overall they've been pretty good. I've had one bad experience with them. Last year I had a flight in the afternoon leaving from LaGuardia to IAH. The windshield wiper was broken on the plane. They ordered a new part from newark, which took 4 hrs. Then they decided to switch planes out which took another 4 hrs. Being hung-over didn't help either.
I work for an airline. Let me tell you that every airline has ridiculous crap like this happen. So don't hate this one particular airline. However, I would have been super nice to you if I was the agent. There is never an excuse for poor customer service. You have to realize something about the agents at airlines. They get paid about 7 bucks starting off. Would you expect superior customer service and problem solving skills from the person slicing your deli meat or bagging your produce at Randall's? If I was you I would call continental and speak to someone on the phone. They hand out credits all the time, they should offer you something.
AB, coming from travel agent background, what your experienced is a typical "over-booking". All airlines, hotels do this because there is a percentage of concellation with reservations, actually there is even a word "WALKING" for this phenomenon. The Continental staff should have at least offered you monetory compensation rather than blaming it on customer. If you have hardcopy of print of the confirmation, you have very good chance of getting some form of credit/refund/upgrade. Make sure you write a complain letter and mail it. Regards OZ
