Go Back  PPRuNe Forums > PPRuNe Worldwide > Australia, New Zealand & the Pacific
Reload this Page >

Unbelievably disgraceful service

Wikiposts
Search
Australia, New Zealand & the Pacific Airline and RPT Rumours & News in Australia, enZed and the Pacific

Unbelievably disgraceful service

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old 26th Feb 2022, 08:28
  #1 (permalink)  
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Mar 2019
Location: Sydney
Posts: 42
Received 4 Likes on 2 Posts
Unbelievably disgraceful service

Hi guys, I know you won't believe this, so I post a screenshot. I've hung off the phone for over 3 hours in the " Your call is very important to us" queue to talk to QF. All I want to do is make an international booking for 2 and spend about $10K.Why the phone call and not internet booking? Because for the last 2 years I've been trying to get a credit from QF for cancelling a flight due covid and I need to talk to them. They've got my money already! Maybe I've answered my own question. I know you guys fly at the pointy end, but don't forget that your job is paid for by the minions that sit behind you. If this is the best that QF can do to attract business, then ... I don't know what to add. What do you think?

Lazyload is offline  
Old 26th Feb 2022, 09:06
  #2 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: May 2003
Location: SAUDI
Posts: 462
Received 13 Likes on 9 Posts
Not surprised. Years ago after many calls and ineffective responses rang and asked to speak to ther Customer Manager. Was informed the manager does not speak to customers.
finestkind is offline  
Old 26th Feb 2022, 09:27
  #3 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Kichin
Posts: 1,059
Received 730 Likes on 197 Posts
The house leaks from the roof
gordonfvckingramsay is offline  
Old 26th Feb 2022, 11:15
  #4 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: FNQ ... It's Permanent!
Posts: 4,294
Received 170 Likes on 87 Posts
I know you guys fly at the pointy end, but don't forget that your job is paid for by the minions that sit behind you.
So what exactly can the the guys (and girls) at the pointy end do to help you exactly, besides getting you safety to your destination.

Your beef is with reservations?
Capt Fathom is offline  
Old 26th Feb 2022, 19:24
  #5 (permalink)  
Moderator
 
Join Date: Jan 1996
Location: Utopia
Posts: 7,444
Received 229 Likes on 122 Posts
It is a "fashionable commercial, cost effective trend" in Australia. Telstra, Optus and many other large organisations are no better. I prefer to pay a little more and deal with an Australian company providing Australian based service centers.
tail wheel is offline  
Old 26th Feb 2022, 20:52
  #6 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Aus
Posts: 2,802
Received 428 Likes on 235 Posts
So what exactly can the the guys (and girls) at the pointy end do to help you exactly, besides getting you safety to your destination.

Your beef is with reservations?
Put in a 'suggestion' or 'report' that you have witnessed significant customer dissatisfaction, they are your bread and butter. Piss off the customer enough, you lose their business, you sustain losses, you lose your job. Pilots are pretty much the representatives of an airline, why do you think the cheesy smiling faces of crew with the pilots up front. If you think you are just there to fly the planes and play no part in customer service then you are sabotaging your own livelihood.
43Inches is offline  
Old 26th Feb 2022, 20:54
  #7 (permalink)  
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Mar 2019
Location: Sydney
Posts: 42
Received 4 Likes on 2 Posts
Don’t mean to imply any fault of aircrew. No offence intended. But (a bit like the Boeing thread) the reputation of an airline with an excellent technical operation can be destroyed by bean counters who minimise every other aspect of customer service.
Lazyload is offline  
Old 26th Feb 2022, 21:59
  #8 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 204
Received 4 Likes on 3 Posts
Did you ever get through Lazyload? If so, how long did it eventually take? Our local ABC radio station asked for people to call in with stories of waiting in a phone queue. I think the winner was 13 hours (Qantas of course).
Bull at a Gate is online now  
Old 26th Feb 2022, 22:00
  #9 (permalink)  
Moderator
 
Join Date: Jan 1996
Location: Utopia
Posts: 7,444
Received 229 Likes on 122 Posts
You must have a good battery in your mobile phone. After three hours both my phone battery and my patience would be exhausted!!
tail wheel is offline  
Old 26th Feb 2022, 22:12
  #10 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Weltschmerz-By-The-Sea, Queensland, Australia
Posts: 1,367
Received 82 Likes on 38 Posts
Originally Posted by 43Inches
Put in a 'suggestion' or 'report' that you have witnessed significant customer dissatisfaction, they are your bread and butter. Piss off the customer enough, you lose their business, you sustain losses, you lose your job. Pilots are pretty much the representatives of an airline, why do you think the cheesy smiling faces of crew with the pilots up front. If you think you are just there to fly the planes and play no part in customer service then you are sabotaging your own livelihood.
What makes you think that QF listens to pilot input? Or pays any attention at all to crew reports? The only customer service we can effectively do is one planeload at a time, or sometimes on an individual basis. We certainly cannot offset a corporate culture of indifference to our customers.
Australopithecus is offline  
Old 26th Feb 2022, 22:14
  #11 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Feb 2018
Location: East of Westralia
Posts: 682
Received 110 Likes on 33 Posts
Originally Posted by 43Inches
Put in a 'suggestion' or 'report' that you have witnessed significant customer dissatisfaction, they are your bread and butter. Piss off the customer enough, you lose their business, you sustain losses, you lose your job. Pilots are pretty much the representatives of an airline, why do you think the cheesy smiling faces of crew with the pilots up front. If you think you are just there to fly the planes and play no part in customer service then you are sabotaging your own livelihood.
I think you may be confused as to what exactly we can do. Our “reports” for this type of complaint would be ignored at best.

You would have more luck reaching out directly via Twitter or Facebook.
ScepticalOptomist is offline  
Old 26th Feb 2022, 22:15
  #12 (permalink)  
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Mar 2019
Location: Sydney
Posts: 42
Received 4 Likes on 2 Posts
Originally Posted by tail wheel
You must have a good battery in your mobile phone. After three hours both my phone battery and my patience would be exhausted!!
Yes. iPhone. And just left it on speaker while having dinner etc. Had to endure 3 hours of stupid music and repeated messages saying abuse to staff won’t be tolerated. And therein lies the root cause of the problem, a repeatable pattern, and the bean counter solution. Rather than improving response they shift blame to the customer and imply that it’s our fault. And no, never got thru. 3 hours is enough.
Lazyload is offline  
Old 26th Feb 2022, 22:20
  #13 (permalink)  
swh

Eidolon
 
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Some hole
Posts: 2,179
Received 24 Likes on 13 Posts
I guarantee you if you put this onto the Facebook and/or Twitter feeds this would be resolved in 10 minutes. Passengers don’t read pprune, they don’t care what is posted on here. Post it on social medial and presto it’s fixed.
swh is offline  
Old 26th Feb 2022, 22:39
  #14 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Posts: 81
Received 17 Likes on 11 Posts
Originally Posted by Lazyload
Hi guys, I know you won't believe this, so I post a screenshot. I've hung off the phone for over 3 hours in the " Your call is very important to us" queue to talk to QF. All I want to do is make an international booking for 2 and spend about $10K.Why the phone call and not internet booking? Because for the last 2 years I've been trying to get a credit from QF for cancelling a flight due covid and I need to talk to them. They've got my money already! Maybe I've answered my own question. I know you guys fly at the pointy end, but don't forget that your job is paid for by the minions that sit behind you. If this is the best that QF can do to attract business, then ... I don't know what to add. What do you think?
Nothing has changed in the last four years since I left then.

Back then, and this is night shift, we'd regularly walk in to the call centre to see wait times of 4-5 hours
Chris2303 is offline  
Old 26th Feb 2022, 22:43
  #15 (permalink)  
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Mar 2019
Location: Sydney
Posts: 42
Received 4 Likes on 2 Posts
And just to risk a bit of thread drift, mobile phone battery drain goes up when transmitting ie talking. Being on hold for 3 hours is actually pretty low consumption. In the old days (not now) having a mobile call of 3 hours would have cost more than the flight.
Lazyload is offline  
Old 26th Feb 2022, 22:48
  #16 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: N/A
Posts: 5,959
Received 412 Likes on 213 Posts
Had to endure 3 hours of stupid music and repeated messages saying abuse to staff won’t be tolerated
Wonder why the staff get abuse? The company could always introduce a call back system, works well with a South African company I deal with if the waiting time is excessive, but that would cost QF money, stop the abuse though. Gave up on Telstra and their unintelligible/incompetent Indian and Phillipine call centres.
megan is offline  
Old 26th Feb 2022, 22:51
  #17 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Downunder
Posts: 431
Received 11 Likes on 3 Posts
" All I want to do is make an international booking for 2 and spend about $10K.Why the phone call and not internet booking? Because for the last 2 years I've been trying to get a credit from QF for cancelling a flight due covid and I need to talk to them. They've got my money already!"

A cynic might suggest that a lot of airlines around the world have deliberately made it as difficult as possible to refund or use credits owed for covid cancellations in order to protect their cash flows. Requiring customers to call unanswered phone numbers only adds to this cynicism as i
t is presumably an easy IT fix to allow these to be used online by the customer. BA for example has gone even further in paralysing its call centres by actually turning off previous online refund capabilities. Perhaps there's a hope that you will give up altogether and they can pocket the cash (and putting expiry dates on the credits would IMHO be just that in these circumstances).

By the way, I have found American Airlines a joy to deal with by comparison.

Last edited by Max Tow; 27th Feb 2022 at 01:34. Reason: Qualify cynicism with good experience with AA
Max Tow is offline  
Old 26th Feb 2022, 23:36
  #18 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Home
Posts: 87
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
Originally Posted by megan
The company could always introduce a call back system
The crazy thing is, QF actually does do call backs, or at least did last year when I had to call them a few times. But the feature only seems to work if you call them as soon as the call centre opens in the morning. Wait until later in the day and you're SOL and stuck in an hours-long queue.
regional_flyer is offline  
Old 27th Feb 2022, 01:18
  #19 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Posts: 81
Received 17 Likes on 11 Posts
Originally Posted by regional_flyer
The crazy thing is, QF actually does do call backs, or at least did last year when I had to call them a few times. But the feature only seems to work if you call them as soon as the call centre opens in the morning. Wait until later in the day and you're SOL and stuck in an hours-long queue.
QF calls are "handled" 24 hours a day.

They contract to CPT and MNL
Chris2303 is offline  
Old 27th Feb 2022, 01:26
  #20 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jan 2022
Location: tossbagville
Posts: 795
Received 176 Likes on 102 Posts
During covid, you know, that period of time that means nothing now that the world is on fire, I had to cancel several flights with Virgin. The refund goes into what's called Travelbank. I'm still using the balance of it and it's EASY. Simple and honest. It lets you book the fare first, so it doesn't know you are paying via Travelbank and artificially jack the price up. Had to call them once, baggage was involved, answered within 5 minutes, nearly fell off the chair.
tossbag is offline  


Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.