Part Rant / Part Red Roo, perhaps your guys need some training

[harvyk]

OK before I start, I would like to say that the third phone operator I spoke to, whilst she didn't understand all the in's and out's, she was willing to spend the time solving this problem for me. So whilst this rant is directed at QF phone support in general, girl number 3 actually deserves kudos for being willing to learn and actually helping me along the way.

[rant]

Ok so I'm wanting to travel to HGK to buy a new suit, I have a tailor there who does excellent work, and my old suit is looking a bit old. Since I have a few points saved up I thought I would go J at least for travelling there.

So on Sunday I jumped on the QF site and looked at JASA's and sure enough I found one which I liked the look of. I did a dummy booking and the price came to ~$330 and 60,000 points. Excellent I thought, but I'd better clear this with Mrs Harvyk prior to actually laying out any money.

I spoke with the Mrs who said go ahead. So this morning I went onto the QFF site and went to make the booking, unfortunately the minimum I could find was $300 + 76,000 points, which was a problem since right now I only have 63,000 points. As an aside a classic award was $300 + 60,000 points, but with the downside of no SC's.

I gave QF a call, the first person I spoke to seemed to be very confused by the term "any seat award" and was convinced I should be doing points + pay. In fact she was very insistent that "any seat awards" didn't even exist, and it was just another term for points + pay. At $5,800 + 60,000 points, no thanks.

She finally got so confused by the term "any seat award" that she decided I must need to buy more points and she subsequently transferred me to the QFF points area. After a 15 minute wait, I told the second person what I was after, and she instantly said "this is not the area your after" and transferred me over to person number 3. After an additional 10 minute wait, I got onto person number 3 who again had very little idea about award bookings, but at least she was willing to spend the time to learn about them.

Person number 3 put me on hold whilst she called their internal help desk, she then said "what I must have seen was a sale fare which ended on the 9th" the thing is that my dummy booking was done on the 12th. After a few minutes of back and forwards the fare I was after appeared again. The girl on the phone even said "I swear that was not there 5 minutes ago".

Given this is not the first time I've called QF phone support and come away with the distinct impression that the average AFFer knows more about QF bookings than the QF phone support people, perhaps some training is in order.

[/rant]

As I said at the start, yes girl number 3 didn't know about JASA's but she was willing to spend the time learning about them, and I did get the result I wanted. I just feel I shouldn't have had to go via two other people first.

 

[moa999]

Yield management at play - fares come and go.

Agree that operates should know about anyseat...
But really shouldn't you have phoned up saying "I'd like to buy some points"

 

[Flying Fox]

Oh I feel your pain.

I have also spoken to quite a few QF staff (6+) who also didn't know what an ASA was. Some also insisted that I would be better off with the Classic + Pay option. These are generally the same people who also told me that no reward seats earn points & SCs.

I do eventually achieve what I'm after but I have given up trying to explain the difference etc.

I'm not angry; I just get a bit frustrated at times.

Overall I would say that the QF staff are helpful to the best of their abilities.

 

[harvyk]

Yield management at play - fares come and go.

I realise that, it was the fact that something as simple as an ASA, the person on the end of the phone should have at least known what that was and why a QFFer would want to use an ASA over a classic award.

Agree that operates should know about anyseat...
But really shouldn't you have phoned up saying "I'd like to buy some points"

I think there is a limit on the number of points you can buy (I think it's 15%) which would have gotten me close, but not close enough, plus having done that once before it's not an overly efficient way of getting points.

In any case I'm glad I didn't as the original fare re-appeared.

 

[lovestotravel]

I have never had an issue with QF staff, they have all been well trained and able to assist.

If something is too hard with one person, just hang up and ring back and get someone different

Same with any call centre, you are always going to find a small number of staff who don't know something

 

[harvyk]

I have never had an issue with QF staff, they have all been well trained and able to assist.

It's not that I had an issue per-say, it's just so far my experience with them has been that I believe the average AFFer knows more about the in's and out's of QF than at least the non WP service desk center staff.

If something is too hard with one person, just hang up and ring back and get someone different

Same with any call centre, you are always going to find a small number of staff who don't know something

Got transferred around, which is pretty much the same thing.

 

[Edge]

moral of the story - prices and point requirements can fluctuate significantly and rapidly. if you see a price and availability you're satisfied with (whether we're talking points or $), you are risking it if you put it off.

 

[harvyk]

moral of the story - prices and point requirements can fluctuate significantly and rapidly. if you see a price and availability you're satisfied with (whether we're talking points or $), you are risking it if you put it off.

Yeah, that was pretty much my take from all this...

 

[Red Roo]

OK before I start, I would like to say that the third phone operator I spoke to, whilst she didn't understand all the in's and out's, she was willing to spend the time solving this problem for me. So whilst this rant is directed at QF phone support in general, girl number 3 actually deserves kudos for being willing to learn and actually helping me along the way.

[rant]

Ok so I'm wanting to travel to HGK to buy a new suit, I have a tailor there who does excellent work, and my old suit is looking a bit old. Since I have a few points saved up I thought I would go J at least for travelling there.

So on Sunday I jumped on the QF site and looked at JASA's and sure enough I found one which I liked the look of. I did a dummy booking and the price came to ~$330 and 60,000 points. Excellent I thought, but I'd better clear this with Mrs Harvyk prior to actually laying out any money.

I spoke with the Mrs who said go ahead. So this morning I went onto the QFF site and went to make the booking, unfortunately the minimum I could find was $300 + 76,000 points, which was a problem since right now I only have 63,000 points. As an aside a classic award was $300 + 60,000 points, but with the downside of no SC's.

I gave QF a call, the first person I spoke to seemed to be very confused by the term "any seat award" and was convinced I should be doing points + pay. In fact she was very insistent that "any seat awards" didn't even exist, and it was just another term for points + pay. At $5,800 + 60,000 points, no thanks.

She finally got so confused by the term "any seat award" that she decided I must need to buy more points and she subsequently transferred me to the QFF points area. After a 15 minute wait, I told the second person what I was after, and she instantly said "this is not the area your after" and transferred me over to person number 3. After an additional 10 minute wait, I got onto person number 3 who again had very little idea about award bookings, but at least she was willing to spend the time to learn about them.

Person number 3 put me on hold whilst she called their internal help desk, she then said "what I must have seen was a sale fare which ended on the 9th" the thing is that my dummy booking was done on the 12th. After a few minutes of back and forwards the fare I was after appeared again. The girl on the phone even said "I swear that was not there 5 minutes ago".

Given this is not the first time I've called QF phone support and come away with the distinct impression that the average AFFer knows more about QF bookings than the QF phone support people, perhaps some training is in order.

[/rant]

As I said at the start, yes girl number 3 didn't know about JASA's but she was willing to spend the time learning about them, and I did get the result I wanted. I just feel I shouldn't have had to go via two other people first.

Thanks for sharing this example as I'm sure other AFF members have also had similar frustrating experiences. I'm glad you were eventually able to complete the JASA booking as per your original plan (fares can fluctuate subject to availability and various commercial reasons), and I have since passed on your comments regarding the phone service to our Contact Centre managers. I hope this doesn't discourage future contact to our Reservations team as they are certainly there to assist with such matters. I hope this remains a one off for you.

 

[simongr]

At least this will no longer be an issue after 18 May.

 

[harvyk]

At least this will no longer be an issue after 18 May.

I've obviously missed something, what's happening on the 18th May?

 

[simongr]

ASAs are going away - allegedly.

 

[LadyC]

I'm not sure if anyone else has had a similar experience (yours sounds similar to mine harvyk but I am not sure of your timeline), but I have also done dummy bookings for ASAs and depending upon how far along they have progressed before I dropped out, they have 'disappeared' for 30 minutes - 1 hour. They have then reappeared after a period of time. I assumed it was something to do with the IT system 'locking seats' so you don't get penalised if you are a bit slow in navigating the booking portal. And that it has some time limit on how long seats are 'held' without payment. I hope that makes sense?!

 

[lovestotravel]

At least this will no longer be an issue after 18 May.

http://www.nevermindthebuspass.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/popcorn1.jpg

 

[serfty]

I've obviously missed something, what's happening on the 18th May?

See here: [Repudiated by Red Roo] QF removing ASAs [Now 18May] 10 April - Page 27

 

[deejo77]

I feel your frustrations with the training of the call centre staff. I tried to book a "bag a bargain" ticket that cost approx. $160 - as there is no business class on the route I want to fly I rang the CCS to get a comfort seat (I would like to be comfortable and so should others). I gave flight numbers and times so had confirmation it was the same one I was looking at on my laptop. So the price he quoted me was $700 - WT......after I recover from the heartattack I enquired why in the world would I pay that when I can book myself twice on the same flight for $320 on the website. So after providing him with some direction (www.qantas.com.au) he was able to locate the fare I was trying to book and requoted me at the correct $240. But as with all customer service roles they can always do training and try to improve but sometime we just have to remember we are human and mistakes happen.

 

[Red Roo]

I feel your frustrations with the training of the call centre staff. I tried to book a "bag a bargain" ticket that cost approx. $160 - as there is no business class on the route I want to fly I rang the CCS to get a comfort seat (I would like to be comfortable and so should others). I gave flight numbers and times so had confirmation it was the same one I was looking at on my laptop. So the price he quoted me was $700 - WT......after I recover from the heartattack I enquired why in the world would I pay that when I can book myself twice on the same flight for $320 on the website. So after providing him with some direction (www.qantas.com.au) he was able to locate the fare I was trying to book and requoted me at the correct $240. But as with all customer service roles they can always do training and try to improve but sometime we just have to remember we are human and mistakes happen.

Thanks for your patience and understanding with this. Glad it's sorted and your booking is confirmed at the correct fare.