Qantas off shoring FF loyalty call centre

[Magpie10]

Poor show by QF to make the decision today to off shore the QFF call centre to Manila - means over 100 jobs lost from the Melbourne call centre...poor show QF, jobs should be kept in Aus. I wonder what executive sitting in their ivory tower made this decision. I have only had really good experiences when I have called the FF call centre, now I wonder how we will go, trying to convey our queries across the miles to Manila...:evil:

 

[Mattg]

Do you have a link/source for this?

This is pretty annoying, but honestly not a great surprise. I think it has been on the cards since they closed most of their other Australian call centres.

At present, the wait times for the Qantas call centre are atrocious but the staff are generally helpful and competent once you get through. I suspect the reverse will soon be the case, at least in the short term.

 

[NZflygirl]

The accent gets me. I appreciate a good call centre so I hope some sort of quality is still there.

One thing I notice with VA is that I seem to get Aussies at plat level but not at the other tiers. I wonder if that will be the same with QF?

 

[Jet L]

VA you get Aussies with Gold as well

 

[Danger]

I really hope this isn't true.

One of the really good aspects of the program is onshore (NZ included) 24 hour call centre staff.

It's hard enough local staff getting their heads around the enormous complexity of the FF program; I can't imagine what it would be like for someone in Manila. You're gonna have no chance of having a fee waived, that's for sure.

 

[Magpie10]

matt - my intel is QFF to be off shoring by June this year with majority of work going to Manila and some to NZ - probably I would say Plat level to NZ and the remainder to Manila...

 

[TheInsider]

Link: Qantas abandons Australian call centre jobs – again!

At a time when Australians are crying out for more investment in jobs and skills, Australia’s national carrier Qantas has decided to change provider for their frequent flyer loyalty program. This decision, made with the stroke of a pen by some highly paid Executive with a Sydney harbour view, means that over 100 loyal and skilled Melbourne based call centre workers will lose their jobs by June this year.

The work will now be performed in Manila (Philippines) and New Zealand where presumably Qantas will benefit from doing business with off-shore providers that have cheap labour costs.

Qantas benefits and profits hugely from its reputation on safety and service. The service that is provided by hard working Australians.

The ASU believes that Qantas has an obligation to invest some of those profits back into Australian jobs rather than continuing to off-shore critical functions and services
This is a bad decision.

How to support our members:
If you agree and you want to support our members please make a comment on the Qantas Facebook page or tweet using the @qantas handle. If you’re a frequent flyer or Qantas customer, send them some feedback about this bad decision by filling out the online customer feedback form.

 

[TheInsider]

What you have to remember, this is the Frequent Flyer service centre, not reservations.

 

[straitman]

matt - my intel is QFF to be off shoring by June this year with majority of work going to Manila and some to NZ - probably I would say Plat level to NZ and the remainder to Manila...

I'm not even sure where to start.

I realise that cost efficiency etc is needed but when do we reach point a too far. As has been pointed out many times lately it seems that VA and QF are in a race to the bottom with so many parts of their respective businesses.

It now seems that Qantas calls Australia home in song only :!:

 

[Pushka]

I'm not even sure where to start.

I realise that cost efficiency etc is needed but when do we reach point a too far. As has been pointed out many times lately it seems that VA and QF are in a race to the bottom with so many parts of their respective businesses.

It now seems that Qantas calls Australia home in song only :!:

This. It crosses a line. Do organisations not see the total hypocrisy in such actions?

 

[dajop]

So is the phone service fee for booking FF awards through service centre coming down in accordance with lower offshoring costs? I bet not.

To be honest though, for most businesses, especially those who have been under a lot of criticism for hold times when calling them, the benefits of potentially shortening hold times may outweighs disadvantages of damage to the brand from offshoring. However one difference from most businesses, is that Qantas brand is dependent on its "Australian-ness". The more they reduce the Australian-ness of customer facing positions, the more likelihood of damaging the brand. Although i suspect very few people will move away from QF because of this.

 

[GoldCanyon340]

A friend of mine lost her job when the Brisbane call centre closed. Just how far does this have to go?

Slightly off topic but when I wanted to close down a Telstra account a few months ago I was bounced around three people in the (I assume from the accents) Manila call centre before being transferred to an Aussie voice after 40 minutes who completed the task in three minutes.

 

[codash1099]

What you have to remember, this is the Frequent Flyer service centre, not reservations.

That doesn't make it any better. In fact, I would think that the FF Service centre would be handling queries that need a bit more knowledge of the system and thus should be in familiar hands, not farmed out.

 

[TheInsider]

That doesn't make it any better. In fact, I would think that the FF Service centre would be handling queries that need a bit more knowledge of the system and thus should be in familiar hands, not farmed out.

I agree that it doesn't make it any better. Just wanted to clarify which call centre was actually being shut down.

Currently for the 'reservations' side of the call centre, there are 3 operators.
-Hobart (premium calls)
-New Zealand (all other calls)
-South Africa (from what i've been advised), to take calls mainly from overseas non frequent flyer, originated calls. [happy to be corrected on that one].

 

[mviy]

I suspect on FaceBook they will be flooded with messages asking how to get onto the Australian call centre. An Australian airline should employ Australians.

 

[fairbasa]

Can't wait to start dealing with Manila when QR have pulled my seats because the itinerary wasn't ticketed quickly enough

I know it's loyalty now, but this is just Phase 1...

 

[Bundy Bear]

I suspect on FaceBook they will be flooded with messages asking how to get onto the Australian call centre. An Australian airline should employ Australians.

I will have to ask on Facebook is when will the Facebook team be off shored.

 

[juddles]

Am not supporting nor attacking this move, but does anyone else see the irony of this?

"We" get offended that Qantas goes overseas for cheaper labour, yet half of the people upset want to use the call centres to book overseas holidays so they can go to cheap-labour countries and spend their money over there

 

[JohnK]

Very sad news.

I would expect a huge downgrade in service. Not going to be fun trying to fix the resigual gift voucher issues.

 

[mviy]

What I'd really like is for them to fix the online systems so that ringing up isn't needed as much. That would be far better than sending the call centre offshore.