Accor Hotels - another major Customer Service Failure

There is one thing which always gets me extremely angry, and that is bad customer service. As management consultant, who lives a life of order and well laid out processes (at least at work), it is such a painful experience when easy processes don't work. Currently, I am tasked to develop a customer service centre for a big financial institution in Frankfurt, and one thing is for sure, the Accor Hotel way of doing things is something I won't train my clients in. 

The Situation: Twice a year Accor Hotels do have a major points initiative in their reward scheme. Last September it was called September Boost for which one has to sign up and then, once the conditions are met, one gets points credited to one's rewards account. The September Boost promised 10000 points (which equals €200) and the conditions were: 4 stays à 2 nights minimum from anytime September till end of December 2016. One needed to book by mid October and that's mainly it. 

Usually any bookings till deadline count, also bookings that were made before one signed up for the offer. But just to make sure I asked Accor's social media team about it and they confirmed this to me.

As one can see, they confirmed that reserved nights before the offer came out would count. So I trusted them. Of course, everyone can imagine what's coming up now. I'm waiting for my points till today. The interesting thing is my e-mail exchange. I am blue, they are red.

First e-mail: Roland to Accor on 25 October 2016:

Dear Sir/Madam,

I took part in the September Boost promotion and so far have never received an points and i have stayed and will stay nearly every week in an Accor hotel. I signed up in September and it is nearly November now. I should have at least gained the first two layers. Can you please check whether there is a system glitch? I have registered twice, just to make sure and the second time I got confirmed that I was signed up. 

Second e-mail: Accor to Roland on 30 October 2016:

Dear Mr. BRUNNER,

We refer to your email dated October 25, 2016.

To further assist you with the September offer points please provide the reservation associated with it.

We remain at your disposal.

Regards,

K.T. (name deleted for privacy reasons)

Your Accor Hotels Customer Care Service

Third e-mail: Roland to Accor on 30 October 2016:

Dear K,

As far as I remember, the September Boost offer should have been granted to the following stays: 

Ibis xxx, 4 - 7 October

Hotel Mercure xxx from 10 to 13 October

Hotel Mercure xxx from 24 to 29 October

Hotel Mercure xxx from 28 bis 30 October

For those 4 stays, each of them were longer than 2 nights, I should receive all in all 10000 points now. Can you please credit my account with them? 

Thanks and kind regards,

Forth e-mail: Accor to Roland on  4 November 2016:

Dear Mr. Brunner,

Thank you for taking time to contact us.

We refer to your request regarding "BOOST SEPTEMBER 2016 - YOUR EXCEPTIONAL NEW BONUS" offer.

We regret to inform you that your reservation from to at the hotel Mercure Hotel xxx, ibis Styles xxx and Mercure xxx hotel are not eligible to the offer.

After checking your bookings, those were not booked on 12/09/2016 as per terms and conditions of this offer.

According to the terms and conditions of this offer, the offer is valid only one time per member, for maximum 4 stays of 2 hotel nights minimum, booked through 12/10/2016, and done through 26/12/2016 in hotels participating in the Le Club AccorHotels programme. Receive a total of 10,000 points maximum: 500 points after your 1st stay, 2,500 points after your 2nd stay, 3,000 points after your 3rd stay and 4000 points after your 4th stay.

Looking forward to welcome you soon in one of our hotels, thank you for your loyalty in the AccorHotels Group.

Regards,

L. V.

Your AccorHotels Customer Care Service

Fifth e-mail from Roland to Accor on 4 November 2016:

Dear L, 

Your answer is conflicting with what one of your colleagues told me on twitter. 

I signed up for this offer, and i have stayed nearly every week afterwards in one of your hotels. This year so far 32 stays and more than 100 nights, tendency rising. And now I would like those points that were offered to me by signing up to that promotion. 

As you can see on my twitter feed I even ensured my reservations were valid. All I now do is to claim what has been agreed through signing up to this offer and actually seeking advice from your colleague. 

A screen shot of the chat is attached. 

Viele Grüße and kind regards

(ATTACHED THE SCREEN SHOT FROM TWITTER, see above)

Sixth e-mail from Accor to Roland on 12 November 2016

Dear Mr. BRUNNER,

We refer to your e-mail below.

We regret to inform you that your reservations were not eligible to the offer BOOST SEPTEMBER 2016 - YOUR EXCEPTIONAL NEW BONUS.

According to the terms and conditions of this offer, the booking date must be between: 12/09/2016 and 12/10/2016 .

We thank you for your understanding and we remain at your entire disposal should you have any further requests.

Looking forward to welcome you soon in one of our hotels.

Regards,
S. K.

Seventh e-mail from Roland to Accor on 15 November 2016:

As one can see, I gave up calling them by their name but went back to "Sir/Madam" as every time someone else answered. 

Dear Sir/Madam,

Thanks for your reply, but you did not answer my concern. I signed up for the September Boost promotion and asked a colleague of yours whether it was okay for this promotion to have booked stays before the actual registration date of the promotion and he said YES. I trusted him and did not book any further rooms. Suddenly you are telling me I do not qualify. And that’s unfair, because I could have easily booked more stays since I am staying with your hotels till the end of the promotion period nearly every week. In fact, with all my stays I could have fulfilled three times the requirements for September Boost. 

Since I relied on your colleague’s advice I would expect now to get those 10,000 points. 

I have attached a photo of the actual Twitter conversation between your colleague and myself. 

In your reply I would ask you not to send me another automated and pre-fabricated message again but actually refer to the case I am making. 

Thanks and kind regards,

Eighth e-mail from Accor (Guest Relations Coordinator!) to Roland on 17 November 2016:

Dear Mr. Brunner,

We refer to your account regularization request related to the offer "Boost September 2016!"

In the first instance, we offer our sincere apologies for the processing time of your request. Please be assured that this is not a true reflection of the high standards upon which Accor prides itself.

As we have explained in our previous exchanges, we regret to inform you that your bookings # is not eligible this offer. Indeed, according to the terms and conditions of the offer: 

< The offer is valid only one time per member, for maximum 4 stays of 2 hotel nights minimum, booked between 12/09/2016 and 12/10/2016, done for stays through 26/12/2016 in hotels participating in the Le Club AccorHotels programme.>

Indeed your booking was made on 17/08. As mentioned by our Social Media team, we can oversee the fact that the booking was made before the actualsubscription to the offer, however, the booking dates, as well as the other conditions, must be respected in order to benefit from the offer.

We sincerely regret this situation, however, as we are bound by these conditions, we are unable to bypass them and for the reason outlined above, we thank you for understanding that we are unable to respond positively to your request.

Please note that all our promotions are conditioned by terms and conditions that are presented usually at the end of the offer’s description.

We deeply hope that this isolated incident will not leave you with a bad impression of our group. Thank you for your loyalty and we look forward to welcoming you soon again at Accor hotels.

Kindly,

S. B.
AccorHotels GR Coordinator.

Ninth e-mail from Roland to Accor on 21 November 2016:

Dear Sir/Madam,

Thanks for your reply. 

Let me just reiterate: Even though I asked one of your colleagues via twitter whether my bookings were okay for the September Boost offer and he said „Yes“ you are not granting me those 10000 points. If he had not said yes I’d have made a few more reservations, as I have been staying in ACCOR hotels weekly; since from September till Christmas I’ll have 16 stays à 2 nights minimum. There are no other conditions I could have not met, as I booked them all via the internet. Basically, I cannot trust your own staff and it is tough luck for me that I did. 

Customer Service for me is something different. I’m a management consultant and am currently implementing a customer service centre for a big bank here in Frankfurt. I will copy our e-mail exchange for a case study and use it for a training session in how to not treat our most loyal customers. 

I am booked through till the end of the year with ACCOR hotels, but from January on and my next year in Frankfurt I will look for another hotel chain. I am not staying where I am not welcome and appreciated. And I am most certainly not begging for those points that should actually be mine. 

Thanks.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen and with kind regards,

And that's where we are today. This is absolutely horrendous. At least I can make a nice case study from it and present it to my clients as how NOT to run a customer service centre. It is not so much the €200 that I would have liked but the sheer stupidity of procedures that seriously get on my nerves. Obviously, I am a good customer; I have platinum membership and am very loyal. This year so far my account shows the following with 6 more stays (and 21 nights) in the pipeline till Christmas:

I don't think I am a difficult customer, in fact, quite the contrary. But I don't like it if they take the Mickey. And this is beyond taking the Mickey, this is stupidity, ignorance and a wrong understanding of customer service.  

__________________________________________________________________

On 24 November I posted on twitter that there is this blog entry and added @accorhotels; just to see if I get a response. The story goes on: 

Tenth e-mail from Accor to Roland on 25 November 2016: 

Case N°: CAS-1297798-V8V4Z4 

Dear, Mr BRUNNER,

Please accept our sincere apologies for any inconvenience that has been caused which does not reflect the quality of service we wish to offer you.

We would like to remind you that your booking was made on 17/08. in order to benefit from the offer, the booking dates, as well as the other conditions, must be respected.

Kindly note that our higher department is working this, we will get in touch with you shortly.

Thank you.Regards,
A. C.

Your AccorHotels Customer Care Service

Today is Wednesday, 7 December and I am still waiting for the "higher department".... I think I'll give up. One can only bear that much incompetence in one's life. 

__________________________________________________________

Okay, I tweeted again to see whether I got any reaction. And that's what I received: 

Eleventh e-mail from Accor to Roland on 14 December 2016:

It is an e-mail by "Member Assistance Level 2"

Dear Mister Brunner,

I have been solicited to answer you concerning your request to get bonus points relative to the "Boost September" offer.

Firstly, I would like to apologize for the time it took to give you a feedback, which doesn’t reflect the quality of our service.

It is with a great attention that I have read your comments and please be assured that I regret any deception caused during your first exchanges with our customer service.

I would like to reassure you that a total of 3 000 Le Club AccorHotels points have been credited to your account in relation to the Boost September offer.

These points were added for the stays from the 21^st to 25^th of November 2016 (500 bonus points) and from the 5^th to the 9^th of December 2016 (2 500 bonus points) at the hotel Mercure Hotel Frankfurt which were both made on the 6^th of October 2016. In accordance to the Terms and Conditions of Use of this offer, these stays were eligible to gaining bonus points.

However, acknowledging the confusion that this situation might have caused and to thank you for your loyalty, I am pleased to offer you 4 000 courtesy points, already credited on your Le Club AccorHotels Platinum Membership number xxx as an exceptional commercial gesture.

Wishing to keep your trust, on which we pay the greatest attention, I hope that you are having a delightful stay at our Hotel Mercure in Frankfurt.

Kind regards,

M. S.

AccorHotels Customer Relations Supervisor 

And that's the case. I will leave the interpretation of it to the reader. 

Earlier on, I had to write a message to their Customer Service Department because of some missing points for a stay in Lithuania this year... If they have a clever CRM system in place, they will probably think "Good Lord, that one again...." 

History Repeats itself - Brexit from a German Point of View

Walking to one of the sessions during Parliament Week 2015

Exactly a year ago during Parliament Week I went into the Houses of Parliament a couple of times in order to listen to debates and lectures and hearings. It was fascinating to see how Parliament works and I felt being part of it. My highlight was when the guard at the door said something like "Ah yes, you've been here before, you know your way already" and he let me in. I, back then, decided to finally get my citizenship done and become a Brit; I wanted to take part. And if I hadn't got my current job in Frankfurt a few weeks later (a project which lasts for a year and for which I have to fly out weekly) I'm sure I'd have gone all the way and be an owner of two passports. 

Having a full day!

But things have changed, changed dramatically within only one year. It happened all so quickly that sometimes I am simply wondering what's going on and whether this is only a dream I am finding myself in. This was especially the case around the Brexit vote where something major happened every day - vote got lost, Cameron leaves, Farage goes, the "bus lie" was made apparent, Tory backstabbing around Johnson and Gove, election of Tory party leader and new PM, 3 clowns as ministers, etc. Every day was a rollercoaster day of emotions and political surprises, if not turmoil. 

Now it's nearly November but all of this doesn't seem to stop. "Brexit means Brexit" is still haunting me and it will haunt me and at least 48% of the vote for quite a while. Sometimes, I am simply speechless, sometimes I am extremely angry, and sometimes I feel sad. These carousel of emotions is a daily thing now.

My passion for the UK started in 1994/95 during an Erasmus exchange year where I studied Business Administration at the University of Bath. This year changed my life completely. I loved everything British and I was fascinated about literally everything. I seemed to absorb Britishness like a sponge. In 1997, at the start of my first job after university I decided to move back to the UK. I chose London and only wanted to stay for a year or two; I never really left again. 

Within those 2 decades of UK I have pretty much assimilated to country and culture; I volunteered as Special Constable for the Metropolitan Police, I turned Anglican and joined the Church of England, and I did all sorts of other things. And then Brexit came along. It should change everything, everything I have believed in so far, and it hit me like a hurricane. I am trying to get my head around what's going on and still, sometimes I sit here in complete disbelief. 


The new Banana Monarchy

The UK turned out to be a banana republic. I cannot believe that all of this could have happened. Cameron instigated a referendum for sheer party political reasons, it suddenly turned out to be an advisory referendum which was never made clear from the start (which in the end might be our saving grace), no thresholds were set (such as in every "normal" country where one needs certain percentages to draw conclusions from referendums; such as a qualified 2/3 or even 3/4 majority, not just a simple majority of who passes the pole); now suddenly all we hear is "The majority of the British People have spoken". Did they? 51,9% of the cast vote is "the majority" for such a life changing issue? And where on earth is the principle of the UK being a union to be seen? England alone can always overturn all the other states. It is a hegemony we are living in, a hegemony of the English over the Scots, Welsh, Northern Irish and the people of Gibraltar. Is it just me or does this stink of injustice to others too? But then, Nicola Sturgeon is already on stage preparing for her own referendum and the Northern Irish are taking the case to the courts. 

What I found extremely astonishing was the answer to "who could vote"? Brits, Commonwealth citizens and Irish living in the UK, also Commonwealth citizens in Gibraltar. This means EU citizens like me were not allowed, but Cypriots and Maltese were, also the Irish. Basically, in a referendum about the EU, Commonwealth citizens could vote but EU nationals could not. My sense for justice and equality is just about to go overboard. I've been living here for about 20 years, integrated into the British society and have no say in this life changing matter!  

Right after the referendum we all had hopes that Parliament would get a vote over this knowing that both houses have a "remain" majority. But no, suddenly the government decided this is not possible and put this referendum result under the "royal prerogative". Sorry what? A non-binding referendum with a very tight outcome for "Leave" is suddenly subsumed under the royal prerogative? It feels like having signed a contract without reading any of the small-print. 

These days the government admitted that Parliament will get some form of vote, and one reads that the pro-Remain House of Lords better complies with the government otherwise they will be over-flooded with Leave peers and "undergo reform". For me this is blackmail. It is not mafia style blackmail where things happen in the background, no, it is worse, it is made public and one can read about it in the press! North Korea wouldn't do it any differently, it feels!

I also ask myself where are the Queen and her family in this discussion. We all know she has absolutely no power whatsoever. She has the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, and the right to warn; all very harmless stuff. But there is also something in the non-written constitution that the monarch can step in in times of emergency. There are a few powers she has left, like not granting royal assent (done last time by Queen Anne), but the simplest ones are presenting herself in public or sending off Prince Charles to do all the talking. There is lots of stuff the monarchy can unofficially do. I am simply astonished that nothing happens from that side. Funny enough I was amazed that she did not do anything during the Scottish referendum either. So must we conclude that she does not care that the very existence of the UK is at risk? I know this is a bit going off the tangent, but I firmly believe that any ceremonial head of state should have some powers of control that political proceedings are within the law and reason. For example, I know the German President sometimes refuses to sign laws and calls the courts whether certain laws are within the framework of the constitution. For me this is vital for any head of state. 


Theodor Fontane's Summer in London

Theodor Fontane, a pretty famous German poet and personally one of my favourites, wrote a book in 1854 called "Summer in London". I love this book as it describes life in the capital seeing it from a "German point of view". I read it many years ago and a few things got stuck in my mind - London has always been a multicultural hotspot, traffic has forever been a nightmare, prices were highly above normal, AND the English have a tendency to cherry picking and looking at their own (monetary) advantage first, coming close to greed. Fontane was appalled about the lack of passion and ideals; he described English businessmen with a sheer focus on the bottom line, being short sighted and unable to think strategically and long-term. I never understood this, but within the years and particularly now I must conclude Fontane was probably right.

Remember Margaret Thatcher's "I want my money back!"? And the British rebate was born. And then all the other British "Sonderwürste" throughout the decades, those exceptions for the British when it comes to the EU. This is now climaxing in leaving the union altogether but keeping access to the single market. What's astonishing is the shamelessness of their request and the expectation to access the single market without contributing to it. 

It's time the English stop with their "Rule Britannia mentality" and undergo a reality check. Back when the UK was admitted to the then EC, this country was the sick man of Europe. And now it seems they got their imperial attitude back, without having any Empire in the background. The Commonwealth, some might argue, especially when it comes to trade deals, is still there, but seriously? One would want to compare the Queen's play thing consisting of Third World countries and a few Caribbean islands to the EU, the world's biggest single market? 

As I am writing this article, a window suddenly popped up with the following news: Both, The Independent and The Guardian report about banks moving their headquarters away from London to either Frankfurt, Paris or possibly Vienna, putting 70,000 jobs at risk, by early next year. I'm wondering if this will be a wake-up call for this government, but I guess probably not. Back to my article.


Vive l'Europe! 

After WW2 it was Winston Churchill, de Gaulle, Adenauer and probably every single European who never ever wanted this atrocity of a war again on European grounds. And so that what is now the EU started slowly to exist and develop. I am a fervent European and I am so very happy to be able to live here on this continent. Seeing the EU going down this path currently makes my heart bleed. I have always felt so lucky that I belong to one of the generations that does not have to endure war and in fact go to war as a soldier. And I think we nowadays take peace and wealth far too much for granted. 

Europe gives us 4 freedoms, one of which is the freedom of movement. We can work and live wherever we want. And isn't it just perfect? I moved to the UK, and many of my British friends spend most of their summer holidays and major parts of the year in their homes in France and Spain and elsewhere. One of them moved to Frankfurt, others elsewhere. For me this is freedom. We are all one big European family where war with ourselves is no longer prevalent. 

But we need to fight for it daily, not just you and I, but also our national and regional governments and especially the EU government. The EU is by far not perfect, but it's good enough to maintain peace and wealth for all of us. We should rather than withdrawing from this institution, change it, make it better, in fact, make it close to perfect. And especially Britain as one of the big countries should lead this union and not just leave. This for me is the most disappointing thing. They don't fight for a better Europe, they just go (and still want to enjoy all the benefits). 

I am so sick and tired of this phrase about the EU being undemocratic and that the UK want her powers back. First, can't we all go and vote for the European Parliament? Don't we send our own governments to Brussels to represent us? For me this is democratic enough. If one doesn't want a United States of Europe, then I am not sure how more democratic one should set up this union.

Throughout this whole referendum campaign I only heard cost-benefit analyses, mainly in monetary terms. 350 million here and there, and all sorts of numbers were thrown around the table. Nobody from the Remain group ever started to dream the dream about Europe, to have a vision what it will be to be one Europe in the next century maybe. And when looking at the world map it is pretty clear we need to move closer to one another on our continent and prepare for the times to come. This will not and cannot ever be a way backwards to national states. The 19th century is over and the 20th century with all its atrocities of war and racism is thankfully over, too.


The ugly Face of Racism

When looking at what's happening right now with growing figures of racism, I feel very alarmed that the UK will go down the "Germany of the 1930ies" route and we must do all we can do to stop this from happening. When Hitler won the first elections to the Reichstag he didn't say he wanted to kill 6 million Jews, and he didn't reveal any of his plans to take over the world. I don't say the Tories are like the Nazis, but I see similarities in their approach - scapegoating (back then the Jews, nowadays immigrants), putting the nation state first (back then everything happened in the name of the German people, nowadays I hear the term "the British people" far too often), promising independence and control (back then the shackles from WW1, nowadays Brussels' beaurocrats), the government gathering intelligence over companies that employ foreigners (back then Jews), and the list goes on. The only thing I am waiting for is that us Europeans have to visibly wear a badge with the EU flag on it as opposed to the yellow star of David the Nazis imposed.

Racism is rising, the UK has turned into an international laughing stock (whereas I'd rather cry than laugh), our society is split in two, remainers and brexiters, and I think the situation is pretty severe. I'm worried about so many things, I spend many nights awake and keep on pondering about our future; and the fact that Theresa May doesn't seem to get it freaks me out. She is like a loose canon. Initially, I thought what a wonderful idea to put those 3 clowns in charge. As soon as they fail she will revert and re-join the remain camp (where she pre-referendum belonged to), but after last week's Tory conference I am afraid to say, I think she totally lost it. She now reminds me of Magda Goebbels who poisoned her own children before the Third Reich went down the drain. 

Today, I went to a wonderful lunch party where I was one of the few foreigners. Being surrounded by my British friends helped me to get over this feeling that I am not wanted in this country anymore. I am not sure if any Leave-Brit does understand that feeling that one isn't part of the gang and unwanted. It's a bad one. But then, they don't care and want us out. What feels terrible, in all those 20 years I never claimed benefits and I simply paid taxes, year in and year out and contributed to our society. And suddenly I am unwanted and part of a political gambling session where the government tries to play poker with the EU as to whether we can stay or not. 

So, back to my initial comment about dual citizenship, I must say, first time in many, many years I don't actually want a British passport. I want to be part of something bigger, something better, something kinder, and being a little Englander is something I don't really aspire to become. I won't leave this country though, unless I am actually being deported. I have been here half of my life, I invested so much, and I will do whatever it takes to help to get this country back to normal. Fingers crossed! 

PS: There is one positive thing I get out of this current situation; finally the EU and British membership is publicly being discussed. And in case we will stay in the EU, this underlying negativity should hopefully be over and dealt with. This public discussion was needed long time ago.  

   

The Ship called Britannia is Sinking

Not only that I haven't had a proper night's sleep since last Friday morning when I got the ‪#‎Brexit‬ news, I'm also starting to get traumatised by what's happening in the UK. I feel like being in a straightjacket looking at a whole country going down the drain committing harakiri:

- The Leave campaign was based on lies. The liars admit it and nobody seems to really care.
- The Leave people have absolutely no plan what to do now.
- The government is headless and has also no plan what to do.
- The opposition is busy with themselves getting rid of their leader.
- Xenophobia is on the rise, foreigners are being bullied on public transport, racist graffitis sprayed on walls, and a Polish community centre is being vandalised in London.
- GBP is on a historic low, prices are on the rise.
- The credit agency S&P downgraded the UK, other agencies will follow.
- There is a petition to get another referendum reaching 4 million signatures.
- Apparently, more than 1 million Leave voters regret their vote.
- It becomes also apparent that this was a protest vote.
- Demonstrations are happening, people raising their voices to remain.
- Society is deeply divided: rural Leave vs cities Remain, older people Leave vs younger people Remain, England/Wales Leave vs Scotland and Northern Ireland Remain.
- Scotland in particular but also Northern Ireland think about leaving the UK and stay in the EU, the UK as we know it might cease to exist soon.
- The Queen seeing her country fall apart is frantically travelling to NI and I'm sure it's not a normal routine visit.
- Brits abroad are scared of the unknown future ahead.
- Europeans in the UK (like me) feel likewise.
- Stock markets around the world are in turmoil, shares are falling freely.
- This inability to act makes the UK the new international laughing stock.
So may I ask in all politeness WHEN ON EARTH DOES OUR PARLIAMENT AND GOVERNMENT ACT AND GET US AND OUR COUNTRY OUT OF THIS DISASTER AND BACK TO NORMAL; WITHIN THE EU, THAT IS?

That was me on Saturday morning.... Let's hope for the best!!!

I won't be a Lumber Jack - my Fight against Canadian Windmills.

Being a management consultant specialising in process efficiency sometimes makes life more difficult. Let me tell you what happened with my Canadian eTA application, a new visa waiver programme for Canada, similar to the American ESTA programme. 

I booked a flight to Calgary, wanted to spend a week and a bit in the Rocky Mountainsm, hiking and stuff; and after having paid the air fare I went on the Air Canada website to find out about eTA. I went on the eTA website and applied. One question was: Do you take regular medication? And I instinctively knew there was a problem. I had some form of skin cancer last year and need to take a pill a day. I stood in front of a dilemma - should I lie and say No I might face the risk of getting caught at the border. Being stamped a liar I'd never be allowed back into Canada. Should I not lie, I knew I'd have to go through a questionnaire or so and it would not be as easy to obtain an eTA as it would have been if I had lied. 

I didn't lie, told the truth, and I got the following message: 

Your application for an Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) has been received. A review of your file is underway. You will be advised within 72 hours of next steps regarding your application.

You can check the status of your application by using the Check eTA status tool. To do this, you will need the application number noted above and details from the passport you used to apply for your eTA.

72 hours it says. Well..... 168 hours later, this is 7 days, I received another e-mail from them: 

Status: Pending – Client action required

eTA number: V30786838x

Passport number: xxx

A review of your Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) application is underway. In order for Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) to continue processing your application, we need some documents from you.

Do not submit your documents by email. To submit your documents, you will need to create or log into your secure MyCIC account at www.cic.gc.ca/mycic. CIC will request documents from you through this account.

Once you have created or logged into your MyCIC account, you will need to link your eTA application to your account by clicking on the “Link eTA application to this account” button.

For future visits to your MyCIC account, go to www.cic.gc.ca/mycic. Select the “Continue to GCKey” button and enter your GCKey user ID and password.

During the review of your file, you are not considered to hold a valid eTA. As such, you should not plan or undertake any travel to Canada until you are advised otherwise.

Right, I have to open that link and sign up and submit some papers. I guessed it was the travel insurance or a certificate of what kind of illness I had. I still had that paper that I completed my radiotherapy sessions and was about to scan it. Whatever. I clicked on the link and an error message occurred. I tried with my Mac and at work with a normal windows computer. I always got this message: 

Server Error

403 - Forbidden: Access is denied.

You do not have permission to view this directory or page using the credentials that you supplied.

I was annoyed. I clicked myself through some website, Canada.ca, and found a link where one can report any system issues. I submitted my problem and received the following: 

Thank you for contacting Canada.ca.

This email has been automatically generated to let you know that we have received your message.

The Government of Canada privacy policies do not allow us to forward email messages on your behalf to any other Government of Canada organizations, programs, services or representatives.

We do not respond to correspondence that contains offensive language.

I waited for a day or so and received the following message: 

Canada.ca does not maintain the Citizenship and Immigration Canada website.

Information on how to report technical difficulties encountered with the Citizenship and Immigration Canada website or on how to obtain related assistance is accessible from the "Help Centre" section of the Department’s website at the following URL:

What do I do if I run into technical problems with my online application to CIC?
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?q=799&t=23

Good Lord! I clicked on the link and opened up a help section and reported my problems. I got the following message back: 

*** Please note that this is an automated message. ***

Thank you for contacting Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC).

You may expect an answer if:

*   you have submitted an application;

*   your application has exceeded normal processing times<http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/index.asp>;

*   you wish to report important changes or an emergency situation;

*   you wish to report a technical issue with Citizenship and Immigration online services.

Please note that we will not respond if you have not provided all the mandatory fields in submitting your question.

For general questions on the Citizenship or Immigration programs,  visit the online Help Centre<http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/index-featured-int.asp> on our website<http://www.cic.gc.ca/>.

Submitting the same request multiple times will not expedite the processing of your enquiry.

The turnaround time for a response is of 10 business days for online technical difficulties and 30 business days for case specific inquiries.

Please note that Citizenship and Immigration Canada can only communicate with you in one of our two official languages: English or French.

Thank you.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada

10 days. I have to wait 10 days now!!!! 10 days????? Okay, I waited for 10 days. In fact, I waited for 15 days and am still waiting for resolving my IT issue I had with the site. 

Last weekend I called a phone number which I found on their website. I got something like the following automated message:

"Invalid number, no phone calls answered."

I was about to cry! Please God, I don't want to steal from the Canadian health care system, I am happy with the NHS. I only want to travel to see Calgary and the Rocky Mountains, and that only for a week. What on earth is going wrong there??? 

After 3 more days I received the following message: 

Status: Closed

Application number: V30786838x

Passport number: 

Following an assessment of your application for an Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA), it has been determined that you do not meet the requirements for an eTA. Please see the attached document for the reasons leading to this decision.

 Your application is now closed.

You are not considered to hold a valid eTA. As such, you should not plan or undertake any travel to Canada. Should you decide to travel to Canada, you may experience delays at boarding or on arrival, and you may not be allowed to board your flight or enter Canada.

I do not meet the requirements? I haven't had a single chance of doing anything but wait, wait for more than 4 weeks now. What's wrong with you guys in Canada? Can't you implement an online visa procedure and system and get your interdepartmental communication right?

Basically, that's it, right? My mistake was that I did not lie, telling the Canadian authorities about the pills I am taking daily. This triggered the whole issue, I am sure. 

As management consultant I can conclude the following: 

- No sufficient project management planning for introducing the eTA system.-

- No IT knowledge to send out links that actually work.

- No contact possibility

   -  e-mails can't be sent, other than via the website that didn't work.

   -  the call centre did not answer any messages.

- No communication link between their IT department and operations department. Those operations people should have seen that there was an open IT ticket.

- No time keeping. In both cases they exceeded the time promised to get back to me. 

And what are the consequences? 

- No holidays for me in Canada.

- Loss of money, as I will have to return the ticket. Also, the eTA had to be paid.

- If I should I ever want to enter Canada again, I would always have to answer the following question: Have you ever been denied entry into Canada? I'll always be brandmarked. I will always have to explain to some immigration officer about this. And nothing is my fault. 

CANADA, PLEASE SORT YOUR PROCESSES OUT!!! 

One of my problems is, as management consultant I understand processes and know exactly when processes go wrong, like in this instance. The frustrating thing is, that there is nothing I can do. I could open a new eTA case, but I'd get the same over and over again - being denied, being sent a non-working link, being made to wait and wait and wait and nobody to talk to. 

I am hoping anyone from the Canadian Immigration Authorities will read my blog and do something about this situation. 

---------------------------

I posted this blog entry last Thursday, 25 January. I thought the case was over. No, it goes on. 

Also on the 25th I wrote this Twitter entry:

Thanks Canada. Feedback about ill-working processes en route to implementing eTA.  http://roland-brunner.blogspot.de/2016/02/i-wont-be-lumber-jack-my-fight-agains.html … 

@CitImmCanada

This morning, the 27th I have received the following message: 

Dear Roland,

Thank you for contacting Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

In order to access your MyCIC account we suggest you to try this link: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/e-services/mycic.asp

If you are still experiencing technical difficulties fill out this email form choose Electronic Travel Authorization - General and Technical Enquiries located in the drop down menu under the heading Enquiry,and include:  

Sincerely,

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
www.cic.gc.ca

I do still have my ticket, but I am somehow on the verge of losing interest in flying to Canada and am pondering whether I should simply leave it. My enthusiasm for hiking through the Rockies for a few days is dwindling.

Guys in Canada, you should really sort your inefficiencies and processes out, please!

I'll send another message to them to their twitter account and will also write to this e-mail address. If that doesn't work, I'll give up. 

----------------------

Today is the 9th of March and I have given up. I returned the airline ticket. I tried to get another eTA but when I ready "Were you ever refused entry into Canada?" I decided this is too much to bear. Somehow, I completely lost interest. It's just such a shame that they can't implement a visa IT system and get their processes right. 

----------------------

The story goes on: On the 12th of March I have received the following after I, in fact, replied to that one e-mail from the 27th. In that e-mail I copied in this blog link asking them to read through as I could not possibly write the whole shebong. I also wrote a bit about what happened. Of course, nobody ever read that blog entry (as I can see in Google Analytics). As a result I have received this automated e-mail, yes, yet another automated e-mail. All in all, I must conclude that I had to deal with such an amazing degree of incompetence that it's hard to believe if I hadn't collected all those e-mails as evidence. 

Status: Closed

Application number: V3078683xx     

Passport number:           

Thank you for contacting Citizenship and Immigration Canada regarding your application for an Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA).

The status of your application is: Refused.

In accordance with Section 11(1.01) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), an electronic Travel Authorization may be issued to a foreign national if he or she is not inadmissible to Canada and meets the requirements of the Act.

Subsection 16(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act states that a person who makes an application must answer truthfully all questions put to them for the purpose of the examination and must produce all relevant evidence and documents that the officer reasonably requires.

You have not submitted proof of funds, proof residence and itinerary details as requested on 2016/02/09 to be provided by 2016/02/19.

Please note however, that clients who do not submit required documents within the deadline provided, or clients who do not submit the documents that were specifically requested may see their applications being refused. As such, you may want to submit another eTA application, ensuring that all required documents are submitted within the timeline granted and that issues raised earlier are properly addressed.

You are not considered to hold a valid eTA. As such, you should not plan or undertake any travel to Canada. Should you decide to travel to Canada, you may experience delays at boarding or on arrival, and you may not be allowed to board your flight or enter Canada.

Sincerely,

Citizenship and Immigration Canada

I am wondering if anyone from Canada will ever read it. It's such a great case study of what can go wrong. 

If I should ever get a reply from them, I'll copy it below here. 

Just to link my travel blog to here, an entry from my last trip to Canada in August 2010. I flew to Halifax and took a tour for a few days, PEI, etc. 

http://rollsgoesworld.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/halifax-nova-scotia-canada.html