I have so much to say, but for now, I am posting my correspondence with the owner and let his words speak for themselves. And FYI
he added the color to the email, not me.
MY EMAIL:Dear Matthew,
I just wanted to let you know how I felt about my experience with Expat Flyers. As a business owner, I thought that it could only help you improve your business.
The biggest issue for me was that your directions were not helpful. You wrote the wrong terminal in one of your emails ("The easiest way to get to us is from Yuseong express bus terminal by taking the 104 bus to depyeong ri."). These directions never mentioned that there was more than one bus terminal (and thus a possibility for confusion). Nor did you tell me that you would recommend that I take the bus to Daejeon, since you told me later that is the easiest way to find the intercity terminal. Also, I asked for you to send me the name of the terminal in Korean. I think this would be helpful to all customers who speak limited Korean so they can show it to people, which creates less confusion than speaking. A map might also be helpful. I know that you must think that I am incompetent with directions, but I have traveled a lot in Korea (and in other foreign countries) and I have never been that lost at any point in my life. It was very frightening. I recommend that you make a word document that you can copy and paste into your future correspondences, something detailed that tells people they should take the bus, note that there are three possible Yuseong Bus Terminals (the express bus terminal, the intercity bus terminal and the intercity bus stop - which is where my second taxi driver took me when I told him "Yuseong Intercity Bus Terminal"), etc. If you save it as a document, then you do not need to worry about error and you will not need to retype it for each customer.
I understand that the only reason that I was so lost was that because of a lot of coincidences, but I planned everything properly and I did not realize all of the things that could go wrong. You made it sound very simple and I arrived at what I thought was the right location without an issue. I would have prepared myself for problems if I was aware of how confusing it would be.
Secondly I feel like my first day of lessons was not satisfactory. I was so dehydrated and tired from traveling from 6 am - 3:30 pm (7 hours of which were spent wandering all around Daejeon, Cheonan, etc.) that I was just agreeing to do whatever you wanted because I didn't want to be a bother anymore. Since we had already discussed a refund, I was under the impression that you were taking me for a joy ride to become familiar with the aircraft. That is my fault for not thinking in terms of business and you as the business owner. I am not upset that I did not receive a full refund, but I do not think that 100,000 won was a fair price to charge. As far as that lesson went, everything that you said, you taught me again, and more thoroughly, the next day. The flight was short and since I did not realize that it was a lesson, I did not try to fly or do much more than stare out the window and look at whatever gadget you pointed to since I could not properly hear you. The 'lesson' was basically 10-15 minutes of rushed information and a short, pointless flight. I would not have minded if you charged some won for the first day, like I said it was completely my fault for not declining the flight. However, since we had already talked about a refund, I just assumed that was the agreement we had decided on.
I want to let you know that I am grateful for any money back, but I saved for about a month to go on this trip and I feel like your poor directions were a large part of the reason that I missed Day One of lessons in the first place.
Additionally, I feel like the setting should be a little more professional. I felt very awkward being placed in the middle of the poor interrelations of the aviation club. Also, I would have preferred to have two or three hours of intense lessons rather than 5 hours of sitting around mixed with lessons and flying. Others might like the laid back atmosphere, but I feel like I paid for lessons so that is what I want most of my time there to consist of.
On a positive note, it is very clear that you are a talented pilot and that you are very safe while it seems many other pilots are not as stringent in their safety policies. I really enjoyed my time in the air and I think that when it comes to teaching you are very knowledgeable. I was happy with the information that I learned and I trust you as a teacher.
I hope that this information is helpful. I figured that every business owner should know how their customers feel, especially if there can be improvements made. Good luck with your interview for the Korean Herald and in Australia! Perhaps I will see you again.
Best,
Kate Davis
HIS RESPONSE:Kate,
My classes help subsidise my income at present to let people fly cheap. I have had only one person got lost before. The directions couldn't be much more simple. Yuseong express bus terminal. Turn left and the stop is on the left. How easy is that! There are two bus stations in Yuseong but there is only one express bus terminal for Seoul. I think it is very unfare writting these comments and rude after someone goes to the trouble of driving over forty kilometers to give a special service for you! Also the car costs Gas and to turn down one customer to collect you!
My lose for you coming is far more than what you paid!
Let me just say this. To please you I took you up in the air even though I had been running around all day. I cancelled my classes in Boreong because I felt sorry for you. I lost a whole evenings earnings!.
Also the following day after already telling you what time I would pick you up you decided to have breakfast. You already knew what time I was coming before. Why were you not ready. This is manners ! Also I took my time with flights because the weather was not great and there were time when it was gusting and would have been too dangerous to fly. I like to be safe. We took you out and give you a good meal for free on the house. I gave you money back also and you write such a horrible letter.
You have no idea of the red tape involved in Korea and how difficult it has been to get this far! I am in process of upgrading many things but the process is slow and painful.
Now lets talk about prices. Uk prices for flight training are 200 dollars an hour. Korea is around 190 dollars and there is no real ground and the instructors take no time to do any special service like pick up etc. Korea is not blessed with cheap gas like the States and 70 percent of the money is on gas.
I do not know what kind of business you do, but if it takes you one month to save to do a course, please do not give people business advice because obviously you don't have a clue about running a business. I went out of my way to help you ! I have never had such a horrible mail before! I have never had anyone complain like you before! This is not constructive critism, it is rude and it is a complaint!MY RESPONSE TO HIS RESPONSE:
Matthew,
I assure you that I never meant to be rude. I had a friend read the email solely for the purpose of telling me if there was anything that I could say differently and he told me that it did not seem bitter or rude to him. If you saw it that way, then I apologize. I really meant to give you constructive criticism. I never meant to offend you. I think that everything I said could be helpful in the future. I am very sorry that you turned down a customer to pick me up and I greatly appreciate that you did that for me. I know that I was a bother.
I think that you should have told me flat out what all of these issues were. You told me repeatedly that you were not canceling classes for me so I believed that. Anyway, I told you that I was fine not having a class. If you thought I was rude, then tell me and don't make faces at me when you think I cannot see you. I apologize again for being rude, but I am not a passive-aggressive type person and I thought that you, the business owner, should know what I was telling people. I thought that I was being courteous telling you what I was telling my friends, co-workers, etc. who were all interested and potential customers.
As far as my business, I make a lot of money, but I have tons of school debt to pay off so I budget it carefully; entertainment and frivolities obviously get least priority. And when I deal with my customers, I treat them with respect and try my best to please them.
Matthew, as I said I did not mean to write that email as a personal attack. I told you that I trusted you as a pilot and that I learned a lot, which is what really mattered. I understood that my circumstance was extreme. I tried to end the email with positive information so that you would understand that it wasn't an attack. I wanted to fly with you again for those reasons, which I stated at the end of the email. I knew that I was a bother and I wanted to return again with friends to make up for it. My friends wanted to fly, as I told you, and now that I know how to get there, there should have been no problem. We were going to plan a trip. But obviously now you have made this personal by clearly attacking me. I would rather not trek down to Daejeon to fly with you again.
Kate
More to come...
