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REX, better than all airlines in Australia and most of the world
Just ask the Chairman.
From Plane Talking, Regional Express chairman ‘insults’ angry customer Area News front page |
Dr Thorburn's Letter
Dr Charles Thorburn, who has been travelling from Sydney for more than 20 years to conduct an outpatient clinic at Griffith hospital, was so incensed with the declining service of the Griffith-Sydney flights he wrote a complaint letter to Rex chairman Lim Kim Hai.30th May 2012 Mr Lim Kim Hai The Managing Director Regional Express Holdings Limited PO Box 807 MASCOT NSW 1460 Dear Sir I wish to complain about the service provided by Regional Express to Griffith in particular. For about 20 years now I have been providing a cardiology outpatient service at Griffith Hospital on a Friday. Over the years there has been a deterioration in the reliability of the service and the ability of REX to inform its passengers and provide reasonable alternatives for getting customers back to Sydney. On Friday May 25, having flown down to Griffith on the morning flight, we arrived at the airport for the last afternoon flight back to Sydney. It turned out that the plane was stuck at Narrandera. Information for this was provided by passengers who received mobile calls from customers on the flight from Narrandera. Eventually we were informed by the ground staff at Griffith that the plane needed repairs and that engineers were being flown out from Wagga to Narrandera and in the meantime we should go on a bus to Narrandera. Why this decision was made remains a mystery. When we got to Narrandera the plane was still not operational but eventually it was thought to be safe, although the alternative plane was considered only fit to fly engineers and not passengers. In any case the plane took off with the stranded Narrandera passengers and flown to Griffith. An hour later the plane returned but was unable to land for a quarter of an hour and when it finally did so was stuck on the runway. After another hour or so the plane was moved off the runway, further work was done on it. All this time we were provided virtually no information. By about 10 o'clock we were told that we could be bussed back to Griffith but there was no guarantee when a plane would be available to take us back to Sydney in the morning. We decided to get a taxi to Wagga and acatch the early morning flight from Wagga. The REX official assured us that the flights would be changed to the Wagga flight (658) and we would have no problems getting on that early morning flight. There were about 28 people stranded in Narrandera without food; with some reluctance the REX official at Narrandera ordered us some pizzas and three were delivered to feed 28 people. We finally arrived in Wagga by taxi ($250.00) extremely hungry at 1 o'clock in the morning and were fortunately able to get a hotel room for a few hours. When we got to the airport at Wagga in the morning we found that our seats had not been transferred and the girl there required half an hour of trying to find out whether they had been and then spent another half an hour manually entering us for the boarding pass. We finally arrived back in Sydney on Saturday morning. It is my experience now over 20 years trying to provide a service to country New South Wales that the REX service has deteriorated dramatically. Furthermore information provided and decisions made about how to compensate for malfunctioning planes is totally unsatisfactory. I have serious doubts whether I am going to continue to fly to Griffith. Unfortunately there does not seem to be any competition flying to Griffith and I suspect that is why the service is so poor. I would be grateful for documentation of how frequently the service to Griffith arrives on time and how often flights are significantly delayed and/or cancelled. I would also like documentation as to whether Friday is worse than other days because my only alternative is to move my flights and clinics to another day. My out of pocket expenses were: Hotel room $205.00 Taxi $250.00. Yours sincerely Charles W. Thorburn Dr Charles Thorburn is not satisfied with the response he received from Regional Express's managing director, Lim Kim Hai. Dear Mr Thorburn My Chairman Lim Kim Hai has received your letter dated 30 May 2012 and has instructed me to respond as follows: 1. Rex is not perfect and occasionally we do have failures of equipment and service standards. We are not proud of this and we are truly sorry to have caused any inconvenience to anybody. 2. That being the case, we think we are still much better than all the airlines in Australia and most of the airlines in the world. 3. Your entitlement to compensation is governed by our conditions of carriage which you have accepted. In this case you are not entitled to anything. If, as you say, you find the conditons unsatisfactory, why did you accept them in the first place? I would be curious to know if you would reimburse any of your patients who do not get well after seeing you? If you don't, why not? 4. We are not providing you with the statistics you are requesting for. Perhaps in the medical profession you are used to dispensing information on how long you make your patients wait or how often you misdiagnosed. 5. I am not aware of any particular pattern of cancellations/delays. If this could be foreseen in advance believe me it would not have happened. Regards Irwin Tan GM Corporate Service |
Looks like their PR is worse than their reliability
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If that's how they treat their customers how do they treat their staff?
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Also, sorry, but it does look like Charlie didn't read the terms on his ticket
j3 |
This shouldn't end here. Rex have a very bad record as far as I'm concerned because of their monopoly. I have a similar story, but being a pilot was cognizant of the possible end result of a faulty aircraft and a faulty pilot. Let me get my facts and return with all the lame duck letters and I'll add to this tomorrow.
Dr Thorburn is one of many specialists who service the bush and, for instance, when the Nephrologist doesn't make it from RPAH, schedules booked 12 months in advance go horribly wrong. And stuff the terms written in small print on the ticket. |
The level of arrogance towards our "Bread and Butter" is truely breathtaking! :(
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That is a very unprofessional response. It was unnecessarily antagonistic particularly points 2,3, and 4.
We all know (and must accept) that aviation will always be affected by delays and it is printed in the terms and conditions, however the tone of that response was just wrong. Rex needs our Livvy:rolleyes: |
Way to go with the slash and burn. Was that a 'real' response or a wind up?
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Surely it was a wind up.
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Yes, Rex is a monopoly on some routes, but it is hardly their fault. If no one else steps up then the service you get is the service you get.
They haven't used their power to remove competitors from any routes. No one else wants them. Hardly their fault. |
A few towns in South Australia would beg to differ with your point Starts with P. Kingscote and Mt Gambier being the most recent. :{
I intend to repay the favour to Rex in my current operation, but thats a by the by!! :ok: |
It is just appalling customer relations. I have no dog in this particular fight fight, but how hard would it be to respond to the Doctors letter with something like the following.
My Chairman Lim Kim Hai has received your letter dated 30 May 2012 and has asked me to extend his apologies and has instructed me to respond as follows: 1.Occasionally we do have failures of equipment and this has a knock on effect across our network. Safety is paramount to us and unfortunately delays and cancellations are sometimes unavoidable. We are are truly sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused. Mr Lim Kim Hai has requested a review of how this matter was handled by our ground crew with a view to making improvements where necessary. 2.Your entitlement to compensation is governed by our conditions of carriage which you have accepted when purchasing a ticket. In this case compensation is not applicable under our conditions of carriage. 3.We will not be providing statistics specific to our Griffith service however if we are pleased to direct you to the following link www.rex.com.au/.../304_MR%2020120221%20- ... which shows Rex as having the lowest cancellation rate of any airline in Australia for the 2011 year at 0.4% for which we are justifiably proud and an On Time Departure Rate of 84.9%. I assure you Rex will continue to work hard to further improve these statistics. 5. I am not aware of any particular pattern of cancellations/delays. If this could be foreseen our policy is to contact our passengers in advance to lessen any inconvenience. We appreciate your taking the time to contact us and again apologise for the delays in this particular flight. We will continue to work hard to provide high quality Air Transport to our customers throughout the regional areas we service. Regards Irwin Tan GM Corporate Service Anyway that is how I would of responded but alas I am only a dumb overpaid pilot, not a highly qualified and well paid management type. Good luck to you boys and girls at Rex. |
Kim Jong Il?
Mr Lim Kim Hai The Managing Director Regional Express Holdings Limited PO Box 807 MASCOT NSW 1460 If you have dealt with this guy then you will find the original thread posted to be very believable. He isn't the easiest guy to deal with! |
Thats disgusting. Glad I dont work there.
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Wonder why Rex didnt get another aeroplane to Griffith to pick those pax up?
Unfortunately they have a monopoly on that route.Wrong attitude! |
That about sums up what it's like working for REX. It is always the way of the Chairman, as he knows best, ALWAYS...
It never matters what kind of logic there is to your argument, if it does not agree with the view of LKH, then you're simply wrong... |
Quite right to expose this level of PR ineptitude. I must say that I recieved a similarly arrogant letter in 2002 from QF regarding the Qlink service between SYD and Tamworth-again, a monopoly service
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To write a letter to a customer in today's climate shows once again that they have no idea. They are seriously living in a fantasy up in Singapore if they believe that Rex is as good as they think it is. Maybe LKH should do a road trip down to Moruya and have a chat to the people down there who would rather drive to Canberra and catch a Qlink flight to Sydney than go with Rex. What a disgrace! :yuk:
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Look who owns the show. They are "the master race".
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Same story here....used to commute weekly between Merimbula and Sydney on Rex.
Aircraft and schedule reliability now see me driving to Canberra to get on the QLink -8 |
WOW!!
An appalling response, to put it politely, :mad::mad::mad: appalling. ADSYJ's responses in post #8 is spot on and his sample letter a much better example of a more apologetic tone. Many people were obviously majorly inconvenienced as the Dr described in his letter. The Dr, a high profile and well known individual ,has likely been a customer for many years due to his long term clinic and lack of suitable alternative carriers to his required destinations. He actually took the time to write a letter stating the circumstances and inconvenience caused and his out of pocket expenses. I would have sent an apologetic letter and a cheque for his out of pocket expenses and a return free ticket to anywhere on the network he wanted to go. It is called good customer service and GOODWILL...... PRICELESS. The Dr would have talked to all his family, friends and colleagues about a positive reply as I mentioned above, (apology and cheque / ticket ). Word of mouth positive PR for the company after the initial negative situation. Instead, the letters have now gotten national media coverage and very negative PR on every level for the company.:ugh::ugh: Given all the very negative threads about REX on this forum I can't say I am surprised by this company attitude. Still I am sure those in management will be pleased to know that these letters will likely be used in PR classes at TAFEs and Uni's across the country as examples of how not to treat ones company customers.:ok: |
The problem, (or more to the point, one of the problems) at REX, is there are a number of people in senior positions that are clearly out of their depth.
They are out of their depth because they lack the ability, or intestinal fortitude to contradict the Chairman. They are in their positions because they are essentially "Yes Men". Mr Tan's response to the Doctor's complaint is a classic case in point! |
It's doing the rounds of the newspapers today.
Congratulations, Mr Tan, on creating an emerging PR disaster. The Dr was fully entitled to be peeved at Rex's problems. Medical specialists who commute to regional areas are booked out months ahead and delays like this are costly and detrimental to country patients who may have serious issues needing their attention. It was an appalling unprofessional managerial response (and was treading the fine line of being defamatory too), but nothing less than I would expect given who is running the show at Rex. |
Looks like Virgin's idea to eventually expand the ATR's into weekly regional hops might have some merit?
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LOL. I don't see the problem. When you're "much better than all the airlines in Australia and most of the airlines in the world" you can treat the customers like ****. And you're business will grow and the owner will grow rich with it. And you're staff will follow your example and treat the customer with contempt and you'll be a God among the minions for your genius management style. Oh to be so lucky to work at REX and feed off the genius management style so I too could could become rich and revered.
If the options were a job at REX or castration I guess I'd be a little lighter in the jox. Geez they must go through some staff. |
One of the reasons that they would not of been able to send another aircraft out would of been lack of crews. There appear to be a shortage of Captains in Sydney, Adelaide crew are now being rostered duties in Sydney to cover the gaps.
It just gets annoying when we do the best we can with public relations at the coal face when our MD comes up this this reply. |
This story actually made news.com.au
Hurry up virgin, get in there and do it properly |
Don't worry Capt EFIS. We get the same problem at QF!
Obnoxious, arrogant management who couldn't give a crap, while we're often left to try to pick up the pieces as best we can at the coal face. |
Why are Rex questioning his fees to have an appointment? By him visiting Griffith he is saving residents money by not having to travel to Sydney or Wagga. Maybe that's part of Rex's grand plan to turn specialist from Regional Australia so more residents may travel with them to attend appointments in Sydney.
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So lets just have a little look at this, it's ok that we sit in a doctors surgery for hours on end waiting, I know I have waited over 4 hrs to see a doctor. Did I get any compansation? what did I get? Nothing. Doctor saw me for 10mins...$160 thanks...Come back and see me next week..what?? so I can wait another 4 hrs....Our out patient departments in hospitals are a joke. How long do we wait in them? Yes, maybe the letter could have been worded a little better, but, lets be fair, the medical proffession in Australia is taking us all for a ride, and a worse one that what REX provide. REX is a business, pure and simple and a very safe one I might add.
I will now standy for all the flak, but before you reply...have a think! 999 |
Doctors, particularly specialists, are a precious and limited resource in this country.
You and I are not. Nor is our time. It's that simple. A Singaporean wouldn't understand that. Mr Kim could drive across the entire island of Singapore in the time it takes the good Doctor to get to Sydney airport let alone get to Griffith. He would have no idea how important visiting specialists are to country towns. |
That precious gaz bloke doesn't understand, so I may as well enlighten him..
Specialists are in short supply and don't need to turn up in country centres to make a $. They can make enough to live comfortably by not flying out to the bush. I know quite a few and they all put in longer hours than any duty time put in by pilots, and they do it week after week and don't whinge about their long and late rosters. Without their country visits, sick country folk would have to spend a lot more money, time and effort traveling. When precious gaz has to wait an extra 4 hours, it is not because his doc is having it off with his receptionist (usually that is) but because some other poor bastard has some serious iliness which needs more time. So precious gaz, a pox on you, and a wish that when you are sick, the attending doc can't get there because of late or nonexistent flights, and you get to reflect in misery on what a pr**ck you really are. what goes around comes around... |
The seabreeze has kicked in :-)
Well said mate. I've a close family member who is a cardiologist, who is in hot demand. He does not have enough hours in the day to achieve everything he needs to.... So I find those comments particularly offensive |
Hypothetically....
What would happen if Dr. Thorburn decides now that it is too difficult to travel to Griffith, and that his many patients in line elsewhere can be cared for without having to put up with what he (and everyone else in GTH and NAR) has quietly endured with REX?
Would it bring High Horse Lim to his knees and apologise to the geese who feed him?? And to hear about pax driving from MRY to Canberra is very telling. Good luck to the pilots and cabin crew at REX, you need to be appreciated a lot more. |
LKH wouldn't give a rats.
It would be even more telling if the cardiac patients from GTH drove to Canberra and turned up on the steps of Parliament following the loss of the only visiting cardiologist because of the attitude of an arrogant foreign owner of a monopoly Australian regional airline. This is the problem with foreign owned monopoly enterprises in this country. They just don't get it. |
What would happen?
Real people wouldn't get the medical services they need. Their health would suffer. People's live would change. Dramatic? yes but the reality. GA and regional airlines have supported regional medical services for a long time but few have realised this as it it a background service. This debacle has highlighted the issue and I for one am with the doctor. When are airline management in this country going to be held culpable for their ignorance and stupidity? Australia, it's people and it's government need to accept the fact that aviation in Australia (and the rest of the world for that matter) is an essential service and respect it accordingly. |
The good Dr is just a casualty of war sadly. Am sure there have been many people not just a Dr that have been effected or should that be infected by Rex's appalling management. Most wouldn't have bothered writing a letter knowing that it would probably go into the bin anyway.
I think the Dr has just highlighted the issues that we are now facing in a country that's as large as mainland USA yet has around 7% of the laters population, too few services to go around due over regulated industries(not just aviation), rorts, Govt mismanagement at ALL levels & taxes to cover mistakes. QF & Rex, what's diff?.....in some ways not much at all! I'd like to think that the good Dr in this case blames only the guys at the top, not the workers at the coal face who do a damned good job in the face of adversary, they too are the ones that suffer. Wmk2 |
Yes, maybe the letter could have been worded a little better, but, lets be fair, the medical proffession in Australia is taking us all for a ride, and a worse one that what REX provide. REX is a business, pure and simple and a very safe one I might add. I will now standy for all the flak, but before you reply...have a think! If you want to bitch about the Medical system in this country I suggest you get onto the lack of University places available to for people wanting to study medicine and how the AMA is also a union and a regulator, not the cost of seeing a Doctor or waiting lists. Have a holiday to Africa or Asian before launching into Australia's medical system. |
Originally Posted by gazmart999
I will now standy for all the flak, but before you reply...have a think!
So lets just have a little look at this, it's ok that we sit in a doctors surgery for hours on end waiting, I know I have waited over 4 hrs to see a doctor. Did I get any compansation? what did I get? Nothing. Doctor saw me for 10mins...$160 thanks...Come back and see me next week..what?? so I can wait another 4 hrs.... Our out patient departments in hospitals are a joke. How long do we wait in them? ... but, lets be fair, the medical proffession in Australia is taking us all for a ride, and a worse one that what REX provide. Apologies for thread drift. The trials and tribulations of the medical system have absolutely nothing to do with this arrogant and inconsiderate response from Rex Management. |
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