Virgin are losing the plot.

[FlyingKangaroo]

While we’re here, another data point about interacting with VA in general.

Yesterday I needed to change a Lite fare. Change fee owed, of course; no problem.

Whoops. Website is broken as the error immediately pops up when I press the button to change a ticket; “action not allowed, ring the call centre to change this booking.” Ticket has never been changed or affected by schedule issues, so nothing complicated going on here.

No matter. Ring the call centre. Spoon feed flight numbers and new dates to agent. Whoops. Quoted price is significantly higher than the website. Why? “Fares change constantly.” No, this fare is available on the website right now not just for this sector but most of them that same day. Virtual shrug from agent; apparently all the fares I’m seeing on the website are no longer available (nonsense, of course). We briefly go back and forth to tease this out to no avail or clarity. I think to ask if this is because it’s Happy Hour — is it possible agents can’t book those over the phone. “Yes, sir.” Ah ha; discrepancy unlocked. So I can’t access these fares because I can’t change my ticket online. “Correct, sir. To be honest, it is a known error on the website that you cannot change.” Splendid; a systemic problem that’s well known but left broken. I understand you’re not empowered to do much, so just to be clear, there is nothing I can do here except change the ticket over the phone and pay more than I would online? “That is correct, sir; sorry.” And is there anyone you can escalate this call to who might be given more ability to assist here than they give you? “No, (verbatim) this is the end of the line.”

I politely hang up and then swear. With Platinum service like this, I won’t miss the status as I let it lapse.

I’d also note, Lite fares are very restrictive. I suppose I should have paid more for Choice to at least cancel to Travel Bank and rebook anew. But changes can be made on Lite fares and that’s what I wanted to do and was happy to pay the fee. I shouldn’t have to pay more for a higher fare class to be able to do what I need to do without incurring additional, unnecessary costs simply because VA’s systems won’t do what they say they’ll do.

Patheti—pardon, wonderful.

Normally, a few days of resignation will tame one's frustration but the longer I sit with this, the more it grates. So I've put in a formal complaint and will update with the response. I fear a generic, "we're very sorry just not enough to do anything about it and thank you for the feedback which we've forwarded on into the virtual bin" but I hope to eat my words.

I find it noteworthy that the complaint form asks you what you'd like in terms of resolution. I obliged with a potpourri of options that could have been offered but weren't:

1. Waive the change fee. This would have been the easiest, simplest way to accommodate the discrepancy between the call centre price and the Happy Hour fares the agent claimed they can't access from call centres. The small windfall in my favour would have made up for the wasted time and been worth far more in goodwill.
   
   
2. Cancel the ticket to Travel Bank (despite being a Lite fare) to allow for immediate re-booking online.
   
   
3. Issue a travel credit in the amount of the price discrepancy caused by the website not working and call centres not matching website price.

#2 and #3 likely require escalation (which I was expressly told was not possible) but if agents are given any level of discretion, waiving a change fee for Platinum would surely have to be it. If not, the plot's been lost.

Calling this a litmus test might be dramatic, but their response to this will be quite determinative for a few upcoming bookings. I'm not actually paying more for Qantas if eventual changes on VA end up costing more because of poor service and lousy tech.

Stay tuned.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Can confirm there is *zero* discretion for platinums at the call centre. If the computer says ‘no’, then ‘no’ it is.

And they won’t escalate any issue to Brisbane. Neither will the staff at the lounge, despite a promise that they’d get someone Aussie based to follow up a problem.

Even the ACA just took what VA said and closed the case without providing any reasons.

That’s going to be the biggest advantage of Platinum plus… speaking to someone onshore when you have a problem.

 

[Flyerwin]

Interestingly today I called the Virgin call centre and the person who took the call said “Welcome to Platinum service”. But I think it was an offshore call centre.

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

That’s going to be the biggest advantage of Platinum plus… speaking to someone onshore when you have a problem.

A truly wonderful benefit --- to have straightforward problems actually solved --- and it comes with Platinum Plus status for a reasonable sum of just ~$12,000-$24,000 in spend.

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

Interestingly today I called the Virgin call centre and the person who took the call said “Welcome to Platinum service”. But I think it was an offshore call centre.

In my experience, the "premium" line as a Platinum has thanked me many times for my loyalty while apologising for doing absolutely nothing to help me if a request falls even a smidge outside the standard script. My biggest gripe with the VA call centre is agents seem to have no ability to do anything you can't do online, which also means when you can't do something online (often why people call), neither can they.

 

[Harrison_133]

Interestingly today I called the Virgin call centre and the person who took the call said “Welcome to Platinum service”. But I think it was an offshore call centre.

There is a Platinum "team" within the Manila call centre. You don't always get straight through to them though, and they don't have anywhere near as much discretion as the old Platinum team used to have. It the computer says no, they're not empowered to help you at all. Ask them something that deviates from the script, and you're in for a world of pain.

There are a lot of things to give Virgin flack for, justified or not, but in my experience, the call centre is the most inconsistent part about flying with them as a WP. I've had some truly horrific calls with agents who just don't understand the Platinum benefits. Insisting on charging a change fee because they had no idea what Fly Ahead was or meant springs to mind. Then there was an agent who was just completely misinterpreting the Fly Ahead rules. Oh, and the agent who tried to tell me that an after hours team didn't exist at all, even though I'd called them countless times.

This is also not to say that I haven't had some really good interactions with the Manila call centre. There are some great agents within the "Platinum team" who are switched on and know what they're doing. Problem is, there's so much inconsistency in agent ability, that you're not guaranteed to get through to them and you never know what experience you're in for. More often than not, it's a painful experience.

 

[trisreed]

There are a lot of things to give Virgin flack for, justified or not, but in my experience, the call centre is the most inconsistent part about flying with them as a WP.

I once rang the call centre as a WP when my flight was changed (connecting and the first leg was delayed) and the new one was not suitable (the online system was also not showing anything worthwhile). One suggestion that the call centre agent had was for me to go back onto the original flights! Totally agree that the "Platinum team" are great for anything simple (which should be doable online anyway - but rarely is). Anything other than that is a mess, in my experience. Perhaps I have not lucked out to the great agents yet (actually, there was one...)

Personally my thoughts are if VA fixed their online systems (which in fairness, have got a lot better over the last few years) then there'd be a lot less for the call centre staff to do (so many times I call because I can't do online what should be possible and simple) and perhaps more time for training.