Have you heard the story of the colossal customer-service bungle over the “bedbug letter”?
A guest in a hotel finds himself attacked by bedbugs during his stay. He writes an angry letter to the president of the hotel company. Within days, the president sends the guest a heartfelt apology, which reads, in part: “I can assure you that such an event has never occurred before in our hotel. I promise you it will never happen again.”
Sounds good, except for one small detail: Included with the apology is the guest’s original letter. Scrawled across the top is the message: “Send this idiot the bedbug letter.”
So it begs the question, who is sorry now?
Read more: Mackay: The art of apology
