Justin Parke

👎 How To Shame A Multi-National Corporation Into Action 🙏

I successfully shamed a multinational corporation into action, and you can too. 😏 Here's a step-by-step humorous guide.

🛫 A Chance At Panama Self-Evacuation 🚫

We've shared many of our tribulations with you all on Hive, and 3 months ago we suffered another one of these setbacks. There was once a small chance we could've escaped Suriname for Panama.

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](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/justinparke/LFwfe6Fe-1.JPG)^{no strangers to adverse travel conditions}

In Panama, we would've had a free place to live and a chance at getting back on our feet, economically speaking.

Basically Panama was the last place in the western hemisphere Cambodian citizens can get a sizable visa on arrival, so it wouldn't have been logistically difficult for us to go.

We saw a notification on the internet that Copa Airlines was going to resume service to Paramaribo in a few weeks, so we jumped at the chance to get out of here. I bought 4 one-way tickets to Panama even though Panama still had closed borders at that time.

Copa Airlines was wildly selling tickets they knew wouldn't fly, but it was our only chance to improve our lives and climb out of this sufferation we face here in Suriname.

A Canadian couple had offered us a deal to look over land they recently purchased, build a small cabin for them and prepare the land for farming and their future arrival.

📧 Some Bad News 🙅‍♂️

We honestly weren't surprised when Panama extended its border closure, and therefore our flight was cancelled. We didn't expect that Copa Airlines would strike Paramaribo from its business model a month later and refuse to give us a refund, adding insult to injury.

I spent the last three months calling Copa and demanding a refund, which they pretended to set in motion, first telling us 2 weeks, then 6 weeks, then cutting all communication. This work of iniquity caused us to figure out a way to up the ante.

🙏 DIY Get A Refund Or Die Tryin' 💀

After three months of "we'll see what we can do," I decided to shame them on social media, Facebook being the only thing other than Hive than I use.

I know that Twitter is a better platform for shaming big businesses into action, but I decided to lay down some comments on the Facebook posts of Copa Airlines to see if I could elicit a different response than I'd had via phone.

STEP 1 We found the Copa Airlines Facebook page, shamed them, and let other potential customers know how they left us high and dry. I hate to admit I didn't even expect a response because this technique has never worked for me in the past. I was surprised to see a notification on Facebook notifying me Copa Airlines wanted our ticket numbers. I provided them the our ticket numbers and waited for a response.
	STEP 2 We waited patiently, and to my surprise they offered us credit plus 20% of the original ticket price. I hate to admit I didn't even expect a response because this technique has never worked for me in the past. I would've accepted this offer had Panama not already struck Paramaribo from its post COVID-19 business model.
STEP 3 After not hearing back from them, we placed another comment on a newer Copa Airlines Facebook post. After fellow Hiver @chrisinphuket added a comment, I received a lightning fast response from Copa Airlines via private message. My reply in the comments will make sense after you read step 4 below.
	STEP 4 We waited again and received some positive news, although it would increase the total wait time to around 5 months from the day our flight was cancelled. Seems other folks are in possession of our life savings more often than we are these days, but we remain hopeful we will see a full refund in less than 2 months.

Proof In The Pudding 🍮

We are not yet in possession of a refund at this time, so this story isn't truly over. I do hope we can get this money back so we can use it to help us get back to Cambodia where we have family and can get back on our feet.

I'll leave you all with this video from one of my favorite conscious reggae artists, Alika y Nueva Alianza. It pretty much sums up the way we've been feeling the last 10 months.