New Virgin Platinum Phone Service

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moa999 said:
I would much prefer them to ask for a codeword, or have you enter a pin.
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Ah, I understand your concern now. Excellent point, I hadn't thought of the human vulnerability at their end. As the system currently stands, presumably a low-level call centre operator could sit there scrolling through accounts. Under your system, if they had to enter a customer-provided PIN to unlock those details then at the very most they're limited to skimming details of Velocity members who call them up. A much better system.
 
Rang today to change a flight booking..

Got the usual recording that "they are experiencing high call volumes"

Was answered after about 5 mins, and was told that they were too busy to deal with my booking request now as it's not urgent (as in a flight today) and had to give my name, number and what I was calling for and that I'll receive a call back in 24 hours..

In the time it took her to struggle with my name and phone number I could have made my desired change.

Let's see if they call back
 
I wonder why they are so busy. Must be the double points booking and also half points upgrades :)
 
The Velocity call centre has major issues at present it would seem. I phoned today entered my Platinum number and then held for 47min before the offshore call centre answered and said they couldn't answer my question and then put me through to the Aus velocity centre (the number I originally called) then I held for another 17min to be answered again by offshore call centre staff. I was then put back to the Velocity Platinum line and waited 11min to be answered. The result, I missed the four hour cut off to upgrade a flight! Someone sitting next to me in the Lounge also missed the 4 hour cut off due to the enormous wait times. Though the call centre denied there was an issue when I expressed my dissapointment at the poor service!!! Let's hope it is a transient issue that is being resolved.
 
KCMil said:
The Velocity call centre has major issues at present it would seem. I phoned today entered my Platinum number and then held for 47min before the offshore call centre answered and said they couldn't answer my question and then put me through to the Aus velocity centre (the number I originally called) then I held for another 17min to be answered again by offshore call centre staff. I was then put back to the Velocity Platinum line and waited 11min to be answered. The result, I missed the four hour cut off to upgrade a flight! Someone sitting next to me in the Lounge also missed the 4 hour cut off due to the enormous wait times. Though the call centre denied there was an issue when I expressed my dissapointment at the poor service!!! Let's hope it is a transient issue that is being resolved.
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Bring on ODUs in the lounge I say!

I also called on the weekend and waited about 30 minutes - they answered "velocity platinum" but then when I actually was pushing for an answer on one item they said "we'll have to send it to the platinum centre who aren't here today"...

I also had to make a call to book a 2 for 1 Virgin Ccard booking the same day - got through to the o/s call centre with no wait - they were brilliant, booked with no issues, and even selected seats for me even though it's 8 weeks away!


Sent from my iPhone using AustFreqFly app
 
Anyone know at what hours EST will we get local staff on the phones? i.e. not in the phillipines..
 
k3nnis said:
Anyone know at what hours EST will we get local staff on the phones? i.e. not in the phillipines..
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I thought the offshore centre was in Malaysia? They are certainly better than the Telstra call centre in the Phillipines, and also seem to understand Australian colloquial terms better. The lady even made a couple of jokes on the weekend, and whilst had the usual American accent, spoke very well - much better than any other offshore centre I've ever dealt with. Maybe I was just lucky?


Sent from my iPhone using AustFreqFly app
 
I'm fed up with the agents manning the platinum phone line. Don't get me wrong, they are absoultely lovely people. Unfortunately though, they don't know jack about their own products.

Just got off the phone with Kathy. She's as useful as cough on a bull. I ask her a straight forward question.. 5 minutes of silence while she is apparently looking through her system followed by "so what exactly is your question?".

End rant.
 
You really need to feed that back through as that is exactly the sort of sub standard service and inconsistency that JB keeps talking about erradicating.
 
There is such a huge difference between the Silver robots in Manila and the Gold angels in Brisbane. I've had excellent experiences with the Gold line so far - very quick responses, extremely friendly, can-do attitude. Rang up about a flight this Sunday and she quickly said 'I can seat you in row 3 if you'd like - there's some more legroom there' without asking when the best I could get online was Row 8.

So far the Gold call centre staff and the MEL lounge staff are my favourite VA staff to deal with.
 
AMEX Velocity Platinum Card Benefits
Australia's highest-earning Velocity Frequent Flyer credit card: Offer expires: 21 Jan 2025
- Earn 60,000 bonus Velocity Points
- Get unlimited Virgin Australia Lounge access
- Enjoy a complimentary return Virgin Australia domestic flight each year

AFF Supporters can remove this and all advertisements

smit0847 said:
There is such a huge difference between the Silver robots in Manila and the Gold angels in Brisbane. I've had excellent experiences with the Gold line so far - very quick responses, extremely friendly, can-do attitude. Rang up about a flight this Sunday and she quickly said 'I can seat you in row 3 if you'd like - there's some more legroom there' without asking when the best I could get online was Row 8.

So far the Gold call centre staff and the MEL lounge staff are my favourite VA staff to deal with.
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So to confirm Red/Silver members get put through to Manila and Gold/Plat through to Aus?

I'm 20SC's away from Gold and rang to add free baggage to my booking for this weekend and was on hold for 15+ minutes(I hung up after that, need to call again). Not really good enough if you ask me.
 
Not entirely true.

I called up as a silver on a Saturday night around 11pm and got a nice lady in Brisbane.

although I did try velocity's number not virgin australia and she said they were closed.
 
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