Lost Luggage Update - ANA disappoints (but they did give us some money)

If you're a regular reader of the raion taiko blog, you may be wondering if the situation with our lost luggage/bachi every got worked out with ANA. If you're not a regular reader (why not think about becoming one?) Here are links to the previous entries to bring you up to date:


ANA Lost my Luggage

Lost Luggage Update

Finally, after a month of searching, ANA decided to declare our bag as officially lost and unrecoverable. (How you can completely lose luggage is still a mystery to me) So they said they would give us a cash payment to cover the lost items. Anyone who finds themselves filling out a claim to the airlines in a similar situation, be aware that you will not get the declared value of your lost items.

When we filled out our claim form, we added up the cost of all the sticks that were there to be 46,260 yen (or around 463 USD). ANA first said they would pay us about 35,000 yen to replace the items, and when I complained, they offered 37,000. What did I complain about? I complained about the nearly 20,000 yen we had to spend replacing sticks that were needed while we were waiting for them to find our luggage (which they never did). They still said they can't be held responsible for that and then offered to throw in the extra 20 dollars. I felt that there wasn't much point in fighting this because I didn't really have the resources or the time to pursue it to the end, so I agreed to the 37,000, a 20% reduction from my original claim.


A couple days later, the money came in the mail (yes, they send cash in the mail in Japan) and it came with a long letter of apology (in Japanese) and a release form. I am being asked to sign the form acknowledging that I received the money and that I will not ask them to give me any more money in regards to this incident. I haven't signed it yet, and I do not think I will until I have sent them the receipts from the bachi we had to buy while we waited for them to "resolve" the situation. I don't know that they will give me anything else, but if they want me to sign a release statement, they will first have to consider the inconvenience they caused us. And by consider, I mean, give us more money. After all, it's money we wouldn't have had to spend, had they not lost our luggage.

I have to say that over all, I am disappointed with the way the lost luggage situation was handled. All in all, it wasn't not difficult to get the money. I have heard of airlines taking much longer to pony up the replacement money, and once they said that they would send the money, it was here within a couple days. There was no messing around with vouchers for future travel or anything, it was cold, hard cash. Still, with the reputation that Japanese have for exceptional service, and the fact that I even wrote a rather long complaint letter, I was expecting more. Honestly, what I was expecting is that they would give at least a small inconvenience allowance to help us out while we were waiting for them to right their mistake. They didn't, and after two requests, they have refused both. I think I'll see if they'll refuse a third request.

At any rate, my thinking right now is that for our next overseas trip, I'll be looking for tickets on JAL.

I apologize to readers for ranting a bit about our lost luggage. I actually have a lot of taiko stuff to write about. So much, in fact, that I don't even know where to start... probably with the farting story. Anyhow, today is our rehearsal for the fall concert/recital and tomorrow is the recital. So I hope I will have some pictures and interesting stories to post about that next time, in addition to the farting story, of course.

Photo Credits:
Yen
Luggage Purgatory