When Someone Does Not Provide Service

My buddy Joe Sangl reminded me yesterday of a premise that so many people forget, "If someone is providing you a service and they fail to live up to reasonable expectaions under the circumstance you should get a deal."

We were flying back from Kansas City and were in the Atlanta, Ga airport.  Our final flight home was delayed and then it was canceled.  It was obvious that they canceled the flight because there were too few passengers.  This greatly inconvenienced us because Joe had to be at another city later in the day to deliver the Financial Learning Experience.

What eventually transpired is that the next flight  the put us on was also delayed so instead of taking a chance of missing the speaking engagement we had to hitch a ride with my brother, Black Sheep (he may not be great at saving money but he is a great brother).  Black sheep drove Joe to Columbia, SC where he met another member of our team and rode off to Florence and then took me back to my home before driving another 3.5 hours back to his house ( a total of 8.5 hours of driving).  However, before we left the airport Joe demanded to be compensated for the inconvenience and cost that Delta had caused him.  By doing so  he received an extra $100 credit toward the next time we fly Delta.

So the next time someone does not live up to their end of the deal make sure to talk to someone who can make it right.  I saw way too many people just sit in the airport and take it instead of making Delta act correctly.