The QF Response to a pretty terrible flight attendant

[anat0l]

It seems customer care at Qantas is a total joke. They can't even manage to respond to a customer properly (this has now passed through three people - who I know of anyway) so how can we expect them to actually rectify any issues? It seems the whole department is nothing more than a show, I really doubt that any action is ever taken.

Have you considered litigation, consumer action group or ACA/TT?

 

[Harry G]

Have you considered litigation, consumer action group or ACA/TT?

ah yes, finally someone had the guts to use the "litigation" word.......
stick a fistful of dollars in the hand and the pain magically goes away doesn't it!

after the numerous responses............ what does the agreived customer want??
the blood of the FA? - ain't goint to happen..... so what is the next option - a year of free travel with QF?? hey what happens if you get a nother cranky FA?? another year of free travel??

should have complained to the CSM on board - as others have said - they have procedures and reports they must follow so we now call on the experts.........on a forum!

 

[medhead]

ah yes, finally someone had the guts to use the "litigation" word.......
stick a fistful of dollars in the hand and the pain magically goes away doesn't it!

after the numerous responses............ what does the agreived customer want??

I think it is pretty clear that feedback and a proper response is what is required. To acknowledge a problem and say that steps are being taken to correct it No need for the other suggestions that you've dramatised.

Having contacted qantas about poor service myself the lack of response indicates a certain level of arrogance. Qantas specifically asked for my concerns to be put in writing if I wanted action. Then when I did that I specifically asked for a written reply. I got a phone call where the person ignored my points other than to acknowledge an inconsistency, but did offer to provide a written reply. I'm still waiting! 3years later.

 

[maureeng]

Did you go and talk with the CSM? If you didn't, why not?

The service you say you received is disgraceful and should have been sorted out on the spot. Qantas have an incident report system in place on-board, if you had of spoken to the CSM at the time, an incident report would have been filled out and the reaction from Qantas would have been mind blowing...

Regardless of premium cabin or not, shirty FA's (usually due to lack of sleep the night before I read somewhere :shock have no place on an airline - -period!

On that note, I dropped Mrs! (PG) at MEL yesterday for a J flight to AKL. My usual MO when dropping family off on QF flights is to use the 1st class suite - easy parking and quick. The check in girl - although the suite was empty decided to address me in a very demeaning manor regarding the suite is only available for use when I am personally flying. I pointed out that I had used the suite many times before and was gracious of the service (in my most flattering manor) - her response was it was QF's good nature that they had allowed me to do this - I looked at her for exactly 5 seconds and responded it was my good nature to fly QF and not another carrier - she didn't utter another word! A win for the pleb!

Mr!

I love it hahaha

 

[N860CR]

Have you considered litigation, consumer action group or ACA/TT?

I really wish I had the time, but I just don't. I wouldn't have even gotten around to following it up had a quiet morning not presented itself.

I would have liked to think that Qantas takes its customers concerns seriously, however from this, previous incidents and what I've read on this forum I think it's safe to conclude that "Customer Care" is probably nothing more than an office with two people and a fax machine. Interesting to note that in the three issues I've had with Qantas over the past say 10 years, they all took forever to be followed by, and by the time they were resolved, the person who initially handled it no longer worked there.

Lets hope "the new" Virgin is good enough to switch over to.

 

[Leumas]

You know, the cynical side of me thinks customer complaints often take a long time to resolve because they have to ascertain both sides of the story, which I suspect in most cases won't match up.

Then over time, customers will give up as their complaints take so much time to resolve or the file will get lost in the system... End result, customers don't get a satisfactory outcome and nothin changes within QF.

OP having his file lost isn't the first time. I've had similar things lost too.

 

[N860CR]

I had to laugh... I just got a phonecall from a contracted market research company asking how satisfied I was with the way Qantas Customer Care handled the complaint, so obviously somebody has marked it as "resolved" even though I've made it pretty clear that it's not. Absolute joke!

 

[kamchatsky]

I had to laugh... I just got a phonecall from a contracted market research company asking how satisfied I was with the way Qantas Customer Care handled the complaint, so obviously somebody has marked it as "resolved" even though I've made it pretty clear that it's not. Absolute joke!

Yes, the way of resolving any QF issues is actually not to fly QF again! Standard risk management practice of avoiding any potential risk of receiving cr*p services again!

 

[JohnK]

I am starting to believe the statement about not flying QF again is close to the mark.

Came back on QF010 SIN-MEL last Thursday and another bland flight. No welcome aboard, had to ask for express arrivals card (funny how I was given one and no questions asked), flight attendants disappeared after the meal service and the IFE movie selection was awful. Wish those darned SCs and FF points did not exist.

Good to see though that the gentleman who found someone sitting in his seat (48A and refusing to move) was given a seat in premium economy.

 

[Harry G]

I think it is pretty clear that feedback and a proper response is what is required. To acknowledge a problem and say that steps are being taken to correct it No need for the other suggestions that you've dramatised.

Having contacted qantas about poor service myself the lack of response indicates a certain level of arrogance. Qantas specifically asked for my concerns to be put in writing if I wanted action. Then when I did that I specifically asked for a written reply. I got a phone call where the person ignored my points other than to acknowledge an inconsistency, but did offer to provide a written reply. I'm still waiting! 3years later.

ok, proper response
The airline shows due arrogance as others put it. Have you been agreived financially?? appears not........
Delivery of Customer Service well below an acceptable standard? what can you do about it........
judging by the "proper" responses, absolutely nothing as this guy here is still waiting 3 years later for a response so according to that advice, you are in for a bit of a wait.........

Proper response would also suggest that you accept that this airline is starting to slip in standards (evidenced by the recent Airline awards and where Qantas ranked).
So, I come back to.....if you get a response, lets assume you get an apology, then what? the neck of the FA?? what??
rung Telstra lately?
rung your utility company lately?
and lastly.........your bank??????????????????

we are made to accept this but do we have to?? NO......
march with your feet........fly another carrier......save yourself the stress and grief!!
and if that carrier does the same thing....go to another......... flood of new carriers will only benefit the public and hurt the flag carrier!

now........ is that a better response?

 

[medhead]

ok, proper response
The airline shows due arrogance as others put it. Have you been agreived financially?? appears not........
Delivery of Customer Service well below an acceptable standard? what can you do about it........
judging by the "proper" responses, absolutely nothing as this guy here is still waiting 3 years later for a response so according to that advice, you are in for a bit of a wait.........

Well I'm "this guy here". Clearly I'm not holding my breathe on a response. Was I aggreived financially, I could have been. But as it turned out I wasn't.

The point of my example is that it is another case were the customer feedback process appears to have failed. The fact is that I'm happy with the service I get when I fly. It is perfectly reasonable for an airline, that asks for my feedback by having a feedback process, to update me on how they are responding to my feedback as per the case of the OP. Or for my example to inform me if/how they are going to address the highlighted inconsistency. That is a proper response of a mature company that gives more than just lip service to customer feedback. Of course, you will not get that from a LCC, I can only assume that the suggestion to switch airlines is based on the low expectations associated with a LCC.

As for wanting the blood of the FA. I don't think anyone is suggesting that at all. I also agree that an employer is not going to tell you about actions taken against an FA. But they can talk about improved processes, retraining and such.

 

[maureeng]

Well I'm "this guy here". Clearly I'm not holding my breathe on a response. Was I aggreived financially, I could have been. But as it turned out I wasn't.

The point of my example is that it is another case were the customer feedback process appears to have failed. The fact is that I'm happy with the service I get when I fly. It is perfectly reasonable for an airline, that asks for my feedback by having a feedback process, to update me on how they are responding to my feedback as per the case of the OP. Or for my example to inform me if/how they are going to address the highlighted inconsistency. That is a proper response of a mature company that gives more than just lip service to customer feedback. Of course, you will not get that from a LCC, I can only assume that the suggestion to switch airlines is based on the low expectations associated with a LCC.

As for wanting the blood of the FA. I don't think anyone is suggesting that at all. I also agree that an employer is not going to tell you about actions taken against an FA. But they can talk about improved processes, retraining and such.

I sent customer feedback to Qantas recently to compliment a FA who gave outstanding service on a Melb - Syd flight ( His name was Tony) and I got feedback immediately then I got another email to say that he was being put forward for service award.
Maybe they just dont respond to bad service feedback.

 

[rwatts]

I sent customer feedback to Qantas recently to compliment a FA who gave outstanding service on a Melb - Syd flight ( His name was Tony) and I got feedback immediately then I got another email to say that he was being put forward for service award.
Maybe they just dont respond to bad service feedback.

About three months ago I provided feedback on the way successive Qantas personnel had handled a delayed flight/broken connection situation for me. I had been very impressed with how each (the person who telephoned me, the lounge attendant and the CSM) had all gone the extra mile to improve things.

A couple of days later I received a very nice telephone call thanking me for the feedback and assuring me it would be passed back to the people concerned. They certainly gave the impression it was a relief to handle positive feedback for a change.

Richard.

 

[maureeng]

About three months ago I provided feedback on the way successive Qantas personnel had handled a delayed flight/broken connection situation for me. I had been very impressed with how each (the person who telephoned me, the lounge attendant and the CSM) had all gone the extra mile to improve things.

A couple of days later I received a very nice telephone call thanking me for the feedback and assuring me it would be passed back to the people concerned. They certainly gave the impression it was a relief to handle positive feedback for a change.

Richard.

I felt the same. I also go a call as well as the emails.

 

[docjames]

I have tried not to post in this thread, but feel this may illustrate the point.

Qantas (as with many large corporations) seem to have "canned responses" for adverse feedback (on the whole).

eg1. I gave feedback that theirwebiste published flight times ex-BNE were calculating incorrectly during daylight saving (feedback was purely to allow them to fix it, not that i actually cared that much, but thought it might help foreign pax/non regular pax who would not know usual flight times eg. BNE-MEL). Canned response was basically "thanks idiot, we know about daylight savings". Not so much addrsssing any of the detail of my feedback and directing me to various web links on thier website (one of which was broken!)

eg2. sent compliments to a crew on a domestic flight who dealt appropriately, sensitively and expediently with (another pax's) medical issue (with me "supervising" for want of a better description. Got an effusive email thanking me for feedback, directly addressing details of my letter etc.


Based on this thread and IME, they enjoy and also followup positive feedback, and give a "canned" response (on the most part) for negative feedback.


YMMV.

 

[N860CR]

I'm not after blood, money or whatever else anyone can suggest, however my concern is that the behaviour was absolutley disgusting (especially for the business cabin) and I have not received anything accepting that it was or a decent apology. I'm sure plenty can share my frustration, Qantas continue to plug "we are a premium airline" and everything that comes out of Customer Care has "... you'd expect from a premium airline" yet here they are totally contradicting that. If they dropped the "premium" BS I think I'd feel a little less cheated! Given all of my spend on Qantas is my own personal money (Enough to get me to Gold year after year), I don't feel that literally ignoring me is appropriate.

And for the record, I haven't had too many complaints of late with any companies, however funnily enough one was with Westpac and the other Telstra (who yes, are useless). But the main difference is, both resolved the issues in a quick manner with an apology and an acceptance of error. Both Westpac and Telstra (it shames me to say) are miles ahead of Qantas.

 

[drron]

To me good customer service is the quality of the response to complaints.QF dont do this well.My experience with AA has been much better.A response usually within 24 hours and a follow up with what happened.I have also had great responses from 2 SPG properties and 1 Embassy Suites where I had problems.QF could learn a little.You go from having a customer who bad mouths you often to a satisfied repeat visitor.

 

[possumFF]

The problem with QF is the sheer inconsistency of service. This is a prime example.
If it was me, I would have spoken to the operating CSM. There is not much a call centre can do afterwards.
However, I bet that if you were a 'premium customer' you would have received different treatment.
I have recently discovered Emirates. Pure consistency (good).

 

[docjames]

Yesterday I emailed 4 different hotels for replacement copies of invoices (June 30!) dating back to September last year.

Germany - replied in 2 hrs
Hong Kiong - 3 hrs
Singapore - 2 hrs.

Yet to hear from the one in Sydney... and i'm not surprised.

 

[Dave Noble]

I'm not after blood, money or whatever else anyone can suggest, however my concern is that the behaviour was absolutley disgusting (especially for the business cabin) and I have not received anything accepting that it was or a decent apology. I'm sure plenty can share my frustration, Qantas continue to plug "we are a premium airline" and everything that comes out of Customer Care has "... you'd expect from a premium airline" yet here they are totally contradicting that. If they dropped the "premium" BS I think I'd feel a little less cheated! Given all of my spend on Qantas is my own personal money (Enough to get me to Gold year after year), I don't feel that literally ignoring me is appropriate.

And for the record, I haven't had too many complaints of late with any companies, however funnily enough one was with Westpac and the other Telstra (who yes, are useless). But the main difference is, both resolved the issues in a quick manner with an apology and an acceptance of error. Both Westpac and Telstra (it shames me to say) are miles ahead of Qantas.

They did respond to the issue pretty quickly based on the 1st post. Without evidence to prove that what happened did occur , rather than it being an assertion or perception, what they did write is all that I would expect a company to write. If it was AA they might also go, "there there have some miles" as well ( since they seem to think that a few miles cures all ills )

If unhappy with the service QF provides, then best thing to do is to vote with you wallet and use other airlines