelcaps, and tamper-evident packaging.
Did it cost them money? Sure it did.
Did they lose market share? You bet they did, but the brand was rebuilt and recovered in a couple of years. Tylenol remains the juggernaut of pain relief, capturing 35% of a crazy-competitive market in North America. I have at least 2 bottles in my medicine cabinet at all times. I took one when I read about Greyhound this morning.
Remember Maple Leaf’s CEO Michael McCain’s approach to assuming full accountability for the listeriosis outbreak? It claimed five lives and sickened countless others.
What did he do? He committed to preventing the listeriosis tragedy from ever happening again, and he did it publicly, on camera, without ducking behind a ‘communications team’. I don’t know about you, but I don’t friggin' pause much when I throw a pack of Maple Leaf hot-dogs into my shopping cart.
You see, this is the way these scenarios play out - I remember Michael McCain’s words & actions, not some doofus in a meat plant that wasn’t doing his job.
Hasn’t big-business learned from major headline news yet? Hello!? Its been what, not even six months since BP’s Tony Hayward uttered his now infamous “I’d like my life back” comment, ....while the oil spewed, and spewed.
So yeah, no baby birds or seals are soaked in liquid-tar if Greyhound doesn’t get passengers from one destination to another. No lives are lost. But let’s remember what Greyhound is committed to providing their customers…let’s take a look at their website..
About Greyhound
Greyhound Canada is the largest provider of intercity bus transportation in Canada, serving nearly 1,100 locations. It has become an icon of bus travel, providing safe, enjoyable and affordable travel to 6.5 million passengers each year. The Greyhound running dog is one of the most-recognized brands in the world.
Did they say safe?
How safe is it being holed-up at a donut shop for 13 hours with your kids? Do you have enough money for food? Does the 13 hour surprise-layover cramp your employers style? Do you have commitments that are pressing enough to make the 13 hours a bit more than just an inconvenience?
Did they say Enjoyable?
I’m thinking it wasn’t enjoyable before the bus stopped and the driver checked into his cozy motel. Are you wondering if the driver had his motel-stay reimbursed by Greyhound?
You bet he did.
Did they say Affordable?
Its hardly a good return on your investment when the bus arrives on time. Factor in all the tangibles those passengers lost on that fateful trip, and I’m willing to bet that if faced with a choice, most passengers would have paid NOT to get on the damn Greyhound bus, if they could have somehow foreseen the consequences of their misplaced trust.
This is not a small organization. Greyhound has been around for a hundred years. They started way back in 1929 with 4 buses and a few 7-passenger vehicles. Wake up and smell the exhaust fumes folks, this dog didn’t get to be this big by playing nice in the pound. If their business practices during crises are any indication (and aren’t they always?) this particular breed of dog cuts corners to generate profits.
And let’s be careful not to blame the bus-driver for the outcome of all this. He may have been a weasel of a self-serving coward, but Greyhound is charged with training their employees. That training should have been able to set in motion specific protocol during the alleged ‘road closures’. He parked the bus, told the passengers to fuck off, and checked into a Motel.
Facts & Figures
Corporate
• According to Transport Canada in its 1998 review of bus safety issues, buses provide passengers with remarkably safe travel compared with other road vehicles and other modes of transportation. Greyhound Canada's own safety rate has been calculated as 10 times better than the trucking industry standard.
Perhaps Transport Canada ought to take a closer look at Greyhound. It has been, after all, seemingly twelve years since they bothered to peek under the hood of this organization. A complete disregard for the customer is almost always a harbinger of awful things to come.
But here’s a different angle to this story perhaps worth capturing – how did the employee(s) at the donut shop react when inundated by a busload of ‘loiterers’, likely not buying much?
Did they follow the playbook?
Did he or she extend a helpful hand? Maybe even providing some free coffee?
Let’s interview some of the bus passengers to see if the donut shop folks did the right thing. And if they did, lets shine a spotlight on the (employees first) then on the organization savvy enough to hire the right people, and train them properly.
Go on – call them. “Robins Donuts” 216 HW 17 White River ON (807) 822-1876
Find out for yourself if there are still heroes left amongst us.
Now that story, would send a message to the panting Greyhound.
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'Abandoned' Greyhound bus passengers ponder lawsuit
as reported by the Globe& Mail
Angry Greyhound bus passengers were contemplating legal action after being left to fend for themselves for some 14 hours in a small town in northern Ontario.
Many of the more than 100 westbound passengers who were stuck in White River, Ont., on two buses said the company added
“It was just a brutal experience,” Paul Hitchin said Tuesday after arriving in Calgary. “I’ve never seen a company do something like that to people and not care any more.”
Passengers said the buses pulled into a gas station in the town of 840 for what they expected to be a pit stop.
A driver told them it was snowing and to “sit tight.” He then checked in at a nearby motel.
“That was the last we seen of our driver,” said Mr. Hitchin, who paid $600 for his round trip, and was en route from Barrie, Ont.
Passengers, including small children and at least one diabetic, and some low on money, waited on the bus or in a doughnut shop from about 3 a.m. Sunday until 5 p.m. Sunday.
They said a Greyhound driver occasionally provided scraps of information.
Some passengers’ attempts to reach a company representative by phone from White River were unsuccessful. Others said customer service representatives hung up on them when they tried on Tuesday to get answers.
Late Tuesday morning, Greyhound issued a statement blaming “unforeseen weather conditions and resulting road closures” for the delay.
“We sincerely apologize for the lack of communication provided to our passengers, as well as the inconvenience and concern this caused,” the company said. “We are conducting a full investigation and will modify our inclement-weather procedures as necessary to ensure this does not happen again.”
Passengers weren’t buying Greyhound’s weather explanation.
They said the road was closed briefly, and that they watched in frustration as other buses, trucks and cars whizzed by for hours before they got going again.
Passengers praised Karina Hunter, a reporter and editor with the online publication ontarionewsnorth.com, for drawing attention to their ordeal.
“These people weren’t safe,” Ms. Hunter said. “What if one of them lost it?”
She noted several incidents in recent years of violence aboard Greyhound buses in the area and wondered if any safety protocol changes had been made.
Greyhound spokesman Tim Stokes said from Cincinnati that the company “will be working with each customer individually” about compensation.
Mr. Hitchin said some passengers were offered $100, which he called inadequate.
Paramedic student Steve Youden, 28, missed his connection from Thunder Bay, Ont., to Fort Frances, Ont.
Greyhound told him he would have to wait two days at the terminal for another bus or buy a ticket at triple the price of the original for a roundabout route to his destination.
“It was basically, ‘Sorry, there’s nothing else we can do,’ ” Mr. Youden said.
He found a cheap hotel, and managed to bum a ride to Fort Frances with other guests.
Elaine Legarde, 47, a registered nurse from Thunder Bay, said she was looking into launching a class-action lawsuit.
Her ticket from Toronto cost $234.48, but the $100 she saved by taking the bus rather than flying was eaten up by the costs incurred at the stop, she said.
“There was just no safety plan; these drivers just left us to fend on our own,” Ms. Legarde said Tuesday. “Five hours is an inconvenience. Thirteen hours is an injustice. That’s on the border of abuse and abandonment.”
Roofer Jason Hollingsworth, 24, who was en route from Truro, N.S., to Calgary, said the delay cost him two days of work.
“They didn’t offer us an apology, no nothing,” he said. “I’m never going to use Greyhound again.”
you know, our restaurant used to be a greyhound rest stop/ticket agent and they were a horrific agency to deal with even on that level, let alone the bullshit that happened with the drivers. Don't discount this as a drive issue. the fucker should be fired.
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