[imagesource:biznews]

In the image above, CemAir founder and CEO Miles van der Molen is rolling out the red carpet, although Ica van Eeden doesn’t believe that she has received similar treatment.

In a Facebook post from last week, Ica detailed how she feels let down by the airline, which is perhaps most well-known for its flights into the likes of George and Plettenberg Bay.

According to the post, Ica had been struggling for 11 months to get a refund on a flight her mother booked around Christmas last year, saying the problem was eventually escalated to the CEO’s office.

Whilst Ica did eventually receive a refund, it’s the email from Miles that has most irked her:

Not even a ‘Hi’ or ‘Hello’ before Ica’s name – the man means business – and the final line is the real kicker.

When Miles was contacted by Traveller24, he was quick to spell out that there are two sides to every story:

“A customer’s inconvenience does not convey the right for them to abuse our staff. Equally the approach of ‘taking to social media’ and insulting people and organisations at a whim is not acceptable.  Whilst it is regrettable that some passengers have experienced a delay in receiving a refund there is no reason why this can’t be dealt with in a civil manner, as is the approach with the vast majority of people.

“In this matter, Ms van Eeden was refunded and replied to within 19 minutes of sending the request to me, an extremely fast response. She was informed by way of a bank generated proof of payment.  However Ms van Eeden apparently wanted more than this and the correspondence kept coming. As the matter had been resolved there was indeed nothing more to be done I chose to put an end to the abuse. I note she chose not to share her correspondence but rather only my rather benign response. This is in itself quite telling.

“We respect Ms van Eeden’s choice not to make use of our services in the future, we do not seek to do business with people who cannot conduct themselves in an appropriate manner.  This philosophy is universally applied.”

In reference to the “vast experience and free advice” jibe, it appears that Ica had previously sent a mail that contained some words of advice on how to handle future customer service gripes.

It’s long been said that the customer is always right, but I feel like that advice also comes from a time when women were told to stay in the kitchen and children were said to be best seen and not heard.

We’re not averse to telling a reader to get stuffed when the situation calls for it, so we will reserve judgement in this snarky showdown.

[source:traveller24]