Qantas Call Centre

[michaele]

Have to say, I have never waited more than a few minutes - and often my call is answered almost immediately.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Have to say, I have never waited more than a few minutes - and often my call is answered almost immediately.

Maybe as a platinum this is still the case. But golds and silvers are waiting upwards of 40+ minutes. And the message says your wait time will be just a few minutes.

Previously golds and silvers were also answered in just a minute or so.

There has been a marked downgrade in the performance of the call centre, beginning early December. This is the first time I can remember it being like this in 20 years, so something has changed. Given those 20+ years of experience, 'peak period' seems unlikely as the real reason.

 

[bsb]

That irritates me every time I hear it offered as an excuse for long hold times.

.....along the lines of 'our late departure was due to the late arrival of the incoming aircraft' which I always find a redundant, yet amusing statement. I think the common usage term for both is 'blameshifting'.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

.....along the lines of 'our late departure was due to the late arrival of the incoming aircraft' ...

but surprising how many passengers actually believe/accept that as a valid reason!

edited: I saw a list somewhere of 'reasons for departure delay' - something like 50 or 100 variables... everything from late passenger to crew member sick to weather. 'Late inbound' wasn't on the list.

 

[Daver6]

At least we're consistent!

Jokes aside, I agree it's frustrating. However some times are can be busier than others, and it is a peak travel period with many returning back to work, school, etc...

So if its known that this is a busy time, why not put more staff on?

 

[kermatu]

I've also been lucky to have never been on hold for long and have pretty much always found the call centres terrific. Admittedly the last few years have been through the premium line.

But I do wonder if the more responsive twitter/facebook approach is worth advertising. Surely it just encourages people to post issues/complaints (and over-inflate them) to get a response? Can't be great for the perception of an airline.

 

[juddles]

So if its known that this is a busy time, why not put more staff on?

Although rosters can be optimized to try to cater for busy times, there is a limited number of staff that are available for this.

And although I hate waiting in any queue, phone or otherwise, at least when calling QF I can understand the person who eventually talks to me. (I make this observation after trying to get on to LAN yesterday through their "Australian" call centre - very bad VOIP connection to someone in Chile - was almost impossible to understand the guy - and I speak Spanish and English)

 

[Reeldeel]

Maybe as a platinum this is still the case. But golds and silvers are waiting upwards of 40+ minutes. And the message says your wait time will be just a few minutes.

Previously golds and silvers were also answered in just a minute or so.

There has been a marked downgrade in the performance of the call centre, beginning early December. This is the first time I can remember it being like this in 20 years, so something has changed. Given those 20+ years of experience, 'peak period' seems unlikely as the real reason.

Nailed it my MEL. I have noticed exactly that as SG. This is no coincidence. It is an "enhancement" for PS and SG to either like or lump. The whole point of my original post.

 

[astrosly]

I called Qantas earlier this morning to change a flight where it won't let me do it online and went for the call back option. It told me it will be "over an hour", I have now been waiting two hours .

 

[ajw373]

Rang Qantas to change a booking on Monday. Recorded message said all agents were busy, would I like a call back. Didn't specify what the delay was. So I thought I would accept a call back.
After agreeing to the call back, was advised of a delay of 5 minutes! (I could have waited 5 minutes!). Hung up the phone, and the call back was immediate. Obviously there are delays, but not always.

Same happened to me. Within seconds of hanging up the phone was ringing.

 

[ajw373]

Never realised that call back put you at the front of the queue rather than connecting directly.

Yeah call back systems mostly work like this because if your call is allocated to an agent then their valuable time is being wasted whilst waiting for you to answer. So calls go to the front of the queue. Actually normally a different queue, but one that gets priority when the next agent becomes free.

 

[astrosly]

Same happened to me. Within seconds of hanging up the phone was ringing.

My previous experiences up till today have been very good, answered within minutes. Today is a joke. I'm still waiting for my call back from about 10:45am today (over 2.5 hours now), I've called back about an hour ago but the line dropped out after 10mins and am now on my third call on the landline and waiting for over 30mins but I have to go out at 3pm so I hope it is answered in the next 90mins.

 

[Boris spatsky]

I believe the Brisbane call centre closed yesterday for good with 40 staff saying goodbye. No idea whether there was a net loss with staff, or replaced elsewhere.

 

[Princess Fiona]

I believe the Brisbane call centre closed yesterday for good with 40 staff saying goodbye. No idea whether there was a net loss with staff, or replaced elsewhere.

Not good at all

 

[astrosly]

My previous experiences up till today have been very good, answered within minutes. Today is a joke. I'm still waiting for my call back from about 10:45am today (over 2.5 hours now), I've called back about an hour ago but the line dropped out after 10mins and am now on my third call on the landline and waiting for over 30mins but I have to go out at 3pm so I hope it is answered in the next 90mins.

OK got the call back 15 mins ago so that was over 3 hours I would have waited in the queue.

 

[Mrmaxwell]

Currently there is 2 hour plus wait on the phone as the website credit card processing has been down for 24hrs now. Frustrating especially when one is overseas as I am now...

I know things go wrong but there seems to be a lack of 'care' factor here. If you cannot fix your website within 24hrs there are some major issues within the organisation!

Keep it up Alan.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I believe the Brisbane call centre closed yesterday for good with 40 staff saying goodbye. No idea whether there was a net loss with staff, or replaced elsewhere.

Very sad to hear that

 

[JohnK]

Have to say, I have never waited more than a few minutes - and often my call is answered almost immediately.

My calls are also answered almost immediately. For how much longer though?

I know things go wrong but there seems to be a lack of 'care' factor here. If you cannot fix your website within 24hrs there are some major issues within the organisation!

Keep it up Alan.

Must be due for a huge bonus again. Has turned things around by having domestic airfares at an all time high, laying off more frontline staff and by degrading the overall customer experience. Yep. We can call that a success.

 

[mannej]

Must be due for a huge bonus again. Has turned things around by having domestic airfares at an all time high, laying off more frontline staff and by degrading the overall customer experience. Yep. We can call that a success.

OT, but are domestic fares at an all time high?

 

[JohnK]

OT, but are domestic fares at an all time high?

They are for me. Have they been higher in the old days?