Qantas Call Centre Long Wait Times

My understanding (from unofficial sources) is that there is a pool of priority phone numbers that airport staff give to passengers which rotates every few weeks.

I will attempt to publish the currently active number(s) in this post:

1300 304 318
1300 659 161
1300 025 396
1300 659 116

1300 024 715
1300 025 390
1300 659 115
1300 659 134
1300 659 502

 

[RichardMEL]

The issue is the majority of customers don't need the call centre and it's an expense for them to be there. It doesn't make them money so to speak.

Yes, but if their IT and processing, app etc were better then even less people would need to call.

For example...

how many people would need to call if voucher and award processing didn't bomb every other time and require the far queue (manual processing0? or if award bookings for ALL partners could properly be accessed online, or flight changes that should work but don't need manual help, or... or...

I mean I am one of the people who call the least often. I am actually struggling to call the last time I did call for something - I'm going to say to request a J reward seat on one of the 747 flights. I am a huge believer in self service, online tools etc

QF have made some advances in this area, and they promise more... but there still are so many glitchy issues with the website booking process (and let's not get started on gift vouchers) and other things that other major carriers seem to have sorted out long ago to need even less intervention by manual hands.

And this doesn't even count the people who are not tech savvy or want to talk to a human (like my father for example). I do realise often this is a generational thing, but it's not just "the old folks" who need help with probably simple things like making that once every four years FF booking to Brisbane and selecting a vego meal. They shouldn't have to wait hours to do that just because they don't have the ability or tools to do online.

I do understand the cost of humans in call centres of course but they still are needed in these times, and that QF just seems to accept that it's "OK" to have the majority of people hang on for hours (let's face it, as a P1 I rarely waited more than a minute and far less the few times I have called.. but that's because I am only one of a few thousand).... We can all appreciate unusual events like massive weather impacts or whatever causing short term call answering delays, but on a regular basis and even right now when there's far less people flying overall?

I really hope all the updates they have promised actually happen and work as expected. Not holding my breath. Work Experience kids have missed a lot of school this year....

 

[cmon0005]

I am a QF Gold and it took me 1hr 5mins on Tuesday afternoon to get through.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

The issue is the majority of customers don't need the call centre and it's an expense for them to be there. It doesn't make them money so to speak.

The majority of customers wouldn't have needed to call if QF had offered refunds in the first place, and then processed them quickly

I do understand the cost of humans in call centres of course but they still are needed in these times...

So I googled... a November 2018 article puts the monthly salary of a call centre agent in the Philippines at around USD240-270. Let's say that's doubled due to inflation and because QF is a premium company... so USD500 a month. 50 extra staff would cost ~USD300,000 a year. Seems like a small amount to keep 10 million members happy!

 

[RichardMEL]

I am a QF Gold and it took me 1hr 5mins on Tuesday afternoon to get through.

It is ridiculous imo for ANY customer to have to wait so long let alone a mid tier elite.

QF probably feel they can get away with these levels because most domestic flies have the handcuffs of one sort or another (as previously discussed) and well.. a bit of arrogance there because if you need to get something done you need to get something done so you'll wait.

I do not think that is anywhere NEAR acceptable for ANY caller to a company let alone a "valued" customer.

I do agree with the comment about refunds too.. of course we understand why QF is doing everything they can to hold on to our money.

 

[Dr Ralph]

Why the long wait FFS?

Because they just don't care.

Hour and a half so far.

Four hours+ isn't uncommon.

I got sick of them wasting my time and giving me the run around re refunds for flights they cancelled so I lodged a dispute with Fair Trading. That 20 mins was well worth spending and I should have done it a lot sooner rather than continually giving Qantas chances to sort their problems out.

 

[aikman]

I don't know why they took away the SMS and webchat service. Those were really good alternatives to waiting hours on the phone.

 

[TheInsider]

I don't know why they took away the SMS and webchat service. Those were really good alternatives to waiting hours on the phone.

I think because the work died down, i'm sure that will be back asap.

 

[eminere]

I called 131313 yesterday Thursday at 10.15pm and it was answered pretty much right away, by the premium call centre in Hobart. Had a super lovely agent.

 

[Peso]

QF Gold. Called 131313 earlier this week at 17.30 due to a points ticket not issuing. Over 1 hour later still on hold with no callback options.

 

[jb747]

Very sadly, “they” is Alan Joyce and cohorts. QANTAS is not them, and will, I hope, survive their passage.

 

[Rangalad]

I called 131313 yesterday Thursday at 10.15pm and it was answered pretty much right away, by the premium call centre in Hobart. Had a super lovely agent.

Same here. Called Sat morning answered within a minute by Hobart. Great service and super friendly.

 

[Ktan89]

Yes, Qantas have long wait times at the moment, I waited 2h 30min yesterday, but i'll happily wait as long as i get a premium consultant (Hobart/Auckland) who knows what they are doing. Better than waiting +2 hours, connecting to Manila, explaining to them what you are trying to do with no outcome then hang up and call back getting to Manila again! haha

 

[SeaWolf]

We really need Google to roll out its Hold for Me feature in Australia.

 

[BNEFlyer]

Because they just don't care.


Four hours+ isn't uncommon.

I got sick of them wasting my time and giving me the run around re refunds for flights they cancelled so I lodged a dispute with Fair Trading. That 20 mins was well worth spending and I should have done it a lot sooner rather than continually giving Qantas chances to sort their problems out.

I had to call about 4 weeks ago, spent almost 5 hours on hold in total (over four calls). Eventually managed to get the callback option and an hour later got a call back. Had to talk to someone twice because the first person I spoke to didn't do what they said they would when fixing up a booking.

However last week there was a schedule change where I didn't want to accept the proposed change (and of course they don't allow changes to be made online) so I DM'd QF on Twitter and had it all sorted in less than an hour.

 

[jonboixxx]

I am very quickly realising why I have a foot in each camp (still firmly with VA despite the unknown). I'm over the hour mark now on the phone, waiting to discuss being bumped on a cancelled J CNS-BNE flight (QF1719) only to have it now magically reappear as the QF719. Stuck on the midday flight even though 9x J seats available on the 16:40; of course no classic award seats available.

 

[jonboixxx]

1h30m to answer; good outcome though, we're back on the 16:40, despite no classic J seats showing on-line. Always lovely and helpful call centre staff, just not enough of them!

 

[VHOEJ]

A lot of the calls shouldn't be required - they don't want to pay for the technology to allow people to cancel / change / rebook themselves.

It is a waste of time for the passengers and the few call centre staff who are left. Leave the calls to actual questions that can't be fixed easily. Most airlines make it easy to manage things yourself, QF does not and doesn't want to spend the money.

 

[AIRwin]

Banner now appearing on the QF website:

 

[Daver6]

Banner now appearing on the QF website:
View attachment 235965

Except some of those things you can't do online. Like cancel a fully refundable flight and get a refund. They've "enhanced" that.

 

[Cddc]

Wow, just wow.

I need to make a business class booking on behalf of my elderly mother and want to use her voucher from a previously cancelled flight, which the website is not recognising.

I spent 45 minutes on hold before giving up 2 days ago.
Finally got though to someone after 1h 2min on hold today.

The consultant put me back on hold to try and validate the voucher before before the call was cut, presumably hung up on.

My wife and I are both platinum on Virgin and lowly bronze on QF. We both recently booked business class flights on QF to start making the transition but if this is the service and hold times we can expect, we will be reconsidering.

Actually, come to think of it, poor QF service was the reason why we switched in the first place - it's just been long enough for us to forget

Grrrrrr.......