Qantas Call Centre

[nutwood]

Following up on my earlier post; since I reached platinum, it seems that response time has improved dramatically. Two calls so far and both have been answered promptly. This is how it used to be when I was gold.
As a hypothesis, perhaps they reduced staff numbers and removed gold members fast response privileges sometime towards the end of last year?

 

[anshul]

Guys, I am looking for suggestion on how to resolve the matter below. I have patiently waited for Qantas to address this matter but after a month's wait and their recent response, which indicates they have even not bothered to read my email, it doesn't look like they have bandwidth or any interest in resolving this.

Summary: I had a flexible international booking and requested business class upgrade. But my plan changed so I wanted to cancel the ticket but couldn't cancel in time due to their website locking up my booking and their call centre had over an hour wait. My booking was upgraded and points were deducted while I was trying to get the ticket canceled. According to the Qantas FF site, it costs over $400 to buy 15000 points so that's the money value of what it costed me. If Qantas website wouldn't have locked up my booking and greyed out the cancel option or their call centre wasn't flood out with over 60 minutes of wait, I would have canceled the booking before them processing the upgrade and I wouldn't have incurred the cost of 15000 points (~ A$400). It's one of the rare occasions, when I was able to capture all the evidence from that day in my email that I sent to them on 18th June. I though it's pretty straight forward for them to sort out. Here's the email that I sent:

######START OF EMAIL SENT on 18th June - SR Number SR1253474 assigned by Qantas############
Qantas Booking: 8A84E3
Qantas FF #: 51xx_XX

Dear Frequent Flyer Support Team,

In my booking 8A84E3, I couldn't check-in and/or modify/cancel the tickets online. The 131313 number used to be quick but whatever modification have been done recently, I find the wait times have gone up significantly and it doesn’t give the option to leave the number for callback all the time, doesn’t call back always even if the number if left and today it wasn’t recognizing the numbers I was keying in response to IVR. When I entered my FF number initially, it said it’s not a valid entry and didn’t recognize any of the options I selected.

Anyways now the actual issue, I called around half past 10 to cancel my booking 8A84E3 as the online cancel button was greyed out for some reason:


But the IVR wasn’t recognising the FF number and the options I was keying in. On top of that the wait time was over 60 min. Just due to sheer frustration, I recorded the video below in which I couldn't capture the IVR failure but please note the wait time (over 60 min) and time of the call (10.42AM at the time of video recording) https://youtu.be/IWvUnGN7PLE

While I was on call waiting for somebody to respond so that I could cancel, at 10:54AM I got a text that my booking has been upgraded to Business!



I was eventually able to cancel the booking an hour back using online cancel button. But the booking still appears in “Company Booking” in Business Direct login and under “Manage my booking” in FF login so I am not sure if it worked.

I want to confirm that the booking 8A84E3 is cancelled and I want to ensure that full refund, including the 15k points for Business upgrade, will be provided as I wasn’t able to cancel in time due to Qantas system issue as mentioned above. If the cancel button would have worked, I would have canceled the booking around 10:30AM about 24 min before the upgrade request was processed.

Could you please confirm and I would really appreciate a prompt response.

######## END OF EMAIL ############


If they are reducing the call centre staff leading to much higher wait times, shouldn't the IT systems work as expected? Am I being unrealistic expecting them to refund 15000 points? Or should I report it to Consumer Affairs if Qantas fails to respond. I would appreciate any comments / suggestions.

 

[zoomzoom]

Yes, Platimum gets special treatment.......spend money, get attention.................I still prefer the freedom of flying other carriers with more destinations, more flights, newer aircraft and a better in air product. All at at better prices.

 

[nutwood]

Yes, Platimum gets special treatment.......spend money, get attention.................I still prefer the freedom of flying other carriers with more destinations, more flights, newer aircraft and a better in air product. All at at better prices.

Have to agree with you, but where should one go for the freedom you describe? I travel quite extensively domestically and I've found that the combination of Rex and Qantas works very well. Not often I can't get within a couple of hours car drive of my final destination. No complaints as to the service I receive in the air although I've had mixed experiences on the ground. I do find it annoying that Qantas and Rex want to compete, rather than compliment each other but that's the way of the world.
Which carrier do you have in mind for the "more destinations, more flights, newer aircraft and a better in air product. All at at better prices"?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

If they are reducing the call centre staff leading to much higher wait times, shouldn't the IT systems work as expected? Am I being unrealistic expecting them to refund 15000 points? Or should I report it to Consumer Affairs if Qantas fails to respond. I would appreciate any comments / suggestions.

I dunno about the logistics, but is it possible the 'cancel' was unavailable because the upgrade had already been processed? Is the notification instantaneous, or had it been done well before you started the call?

 

[anshul]

I dunno about the logistics, but is it possible the 'cancel' was unavailable because the upgrade had already been processed? Is the notification instantaneous, or had it been done well before you started the call?

It was still Economy when I logged in online to cancel.Further my booking has been locked up before as well in their system and Qantas call centre had no idea on how to fix it. When this happened in May, I wasted several hours with them on the phone and finally their recommendation was to go early to the airport as I wasn't able to even check-in online. But last time there was no monetary impact.

 

[juddles]

Re: Qantas: QFF points lost due to IT system malfunction and flood out call centre

What has Qantas actually said to you?

 

[anshul]

Re: Qantas: QFF points lost due to IT system malfunction and flood out call centre

What has Qantas actually said to you?

This is the email they sent on 6th July in response to my email in my post above on 18th June:

On Wednesday, 6 July 2016, Qantas Frequent Flyer <[email protected]> wrote:

Dear Mr Gupta,

Thank you for contacting the Qantas Frequent Flyer Service Centre.

For new and existing Flight Reward and Reservations enquiries, please contact Qantas Direct Contact Centres on 13 13 13. If calling from overseas, you’ll find your local contact number by visiting qantas.com/contacts

To find out more about earning and using points, please visit qantas.com/frequentflyer where you’ll also find details of your membership benefits, along with our latest news and offers.

Kind regards

Sanjeet
Qantas Frequent Flyer Service Centre

qantas.com/frequentflyer
​

I replied to this email twice so far with the SR number intact in the subject asking them if they are going to refund 15000 points. Haven't received any response so far.

I also called Qantas yesterday and left my number for call back. It has been over 24 hours but nobody has called yet.

Qantas has never been like this and this is a new low. Clearly they need more staff to handle phone and email support.

 

[N860CR]

Re: Qantas: QFF points lost due to IT system malfunction and flood out call centre

There are some really big issues at QF customer service at the moment. They have off shored a lot of the call centre staff to NZ and it does seem that they're overwhelmed. I actually spoke with the manager of the new NZ call centre after a major stuffup by their staff and even he expressed dismay that his team are doing such a poor job. He also noted that he'd never worked in the airline industry before which surprised me.

We can only hope that Qantas will eventually fix it, but there doesn't seem to be any major desire to do so

 

[anshul]

Re: Qantas: QFF points lost due to IT system malfunction and flood out call centre

There are some really big issues at QF customer service at the moment. They have off shored a lot of the call centre staff to NZ and it does seem that they're overwhelmed. I actually spoke with the manager of the new NZ call centre after a major stuffup by their staff and even he expressed dismay that his team are doing such a poor job. He also noted that he'd never worked in the airline industry before which surprised me.

We can only hope that Qantas will eventually fix it, but there doesn't seem to be any major desire to do so

That has been my experience with Qantas as well. But recently with all the issues, I am not too sure if they will ever get to it unless I can escalate it.

I raised another SR in May when they delivered delayed luggage after 4 days and it was severely damaged. They haven't yet responded to it. Finally we took the luggage to the luggage service centre in Melbourne that handles repairs for Qantas and they were able to resolve it looking at the paperwork, boarding passes, delayed luggage report etc.

It's just a headache for people who need help or assistance with a time bound issue.

 

[davidj]

my calls take on average 2-3 hours to be returned and then only if offered the call back. Yesterday I tried the chat line but connected with the most unhelpful person I have so far experienced at Qantas. I shall not name her here!

Was it Kaylan? I had the most unhelpful experience with this CSR. I spent over an hour on chat discussing a simple one way award booking. I got a transcript sent to me as it resembled something between a comedy and worlds worst customer service show. A real embarrassment for Qantas.

Oh and I too has about a 5 hour wait for a CSR on the phone, who couldn't book a phantom award booking anyway (or didn't know how too judging by some of the comments on this thread).

5 hours nothing on this guy Qantas passenger's 15-hour call wait

Thank goodness I didn't have an urgent booking or cancellation that needed to be processed over the phone prior to departure. Are Qantas providing cancellation fee waivers if pax can't get through on time?

In contrast I call SQ yesterday and 1 min after I dial the number I'm speaking with a CSR who goes out of their way to ensure my query is solved and I'm off the phone happy. Painless.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

It was still Economy when I logged in online to cancel.Further my booking has been locked up before as well in their system and Qantas call centre had no idea on how to fix it. When this happened in May, I wasted several hours with them on the phone and finally their recommendation was to go early to the airport as I wasn't able to even check-in online. But last time there was no monetary impact.

That clears that up then

Seems like you might have a potential grounds for asking for your points back.

 

[katiebell]

Things seem to have fallen apart badly since they closed some call centres including, if my memory is correct hte MEL call centre which was always outstanding. Shame really

 

[Robert Qld]

I would suggest demanding a surname could be confronting for some staff - and I'm not sure they have to provide it to you. A first name will usually suffice.

Demanding a surname, which can then potentially expose the operator to harm is a problem. A surname, particularly an unusual one, opens up the opportunity to track a member of staff on social media, or find a home address.

I would expect my staff to give out their surname only if they chose to do so, and would support their decision not to if they felt uncomfortable.

I'm in agreement here, if you want more then a First name, ask for their employee number (most organizations (at least the ones I'm aware of) that operate call centres, do have policies in place saying it an employee number is to be given out if ask). Asking for their surname violates the phone operator's privacy (which they are entitled to as well), especially in this age of social media.

 

[dodgeydiver]

Re: Qantas: QFF points lost due to IT system malfunction and flood out call centre

Might be a little extreme but place a compliant through the ombudsman. It always gets the insurance companies cough into gear..

 

[juddles]

Re: Qantas: QFF points lost due to IT system malfunction and flood out call centre

Might be a little extreme but place a compliant through the ombudsman. It always gets the insurance companies cough into gear..

But what I am understanding from the OP is that they have never actually talked to anyone from QF?

I understand the frustration of being put on hold/waiting, etc, and completely agree that waiting for long periods on the phone is harsh and unacceptable, but I would try that before doing things like going to the "ombudsman". What are you going to tell them? That you don't have time to wait on hold and instead prefer them to sort things? That you can't wait for QF to answer a call?

Unanswered "call-back" services peeve me. But if I was upset enough to warrant pursuing this matter I would make a cuppa, get comfortable, and make the call......

 

[N860CR]

Re: Qantas: QFF points lost due to IT system malfunction and flood out call centre

But what I am understanding from the OP is that they have never actually talked to anyone from QF?

I understand the frustration of being put on hold/waiting, etc, and completely agree that waiting for long periods on the phone is harsh and unacceptable, but I would try that before doing things like going to the "ombudsman". What are you going to tell them? That you don't have time to wait on hold and instead prefer them to sort things? That you can't wait for QF to answer a call?

Unanswered "call-back" services peeve me. But if I was upset enough to warrant pursuing this matter I would make a cuppa, get comfortable, and make the call......

I think if QF aren't responding or cooperating, escalating to an external service is appropriate. There is no airline ombudsman as such, however the airline consumer advocate acts in a similar way.

There are costs imposed on Qantas if something needs to be sent to them. If the bill is adding up, Qantas will fix internal customer service (theoretically).

 

[JessicaTam]

Re: Qantas: QFF points lost due to IT system malfunction and flood out call centre

Two threads have been merged, so there may be some duplicate posts.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Re: Qantas: QFF points lost due to IT system malfunction and flood out call centre

I think if QF aren't responding or cooperating, escalating to an external service is appropriate. There is no airline ombudsman as such, however the airline consumer advocate acts in a similar way.

There are costs imposed on Qantas if something needs to be sent to them. If the bill is adding up, Qantas will fix internal customer service (theoretically).

I would check the position with Consumer Affairs before the Airline Consumer Advocate. The ACA has a very limited remit - they can only look at an airline's customer charter.

 

[N860CR]

Re: Qantas: QFF points lost due to IT system malfunction and flood out call centre

I would check the position with Consumer Affairs before the Airline Consumer Advocate. The ACA has a very limited remit - they can only look at an airline's customer charter.

I'd probably do it in the opposite order. See if the ACA manages to get a result (the airline is a little more motivated as they're paying for it) and should the airline still dig their feet in, look onwards. Fair Trading (in NSW at least) has absolutely no authority.