In defence of Corporate Pedantism

I have seen several articles in the MSM recently bemoaning the state of our customer service culture. A good example of this is Andrew O'Hagan in the Telegraph this week.

Then yesterday Gwyneth Dunwoody and the Parliamentary Select Committee had a huge dig at Ryaniar for refusing to come and sit before them. Admittedly, not appearing before Parliament when requested is not really an adequate response, but I was pleased with Ryanair's answer, excerpt below:

Ryanair was unrepentant about missing the hearing, saying in a statement that it 'had far better things to do than waste time at a House of Commons Committee'.

"(The committee) is itself wasting time talking about passengers attitudes to air travel at a time when Gordon Brown is busy stealing an additional £1 billion from UK passengers and visitors this year."

Not only is Ryanair right to criticise the Government for its 'non' Green Stealth tax, it also refers to a wider malaise.

People hate the poor service they get from alot of suppliers these days. Companies like Ryanair and British Midland are driven by the market to offer amazingly low prices. In fact much lower than even the public can believe; flights for a £1!

To do this, they have to find other ways of making money, so they impose stealth duties and onerous conditions on you if you make mistakes or do not fully co-operate. But they do this because people want low prices. If you want to pay more and get better service, fly with British Airways or Virgin Atlantic.

This applies equally to many other areas of our economy. Bank charges are all the rage and yes they appear to be too much and not linked to cost; however we also have free banking for current accounts, almost uniquely in the world. Cracking down on bank charges will just end the era of free banking.

In summary, articles like Andrew O'Hagan's are just plain ignorant. If you want first class service pay for it, if you want cheap then accept the conditions that it come with that.