> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://edwincovarrubias.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # When a Company Fixes Mistakes as a One-Time Courtesy - URL: https://edwincovarrubias.com/when-a-company-fixes-mistakes-as-a-one-time-courtesy/ - Published: 2026-11-07T14:52:54.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-07T14:52:54.000Z - Author: Edwin Covarrubias Recently, I ran into a problem. I use a software called Loom, that was acquired by Atlassian. The software lets me record my screen, I show up in a little circle in the bottom, and that's it. I use it for feedback, tutorials, and other responses that I record so I can get away from phone calls. I had been happily paying 14 dollars a month, using it as intended. All was good. Then one day, I open up my inbox and see an invoice for Atlassian charging me 144 dollars. I look up what the heck Atlassian is, and I find that its charging me for Loom, but it had also charged me the previous month for the same amount. I keep searching and find the previous one from Loom, for a normal 14 dollars. An email had also been sent that Loom had joined Atlassian but that nothing would change. So I find a way to log into Atlassian, through Loom somehow, and I find my account. I had 8 members on my account and being charged 18 dollars each. I found the "members" and they happened to be emails from contractors that I no longer worked with, clearly listed under the "invited" tab, and inactive. Yet, the invoice said "8 active members" that I was being charged for. Here's where the battle began. Atlassian had sent the people who had viewed a Loom video, in an unpaid seat in the software, an invitation to join my team as a paid seat. No one asked me, the one with the credit card about it, but fortunately five of those emails were inactive, and two people accepted in the confusion. Getting to chat with a human took some navigating on the website, but when I finally got to talk to someone and they offered to refund me a partial payment as a *one time courtesy*, I sort of lost it. I mean, I stayed respectful and patient throughout the whole conversation, but internally, I was fuming. I didn't want a partial payment refund, I wanted a full refund for the unused seats for the past two months. They argued that the services had already been rendered, and at one point the agent even tried to get me to change down to the free-tier for some reason. Eventually I got an email that, as a one-time courtesy, I was getting a refund for those seats. Essentially fixing their mistake as a courtesy. I didn't argue there, and waited until I had the refund receipt to say anything, but by that time it was too late. You see, if we backtrack to about a month before, I was flying with Avianca Airlines on a vacation and was heading back to Mexico, having to make a connection in Colombia. We got off the plane, got stuck in security, and we missed our connecting flight. I even took out my phone to record the flight status screen showing that the gate was closed right there on the spot. So we calmly walked over to the customer service counter, told them what happened, and expected to be rebooked without a problem because, hey, this stuff happens. But the agent gave us an attitude saying that they were fixing this as a courtesy. That if we get lost, we ask somebody for directions on how to get to the gate. That we should wait very early by the gate this time. I explained our situation, but that condescending attitude shut me down and I just accepted the updated tickets and went over to the lounge we usually wait in every time we connect through Bogotá. Yes, we've been there many times already. Of course, I complained online, did a couple back and forth email exchanges with their customer service, and they finally settled on some money back, as a *one-time courtesy*. I replied back asking if the amount was per passenger, since two of us were flying. She replied with the same thing, okay, "I got them approved as a one-time courtesy", each of us was getting 122 dollars or something like that to use in a future trip. That really got me thinking about what we're doing here. Companies that genuinely fix their mistakes, apologize, and try to win us back aren't as common for me anymore. Then again, most of the services and products I use are slowly joining the gang of large companies that offshore their customer service and cater to investors. An example of good service was with In-N-Out in California. My sister ordered a burger, it came back without something she asked for, and she complained. They fixed it, they took down her information, sent her a gift card, and once she used it, they followed up with her to make sure that this time she had gotten the service she expected from them. Now that's how you fix your mistakes. You pay attention to the individual and stop using this business-manual lingo about "one-time courtesies" as if they're doing us a favor. Yet I know that it's tough out there as an employee working for such companies. Some agents look genuinely tired, distracted, and disconnected. But I got a glimmer of hope that changed things a bit for me. It was very late at night when I arrived at the Mexico City airport, and went straight for the bathroom. A man who was in charge of keeping the bathrooms clean, greeted me with a smile, telling me to go right ahead. He stayed cleaning the sinks. I saw him greeting everyone, genuinely greeting them and I could see people's moods changing when they got that real, human, *hello* in the most unlikeliest of places. On the way out, he smiled again, wishing me a great evening, and a *que diós te bendiga.* May God bless you. And now I notice them. The happy people at work, those who, despite their wages or the time of day, make an effort to connect with people. The ones who have the courtesy. Its almost as if the unhappy ones became muted interactions because I see the meaningful ones everywhere now. I see those of us who are only trying to make things work in this world slowly being taken over by the faceless, scripted interactions hoping to one day pass them onto computers completely.