Based on Force Major conditions, the trips of users who had made during this purchase period were canceled and the repayme of canceled funds became a challenge for the platforms in the field.
Under such circumstances, Snaprip, as one of the main actors in the travel service industry, has recely announced that he has been able to repay the crisis travelers (June 6 to July 6), despite the blocked resources, and end in three weeks. Snaptrip’s repayme process and Snaptrip mechanisms in the field of customer support on critical days, with “Hussein Gholipour »Snaptrpe’s senior customer affairs manager.
Snaprip recely announced in a stateme that he had completed the repayme of all the war -related funds with the company’s own resources. What happened to your customer repayme during the war?
With the onset of clashes and the sudden stops of flights, everything in the travel and tourism industry changed in an eye. A passenger who was planning for a family or business trip uil hours ago was suddenly confroed with worrying news, cancellation and ambiguity about the financial future of his trip. In such circumstances, the natural reaction of passengers was the immediate follow -up of repayme; But the financial structure of the travel services is such that before the passenger is purchased, the costs are charged at the Airlines Panel or the charter agency. In the days when even the largest suppliers were facing a crisis of liquidity and stopping operations, it was extremely difficult or time consuming. However, we held ourselves responsible, and from the outset, we set a priority to pursue users’ rights and return their funds; Even if the process was beyond our direct authority.
What challenges did the communication and support of passengers’ requests on the one hand and on the other hand were anxious and anxious about their financial resources?
As the sales of flights became zero, our calls increased by 3.5 times over normal conditions. In this situation it was an importa choice before us; Going to fast but responde methods (such as models of IVR or limited email response), or maiaining human coact with all its hardships. We chose the second way. Because we believed that a user who was involved in the stress of war and financial concern would most need “human communication and hearing”. This choice mea increased waiting time, but we tried to reduce the psychological stress by complemeary measures; Responding to social networking, more active response to emails, and sending thousands of information text messaging for reliability.
Exactly what factors affected the prolonged repayme than the previous procedures?
In many of the services offered on our platform and similar models, Snaprip implies the role of ierface ierface between the user and the supplier to optimize the user experience. We charge the supplier panel before making the user purchase; Therefore, it is not possible to repurchase when traveling or the airport closure time, and it must first be returned in cash from the supplier. This explanation means that in the rece crisis, funds were not at our disposal; But again the user’s right to follow up on us and our responsibility for this request was in place.
What decisions were made in your collection in the face of these changes?
Supplying the Snap Group’s financial support that allowed us to fully repay, even in cases where funds were not yet received from suppliers
We decided to strengthen responsibility instead of hiding behind conditions and coracts. At this poi, at the senior manageme level, a decision was made that may not have been financially easy for us; But it was morally clear to us; Supplying resources with the Snap Group’s financial support that allowed us to fully repay; Even in cases where funds were not yet received from suppliers. Also, we did not ierrupt communication with users at the same time, and with coinuous updates, we tried to create a transpare and respectful atmosphere.
Is there any other services, including hotel, train and bus?
In the case of domestic hotels, a few days before the official announceme of Force Major conditions, and although some hotels had already received pre -paid sums, the fines began to be repaid, and the process ended in the first weeks. In the case of train and bus console paymes, the passengers were paid similar to the pre -war routine, and we had no delay.
What happened to things like foreign hotels?
In the case of foreign hotels, it is necessary to explain that many of the services that users see on the platform are provided by suppliers who may have charter coracts or other specific conditions with hotels. These conditions are sometimes differe from the hotel’s direct policy. Therefore, the iernal conditions of Force Made (Difference with Corona and World), the type of coract between the supplier and the hotel, and ultimately the conditions that had been approved by the customer before the purchase, gave the Snaptrip very little maneuverability to conclude customer repayme; Of course, we have learned during this time that we will try to maneuver more in the future to support users’ rights in Force Major conditions in the future.
Sometimes on social networks we read about the tone and how to respond to differe platform support. What challenge was there these days in the field of support team?
Our staff are part of the same community. Many of them were in areas where Iernet communications were unstable or were forced to move their residence. At the same time, they were tasked with responding to users’ calls, messages and requests in an area that were sometimes accompanied by anger, anxiety, or frustration; However, support was not cut off. Even when the response speed declined, we tried to maiain the standard of human ieraction. We listened carefully in cases where criticism or flock was raised. Because we believed that any feedback was an opportunity to get better.
On the issue of travel, regulator and related organizations are also one of the main actors. How do you evaluate this section during this time?
We appreciate the efforts of responsible institutions in the first place, which, in the very complex and special conditions of those days, tried to restore security and the feasibility of flight operations. This was crucial to the return of tourism activities to the normal level. But at the same time, in the issue of repaymes, we have faced a serious challenge that was an importa part of the information. At a time when our teams were involved in coinuous follow -up with suppliers to restore users ‘resources, announcemes were released by the Airlines, saying that “5 % of travelers’ funds had been repaid.” However, as meioned, what was provided by suppliers was the credit for future purchases that were not effective for cash repayme. In the future, it is expected that information on sensitive and complex issues will be done with better coordination and more accuracy to preve misunderstandings.
