Northwest Is Tops in Service? Well, Sort of
Eliminating the competition: How does an airline rise to the top in customer service? Northwest Airlines has found a way.
Northwest is bragging this week that it won the airline industry’s “triple crown.” Its ads declare that it has the best on-time record, the kindest baggage handlers and the fewest customer complaints of the “seven largest U.S. airlines.”
You won’t find it in the fine print, but there’s a good reason why Northwest chose to compare itself to the industry’s top seven. Government records show that the airline with fewest complaints was actually Southwest, the eighth largest. The airline best with baggage was America West, the ninth largest.
Northwest says it omitted its smaller rivals because it doesn’t consider them serious competitors. Southwest Vice President Donald Valentine can’t believe that Northwest is serious: “They may not view us as competitors, but the customers do.”
They are burned up: A new baby doll that tans is causing some prominent skin care specialists to see red. The toy is Splash ‘N Tan Cabbage Patch, with chemically sensitive “skin” that darkens when exposed to the sun’s ultraviolet rays.
Skin specialists are upset with the doll because they fear that it encourages little girls to develop tans of their own at a time when childhood sun exposure has been linked to skin cancer. “It is just a horror,” said Dr. Amy S. Paller, chief of pediatric dermatology at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago.
Toy maker Hasbro is trying to patch things up with the doctors. Responding to pressure from the American Academy of Dermatology, Hasbro now distributes sun care advice with the doll. And the company is weighing an academy suggestion to offer sun care advice during Cabbage Patch television commercials.
The doctors want Hasbro to put sunscreen in the Cabbage Patch boxes, (Playmates Inc. gives away phony sunscreen with its tanning Beach Baby doll), but that is where Hasbro draws the tan line. “If you use sunscreen, the doll won’t work,” a spokesman said. “We don’t recommend it.”
A bad bet: The letter--or should we say “urgent personal message”--promises “golden opportunities.” For $10, self-styled astrologer Conrad Germain promises to provide a winning lottery number.
These urgent messages have gone out to elderly people in New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina and California, where the jackpot this week swelled to more than $45 million. The Better Business Bureau of Southern California isn’t aware of any lottery winners. It does know about more than 50 losers, though.
After some prodding from the bureau, Germain, who uses a West Hollywood post office box, has refunded $10 to 15 people, but others are still owed money. We couldn’t reach Germain to hear his side of it. One elderly woman who lost $10 shares her reaction: “The next time my golden opportunity arrives, I’m going to take the golden opportunity to throw it out.”
A collection account: The score card is in on collection agencies in California for the year that ended June 30, and the results are alarming. A staggering 1,600 complaints, or 40% of the total, were lodged against just 35 agencies. More than 700 agencies operate in the state.
Jim Diaz, chief of the bureau of collection and investigative services, is concerned about the findings, but can’t do much about it. State regulation of the collection industry ended July 1 when the Legislature failed to extend a law giving the bureau oversight.
Diaz refused to name the most complained-about agencies, saying not all the complaints had been investigated and that angry agencies might sue his bureau. But he did identify three of the 35 agencies because they received “notices of warning”--administrative wrist slaps--for dealing unfairly with consumers.
They are the Bureau of Controlled Receivables of North Hollywood, the Pleasanton office of Payco General American Credit and Universal Credit Bureau of Culver City.
Update: Two weeks ago we told you about Express Aid, a questionable riot-related fund-raiser. On Thursday, Barry A. Malcolm, 26, of the Wilshire District turned himself in to U.S. postal inspectors in Pasadena in connection with the alleged scam.
Authorities alleged that Malcolm mailed 34,000 bogus solicitations and received an undetermined amount.
He is charged with criminal violations of the Los Angeles charitable solicitation code and the state’s business and profession code. If convicted, he faces up to two years in jail and fines of $8,500. Malcolm could not be reached for comment.
