Reply to compaints - your experience?

[acampbel]

I too have been refused entry to a partner longue in Bangkok because my QC card didn't look like one of the photocopied images the receptionist had. I didn't bother complaining because I knew that in 10 years time I would just cop a bollocking from Dave Noble for being such an ungrateful gobshite.


Joke.


Cheers,

AC

 

[Dave Noble]

I too have been refused entry to a partner longue in Bangkok because my QC card didn't look like one of the photocopied images the receptionist had. I didn't bother complaining because I knew that in 10 years time I would just cop a bollocking from Dave Noble for being such an ungrateful gobshite.

Except that being denied entry when entitled to it is quite different .

On the general theme, I just received a bottle of 1999 Leashingham Classic Clare Shiraz today from our flying marsupial Airline. No note with it, but when I spoke to Customer Care , they explained that it was in relation to my complaint about the Queue Hasslers at Brisbane.... Even Interestingly, the person in customer care recognised my name from this site ... Big Kangaroo is watching you

Don't know if it's a good wine, but hey... it's a good wine for whine policy at QF .

It was a nice surprise to have that turn up at the door today; well done Mr Qantas

Dave

 

[Platy]

Yes, I have sometimes found that my Platinum card is not recognised - especially by BA staff since the BA card is GOLD so BA counter staff think you aren't on the top rung with such a dirty coloured card! A person in Jersey took some persuading but luckily their info card was in colour so she figured it out right in the end!

My previous experience of QF customer care complaints is that they are close to useless at the bottom rung (which is very hard to escalate above) and I avoided QF for months and flew exclusively on Virgin Blue losing the airline in excess of $100,000 in business from myself, my staff and friends travelling out from Uk who changed over to Emirates first and now they have changed won't come back to QF.

Had a range of issues including:

- Decline in QFF program
- Dom J price hikes
- Dom J decline in service standards (gradually after Ansett demise)
- Problems with web site malfunctioning
- Inability for QF to honour seat preferences for a Platinum despite repeated complaints
- Difficulty in obtaining on departure upgrades despite empty seats
- Inability to purchase dom J fares on flights with staff in J seats
- Inability to get dom upgrades despite staff in J seats
- Some bad catering experiences in dom J
- QFC in SYD and MEL over-run with promotional activities
- 6 weeks to get J class fare refunds
- poor service at BA FIRST counters at Heathrow T4
- poor service standards out of DRW
- QF trying to charge full J class fares for flights which connect onto Y class only aircraft
- poor service in UK on QF customer service line
- being told the new booking fee wasn't new since it used to be hidden in the price of the ticket by BNE ticket desk

Can't remember the others.

Anyway it took close to 6 months to get anyone at QF to take complaints/feedback seriously and eventually someone at a reasonably senior level took some responsibility, invited me to assist with market research, offered some compensation (courtesy upgrades), accepted the feedback was valid and worthwhile to the airline.

And yes, I started out very politely, but that changed when people didn't reply to emails, or get back to me as they had promised.

I also make a point to returning positive feedback particularly on staff who do a great job on the day!

The fact is that the many of the staff I have spoken to, don't realise what's going on in their airline much of the time.

Some of the above issues have now been addressed in customer service policy (which is good to see) with the changes in the upgrade system as many others provided the same complaints and feedback.

As a customer now I am back as a loyal QF devotee, thanks to one individual at QF who stopped and actually listened and now is very helpful, which is very greatly appreciated!!!

 

[MD]

Platy wrote:

And yes, I started out very politely, but that changed when people didn't reply to emails, or get back to me as they had promised.

This reflects my experience with the few complaints I have made to QFF. Lack of follow-up seems to be a problem for the service centre. I have only recently returned to flying with QF, having become exasperated with their poor service. I am easily going to make WP but after some recent flights I don't think I will continue flying with them. I don't even want a bottle of Leasingham - an acknowledgement that they stuffed up would be adequate.

MD

 

[tuapekastar]

Except that being denied entry when entitled to it is quite different .

On the general theme, I just received a bottle of 1999 Leashingham Classic Clare Shiraz today from our flying marsupial Airline. No note with it, but when I spoke to Customer Care , they explained that it was in relation to my complaint about the Queue Hasslers at Brisbane.... Even Interestingly, the person in customer care recognised my name from this site ... Big Kangaroo is watching you

Don't know if it's a good wine, but hey... it's a good wine for whine policy at QF .

It was a nice surprise to have that turn up at the door today; well done Mr Qantas

Dave

Well, if your tastes match those of this critic - http://www.winepros.com.au/jsp/cda/wine/wineprofile.jsp?ID=290&YR=1999 - you've got something to look forward to, but not for a couple of years at least!

 

[robertz]

I've had a few as well.
Mostly missing points and such, all were handled in bout 3 days, which is great service. Never got any replied emails that the issue was closed, but the points were credited.

The only other thing, was my wife's ripped pants saga, which still after 6 months haven't heard a thing. Probably my fault, as not getting the Qantas staff member's name and a copy of the log sheet. (But after flying for 28 hours, my brain wasnt working too well)

Problem happened in Dom QC in MEL. After a flight from ATL-DFW-LAX, showers were in order. The doors on the shower rooms are very heavy and as such, close very hard. Anyway, she was exiting the shower room, the door swung closed, and the gold/bronze plate on the door had a sharp edge on the corner, which took a 1" square out of her pants and cut her leg.
She complained that this was dangerous (Which it is) and the Q staff member logged the incident.

Absolutely, no follow-up since...

Rob

 

[MD]

Platy wrote:

And yes, I started out very politely, but that changed when people didn't reply to emails, or get back to me as they had promised.

This reflects my experience with the few complaints I have made to QFF. Lack of follow-up seems to be a problem for the service centre.

I wrote this a few weeks back. It is only fair that I report that QANTAS did respond to my complaint, with a very satisfactory outcome. Thank you Kylie C. in the customer service division.

MD

 

[Prof Henry]

QANTAS Complaints

Returning from a trip to Toronto, my wife got to LAX 10 days ago only to find that her LAX-BNE aircraft was the one that had been turned back to SYD/AKL(?) after experiencing engine trouble out over the Pacific. Like all the other poor sods, she got an overnight in a pretty ordinary LA hotel, the usual "emergency pack," an apology from the Captain the next morning, and then assumed that that was all.

But this morning, she received a nice letter and an even nicer Travel Voucher for $250 - without even making a complaint.

 

[Prof Henry]

QANTAS Complaints

Returning from a trip to Toronto, my wife got to LAX 10 days ago only to find that her LAX-BNE aircraft was the one that had been turned back to SYD/AKL(?) after experiencing engine trouble out over the Pacific. Like all the other poor sods, she got an overnight in a pretty ordinary LA hotel, the usual "emergency pack," an apology from the Captain the next morning, and then assumed that that was all.

But this morning, she received a nice letter and an even nicer Travel Voucher for $250 - without even making a complaint.

 

[DPG]

Would I be right in saying that issues brought up with higher status Frequent Flyers would get a higher priority...?

On a side note...

I was on a work incentive accompanied by a QF sales rep, and was interested to here that QF is rolling out a new system that 'remembers' who people are...

So it associates partners/children together, so if say Mr S is a WP, then if Mrs X flies, they know she is attached to a WP.

What is more interesting is that this database also takes in other factors, so I as a travel agent, would get the same 'premium' service when I am calling regarding travel not related to me!

Interesting to see how it will work...? I am not sure how they will pull all the information together...

D P G

 

[straitman]

I am just wondering if anyone has ever made a complaint to Qantas and actually received a positive outcome?

Sure have.

Posted previously on the forum (somewhere) about a dreadful trip we had MEL - AKL last year.

I made a point of being polite, positive, pushy and mentioning OH&S matters etc. About 4 weeks later received a very nice letter of apology and a $A250 voucher to use for future flights.

Nice to know that someone listens at least some of the time.

Qantas pre-empted any thought of a complaint recently. Departure was delayed (BNE - LAX) due problems with several of the toilets. When we finally left one of the toilets near us was unserviceable (not really a problem upstairs) and Qantas sent a letter of apology to my house within the week.

Well done Qantas.

 

[freaky]

Interesting to see how it will work...? I am not sure how they will pull all the information together...D P G

Should be simple enough. Everytime you make a booking on points for someone other than yourself, you get asked for the relationship. Mum, Brother, Daughter-in-Law, Defacto etc. Simple database to keep track of those relationships. But knowing Amadeus a little, it will probably take them 2 years to figure out how to do it.

 

[tanewi]

I had a complaint recently, so I fired off an email to [mailto:[email protected]]that was short and provocative.
I got the obligatory automated response and after two days, devilment got the better of me and I called 131211.

The Consultant didn't really want to know, you could tell - I was bombarded with "hogwash" and "smokescreens". I then
insisted that he detail these items in "writing", which he wouldn't or couldn't and he then insisted that in fact, the question should
be raised to another department.

I fired off another email, questioning the explanations offered and pointing out, that SQ are actually doing what the "pimply youth"
was suggesting was not possible, due to "overseas legislation".

I wasn't expecting any response, except contemplating whether QFF would renege on my
allocated 2006 PLATS status, on the grounds that I only had 700 SCs for 2005. A nice lady called "Bridgette" rang me.
Bridgette is one of the best, well-trained Customer Service Officers I have ever spoken to. She managed to do things
that others couldn't.

To sum up, be persistent, be proactive and try to speak to "Bridgette".

 

[ditto]

Qantas complaints

In Aug/Sep I had a 5 day turnaround between returning from a trip to HKG and departure to Bali. I booked the Bali trip in Aug thru Q Hols. My then passport was due to expire in Nov 05 so I thought I would get these 2 trips in before applying for a new one. I found out a week before travelling to HKG that I needed 6 mths passport validity for Indonesia and subsequently would have to apply for an express passport (at extra cost) before travelling to HKG to guarantee a valid passport for Bali. Speaking with an officer at DFAT, I was told that quite often they received 'distress' calls from people actually at the airport who had tried to check in for trips to Bali who did not have enough passport validity for entry to Indonesia.

Whilst I didn't think it was Qantas' fault that I needed a new passport, I did think that it was a flaw in their booking process that 1. they did not ask if I had a passport at all and 2. what the expiry date of the passport was. I contacted Qantas Customer Service on 22/8/05, quoted the conversation I had with the DFAT officer and suggested that they could include these 2 points in their booking information.

I had almost given up hope when I received an email on 23/11/05 - yes, 3 months almost to the day - apologising for the delay in responding and saying that Qantas would like to refund the cost between the regular passport service and the express service - $65.00. Whilst I wasn't looking for any compensation, I wrote back that I would be delighted to accept their offer!

I received a phonecall this week to let me know the credit had been posted to my visa card and another apology for the response delay. So this was a surprise happy ending.

However, like a lot of people, we have become very disenchanted with Qantas service, particularly on long haul sectors. After an absolutely appalling trip SYD NYC SYD on all sectors - 4 different crews - we vowed never to travel with Qantas again. In the past 8 months we have flown Virgin Atlantic LHR NYC + SYD HKG SYD and Japan Airlines SYD LHR SYD - very different airlines but both standards of service very impressive.

 

[Yada Yada]

My recommendation is to put all the information in a written form and send to Qantas. First time I used the Feedback section on the web site, second was an email sent to [email protected]. Ensure the information is accurate and factual, don't make any demands, and include some form of positive feedback as well as the complaint.

I wrote a letter of thanks to QF last week regarding their sterling effort to get me on board a flight at short notice, and just received a very nice phone call from customer service to thank me for writing it. (Details in this thread).

 

[JohnK]

This is a thank you to Qantas not a complaint.

I have a flight SYD-ADL-PER in March 2006. The flight ADL-PER was to depart at 11:35 but has been changed to 12:05. I just received a courtesy call from Qantas to tell me of the change and whether I wanted confirmation in writing.

I normally monitor my bookings for any changes anyway but a total surprise to receive the courtesy call. I can understand if it would have made the connection time tighter but this is only increasing it half an hour.

Is this normal practice? Totally unexpected. :shock: Thank you very much Qantas.

 

[BlacKnox]

...I just received a courtesy call from Qantas to tell me of the change and whether I wanted confirmation in writing.

I normally monitor my bookings for any changes anyway but a total surprise to receive the courtesy call. I can understand if it would have made the connection time tighter but this is only increasing it half an hour.

Is this normal practice? Totally unexpected. :shock: Thank you very much Qantas.

Standard practice IME with NH/ JL/ SQ. Don't know about QF.

 

[JohnK]

Standard practice IME with NH/ JL/ SQ. Don't know about QF.

I could understand being informed by a generic e-mail or letter but did not expect a courtesy call. The flight is not for another 3 months.

Not complaining. Just very happy with the service.

 

[duffshot]

I must be a bit weird because I have yet to have a reason to send any complaints. I have though sent 2 emails praising performance of staff. Both times I got a reply within 2 days thanking me for taking the time to say something positive. I think they nearly fell off their chair for the last time as it was on a flight which went U/S out of Melbourne and resulted in a 90min late arrival in Brisbane. For me this was one of those rare occurrences when the plane broke (S%$# Happens and when you travel alot it will happen one day) but the important aspect for me was the way the cabin crew handled the situation - 1st class.

 

[NM]

Standard practice IME with NH/ JL/ SQ. Don't know about QF.

I could understand being informed by a generic e-mail or letter but did not expect a courtesy call. The flight is not for another 3 months.

Not complaining. Just very happy with the service.

With an email or letter, there is no proof that you received the information. You might not receive the update and as a result miss your flight. By making contact by telephone, they can update the booking information noting the date and time you were informed of the change and they can be confident that you actually know that the details have changed.