Article: Qantas Considers Bringing Call Centres Back to Australia

[dajop]

Experienced offshoring of corporate functions such as accounts payable, IT help desk, Travel and expense reimbursement etc in 3 MNC companies now.

Two had reasonably good service. In one it was just terrible. Two offshored in-house. One offshored to a contractor. Guess which one was terrible? (No don’t … it’s pretty obvious).

 

[ramboflyer]

In 2023 with the massive immigration numbers into Australia it doesn't matter whether the call centre (Qantas or otherwise) is located overseas or in Oz, there is a real problem understanding the accents. At least the Qantas staff should be trained properly.

 

[RooFlyer]

Its pretty obvious that the Hobart call centre doesn't have a KPI of calls answered/time - or at least not a strict one. I've never experienced any sense that they are in a hurry to get off the line and on to the next caller (most of the time its me saying "I better go and let you get onto the next call". Yet apparently the o/s ones are measured by that metric? I wonder how many and what type of o/s call centre metrics Qantas specifies in its contracts?

 

[albatross710]

Yet apparently the o/s ones are measured by that metric? I wonder how many and what type of o/s call centre metrics Qantas specifies in its contracts?

One aspect of overseas call centres is the agents feeling that they know all when in fact many may not even have a passport let alone any idea of what it's like to be on a multileg itinerary with a seemingly impossible connection. They will bully people into accepting impossible resolutions further creating more work for ....offshore call centres.

 

[dawisha]

Qantas Considers Bringing Call Centres Back to Australia is an article written by the AFF editorial team:

https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/qantas-call-centres-back-australia/

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.

As others have said, its training and attitude that matters more than the location but the evidence of two major airlines using Malaysian outsourcing - American Airlines (AA) and Qantas - seems to indicate that Malaysia is definitely not the right location if you want competence, enthusiasm, empathy etc. All AA calls from Australia go to their outsourced call centre in Malaysia. My personal experience of it (and that of a number of friends) is that the outsourced AA call centre are absolutely abysmal. I could fill the page with errors they've made, flight bookings they've cancelled and wrong information they have provided. And they just couldn't care less! AFF have commented negatively on the outsourced Qantas service from their outsourced Malaysian call centre called Mindpearl. The irony is that the Brisbane Mindpearl office used to handle the majority of the AA calls for Australia, and were excellent in my experience. Maybe (Qantas and AA) need to ask Mindpearl to handle their outsourcing from Brisbane again!

 

[AIRwin]

AFF have commented negatively on the outsourced Qantas service from their outsourced Malaysian call centre called Mindpearl.

Oh I didn't know QF also outsources to Malaysia?

 

[encryptededdy]

I don't think Mindpearl has a presence in Malaysia (anymore at least)

 

[dylarr]

That's right there was a Mindpearl presence in Malaysia, they also had a presence in Brisbane as well. As far as I know, Mindpearl Malaysia didn't take calls for AA, and it never took calls for QF.

Along with QF, Mindpearl Fiji did take calls for AA and MH along with some other airlines. My experience when calling MH and dealing with Mindpearl Fiji is that the agents were just as unempowered and hit and miss as they are when taking calls for QF.

 

[Danieldj]

The key outtake on this is the fact that they are rebuilding the app... this is minimise the need to call if you can self service all your travel needs online... just as did telstra the fact that telstra did a HUGH marketing campaign saying they are bring back Australain call centres... which in turn the number of calls to telstra have dropped sooo much they just starting redirecting more calls the Australian call centre. We were already here doing a job they just slowly closed down the FOH centres overseas and moved over the calls...


If Qantas can update the online app/websites to manage everything online it would be soo much better for all parties.

 

[PineappleSkip]

I’m reading an awful lot about training, but that only goes so far. You might recall the 70-20-10 learning model, which suggests that 10% of your leaning comes from formal training, 20% on the job from interactions with other staff, and 70% from interactions with you, the customer. That 70% tends to be the complexities and nuances that formal training will never address, particularly when the subject matter is complex. And of course, the more experience, the more learning.

Not seeing so much commentary about staff turnover, an achilles heel for Australian contact centres with about 32% of staff leaving within the first 12 months. People are more inclined to stick around if it’s seen as a desirable place to work, or more prosaically if there is nothing better around. I suspect that Brisbane and Melbourne were closed and Hobart not because the latter was more effective, because there were fewer opportunities elsewhere and it was a relatively small centre. Incidentally, the problem is worse in India with contract call centres having attrition rates as high as 38% p.a but much lower in South Africa with only 13% p.a. average attrition from contact centres.

The intercultural gap that an offshore centre has to deal with is of course an added problem. That apparently arrogant operative may be backgrounded in a place where saving face is more important than overtly admitting failure, or may be resorting to a defensive measure in the face of a wall of customer prejudice and hostility.

Where should that leave QF contact centres? Dunno. The CPT experience may not have matured yet, or Mindpearl may be such a cheap and nasty place to work that it’s attrition rates are higher than average, they have themselves admitted to 40% attrition in Fiji in the past, tempered by the rather implausible claim that it’s since dropped to 2% there, which would be World best. On the other hand, for QF to make a success of bringing its client contact function in house, it would need to attract staff and retain them, which would seem to require a more fundamental shift in its mindset than a deckchair shuffling exercise.

Cheers skip

 

[siri]

Around 2006, we(Cisco) approach federal govt. and we did show them that we have the technology to keep call centres in Australia, based on centres are located in outer regions of Aus and can beat overseas call centres on cost... Federal govt. never responded and sat on it with out passing to the call centre customers. I personally believe if they have overseas call centres that are diabolical on service, fed govt. should extra tax on those companies or not give tax breaks for overseas call centres.
My daughters return flight from London with a 1 yr old got her return ticket canceled from sydney to london, by South African call centre person without any notice or a reason.. Qantas got lots to answer and major blame lies on its board and incompetent chairman who is on gravy train without not taking responsibilities . One of the worst part of this fiasco is millions of your FF points are now worthless and now I stop flying Qantas since insulting high value customers are qantas forte, thanks to joyce and its chairman and board.

 

[PaulyB]

Speaking as a lowly Bronze, booking a OWA I can only say the overseas call centre experience has been nothing short of awful.

Everyone who talks about good training is right, of course. And there have been some people I have encountered in various locations that have done well. But what is missing is language/culture comprehension, ; that invisible sense of understanding that exists. Plus training.

Unfortunately my experience was 90% a terrible mix of all 3 so every time I spoke to someone, I didn’t trust what they said. I had to put them through tests to check they knew enough

This is not my job. It is QANTAS’ job and they failed dismally. I won’t go into the painful story but just look at the OWA thread over the last year for the pain and frustration experienced by so many undertaking the same process.

I have booked several OWA in the past - pre the offshore move and it was a joy talking to the Australian centres. They ‘knew’ me they knew travel and they were entirely reliable.

I have linked to one post of mine in the OWA thread that provides a glimpse into the experience. In short I would have been on the phone for at least 20 hours over several weeks and months making changes to flights that agents just couldnt deal with. I know it sounds ridiculous but I didn’t trust any of the bookings for weeks and kept checking all the 3rd party apps were still there.



I doubt I would make another OWA the experience truly was so stressful I was shaking at times. And I haven’t even begun to talk about the process to find the flights…..

Cheaper offshore? I doubt it,, if such a big clean up !

Here is the link

PS.
I really loved this post

"oneworld" award (132.4K/249.6K/318K/455K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

A downgrade is worth a refund of 75% of the ‘fare’ for that sector for long haul. Doesn’t matter if the fare is points or cash. It would be worth @FenderQF checking to see whether the new seats are being sold as Premium Economy or Business. If they are still being sold as business class on...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[Laptop Jockey]

The fundamental issues are that the staff aren't empowered or authorised to solve problems. Now one can argue if it is a chicken-and-egg problem with not intending to give the power so they can use minimally trained/knowledgeable staff, or because they are minimally trained/competent that they aren't given the power, but if there isn't a problem solving mentality behind the approach, wherever it is, is secondary. Now generally speaking Australian staff are a lot more likely to be trusted with complex problem solving than a minimum wage Indian or Filipino so I think there is definitely some benefit there, along with English communication and comprehension skills, but the best call centre I've ever dealt with was iiNet's South African call centres; the level of service from them was truly first class, and so far above anything experienced outside of high-end luxury services, it undscores that geography isn't the only issue.
Overall this is a massive win though and Qantas should be applauded.

(As an addendum, the chatbot idea for basic tasks isn't totally terrible, the Woolworths "olive" is actually pretty efficient at processing refunds)

 

[siri]

One member mentioned that different accent issue, and it get worse by using VOIP circuits that use for voice calls today.. I find badly provisioned voice network (low cost to save money) create more problems with voice since so many packet losses happened and you cannot understand most words.

 

[clara w]

A few people have mentioned accents, and they are an issue for me, especially with the Manila call centres (and not just the Qantas one). It is a combination of a foreign pronunciation- mostly American taught- a different rhythm and intonation, and a very rapid delivery. Like very many older people, my hearing is fine in most contexts but doesn't cope well in a few interactions, and this is one of them. I am constantly having to pretend I have a poor connection and asking them to speak much more slowly, which rarely happens. Particularly stressful if you are chasing a time-sensitive resolution.

 

[RichardMEL]

I find the best way to deal with such things (for example calling AA from Oz often winds up in MNL) where they can have as much trouble with my accent as anything else, to rely on spelling things out with the phonetic alphabet (Alpha Bravo Charlie.. etc). I find MANY agents appreciate this so much - be it giving a booking reference, spelling out a surname or something else.

I also agree that VOIP combined with often loud background noise from the call taker (be they in a busy call centre or at home) can be really distracting and difficult. I think better steps/technology should somehow be employed to make that less of a factor for both sides of the cnversations. I mean when I call I make sure I don't have a TV going or other noises as much as possible so it would be nice if the other side did better in that regard.

 

[Lynda2475]

I think that Qantas needs to insist that any offshore call centre facility requires staff to attend an actual call centre that has quality internet/voice connections (not lagging satellite dropping every other packet), proper team leader supervision etc.

When you call and it is obvious the agent is telling porkies whilst WFH and you can hear kids running around, dogs barking and roosters crowing over a dubious internet connection it is very unprofessional.

Some leeway may have been made during covid lockdowns but we are way past that now.

Also I know from setting up offshore call centres with other large corporates, they are more likely to give greater system access and trust when said call centre building has appropriate security (i.e. restricted rooms where they cant surf the web or bring in personal devices) than anytime someone is connecting from home.

That said bringing complex calls back onshore will be great if it happens. NZ aside - the South African, Fiji and Manilla call centres can only be trusted with the most simple of activities i.e. basically point to point bookings, QC sign-up.

 

[BAM1748]

But location is important.

O/s call centres believe what they say, and stick by it, and refuse to escalate.

And on that rare time they do they say please hold the line while I transfer you and click beeep beeep beeep.

Yes, Australia the US and another country that values the customer.

 

[Himeno]

and another country that values the customer.

So open a QF call center in Japan?

 

[dylarr]

phonetic alphabet (Alpha Bravo Charlie.. etc). I find MANY agents appreciate this so much - be it giving a booking reference, spelling out a surname or something else.

I find it definitely helps but not always. Not too long ago I had an agent in Cape Town sigh and snap at me "just read it out normally" when I used the phonetic alphabet to read out a booking reference... like geez I was just trying to make it easier. Not surprisingly the rest of the interaction was also of a poor standard and the issue wasn't resolved