From Matt's intro in today's broadcast email:-
"...the information provided by offshore call centre agents in the Philippines or South Africa is frequently wrong, and staff at these call centres aren’t always empowered to help customers properly."
Very circumspect Matt, when we know the reality is that they - like most call centres - are NOT and never will be emporwered to solve customer problems. Despite what various customer service gurus have said over the years, this is still a bridge too far for most companies. Customers need to know their place and that means not having the right to demand soloutions to problems. You pays your money and you takes your chances. End of discussion. Call centre staff read from a script on their screen. They cannot deviate from it. If you have a problem outside of the approved list on their screen they cannot help you. And now many companies are forbidding agents to escalate calls to a senior person.
Comment has been made that no-one knows who told Qantas they wanted this. Really? We all know Qantas did not speak to one single customer. Why do we hedge around that simple fact? With some reluctance many of us have taken up the electronic check-in process, probably because it beats waiting in a long line, specially if it is the cattle class line. Qantas has extrapolated from that and taken it to mean that we want all electronic and non-contact solutions for everything. Isn't that called "mission creep"?
The obvious solution to deal with AJ is to vote with our feet, but as AJ knows all too well, that has just become a non-starter with VA almost on the ropes and will no longer provide a viable alternative under Bain. We've done our dash, AJ wins and he knows it. This is just the beginning. Fasten your seat belts and observe the no smoking sign, there is more turbulence to come. This is just the entree.