Article: Qantas Considers Bringing Call Centres Back to Australia

[SYD]

I know it’s the QF Call Centre thread, but in comparison, I nearly always have pleasant and productive calls to the VA call centre, which I presume (by accent) is in MNL. Even if I am put through to the Business Flyer section, the agents are always competent to perform the necessary actions. (Of course, YMMV). Does VA provide better training or is it just that they’ve been overseas for much longer?

(Oh, and did I mention that, as Platinum, calls are almost always immediately answered - well, after listening to 3-5 minutes of prerecorded messages…)

Just the thought of ever needing to call QF as LTG gives me cold sweats.

Except VA doesn’t have an option to direct you through to the Partner award team…

When you do get transferred - sometimes multiple times they’re not that great. Completely stuffed up a reward flight for me last week. Wrong passenger details for both of us. If I’d not noticed, it could have been a disaster at checkin… Called back immediately and they had to cancel and rebook the entire thing… Pretty amateurish really.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

I wonder what QF mean by this bit -

"Priority telephone service in Australia," probably just means if you call Qantas within Australia you won't have to wait more than a couple of minutes. Put differently if Qantas cancels your flight from LA back to Sydney, don't expect priority telephone service, even if you are Platinum. Instead you'll need to be a politician, celebrity or member of the judiciary so that you have access to Dick Goyder's Lounge.

 

[RooFlyer]

They actually answer saying "premium" call service centre. I imagine basically got better training and empowered to do more.

Unfortunately the second part doesn't necessarily follow the first. I've had the Sth African centre answer 'Premium ...' and wasn't convinced!

 

[Captain Halliday]

Given how often I have to call because of the limited self-service options I’m very confident the words used when your call is answered is related to your status rather than the capability of the call taker.

 

[justinbrett]

I know it’s the QF Call Centre thread, but in comparison, I nearly always have pleasant and productive calls to the VA call centre, which I presume (by accent) is in MNL. Even if I am put through to the Business Flyer section, the agents are always competent to perform the necessary actions. (Of course, YMMV). Does VA provide better training or is it just that they’ve been overseas for much longer?

(Oh, and did I mention that, as Platinum, calls are almost always immediately answered - well, after listening to 3-5 minutes of prerecorded messages…)

Just the thought of ever needing to call QF as LTG gives me cold sweats.

I beg to differ, as someone without VA status. I had such a horrendous interaction with them threatening to cancel my award ticket unless I paid more money, that I have now switched my FlyBuys transfer off and I will never fly VA or use Velocity again. It’s just not worth it. Precious interactions with them were also below par.

 

[Isolar]

Given how often I have to call because of the limited self-service options I’m very confident the words used when your call is answered is related to your status rather than the capability of the call taker.

I definitely would agree with this based on my experience yesterday with a Cape Town agent.

Had a $180 credit vouched I wanted to book a sale NZ trip with. Of course the $499 sale fare advertised on the web that I could book normally is not shown when trying to redeem a credit voucher.

First the agent said my voucher was worth $1,500!?!? Asked how that could be and he was sure it was correct. Suggested he should look a bit deeper, maybe call a supervisor. "Oh, I guess I didn't finish the last credit voucher I was looking at. Let me refresh my screen."

Then he said the fare I was looking at was no longer available and couldn't be booked, would need pay for an $800 plus fare. Hmmm. Said thanks but no thanks.

Called again and fortunately got through to Hobart. Agent knew exactly what I was trying to do, and completed the booking in a few minutes. She even knew why I was doing this (fight club of course).

What annoyed me in both instances was the 25 minute plus wait time to get through to an agent. Doesn't reflect what a "premium" service should be I think. First world problems I guess.