First complaints

As I had not received the promised call with a solution from Dolfi1920, I decided to do a more thorough online research on the company. I was aware that people only make extra effort to complain online and was not expecting great reviews. However, what I encountered was a limited, but clear stream of dissatisfied customers whose rights were seemingly violated by them. To list a few:

• Facebook unofficial page
• Blog story of their bad service
• Customer experience story - horrifying [PL]

From then on, I really started expecting trouble. Nevertheless, I waited a few days for contact that never came. Then, I decided to write a complaint letter to Lufthansa and sent it by email. It was a long one, you probably noticed I tend to write a lot, in which I described my problems, inconveniences, and demanded their involvement as well as supervision of the matter. 

The following day I received a phone call early in the morning where the Lufthansa agent apologised and promised to expedite the process to Dolfi's management. However, being asked to supervise the process or to follow up on that, he decisively refused. It was a strange conversation, the caller did not speak English well, and was breaking up a lot. I voiced my concerns but these were either disregarded or quietly omitted. Nevertheless, with a promise of prioritizing my issue, I was hopeful of a swift contact from Dolfi, and of solving the matter soon. We ended the conversation on friendly terms. 

Yet, Dolfi1920 never responded to my complaint. In one of the future phone conversations I was told they received, but nobody just bothered to call me and arrange anything. I realised they would try to wait me out so that I give in, and adjust to them. Being a quite stubborn person, that never happened and I just waited. Fortunately, I had no travel plans where I would have needed a large suitcase, which still remained damaged and in my possession.

A week has passed with no reaction from either Lufthansa or Dolfi1920, so I decided to write another complaint, this time in a bit stronger articulation. Since it is my email, I can post it here without any further repercussions:

"Dear Sir/Madam,
I am yet again writing to complain about the level of service you are providing, regarding my damaged luggage with FB ID 30424550, and reference number GDNLH36248. It has been another week and no progress in the matter.
I wrote to you previously on May 15th to escalate the problems I was facing with Dolfi1920, a company to which you assigned my case to. I am afraid they simply ignored my complaint as we weren't in contact since that was made. I am outraged that you treat your customers like that.
This time I really require you to take charge of the matter and come up with a solution to the problem, including a definite timeline. I am afraid that raising the issue to Dolfi1920's management is by no means sufficient, as they ignored it, and I quite frankly am no longer willing to cooperate in such a manner.
All in all, I absolutely require a solution from you with no half-measures. As before, you can contact me via email, or call xxxxxxx
I am looking forward to your timely response.
Kind regards,
Paweł xxxxx"

The following day I received a polite reply. It just was not something I had expected. Lufthansa completely washed their hands of it, and apart from forwarding my email to Dolfi1920, refused to do anything. Quoting a part of the email:

"(..) And the said repair shop Dolfi1920 is a third party management that has its own policy and procedure which means that Airline policy does not apply at all with a different company and with a different nature of business. (..) Whilst we understand your disappointment on this occasion, Lufthansa cannot influence the policy and procedure which is under the third party responsibility."

This was of course outrageous, as under the Montreal Convention it was Lufthansa that was liable for the damage, not a party they employed to fix it. I arrived at a strange situation where the liable party refused to take any action, the repair company I was forced to deal with kept on ignoring me, and quite frankly had no obligations towards me as I had not purchased any service from them. 

It was the first time then that I allowed myself to think that there was a possibility the two companies would leave me hanging, and I would never get my suitcase repaired nor any compensation. Not really liking this option, I decided to research my possibilities of a complaint to the authorities, and once more try to arrange something with Dolfi1920. Disappointed, I decided to call Dolfi1920 and see what can be done...

Initial hopes

On May 10th I was called by a representative of Dolfi1920 to arrange a pickup of the damaged suitcase. It appeared the company has its headquarters in Poland and we swiftly moved from speaking Dutch, via English (my Dutch is still quite poor unfortunately) to Polish. The agent was pleasant, friendly and very communicative. For legal reasons I will not name any of the employees I encountered. Suffice to write that there were in total three agents from Dolfi1920 and a single one from Lufthansa involved over the entire course of the matter. 

Immediately my trouble started as employed by Dolfi1920 courier services only worked on weekdays between 9 and 17 and would not schedule a visit for a specific hour. I thought it was really strange and resisted such arrangement, typically being at work during the day, as a regular productive member of the society. The agent was relentless, and after a long conversation I gave in and decided to schedule the pickup in two days and to work from home then, which was possible but a bit inconvenient for me. Specifically asking to relay my mobile number to the courier and to inform me of any developments, I was eager to have the case closed in a short time. I was told that it would take two weeks for the transportation both ways and repair in between, and considered it a fair deal.

On Thursday, May 12th I stayed home working and awaiting the courier. Except, he never came. Nor I received any contact from any of the involved parties. Today, since I am very suspicious of Dolfi1920, which I describe in details further, I even allow myself to think that the courier service might have never been organised at all. Of course I have no proof of anything, except for a statement from Dolfi's agent over a telephone. No written confirmation was sent, and I know now it was a mistake not to demand one. In the evening I sent an email to Dolfi1920 to inform about the failed pickup. 

The following day in the morning I received a call from the same agent expressing his surprise about the lack of pickup. With no apologies about the circumstances he suggested that the courier would appear that day and I should give it to him then. Of course that was not possible as I was busy at work, and the suitcase was home. Then, the biggest concern for him was not to find a solution to suit my needs but to call of the courier service. After a while, he started pushing again to set a new date and repeat the arrangement. I strongly refused and demanded that the pickup is scheduled for a specific hour of my convenience. That was apparently not possible and we went through a list of proposed solutions, none of which really suited me. These were:

• Having somebody else meet the courier,
• Leave the suitcase in front of the house and let the courier pick it from there!;
• Ask a neighbour to do it,
• Bring the suitcase to work and schedule the pickup from there.

Could I have gone to extra trouble and arrange any of them? Of course I could have, but none of the options was really convenient for me. People I live with have other things to do during the day, option 2 was hilarious in the centre of a town, and I could not see myself packing a large suitcase on my bike and cycle for almost 8 km with it (a typical way of commuting to work in the Netherlands). Asking a colleague for a pickup, or using public transport was also an option, but I just did not want to go this extra mile to suit their capabilities while they were supposed to adjust to my needs. 

It is possible that there would not be any case nor this blog should I gave in and did any of the above-mentioned. However, with the current experience in dealing with Dolfi1920, I do not believe that pickup would have been the end of my misery. Let's call it an informed speculation. 

Yet, being unhappy about the lack of pickup to previous day I rejected to do more than the minimum, demanding the pickup is scheduled for the time convenient for me. I actually offered a weekend or almost any weekday morning till 10ish, as long as the courier comes. That was not good enough for Dolfi1920, who certainly did not offer anything more than the bare minimum required. A bit puzzled agent ended the conversation with a promise to speak to his supervisor, find a suitable solution, and then call me back later that day. But of course, he never did.

The disaster hits

On April 29th, I was travelling from Amsterdam Schiphol to Gdańsk via Munich. Upon collecting my suitcase I realised it was missing a wheel. It was my first experience of this type as usually I fly only with a hand luggage. Without thinking much of it I went to report it. Then, I experienced my first hiccups. 

Reporting the damage was easy, nobody questioned its validity and I managed to quickly get a signed form. However, since my flight back was in 9 days I was informed that there were no chances of getting it repaired or replaced in that time, so I would have to deal with a damaged one, or find a suiting solution on my own. When I asked for a substitute, the agent almost choked with laughter. I realised I would have to endure an inconvenient trip back including transfers and nobody cared the least. Yet, since it was just a wheel, and being happy to be back home, I did not care too much.

The damage

Two days later I used an online form to report damage to Lufthansa. I got quickly a reply about processing and a day later a formal reply accepting the claim. Not knowing why, a customer satisfaction survey followed immediately, as if Lufthansa considered the matter closed. Furthermore I was a bit puzzled by a part of their email, which read: 

We would be happy to assist you in this matter. We do require an independent assessment for all damaged items. You are welcome to contact our recommended repairers, Dolfi1920 who will repair or replace your suitcase with a similar model as applicable and then invoice us directly so you are not required to make any payment. We have provided further contact details below.

Please notice that in this polite text Lufthansa forces me to deal with a third party company, something I did not agree to, nor expected. Yet, I was unaware at this point that my claim has been sold to the lowest bidder (of course this is still only a hunch, Lufthansa never commented on why and how my case has changed "ownership").

To start arranging a repair, still in good faith and without prejudice, I waited until my return to the Netherlands. Of course I had to fill yet another online form, asking the plenty of details about the suitcase. I managed to do so on May 9th and awaited a reply.

Background story

I would like to share a story of my dealings with Lufthansa as well as a repair company called Dolfi1920 over a damaged suitcase during one of my flights. I allowed myself to paraphrase Lufthansa's slogan - nonstop you - to better suit the reality. I am only publishing this blog after the case has been settled, so that they do not hold any leverage over me. It took 106 days to settle a seemingly simple case, and way too much effort, including involvement from the European Consumer Center. Unfortunately, the only way for me as a customer to fight for my rights in the future is to make the case public.

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