BA response time to complaint?

[JKKne]

When I worked in BA customer relations, it took up to 4 weeks to get an acknowledgement and then an average of 4-6 weeks for it to be actioned. Who handles your complaint and the timelines involved generally depends on the type of ticket purchased, your Exec Card status, class of travel, etc. A non Exec Card, lead in fare ticket would see the complaint handled in India. A Silver Card holder on a flexible club world ticket is more likely have the complaint first seen in Newcastle. My advice would be to write directly to Willie Walsh. He won't see the letter but it goes to a specialist team at Waterside that are better able to resolve cases like this one. If you're a Gold Card member, there is a direct line you can call for an Executive Assistant which speeds up the process dramatically.

It has been a while since you've been in BA CR then.

Everything sent to Waterside and Gold Card, Premier, Gold Guest List all goes to Newcastle. Everything sent to Willie, Keith or Frank goes to Newcastle. There is no specialist team. The mail is now forwarded straight to the North East

Turnaround for non status is around 10-14 days. Gold's will get a response within 24-72 hours.

Are you bookings 2 seperate bookings? If so, I'd imagine BA will hold steadfast

I think your being unreasonable in your expectation of a reply so quickly tbh

[Hotel Tango]

Are you bookings 2 seperate bookings? If so, I'd imagine BA will hold steadfast

Rather an odd comment to make in this particular case. It's of no consequence since the London-Gibraltar sector was actually flown, albeit on a different flight because of a cancellation and an involuntary reroute instigated by British Airways themselves.

[astir 8]

HT Thanks for the support. A slight correction though, the LHR - Gibraltar flight was flown as booked. It was the Glasgow - London first leg that was involuntarily rerouted by BA.

So one could argue - how come the Much Beloved was allowed on the LHR - Gib outbound leg if she'd no-showed on the first?

Incidentally we have had a response from BA 9 days after the event. A standardised email asking for details of the problem!

And no, I don't think 9 days to "answer" an email is acceptable

Hey ho

[manintheback]

I had an identical problem with Swiss. Return leg cancelled by the airline incorrectly. Difference is they upgraded me to make sure I got a seat on the flight - its called customer service -take note BA

[Hipennine]

"I think your being unreasonable in your expectation of a reply so quickly tbh"

One single sentence that sums up in so many ways the p.poor attitude to customer service by big corporates, which is inculcated into their staff.

I have run several successful customer focussed businesses, and I would be really concerned if it took more than a few minutes to make a meaningful first response to a customer complaint. I would be terrified to think that I had a customer focussed business which was running a several day backlog just to get out a meaningless acknowledgement letter. What does that say about the number of complaints in the system ?

Personally, these days, I give big corporates 7 days for a meaningful response, and if not, they get 7 days notice followed up by a summons (it's easy on-line). That seems to be the only effective way to get things done in a satisfactory time-frame.

[VS-LHRCSA]

When I was in CR, the company averaged 5000 complaints per day. This was before BA38 and the T5 opening. Imagine the backlog after these events.

Have a swipe at BA by all means but there are plenty of customer focused staff who do what they can with what they have to at least try to atone for some pretty bad customer experiences.

[Avionker]

So on one hand we have BA cabin crew telling us that everything good about the airline is down to the people who work for it.

And now we have VS-LHRCSA (standing for London (Heathrow) Customer Service Agent maybe) telling us that anything bad about BA is down to the corporation.

Interesting.....

[Three Thousand Rule]

VS-LHRCSA

I don't know if anyone is blaming the agents, I wouldn't. Deming ( a quality guru) used to say that the workers are only responsible for 10-20% of the quality performance of the company and that management carry the burden of the other 80-90%.

Thus I'm sure the agents do their best and it is not because of them that the performance is unacceptable, but the real issue here is why a company (a) breach a contract, (b) fail to abide by an EU directive over compensation for denied boarding and (c) apparently are not capable of recognising that a+b occured and rectifying it quickly.

I second Hipennine's approach.

[PAXboy]

This man helped the Japanese to understand customer service and that was 45 or so years ago! W. Edwards Deming - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Companies cut back on training and the number/quality of staff - but the PR department carry on as usual, if not redoubling their efforts. So complaints start to rise. Unfortunately, the CS department has also cut back on training and the number/quality of staf. The company may then be said to endlessly fly 'circuits and bumps' of poor service and poor response. I am NOT saying that is where BA is, their situation has been discussed in here many times and their 'end of natural era' position.

Slight thread drift but on the theme of electronic response:

To give further support to Hipennine's approach to reaction, my view when a written reply is needed:

• We used to write letters and expect a reply within ten days.
• We used to send faxes and expect a reply within three days.
• We send an e-mail and expect a reply in 24 hours.

I find it staggering that I can send an enquiry to 'info@' or 'contact@' and get ZERO reply. I find this on big companies, such as a recent enquiry to National Express coach about buying a ticket. ZERO reply and I presume that, after four weeks, they are not going to reply because they did not get it.

The idea that customers can send requests to a company at a time to suit them (i.e. 03:00) and the company can repsond during normal working hours - and they DON'T?

[Gibon2]

Is it deliberate?

It is interesting that many large companies do respond to complaints within 24 hours - including some very large companies that have many more customers than BA, and presumably many more complaints.

Now, the companies like BA that typically take weeks to respond nevertheless must keep up with the flow - if they receive 5,000 complaints a day, they must answer 5,000 complaints a day. Otherwise, the backlog would grow constantly larger. But if they can deal with the complaints at the same rate that they arrive, why have a backlog at all? If you can answer 5,000 complaints a day, why not answer the 5,000 that actually arrived that day? You may need to invest in some extra effort to clear an initial backlog, but once you've done that, you can be responding to your customers within 24 hours for the same cost that you previously incurred to respond to them in four weeks.

I can only conclude, therefore, that the delay in BA's case (and in many other airlines, phone and electricity companies, etc) is deliberate, intended to make a certain proportion of people forget about their complaints and go away. Can anyone confirm this, and if indeed it is a commercially sensible approach?

(By the way, just so I can get come perspective on those 5,000 daily complaints to BA, approximately how many passengers does BA carry each day?)

[manintheback]

BA carry around 31.5 million passengers a year, somewhat down from their peak of 40million plus in 2002. So currently thats avergaing around 86000 a day.

Difficult to believe they get 5000 complaints a day - that would be 1 in 17 passengers.

[GroundedSLF]

It sounds to me like a common issue I have had to deal with over many years working in the industry.
The problem was that whoever rebooked your GLA-LCY flight into LHR did not follow correct proceedure (ie re-protected you in the correct way), and becasue of this, the GDS only saw that there was no travel on the first leg - and so cancelled the remainder of the booking. By the way, I totally understand why airlines cancel itineraries that dont travel as booked - its to get around clever travel agents who work the fares system to their advantage - I remember years ago booking Concorde to MEX (with the NYC-MEX sector as "open") and halving the cost of the ticket, with no problem not travelling on the JFK-MEX sectors...

When I worked in an agency in an operational role, this sort of issue was generally rectified fairly quickly as the pax would call us, we would call our airline rep, and problem would be sorted (providing enough time given - ie pax checked in early).

Good luck - though I suspect that you wont need it - totally BA at fault.

[astir 8]

Well guys, I don't know whether the letter to Keith Williams demanding "action within 7 days or else" had any effect.

But today the Much Beloved had a phone call from BA in which they admitted responsibility for the fiasco. Apparently after the GLA - LCY flight was cancelled, BA listed her as being on a different alternative flight from Glasgow to Heathrow than the one on which they actually put her. Then listed her as a no show for it!

MB reckons that the BA rep actually sounded embarassed about it and was also unhappy about the people in Gibraltar.

BA says MB to send them copies of bills etc. We'll see how it goes from here re expenses and compensation, but it's a start!

[VS-LHRCSA]

Well, that's good to hear, Astir 8. Hopefully she will be paid all expenses and given an apology.

I should point out, I have been cabin crew, ground staff and customer relations exec assistant. I'm not blaming the company or anyone else but I am addressing Hipennine's comment about 'p.poor attitude to customer service by big corporates, which is inculcated into their staff'. I am stressing that amid the apathy and poor performance, there ARE staff, in many departments, that DO care about customer service.

I should have been more clear, the 5000 figure was what we told in training back in 2007. I was referring to letters, not individual complaints, that need to be responded to. Some complaints will generate more than one letter. Other letters are not necessarily complaints, either, they may well be commendations or pre-travel requests.

[astir 8]

I should add, that I don't believe that we would have got this far this fast with BA without the advice tendered by all of you PProoners! I strongly suspect that without the approach via the CEO that we would still be awaiting responses via the automated email system.

Thanks everyone!

I'll let you know how things go, but now that Mrs Astir is convinced that it wasn't some fault on her part, she will be looking for a tad more than expenses and an apology from BA. Time for me to sit back and watch the fun!

[PAXboy]

Thread drift
VS-LHRCSA

I have been cabin crew, ground staff and customer relations exec assistant.

You do know that makes you certifiable, don't you?

[Three Thousand Rule]

Hi Astir8

Please to hear things are moving.

Don't let your beloved forget to claim 400€ (EU261/2004) denied board compensation for GIB-LHR. (Article 7.)

Then she'll being wanting reimbursement of the ticketed cost for the GIB-LHR-GLA segments (Article 8.)

And finally she will be wanting all other costs (easyJet ticket) etc due to BA leaving her to find her own way home.

[Diver_Dave]

For what it's worth...

FlyBe have a blisteringly fast service standard....

Dear Sir/Madam

Thank you for your email.

We would like to assure you that your comments have been forwarded
to a member of the Customer Relations Team and you will receive a
response within 28 days.

In this case that response was a copy and paste, 'Do go away irritating
person...' mail that came from someone who clearly hadn't read the mail.
I assume hoping that the complaint will just evaporate and they won't
actually have to acknowledge an 'issue' I have....

Still, I only have to use them on the MAN-SOU route now, as their 'cheap'
option to FRA is no longer available I have to use LH, who haven't let
me down yet...[1]

Regards

DaveA


[1] Should that read: I have to use LH, who haven't let me down, yet...

[Ancient Observer]

I do not know how BA are doing with the 400 Euro compensation, but in my experience it is Easyjet's policy to ignore claims for it until you write to the CEO.
They did nothing with 4 registered post letters from me until I got hold of a Director's personal e-mail.

[Chuchinchow]

I think that a sensibly worded threat of a County Court prosecution clears corporate minds quickly and admirably.

Writing a compensation cheque is far cheaper than defending an annoying court summons.