Qantas call centre in Suva, Fiji

[MrJetset]

Could there also be a thing that the subcontracted call centre staff are afraid of doing anything that would lead QF to make a chargeback to Mindpearl? The direct Qantas employees in AKL and HBA have a feel for how much latitude they have and know that if they err of the side of generosity, nothing terrible will happen to them. But if the Mindpearl agents think their initiative could cost Mindpearl money - and cost them their jobs - they are always going to err on the side of caution.

They are not paid to have initiative, they are to follow business rules and processes to the letter.

 

[Assassin]

So I’ve called Qantas a couple of times in the last few days to try to get award seats released (alas no luck) and there now seem to be many more menu options that you need to select through before you can speak to a person. I ended up with the SA call centre each time and they did seem more competent than previous experience. I wonder if they have now focussed the offshore agents on a much narrower range of tasks as a way to improve quality? Eg only international award bookings or only Qantas vouchers, etc..

 

[dylarr]

So I’ve called Qantas a couple of times in the last few days to try to get award seats released (alas no luck) and there now seem to be many more menu options that you need to select through before you can speak to a person. I ended up with the SA call centre each time and they did seem more competent than previous experience. I wonder if they have now focussed the offshore agents on a much narrower range of tasks as a way to improve quality? Eg only international award bookings or only Qantas vouchers, etc..

I don't know the answer to the question but Qantas did make similar changes to the IVR menus in 2021 with more granular options so that "calls relating to certain types of issues are now being sent to dedicated specialist teams":

Major Qantas Call Centre Changes

Qantas has overhauled its beleaguered call centre in an effort to improve the quality of the service provided. But there have been some teething issues,

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

However as many AFF'ers will attest, a lot of consultants answering calls from the 'Book flights with points' -> 'International' queue should not be permitted anywhere near international award bookings:

Warning: Don't Change Qantas Reward Bookings via Call Centre!

There appears to be a systematic problem where Qantas call centre staff are accidentally cancelling confirmed Classic Flight Reward bookings when

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

In my experience Qantas couldn't care who picks up the phone or what the quality of the interaction of the call is like after it has been answered, as long as it's fast enough to avoid the hold time PR meltdown that occurred last year. Half the time you call the Customer Services 1300 number the calls route to reservations in Suva or Cape Town who will say "Oh I'm from reservations I can't help with that" — why on earth is the system routing calls to people who can't help?!

The pessimist in me really can't see anything changing regardless of what tweaking they do to the phone menus because they did it previously and it didn't make any difference.