On Hold with V Australia

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yogi

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Feb 8, 2009
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I called VA the other day. After 53 mins on hold, I hung up.

Am trying again now. Onto minute 44. About to hang up again.

Is this common?

(on the plus side, they have a nice way of phrasing their please wait for us to talk to you message. - "We know you don't like to be kept waiting" and the various other flying analogies).
 
Hung up at 59 mins. Can't take it anymore.

I am a very patient person, but this is ridiculous.
 
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I've been averaging 45 minutes with Qantas lately (thats with QC Silver "priority" *cough*). Seems service as a whole has gone down the tube.
 
I've been averaging 45 minutes with Qantas lately (thats with QC Silver "priority" *cough*). Seems service as a whole has gone down the tube.

Yeah, Qantas call queues have gone through the roof as well at the moment. A friend was on hold for at least this long (Bronze) a few nights ago, and also hung up.

As a Plat though, my call normally gets answered within about 15 seconds . Do you want my FF number to bump you up through the queue?
 
Yep, same issues here for the last two weeks, yet i must be fairly impatient as I hung up after 20 mins each time. Ive sent an email to [email protected] and am also yet to receive a response. All this, just to provide them with my passport details which have just been renewed ....
 
Hung up at 59 mins. Can't take it anymore.

I am a very patient person, but this is ridiculous.

And "V australia" wants to sell seats on its planes?

Whoa, if I can't get through to UA within 5 seconds of the first ring I think there's a major problem.

Why deal with airlines that can't handle the traffic?
 
Whoa, if I can't get through to UA within 5 seconds of the first ring I think there's a major problem.

Why deal with airlines that can't handle the traffic?

Haha, I assume UA in Australia also diverts to the nearly useless Indian Call Centre that is often complained about?

Or am I mistaken?

Not sure where V Australia's call centre is though...
 
My wife is velocity gold...She is coming back from LAX in Prem E tomorrow (Fri 13th LAX time)... I wanted to ring to see if I could PAY to upgrade her to J....
First call - 39 minutes... gave up
Second call... Over ONE hour... gave up...
Third call.... call center shut...

I am trying to GIVE V Australia MORE money... several thousand dollars..

Maybe Qantas want it ?

C'mon Brett... your sales can't be that good that you don't need my $$$...:rolleyes:
 
My wife is velocity gold...
A few days ago, I rang the number on the back of my Velocity gold card, because I needed to change a flight (after DJ cancelled my original and placed me on an unsuitable one).


Anyway, after a wait (I have been on hold 20mins to DJ before, so 4minutes was poor but not as bad as I have had) during which the announcements advised I was a priority, I got through to someone who could only help me with Velocity.

Conversely, when I ring the number on the back of my Qantas platinum card, I always get through to someone who can help me. (And almost instantly.) Although I do have to press buttons to tell them what I'm calling about.

It would appear DJ group does not have a priority number for actual airline service!

And if you have to call Qantas they are so quick and efficient during the call, at DJ it seemed like the rep had to manually re-enter all the booking details again, rather than fields getting populated from the original booking. This is probably the case, as my confirmation email never arrived (most like due to a typo when the rep had to re-enter my email address).

So, just like I would with Qantas, I logged into my FF account (after the call) to check the booking had actually been changed. Well, I could not find a way to do this with Velocity, as it doesn't seem to interact with Virgin Blue until after flights have been taken. All future flights don't seem to be even listed, let alone adjustable.

Bit by bit, in so many ways, I am discovering that - Virgin Blue is little more than a tarted up LCC.
 
First time I called them I was put on hold and had to hang up. Second time, i got right through!
 
I called VA the other day. After 53 mins on hold, I hung up.

Am trying again now. Onto minute 44. About to hang up again.

Is this common?

(on the plus side, they have a nice way of phrasing their please wait for us to talk to you message. - "We know you don't like to be kept waiting" and the various other flying analogies).
I'd send a PM to crazydave98 and let him know of the issues :!:
 
When I was trying to get through to V Aust around Xmas (re: rebooking due to revised start-up), I would always select the 'Book new seat' - then 'book business class seat' phone options (or something similar). My calls always seemed to be picked up a lot quicker than the 'General Enquiry' option.

I'm pretty sure back in XMAS the staff in the V Aust call centre were based out of Brisbane. A lot better than Virgin's woeful call centre off-shore.
 
Bit by bit, in so many ways, I am discovering that - Virgin Blue is little more than a tarted up LCC.

That's where they started, and it does seem that aspects of the LCC culture still exist in the airline. It does take time and money to change things, and they can't do everything at once. I assume they will get there, but from time to time, you do seem to run into something that still exists from their purely LCC start.
 
As a generalisation, LCCs don't normally have - Lounges, Frequent Flyer Programs, Status Benefits, Relationships with other airlines...
Yes, that's all very well, but it's mainly the staff who define what an airline is.

In DJ's case, the staff (and training programs) are clearly from their LCC beginnings and it shows. Beligerent and rude is how I would describe many of them (especially the check in chicks, but not forgetting the hosties).

And how V Australia can expect to sell seats on their airline when nobody will answer the phone is beyond me.

I can see the distict possibility of Virgin Blue (and V Australia) going under if this recession gets much worse. And perhaps it wouldn't be a hugely bad thing.
 
I can see the distict possibility of Virgin Blue (and V Australia) going under if this recession gets much worse. And perhaps it wouldn't be a hugely bad thing.

Leaving us with Tiger and Qantas/Jetstar. Would be a very bad thing for DJ to go under.
 
Beligerent and rude is how I would describe many of them (especially the check in chicks, but not forgetting the hosties

Sounds like how I would describe a selection of Qantas employees I recently had the dubious pleasure of being attended to by.
So pathetic was their attitude that I sent an email of complaint to Qantas,but as with other emails I have sent to them I have yet to receive a reply.
I fly Qantas very regularly and generally I receive excellent service,however it is far from the perfectly managed airline it was only a few years ago and if Virgin Blue was to go under (which I think is highly unlikely ) then I fear that the term "Rude red rat" that is occassionaly used to describe Qantas will become more commonplace.
 
I can see the distict possibility of Virgin Blue (and V Australia) going under if this recession gets much worse. And perhaps it wouldn't be a hugely bad thing.

You cannot be serious! So thousands of people out of work 'wouldn't be a hugely bad thing'? Not to mention that at every available opportunity, Qantas have consistently shown themselves to be more than willing to gouge the travelling public for every last penny they can get away with. I could only imagine the mayhem Qantas would cause if it weren't for the competition provided by Virgin.

The loss of Virgin would have disastrous consequences for not only the travelling public, but the Australian economy in general.

Be careful what you wish for....
 
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