The Right Stuff

A recruiter asked me to fly from Philadelphia to L.A. in 36 hours. He was in L.A. from China on a business trip. I immediately went online and bought a non-refundable ticket on US Airways for $1,500, three times more than most domestic flights I take. 15 minutes later, the recruiter contacted me to say that he had given me the wrong day and that I needed to be in L.A. the next morning.

Since I needed to leave for the airport within a few hours, and I had not yet received a confirmation email from the US Airways website, I went ahead and purchased another $1,500 ticket on US Airways thinking they would allow an exception to the non-refundable ticket policy in this case.

I wanted to take care of the refund right away. I called the customer service hotline immediately and asked to speak to a manager. The manager said that it was my fault that I purchased the second ticket without calling them and she was adamantly sticking to their non-refundable ticket policy. She would not refund me my money. Her one offer, which I considered unacceptable, was to give me the $1,500 credit on one domestic, roundtrip, flight. Most domestic flights that I take are closer to $500 roundtrip so I would be losing a lot of money with this option. Given the fact that it was already very late and I needed to get up early to make my flight, I collected her information and decided to call back after my interview.

After my interview, I called US Airways and discovered that the customer service representative (CSR) would not connect me to a manager again because a manager had already reviewed my case the day before. The CSR was abrasive and unforgiving, so I did what Professor Diamond suggests — I hung up and called again. I got a different CSR and this time my approach was softer. She was sympathetic to my circumstance and I explained to her how much better I felt just to have someone hear my story.

The lessons I learned from Professor Stuart Diamond provided me with the skills and techniques to know how to ask the following questions:

Relationship:
• “I am a loyal Star Alliance member. Do you see in your records that I have purchased 5 US Airway tickets in the past 12 months?” (Her response: “yes”)
• “Does your company value my business?” (“yes”)
• “Does my flight history demonstrate loyalty to US Airways?” (“yes”)
• “Would you also agree that my purchasing 2 tickets within 30 minutes shows loyalty to your company?” (“yes”)
• “If I am showing your airline such loyalty, how is US Airways showing me any loyalty in this case?”

Standards:
• “I agree in retrospect that I have made a mistake in purchasing these two tickets, however, are you telling me it’s in your company’s policy to profit off of your customer’s mistakes?”

I thanked her for listening. She forwarded me to a manager for review. The manager and I worked out a solution that met both of our interests. I am now allowed to use the $1,500 credit on any international flight with any of their partner carriers. She also waived any change fees. Because I was interviewing in China, this was a great solution because I could use the full value.

Thanks to Professor Diamond… I can use my negotiation skills to get more!-Joshua Chen, Louis Vuitton (China), Leather Goods Merchandiser, Wharton 2010

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This is an excellent example of the use of course tools. Being persistent, not getting rattled, remaining calm, making personal connections, keeping your eye on the goal. Congratulations! -SD