Rex versus the Doctor

[markis10]

Interesting response from Rex to a complaint:

Dear Mr Thorburn
My Chairman Lim Kim Hai has received your letter dated 30 May 2012 and has instructed me to respond as follows:
1. Rex is not perfect and occasionally we do have failures of equipment and service standards. We are not proud of this and we are truly sorry to have caused any inconvenience to anybody.
2. That being the case, we think we are still much better than all the airlines in Australia and most of the airlines in the world.
3. Your entitlement to compensation is governed by our conditions of carriage which you have accepted. In this case you are not entitled to anything. If, as you say, you find the conditons unsatisfactory, why did you accept them in the first place? I would be curious to know if you would reimburse any of your patients who do not get well after seeing you? If you don't, why not?
4. We are not providing you with the statistics you are requesting for. Perhaps in the medical profession you are used to dispensing information on how long you make your patients wait or how often you misdiagnosed.
5. I am not aware of any particular pattern of cancellations/delays. If this could be foreseen in advance believe me it would not have happened.
Regards
Irwin Tan
GM Corporate Service


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel...nt-response-20120731-23cdf.html#ixzz22BRUxtL2

 

[eastwest101]

If you follow the SMH links through you can find the nature of the original complaint. It - in itself is a pretty interesting state of affairs but not entirely clear what happened.

The original complaint continues on here:

Dr Thorburn's letter to Rex - Local News - News - General - The Area News

Which is more illuminating than the SMH article - as it appears the SHM article has conveniently cut the original complaint letter in half.

I don't know if the response from Rex is real, but if it is, it could be a "Houston - we have a proplem..." moment for Rex PR

 

[drron]

I nearly had a similiar problem with Rex out of BHQ.Plane in went Tech but fortunately was a Rex engineer there.Flew out about an hour late-fortunately was staying in SYD otherwise would have missed my normal connection to MCY.Have also had a few stints in Griffith-only hospital in NSW were all signs are in Italian as well as English.

 

[eastwest101]

Its all in The Area News link I posted - but you have to flick between page 1 of 2 and page 2 of 2 to get the full story. OT - why do web site designers do that?

 

[mannej]

looks like a case of the puppet taking the masters word to literally!

 

[whatmeworry]

Rex's response was a bit bizarre! It was bit like when kids argue and the kid with no comeback replies with "i know i am but what are you"?

For me what was surprising was that the Rex Airlines boss was based in Singapore. I guess that there might have been something lost in translation.

 

[AaronBradford]

Its all in The Area News link I posted - but you have to flick between page 1 of 2 and page 2 of 2 to get the full story. OT - why do web site designers do that?

I don't have the definite answer, but I should imagine something to do with maximising advertising space (I detest it too).

The supposed response from Rex is bizzare to say the least. What also crossed my mind was whether Dr Thorburn tried going through the official feedback channels before sending a letter to the managing director ...

 

[gumpy]

did anyone else laugh at the response?

love it... (only as a spectator and completely unaffected by REX's service issues)

 

[Princess Fiona]

did anyone else laugh at the response?

love it... (only as a spectator and completely unaffected by REX's service issues)

Yes I did, as I posted on twitter either something was lost in translation or David Brent is moonlighting in customer service for Rex

 

[scaredeycat]

The importance of the service Dr Thorburn provides to regional NSW really should not be underestimated. The Riverina has several resident cardiologists, but none have his expertise in dealing with electrophysiology and pacemakers, an area of medicine which in recent years has become extremely complex and specialised. Jillian Skinner (the NSW health minister) should be getting on the phone to demand an apology from Rex on his behalf.

 

[drron]

The importance of the service Dr Thorburn provides to regional NSW really should not be underestimated. The Riverina has several resident cardiologists, but none have his expertise in dealing with electrophysiology and pacemakers, an area of medicine which in recent years has become extremely complex and specialised. Jillian Skinner (the NSW health minister) should be getting on the phone to demand an apology from Rex on his behalf.

Second that.When I have worked there not only do I cover General Medicine but also Intensive Care.With this link to St.Vincents for advice and transfers the job would be impossible and I would be a scaredycat too.

 

[Simo]

I read the letter and thought gee Lucky he didn't ask for lost work time.

 

[smithym]

I wonder if Rex will include this news paper clipping on their website here Media Release Archive

 

[MelUser]

There is nothing to be "lost in translation".

The official language of Singapore is English.

I think that the person writing the response understood exactly what they were writing.

 

[Danger]

The importance of the service Dr Thorburn provides to regional NSW really should not be underestimated. The Riverina has several resident cardiologists, but none have his expertise in dealing with electrophysiology and pacemakers, an area of medicine which in recent years has become extremely complex and specialised. Jillian Skinner (the NSW health minister) should be getting on the phone to demand an apology from Rex on his behalf.

Second that.When I have worked there not only do I cover General Medicine but also Intensive Care.With this link to St.Vincents for advice and transfers the job would be impossible and I would be a scaredycat too.

I take nothing away from the service the man provides or his highly specialised profession but I don't think it's relevant to his complaint. The comment in the SMH article "It's a pretty shabby way to treat a doctor who has been a servant of this community for more than 20 years" to be completely irrelevant.

As for the response, I think it was probably a little over the top but, personally, I'd like to see more letters like this. None of the sugar coating or superfluous and insincere platitudes; just the cold, hard facts.

 

[benhadi]

I wonder, had the author of the REX response known that it would get published in the smh and elsewhere, would he still have proceeded to author it in that manner. Rightfully or not, it's really really really bad PR which I suspect would cost them more than a bit of pride had they just take it on the chin to begin with.

 

[Daver6]

Pretty sure I've lost more time waiting for medical professional running late than aircraft running late

Poor response...but I thought it was quite amusing. Doctors do seem to think that their time is more important than everyone else's.

 

[medhead]

Oh that doctor Thorburn. I think that the service he provides to the community is entirely relevant. Corporate citizenship is an important aspect of business involvement in Australia. Rex are going to get better community support if the community thinks Rex cares about/supports the community.

As for the author of the letter I think he worded that very carefully. The first sentence says the 'boss' wants me to tell you the following. Straight away that says "I didn't write this, it is not my message". Basically, he's dropped the CEO right in it, rightly or wrongly.


Sent from the Throne

 

[AaronBradford]

It looks like there's another doctor ripping into Rex as well: Second doctor hits out at Rex - Local News - News - General - The Area News

 

[oz_mark]

I'm guessing the letter was dictated from a doctor's waiting room, one hour after the scheduled appointment time