Larry, an Italian Greyhound dog, was being flown by Air Canada from California to Vancouver in October. At the airport in San Francisco, against the owner’s wishes, he was let out of his cage. He went walkies and disappeared somewhere in the airport: airline staff could not find him. His fate was not known for most of the month, until three weeks later, when the worst was confirmed: he had been hit and killed by a vehicle on a nearby highway. It is a sad story, but unwittingly Air Canada turned it into more than that - into a full blown public relations disaster, in fact. On the day the dog went missing one of their employees emailed another about how to deal with press enquiries about Larry. “I think I would just ignore”, the email read, “it is local news doing a story on a lost dog. Their entire government is shut down and about to default and this is how the US media spends its time”. Only the employee inadvertently sent the email… directly to the US media.
Not for the first time, here is renewed warning that clicking on that email ‘send’ button without checking who we are actually sending it to (…is it ‘reply’,or ‘forward’, or ‘reply all’ I should be hitting?) can have devastating consequences. The lost dog ‘local story’ went international and Air Canada got an absolute pasting for poor customer care. Another unhappy dog-owner came forward saying Air Canada had lost her dog Niyah, during a plane change at Vancouver last May. That dog apparently escaped from its kennel; its body was later found at the end of the runway. Air Canada staff said it had been attacked and killed by an eagle.
To be fair to the airline, it did try to put things right. “Air Canada employees are extremely sad with the news about Larry. Many of our employees are pet owners and animal lovers, and our San Francisco team in particular continued to hold out hope that Larry would be found safe, and they had continued outreach on a daily basis to a number of organisations in the local area” the company said in a statement (which this time was correctly emailed to its intended recipients). The airline agreed to cover Larry’s vet bills, and to fly his owner to San Francisco and back free of charge to pick up his brother Leo. The company also covered vet and other costs for Niyah.
There seem to be two lessons to this story. The first is that big organisations, however well meaning, often get things massively wrong and make an absolute mess of customer care. Air Canada’s story will definitely not be the last corporate cock-up we hear about. The second lesson is that now and in future, big organisations will offend pet owners at their peril. We’re talking about a consumer lobby group that is really beginning to flex its muscles. Tony Wilson, a Canadian franchising and intellectual property lawyer, made the point in a recent article by citing Richard Avis, owner of a company called Aussie Pet Mobile, who has made it his business to gather relevant data.
“It is astounding how big the pet business is to the Canadian economy” Avis said. “Over 6.5bn Canadian dollars is spent every year on pets. Fifty-six per cent of Canadian households have at least one dog or cat. Most have cats only (23 per cent) or dogs only (20 per cent) while 13 per cent have both. And 59 per cent of Canadians say the bond they share with their pet is as stronger than the bonds they share with their family and friends.” Airlines, take note!
Six hundred UK Pounds buy you the following amount of Canadian Dollars:
Established in 2008, Travelfx are solely an internet business providing an alternative to a Bureau de Change with some of the best exchange rates online. The company has been ranked 34th in the 2012 Sunday Times Fast track 100.
Established in 1979. Moneycorp also have retail bureaux de change at Gatwick, Stansted, Southend and Southampton airports, and across Central London. They provide next day delivery and can deliver on Saturdays for an additional fee
Established in 2008 with one mission, to bring the retail foreign exchange business online identifying an opportunity to redefine how people purchase travel money. The team of three partners has over 30 years experience in the retail foreign exchange market.
Established in 1976 the business has grown to become one of the most recognised travel money brands in the UK with over 1,100 branches worldwide. They also provide wholesale services to many banks and supermarkets.
Established in 2007 with three bureau de change branches in London as well as running a postal delivery service in the UK with a focus on reputation, trust, reliability and quality of service.
Established in 1973 ICE Plc is one of the largest and most respected retail foreign exchange operators in the world with a combined annual group turnover in excess of US.8 billion and with over 300 branches in addition to providing an online service.
Established in 1981, Covent Garden FX is a family-owned and operated Bureau De Change located in the heart of Central London, providing some of the best exchange rates online for branch collection or home delivery.
Established in 2002, FairFX cut out the middle man and use state of the art technology to execute your orders and deliver holiday money to your door while eliminating the cost of running expensive foreign exchange kiosks.
Established in 2011 by Ben Wakeham, a young travel mad entrepreneur who wanted to simplify the purchase of holiday money and use the internet to allow consumers to gain better exchange rates than long established travel money providers.
As a well known British high street retailer, M&S stock one of the widest ranges of currency on the high street (up to 42 currencies) available online, by phone or in store operating as one of the most competitive providers for those needing to purchase last minute from one of their 120 stores nationwide.
The post office is one of the most recognised brands for holiday money in the UK. They allow you to order your travel money online and collect it from any Post office branch or have it delivered to your address for free.
Established in 1968 and acquired by RBS in 2000, foreign exchange forms part of the general financial services offered by the bank. You can purchase notes or travellers cheques for collection from your local branch or home delivery.
