Woke up at 4am to check the status of flights, yes as expected we were cancelled. On trying the Holland KLM customer service number, there was an automated response that said Thank you for calling , please check the KLM web site for flight updates,and you may also change your booking, we can’t help you anymore, goodbye and then the phone went dead !. Could the KLM web site help , no …. So thinking out of the box we sat on hold with China KLM and low and behold after a 15 min wait we got through to someone who could change our flight, we opted for a Tuesday flight out of the dam to Peru, and feeling rather pleased with ourselves we then started to try and find our luggage…..
Dam time 9.30am : after getting pushed around 5 different departments we are given the number of the Customer Manager , we explain our situation and tell her that you can’t miss our bags, they are North Face duffels, Shocking Pink and Acrid Green so bright that if a space cadet could find them in a dark roomed coffee shop. She said that would be helpful and she would ring us back.
Dam time 3.30pm : we are sitting in a sports bar, watching three games of football with lots of dutch guys, it seems that the top two teams are playing in separate games and with only two games left of the season, FC Twente are top of the league and the local team Ajax a mere point behind …. However our eyes were firmly fixed on a game in North West England Wigan v Arsenal, Arsenal were playing badly but 0 – 2 up. And I was fairly happy feasting myself on BitterBallen a local type of fried meatball. Helen decided to ring back the luggage people only to fond that a man had replaced the woman on duty and he had only just come on duty (2pm) but he knew that we had North Face bags and they were looking for them and he would ring back in an hour …..
Dam time 4.30pm : what had we just witnessed in the last hour?, from 0- 2 up against a team that didn’t shoot suddenly in the last 10 minutes we rolled over 3 -2 … we lost !! dumfounded we left the bar, I couldn’t speak what could be worse ……….. it was about to come.
So the guy never called back, back at the Hotel, the clever linguistic skills of a lawyer was needed, and we just happened to have one with us, an Attorney, called to the bar in New York no less ( the only time I would be called to a bar is to pay for the next round.) Helen “Sunders” Sunderland of the lower 4th steps forward and takes the phone.
Sunders (S): Hello, we phoned up this morning we were in transit from Beijing to Peru
Man on the Phone (MoP): can you wait , I am on a conference call with my Boss
S: OK
Some five mintues later and a dropped line
MoP: oh sorry was on call with my boss
S: ok, well we are in transit from Beijing to Lima, your colleague said she would call us back about our bags—
MoP: what colleague I don’t know any colleague I only came on duty at 2 I have no idea
S: ok well she said she would pass on the message, have you found the luggage? We have been expecting a call for 12 hours its now 10pm
MoP: oh well no yes I passed on to my luggage guys that is their fault they didn’t call. Your bags are not anywhere in Schipol
S: are you saying that our luggage is not in the airport? Coz we are not in KLM system or being looked after by KLM so any internal bulletins you are putting up in airport hotels will not reach us
MoP: yes, you will have to contact China
S: how can this be , our luggage was checked through to Peru, have you checked
MoP: yes, we have checked the Beijing , Shanghai pile and it is not there , we have checked the warehouse, it is not there.
S: have you checked on the computer ?
MoP: Yes, you will have to ring customer services
S: we have tired and it is an automated message and then you get cut off, do you have another number for customer services
MoP: no
S: ok. So if you wanted to speak to customer services, which number would You ring ?
MoP: I’m not giving you that number
S: so you are telling me to ring customer services and you can’t give me a number for customer services ?
MoP: yes
S: you are an international organization, but the public customer services number isn’t being answered and you refuse to give me the number for customer services
MoP yes
S: so how should we reach customer services?
MoP: you must ring customer services we aren’t customer services we just move bags inside schiphol from arrival to destination
S: ok what is your name ?
MoP: Mr f xxxxxxx Yxxxxxx
S: and what is your role ?
MoP: I am Head of Baggage Handling
S: can I quote you on that ? that per Mr fxxx Yxxxx, there is no customer service number
MoP: er yes you can quote me on that
S: ok
[line goes dead due to “technical problems in dutch”]( too many space cakes we think )
S: hello I rang earlier
MoP: oh yes I’m sorry my mobile phone went dead
S: ok so what do you suggest we do ? can I give you the baggage tag numbers again and you can check the computer ?
MoP: there are no bags in the computer
S: no bags at all?
MoP: no there are no bags in the computer. My guys did a manual search and your bags are not at schipol
S: where are they?
MoP: I don’t know but they are not at schiphol
S: so you Head of Baggage for Schipold Airport and you don’t have access to the baggage handling system computer and your on a mobile phone /
MoP: yes I don’t have access to the system
S; so as head of baggage what do you ACTUALLY do ?
MoP; I move bags from one side of the airport to the other
S:Thank you
Phones put down, so It seems our baggage could be anywhere, but I am guessing this guy is actually a no body and has no idea of anything or on space cakes ………
Impressed, Sunders of the lower 4th is good, think maybe she should be moved to the lower 5th ……. Anyway we are really no further forward so a trip to the airport is in order tomorrow.
Evening went to Envy ( http://www.envy.nl/) , a really nice restaurant a few hundred yards from the hotel, for once a restaurant, with no Michelin stars and the food was some what better than mine, and much better than their sister restaurant Nomades ( http://www.restaurantnomads.nl/flash/in.htm ) which we tried on Friday night.