Agents should ‘use complaints to improve’
ABTA is holding a seminar to help agents deal with complaints more efficiently.
ABTA blames the media and consumer programmes for “encouraging” people to be more litigiuos.
The seminar will help agents to use complaints to their advantage, i.e. to find out what is wrong with the product, and improve it. This will include a guide to the arbitration process and explanation of ABTA’s role.
A spokesperson told TravelMole the complaints seminars, which run about four times a year, are usually well attended, as the issue of complaints is constantly evolving.
In a statement ABTA said: “The travel industry is a target for complaints. The products we sell cover the four corners of the globe, and the means to travel there by air, sea and across land are vulnerable to delay, and incidents. But complaints needn’t mean customers never book with you again.”
Among those speaking alongside ABTA’s head of consumer affairs, Keith Richards, will be Holiday Which? assistant editor, Roger Lakin giving the “consumer viewpoint”, and TV Travel Shop senior customer services manager, Jane Sebuliba, talking from the agents’ perspective.
The seminar is on September 17 at Newman Street from 9:20am to 4:20pm and costs £117.50 for members. Register at http://www.abtamembers.org/seminars/complaints.htm
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