Poor experience with call centre

[Frenchtoast]

Hey guys,

Sorry, just had a pretty poor experience with attempting to book rewards flights, and needed to vent. Spent the morning getting technical errors at the final payment screen when trying to book rewards flights. Ended up calling, went through to an overseas call centre. When they brought up the flights, the rewards seats were no longer available, which had me pretty annoyed. Asked to speak to a supervisor, who did the standard read from a script and fobbed me off.

My first question, are the Australian call centres no longer a thing? If I had to call in the past, you would go straight through to an Australian (I think?) call centre and get amazing service. At the very least, they wouldn't be reading from a script with zero empathy.

I recently dropped from Platinum to Gold - are Gold no longer entitled to premium call centre support?

When I told the supervisor I wanted to make a formal complaint, he advised me that complaint would be handled by him anyway, therefore implying it wouldn't go anywhere. Is there actually another avenue I could pursue?

I know I am sh@t out of luck, and sorry for the whinge. Just feel the experience was pretty poor. After flying with Virgin for many years, I am questionning my loyalty now with them, even considering giving Qantas another shot, which I never thought I would say?!

 

[Bagpuss]

Hey guys,

Sorry, just had a pretty poor experience with attempting to book rewards flights, and needed to vent. Spent the morning getting technical errors at the final payment screen when trying to book rewards flights. Ended up calling, went through to an overseas call centre. When they brought up the flights, the rewards seats were no longer available, which had me pretty annoyed. Asked to speak to a supervisor, who did the standard read from a script and fobbed me off.

My first question, are the Australian call centres no longer a thing? If I had to call in the past, you would go straight through to an Australian (I think?) call centre and get amazing service. At the very least, they wouldn't be reading from a script with zero empathy.

I recently dropped from Platinum to Gold - are Gold no longer entitled to premium call centre support?

When I told the supervisor I wanted to make a formal complaint, he advised me that complaint would be handled by him anyway, therefore implying it wouldn't go anywhere. Is there actually another avenue I could pursue?

I know I am sh@t out of luck, and sorry for the whinge. Just feel the experience was pretty poor. After flying with Virgin for many years, I am questionning my loyalty now with them, even considering giving Qantas another shot, which I never thought I would say?!

If a rewards booking failed it may have taken the inventory out or it may have been failing as the inventory went as you were going through the booking. Some times wait 30 minutes for the transaction to time out.
Yes, they still have an Australian based call centre though there is no guarantee you will reach it. I expect the system will check if an Australian operator is free first, though will re-direct in order to answer quicker.

You can always try again.

I believe it's only platinum or "above", where you must be assisted by an appropriately trained operator for any changes etc, though does does still to slip on occasion.

If the availability is gone, they can't re-open aailability as easily as they used to pre 2020.

 

[Frenchtoast]

Yeah that all makes sense, thanks for the reply. I did try all that, including a different laptop and waiting etc.

I have spent long enough dealing with this today, so I will give up at this point. Booked a later flight which has led to other issues. I suppose this is the way things will be with Virgin 2.0. It actually makes sense when you consider they are pitching for the mid to low market now, as opposed to before.

 

[RooFlyer]

Welcome to posting on AFF @Frenchtoast

Sorry, just had a pretty poor experience with attempting to book rewards flights, and needed to vent.

This is the place to do it!

When they brought up the flights, the rewards seats were no longer available, which had me pretty annoyed.

I wonder if they were ever there, and were actually 'phantom inventory' - hence the failure at the payment screen and the call centre just wouldn't see them.

I know I am sh@t out of luck, and sorry for the whinge. Just feel the experience was pretty poor. After flying with Virgin for many years, I am questionning my loyalty now with them, even considering giving Qantas another shot, which I never thought I would say?!

Never good to cop an o/s call centre, not properly trained. Although you do get this on premium carriers too!!

 

[TMP]

Phantom inventory is a real thing with VA rewards seats, particularly with international partner airline J rewards seats, as many posts in other threads (and personal experience) will attest!

 

[BRIS_VA_HAWK]

Had this exact same experience this afternoon as a WP. Currently had a BNE-SYD-SFO (VA908/UA870) J rewards booking for next month and a J seat came free on the direct service (UA97).

Called, spoke with the Philippines call centre, got told there was no available J Rewards flight. Asked operator to recheck as I could see the seat on UA97 on both VA and UA sites. Got told a second time couldn't find it, asked for a supervisor, got out on hold, waited 5 minutes and figured I'd HUACA.

Second consultant was absolutely fabulous and both knew what I wanted and executed within 10-12 minutes. Admittedly, still no recognition of status and in the first operator's situation, no idea what they were doing. Unfortunately no way of guaranteeing an Australian-based consultant and/or someone who knows what they're doing.

Coincidentally I received an email from VA about 10 minutes after the call asking for feedback, so I'll be sure to be honest and transparent.

 

[antycbr]

Had this exact same experience this afternoon as a WP. Currently had a BNE-SYD-SFO (VA908/UA870) J rewards booking for next month and a J seat came free on the direct service (UA97).

Called, spoke with the Philippines call centre, got told there was no available J Rewards flight. Asked operator to recheck as I could see the seat on UA97 on both VA and UA sites. Got told a second time couldn't find it, asked for a supervisor, got out on hold, waited 5 minutes and figured I'd HUACA.

Second consultant was absolutely fabulous and both knew what I wanted and executed within 10-12 minutes. Admittedly, still no recognition of status and in the first operator's situation, no idea what they were doing. Unfortunately no way of guaranteeing an Australian-based consultant and/or someone who knows what they're doing.

Coincidentally I received an email from VA about 10 minutes after the call asking for feedback, so I'll be sure to be honest and transparent.

If I remember rightly international award flights always went overseas before Covid too. The BNE centre was for platinum domestic flight servicing… can anyone else recall?

 

[BRIS_VA_HAWK]

If I remember rightly international award flights always went overseas before Covid too. The BNE centre was for platinum domestic flight servicing… can anyone else recall?

Last VA int call I had to do was 2018 and it went to Brisbane. I was SG at the time too

 

[Frenchtoast]

Spoke to the wife today (VA Platinum), she has always gone straight through to the Australian call centre. I should have called her straight after I got off the phone and asked her to call and see which centre she goes through to!

She is adamant she has never spoken to an overseas call centre, and had to call a month or two ago. I think you guys are correct, its routed on a status/how busy the call centre is basis. Plat get first dibs, then Gold. She was not impressed when I told her what went down. She is still pissed off at the complete lack of international lounges. I think our Japan trip later this year will not be with Virgin now.

Completely off topic, but what is the go with the International lounge situation at the moment? Is there any info on when/if Virgin will be opening up their lounges again?

 

[BRIS_VA_HAWK]

Completely off topic, but what is the go with the International lounge situation at the moment? Is there any info on when/if Virgin will be opening up their lounges again?

VA don't have any international lounges to open up...I think the best we can hope for is an agreement to use another lounge however that's doubtful when Bain don't want to spend $$

 

[Bagpuss]

VA don't have any international lounges to open up...I think the best we can hope for is an agreement to use another lounge however that's doubtful when Bain don't want to spend $$

Rumour was there was a imminent announcement.

They're not going to have their own international lounges, the only "true Virgin international lounge", I think was Wellington NZ which wasn't that flash hot. The others pre covid / administration were shared facilities in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney and at this time was probably more of a focus of catering for LAX rather than international short haul.

FYI, I think there's been a lot of investment into Virgin since administration. Initially it was missing all financial targets (mainly due to Covid), wifi is rapidly coming back, F100 fleet renewal, additional 737-800's, MAX introductions, lounge investments, Japan slot, operational investments (baggage tracking) etc. It's easy to bag the likes of Bain but I think they've invested a lot more than what people ever expected.

 

[Frenchtoast]

VA don't have any international lounges to open up...I think the best we can hope for is an agreement to use another lounge however that's doubtful when Bain don't want to spend $$

Yeah good point, I was thinking of the short lived international lounge (named "The House" from memory) that popped up shortly before the demise of Virgin 1.0. Was nice for the short amount of time we could use it!

Rumour was there was a imminent announcement.

They're not going to have their own international lounges, the only "true Virgin international lounge", I think was Wellington NZ which wasn't that flash hot. The others pre covid / administration were shared facilities in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney and at this time was probably more of a focus of catering for LAX rather than international short haul.

FYI, I think there's been a lot of investment into Virgin since administration. Initially it was missing all financial targets (mainly due to Covid), wifi is rapidly coming back, F100 fleet renewal, additional 737-800's, MAX introductions, lounge investments, Japan slot, operational investments (baggage tracking) etc. It's easy to bag the likes of Bain but I think they've invested a lot more than what people ever expected.

I do remember reading somewhere of a possible announcement regarding international lounges. I am still optimistic, if doubtful. And you are right, Bain have done some good with Virgin.

 

[clifford]

Bain but I think they've invested a lot more than what people ever expected.

They really didn't have much choice if they wanted to float.

However, a small investment in PP, Diners or Star Gold will solve the Intl lounge problem (as it has for me)..

 

[liamsal]

Spoke to the wife today (VA Platinum), she has always gone straight through to the Australian call centre. I should have called her straight after I got off the phone and asked her to call and see which centre she goes through to!

She is adamant she has never spoken to an overseas call centre, and had to call a month or two ago. I think you guys are correct, its routed on a status/how busy the call centre is basis. Plat get first dibs, then Gold. She was not impressed when I told her what went down. She is still pissed off at the complete lack of international lounges. I think our Japan trip later this year will not be with Virgin now.

My experience as a Plat has been different post covid. I’m always getting an overseas call centre now (sometimes not even the ‘velocity premium’ overseas centre) and then they transfer me through to the Australian call centre when I ask to use my flight upgrades. Haven’t had a direct call through to the Australian call centre in probably 12 months now.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

My first ever call to VA went through to an Aussie call centre. The agent was fantastic! knowledgable and quickly did everything needed plus told me exactly how she did it. ‘great’ i thought… this makes a huge change from QF.

40 flights later and I’ve never had an Aussie call centre again. Luckily I got the information from my first call to be able to get what i needed from the o/s call centres on subsequent calls (basically short-segmenting tickets where i only need a one way)

I don’t believe plat gets any special treatment, other than a call answered semi-quickly. Although there have been some longer waits.

 

[Frenchtoast]

Spoke to a friend that had a similar experience with the call centre. Seems to be the go now, if Gold, try calling at non-peak times to get the best chance of going through to the Australian call centre.

Out of interest, Qantas Gold and Plat members, how does this compare? I am cognisant of all the bad media recently with the Qantas call centres having 2+ hour wait times.

 

[encryptededdy]

Out of interest, Qantas Gold and Plat members, how does this compare?

Gold: Never onshore
Platinum: in my experience about ¼ Hobart, ¼ Auckland, ½ Fiji / South Africa

 

[CorporateFlyerMEL]

rang this morning and call went off-shore - wanted to cancel a reward booking which cannot be done online, managed to secure another reward booking PER MEL at the new reduced rate (on a Friday afternoon flight...)

 

[AIRwin]

managed to secure another reward booking PER MEL at the new reduced rate (on a Friday afternoon flight...)

How long until travel?

 

[UP4014]

FYI, I think there's been a lot of investment into Virgin since administration. Initially it was missing all financial targets (mainly due to Covid), wifi is rapidly coming back, F100 fleet renewal, additional 737-800's, MAX introductions, lounge investments, Japan slot, operational investments (baggage tracking) etc. It's easy to bag the likes of Bain but I think they've invested a lot more than what people ever expected.

You do all those things to spruce the place up for a sale, I would guess the private equity knows at least roughly when they will sell. Spend now to show what it was like when they took over and what it is like now.