Where did Cleartrip screw up?

Those on twitter would already know about the Kiruba Incident and Cleartrip’s response. Though Cleartrip did make up for the lapse by quickly compensating Kiruba, their handling of the social media has been disastrous to say the least.

The emotion heavy cleartrip post does not even address the core issue - breakdown/non-existence of their international ticketing process. No one really cares what happened post-facto. Nor does anyone want to know if there were other players to be blamed.

If I am not responsible to my customer, who is? I’m, not for a moment, implying that all fault lies with Cleartrip. Kiruba should have been more careful while filling his details online. But thats not the issue, is it?

All that was required of Cleartrip was an acknowledgment of the fact that there was a failure in their process and the steps that they’ve taken to rectify it. This was a perfect opportunity to engage and reaffirm their commitment to exceptional customer service. Cleartrip’s handling of the return journey would’ve earned brownie points instead of being relegated to the background. This needn’t have degenerated into a slugging match between the so-called “social media” and Cleartrip.

At the end of it all, companies need to realize and recognize the growing importance of social networks. Tools like twitter, seesmic, facebook and others have amplified individual voices. And this is only going to grow louder - barriers are crashing, distances disappearing - and the word travels faster and farther!!!

Cleartrip.com, you sure did lose out on an opportunity to win some a lot of love!

UPDATE: All’s well that ends well - Check out Part 2 of Kiruba’s post. Hope the love is not lost after all!

Disclaimer: I’m a Cleartripper - absolutely love their service. And my company is a partner of Cleartrip.com!

P.S. Check out Gary’s handling of what could’ve been a PR nightmare!