I thought it would be good to provide an update -
Overseas call centre guy: As expected, he did not phone back as promised.
Complaint via the Virgin web form: I received an e-mail around a week later "as Virgin Australia and Velocity are separate companies working in partnership for air and land packages we do run independently, I am unable to answer your questions accurately; however I have taken the liberty of passing your concerns on to the Velocity team to review & contact you. For any future enquiries, you can contact Velocity directly by phoning them on 131 875 during the hours 8am-8pm Monday to Friday, excluding Australian public holidays"
I was a bit annoyed initially given first the call centre guy did not phone back as promised and now I was getting e-mails about the semantics of the companies. That said, to be fair, it does seem Velocity does have a separate process so I agree that was probably my oversight.
Around a couple of days after that e-mail I received a phone call from the overseas call centre. I was assured "full investigation" had taken place. The findings were: it was caused by an error on Virgin's part. The company had requested lounge access but the Virgin staff member processing the form had accidently upgraded me to gold instead. The gold welcome package was then sent out that night. The error was then discovered 2 days later and removed. I later phoned in an hour or two later asking when the card would arrive and it was pure coincidence that I had already been downgraded. Given the card had already been placed in the mail, they could not recall the mail and hence I now have the gold card, luggage tags, and whatnot.
I noted that the situation was unfortunate and asked about the possibility of reactivating the gold membership for the duration of the card validity that has already been issued. I received a flat "sorry I cant do that" but that later turned into "the sales team can maybe do that, I will pass on your request to them" but it has now been a week since the request was passed on but I have not received any contact from them nor has my status been changed.
My conundrum now is:
1. Given I have the gold luggage tags, gold card which is valid until mid next year - can I get most of the benefits of Gold anyway?
2. Should I try to follow up on the sales team? My thinking is they have just ignored it. Perhaps I lodge another online request via the form?
3. Another idea is: the welcome letter came from Phil Gunter, General Manager of Velocity Frequent Flyer. Given he has written me a letter, I will write him back a letter. I don’t have his postal address though.
Overseas call centre guy: As expected, he did not phone back as promised.
Complaint via the Virgin web form: I received an e-mail around a week later "as Virgin Australia and Velocity are separate companies working in partnership for air and land packages we do run independently, I am unable to answer your questions accurately; however I have taken the liberty of passing your concerns on to the Velocity team to review & contact you. For any future enquiries, you can contact Velocity directly by phoning them on 131 875 during the hours 8am-8pm Monday to Friday, excluding Australian public holidays"
I was a bit annoyed initially given first the call centre guy did not phone back as promised and now I was getting e-mails about the semantics of the companies. That said, to be fair, it does seem Velocity does have a separate process so I agree that was probably my oversight.
Around a couple of days after that e-mail I received a phone call from the overseas call centre. I was assured "full investigation" had taken place. The findings were: it was caused by an error on Virgin's part. The company had requested lounge access but the Virgin staff member processing the form had accidently upgraded me to gold instead. The gold welcome package was then sent out that night. The error was then discovered 2 days later and removed. I later phoned in an hour or two later asking when the card would arrive and it was pure coincidence that I had already been downgraded. Given the card had already been placed in the mail, they could not recall the mail and hence I now have the gold card, luggage tags, and whatnot.
I noted that the situation was unfortunate and asked about the possibility of reactivating the gold membership for the duration of the card validity that has already been issued. I received a flat "sorry I cant do that" but that later turned into "the sales team can maybe do that, I will pass on your request to them" but it has now been a week since the request was passed on but I have not received any contact from them nor has my status been changed.
My conundrum now is:
1. Given I have the gold luggage tags, gold card which is valid until mid next year - can I get most of the benefits of Gold anyway?
2. Should I try to follow up on the sales team? My thinking is they have just ignored it. Perhaps I lodge another online request via the form?
3. Another idea is: the welcome letter came from Phil Gunter, General Manager of Velocity Frequent Flyer. Given he has written me a letter, I will write him back a letter. I don’t have his postal address though.
