The Official OfferMe Blog

OfferMe’s Nadim Sharbean takes a look at an example of poor customer service at Sydney Airport.

Okay, so I’m going to leave my usual group buy soap box and step onto another one: Sydney Airport, where’s your customer service?

If you’ve ever watched an episode of airways – and I admit, I haven’t, but I’ve seen a series of their best ads – you get the impression that airport personnel unfortunately have to deal with a wide variety of unhappy customers who demand far too much from the people their dealing with. In fact, you get the impression that the airways staff are going above and beyond what their customer service entails.

In most cases, I’d say fair enough. If the flight you’re after is delayed because of flash flooding, for example, it’s not the fault of the person behind the desk and there’s not much they can do about it.

Yet I have a case here where I think Sydney Airport customer service simply dropped the ball…

A few weeks ago, whilst sending off a loved one at Sydney airport, I decided to climb their outdoor stairs to the Observation Deck. On the way up the stairs (similar to the set pictured), my thong caught, I slipped over and my Oakley Oil Drums dropped from the top of my head and through the gap in the stairs.

Now, I’m not the litigating type. It was clearly my fault that I slipped over and the sunglasses fell. However, what followed was out of my control.

Beneath the set of stairs was a fenced off building site. From my vantage point above the site I could clearly see the sunglasses below. They had landed on a Styrofoam wall beneath (which you can clearly see in the photo I’ve taken below). I was about to hop over the stair-railing and retrieve them when security stopped me. The Deputy Security Manager, Simon, explained that he couldn’t let me jump the fence but would try to find a key to the gate in the fence.

My lost sunglasses - in one piece.

Twenty minutes went by and I waited patiently with my family. Unfortunately, as it was a Sunday, no one in the entire airport had access to this area. Again I offered to jump the fence, but Simon insisted that he’d have to have me arrested if I were to try that. Frustrated, I had to relent and listen to my only other option: Sydney Airport would retrieve the glasses on the following Monday and I could collect them from lost & found.

“But what if something happens to them?” I asked Simon, “They’re $200 sunglasses!”

“If something does, then the airport will be liable,” replied the Deputy Security Manager.

A day went by and on the Monday I heard nothing. Worried, I called the airport and was told that the sunglasses weren’t found, but that they were looking into it. The next day they again told me that the sunglasses were not recovered and palettes had been put into the site, so there’s a possibility my sunglasses were moved. I sent them the picture of my glasses and waited. Seeing the evidence of my intact sunglasses, I was moved up the food chain to a manager of sorts.

After 10 days of back & forth phone calls, I was finally told, yes, my sunglasses were found, but were in a bad state. Further, Sydney airport informed me that, because the glasses were on top of my head at the time they were dropped, it was my fault that they were now damaged.

Here’s a photo of what Sydney Airport returned:

My retrieved sunglass - no longer in one piece!

So, my question to Sydney Airport is this: If my sunglasses were left in your care in one piece, and you returned them to me in three pieces (with one piece missing), really, how do you figure I’m to blame?

I’ve sent an email to both Sydney Airport’s Insurance & Risk Coodinator, Rebecca Ashdown, and their General Manager of Airport Operations, Graham Woods, and so far they’re mum on the subject. As might be assumed, they feel they can simply ignore the subject and it’ll go away. After all, I’m simply out of pocket $200.

But why should I expect less customer service from them, than you would expect from OfferMe?

Sorry Sydney Airport, but as Desi Arnaz would have said, “You’ve got some s’plaining to do!”

Update:

While still avoiding the dreaded L word (liability), Sydney Airport has reached out and offered me equitable compensation for my damaged sunglasses. It may not be a full-blown “sorry”, but Sorry’s won’t protect me from the sun either. Good show, Sydney Airport.