Velocity/Virgin websites are RUBBISH

[Warks]

Finally got through and posted my angry complaint about the website. (not too angry - I always review before sending). I said all these faults have been going on for years and if they wanted any more feedback on this please refer to this forum!

 

[DoctorSimon]

On the subject that the site is rubbish, can I add another problem. Does anyone know how to stop the Virgin website from hiding prices on alternative days?

For example, I search for BNE-LAX on 2 Aug. It displays the best prices for 3 days before and after 2 Aug very briefly before replacing the prices with 'Available'. How do I see these prices again without having to select each day? I have tried a number of different browsers to no avail.

On domestic flights it works fine but on international it's useless.

Thanks

 

[Warks]

I find Google Flights more useful for that sort of thing.

 

[pauly7]

I was on the phone today to VA (Philippines or wherever their off shored centre is) but stumbled upon the manager for the day doing 'quality checks' or something. I was trying to do something that apparently can be done online, he pointed that out and I gave him very clear feedback on why I couldn't do it online thanks to their DOS basic website!

Anyway I was talking about the much hated multiple sign ins and he said 'oh yes we know, but velocity is a seperate company not owned by Virgin so they operate independently'. I know he meant to say that VA doesn't own all of Velocity anymore, but perhaps that is one of the root causes on why the online experience and integration is so woeful?

 

[eastwest101]

Bingo - we may have an answer for the numerous "multiple login" complaints.

What a dogs breakfast, if true the hilarious thing is that both Virgin Australia and Velocity are both paying for their own unique separate (and incompetent) IT/web design teams! How's that for efficiency?

 

[Jurahn]

Don't know whether it's VA's website or Sabre, or a combination of both, but currently unable to access a booking for my PER-SEA return trip in March/April. A couple of weeks ago, I received a flight change notification for that trip advising I'd been moved from my original connecting flight LAX-SEA to another Delta flight a couple of hours later. That actually suited me better, so I accepted the change and the next day received an updated itinerary from VA. I wasn't previously able to select seats for the two Delta-operated flights (LAX-SEA SEA-LAX) so checked the Delta website a few days later to see if it would let me do it yet (which it wouldn't) and the flight change wasn't showing. I thought it might take a little while to come through. Just checked the Delta website again today (using both the VA PNR and the Delta PNR) and not only is the flight change still not showing, my VA2 flight now isn't showing at all! Panic panic - tried checking the VA website, unable to retrieve the booking using the PNR, so logged in with my Velocity number and can see it in my list of bookings but if I try to select it, it just thinks about it for a while and just reverts to the bookings page. Looked at TripCase and both the original Delta flight AND the one I've been moved to are showing as current on the booking - all the other flights are there, including VA2 (whew) so wondering what the ... ????

I don't know whether it's just that despite receiving the updated itinerary, the VA systems themselves (and the info that goes across to Delta) hasn't been updated? I'll have to give VA a call once I'm up to dealing with it (only just got back to PER last night) but wondering what the heck is going on - and why would VA2 have "dropped off" the Delta site?

 

[Jurahn]

Further to the above post (computer is having a bit of a spack and I couldn't edit the post for some reason), I decided to bite the bullet and call VA - although I selected the "international flights" option, I ended up at the normal GCC I think as after going through the whole explanation, I was told as it was an international itinerary, I would be put through to an "international specialist" (which I thought I was already talking to), so the call was transferred, had to go through the whole explanation again, and then was asked to hold whilst they checked with the Brisbane team. **sigh** Third time lucky, I ended up speaking to a very helpful lady by the name of Shelley at the Velocity Gold desk and she went into the booking and removed the original LAX-SEA flight - I was then able to bring the booking up on the VA website, but that flight was now showing as Flight 1 on the itinerary!! She went back into it again, deleted the flight and the booking now shows correctly on the VA website and on Tripcase. Still wrong on the Delta website with the original LAX-SEA flight and no VA2 (!) - might give it a couple of days to see whether the update flows through and if not, I'll have to give Delta a call and get them to tell me what they can see on the system from their end.

 

[ozjuice]

Very frustrating that now for the 3rd time i have found a suitable reward Flight LAX / BNE only to find that once i have hit the payment button the flight is no longer available! WTF VA???

 

[hummel]

Very frustrating that now for the 3rd time i have found a suitable reward Flight LAX / BNE only to find that once i have hit the payment button the flight is no longer available! WTF VA???

Man that would be annoying! Those reward seats are rare as hens teeth as it is.

I've basically given up on VA now days. I went Plat>Gold>Silver and now am Red. The site just annoys me too much to even bother with it.

 

[ozjuice]

I ended up calling them and they said it's common to have glitches like that and see ghost bookings. They apologised........... :-|

 

[hummel]

I ended up calling them and they said it's common to have glitches like that and see ghost bookings. They apologised........... :-|

Not acceptable is it. Still baffles me their website is useless.

 

[Jurahn]

Still wrong on the Delta website with the original LAX-SEA flight and no VA2 (!) - might give it a couple of days to see whether the update flows through and if not, I'll have to give Delta a call and get them to tell me what they can see on the system from their end.

Just rang Delta - they confirmed that what I'm seeing on their website is the same as they can see - 2 flights on the itinerary aren't showing (PER-SYD and LAX-SYD) and the original LAX-SEA flight is still there, the one VA rebooked me to isn't showing up on Delta's system at all. She said I'll have to contact VA again to see if they can find out why the correct information isn't coming though from their system (and therefore isn't being generated on Delta's system).

 

[bcworld]

Go to flight status page for an early flight to CBR tomorrow. I want to arrange an alert in the event there is any issue and I can react to an early morning SMS.

My VA number is not in the booking as it was made by a customer's TA and as we know it would far too complex for me to be able to add a VA number to such a booking.

Click the flight updates button alongside the 22/7 flight and it offers to create me an alert for today's (21/7) 0700 flight to Canberra which departed 10 hours ago. No way to change the date.

Thanks for that...really helpful!

 

[Warks]

Finally got through and posted my angry complaint about the website. (not too angry - I always review before sending). I said all these faults have been going on for years and if they wanted any more feedback on this please refer to this forum!

I've had a couple of responses via email telling me my complaint has moved from A to B and from B to C but nothing of any consequence yet. I had the same problem again last week not being able to log in as a Velocity member to do web check-in.

In other news as a SG I can get no further forward than row 7 on booking. Normally I could jump in at T-48 and get row 4 or 5 (virtually never row 3). Lately I've gone in at that time and the entire section of rows 3-6 has been blocked out just like when I booked the flight originally.

 

[eastwest101]

I ended up calling them and they said it's common to have glitches like that and see ghost bookings. They apologised........... :-|

You need to screenshot that, then ring VA and get the "ghost bookings" explanation from the call centre - document it all and then fwd all to the ACCC and/or your State Consumer Rights Agency. Hello misleading and deceptive conduct or bait and switch.

And no - I wouldn't think having a coughpy IT system is a viable defence for misleading and deceptive conduct or bait and switch advertising......

 

[ozjuice]

You need to screenshot that, then ring VA and get the "ghost bookings" explanation from the call centre - document it all and then fwd all to the ACCC and/or your State Consumer Rights Agency. Hello misleading and deceptive conduct or bait and switch.

And no - I wouldn't think having a coughpy IT system is a viable defence for misleading and deceptive conduct or bait and switch advertising......

Yes that's a great idea but i actually doubt it will get me my booking. I actually had yet another booking do the same yesterday, so that's now 4 bookings that fail on payment. It's really frustrating. Having called the call centre quickly to see if i can get that same booking through they just say there is a glitch and no booking vacancies for the dates.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

You need to screenshot that, then ring VA and get the "ghost bookings" explanation from the call centre - document it all and then fwd all to the ACCC and/or your State Consumer Rights Agency. Hello misleading and deceptive conduct or bait and switch.

And no - I wouldn't think having a coughpy IT system is a viable defence for misleading and deceptive conduct or bait and switch advertising......

I commented on this at the beginning of the year. I found a fare on-line that was LST-MEL-OOL all in J (with the usual footnote of LST-MEL not having J service) for three of us for circa $1700 all up. I tried over the course of days to get the fare to book, but would get to the last step (payment) and it would reject it. I finally rang the GCC and was rudely told I could book it online so it would cost me $35 each to do over the phone and even after the goose with no telephone skills finally declared that she agreed I couldn't do it on-line, she came up with a fare of circa $3K. Thanks, but no thanks. I ended up booking a considerably cheaper option, getting the LST-MEL in the J seats and MEL-OOL in row 3 on flexis for circa $600. My gain was VAs loss (to the tune of over $1000), however I actually wanted to get J for my wife and daughter so I was still miffed at the a) uselessness of the VA web site; and b) the unusual arrogance and rudeness of the platinum GCC staffer, but there was no way I was going to pay $3k for it.

And they wonder why they can't make a decent profit..........

(edit.....I suppose I should also say I put the error down to LST-MEL not having J so not bookable, but I'm sure other multi-sector fares have been available to be booked in J with a non-J sector as I've seen that sector not in J note a number of times previously).

 

[Milefest]

Meanwhile...

 

[bcworld]

Go to flight status page for an early flight to CBR tomorrow. I want to arrange an alert in the event there is any issue and I can react to an early morning SMS.

My VA number is not in the booking as it was made by a customer's TA and as we know it would far too complex for me to be able to add a VA number to such a booking.

Click the flight updates button alongside the 22/7 flight and it offers to create me an alert for today's (21/7) 0700 flight to Canberra which departed 10 hours ago. No way to change the date.

Thanks for that...really helpful!

So after clicking to accept the alert for the 21/7 VA257 I did in fact receive an alert just after landing on the 22/7 VA257 to let me know we had landed (at 0747am)

However just to be sure they also sent me an alert at 8pm tonight, after I had returned to MEL, to let me know that VA257 on 22/7 was scheduled to arrive at a different time to when it actually did land 12 hours previously.

Muppets.

 

[anat0l]

Muppets.

Here you go.

On reflection, this was probably a bit too cruel...