Qantas: Making a complaint and being heard

[scenariogirl]

Hi All,

First up, please excuse my lack of abbreviations, I still haven't picked them up

I'd love your advice on making a complaint to Qantas that doesn't elicit a simple proforma response.

I am a Gold FF member and have been for the last 2+ years.

Each of the last 5 flights I've had with Qantas have been problematic. One was international, the others domestic, one of which was business.

I've had problems with meals ( vegetarian) not being available (I was offered a bag of nuts twice) one was international, the other was Business domestic. To be clear, the international was with AA, but I was on a full fare economy flight and was not advised no vegetarian meals would be available. On the domestic flight they called my husband to apologise but not me!

At the brand new Canberra lounge I accidentally ate pork that was in a vegetarian dish!!! I was asked if the lounge manager could call me to apologise and discuss the issue but I never received the call. Can I repeat again - I *ate* pig. I do not eat meat. And don't let me start on the lack of choice for vegetarians and vegans.

I recently had my bag miss a morning SYD - Melbourne flight despite having a Q Bag Tag. I did not receive the bag for 12 hours post departure. It was a business trip and my phone charger amongst other things was needed. no phone for 5 hours!

On a more recent flight back from Perth to Sydney service was so offensive the Cabin officer was involved. In addition to this the IFE was down.

I understand these are all subjective and could be a lot worse, but five flights in a row have been problematic to the point of inconvenience or discomfort.

I no longer believe that Qantas really care. I do intend to write a letter of complaint detailing each of the flights but if I get another proforma response I'll go postal.

I know many of us think this is just a sign of the times but I'm not prepared to accept that after 5 bad flights in a row.

What do you suggest?

Kind regards

SG

 

[N860CR]

To be honest, I wouldn't bother. I've only had three dealing with QF "Customer Care" over the years and each time it's been the same. Plenty of promises on the phone but when it comes down to it, they won't put a thing in writing and hence you can't hold them to anything.

The last dealing I had was the worst of them. Took seven weeks to get a response which was a phonecall from a rude woman who basically said "who cares" and clearly hadn't read past the first sentence of my complaint.

I'm assuming "Customer Care" has had its budget cut quite a bit (SG used to get 48 hour call-backs.... now out to the standard NB 2 months!) and the attitude seems to be a dismissive one. For interests sake, on each dealing I had with them the person I was communicating with ended up "leaving the department" before they'd resolved the issue. Yes, a sign their resolutions take too long! But I also think that it's probably seen as the lowest of lows for those working at QF and they only do short stints, so how much do they really care?

 

[ozmille]

I only once complained about IFE not working for a part of the trip (we got moved to exit row after that but it took 4 hours to get moved) and got a call within a couple of days to apologize and got some Gold Class Greater Union tickets including meal and drinks... I did not call them, I use the email template thing on the QF website both for good and bad experiences.

 

[opusman]

I *ate* pig

Mmmmmmmm pig.....

 

[nlagalle]

Sorry to see you have had a bad run of late..

I'm intrigued at the food in the CBR lounge where you ate pork. were you in the Qantas Club or business lounge? I only has as i've never seen a vegetarian hot dish at either and I didn't think they had that in the normal QP only the J lounge.

 

[goldy]

I've had problems with meals ( vegetarian) not being available (I was offered a bag of nuts twice) one was international, the other was Business domestic. To be clear, the international was with AA, but I was on a full fare economy flight and was not advised no vegetarian meals would be available.

AA dont class all international flights as international. Flights to central America and the Caribbean are treated as if they were domestic in that no meals are provided, let alone vegetarian.
I agree its not acceptable that yo were not advised, as i'm sure you would have made other arrangements (ie: eaten before)

At the brand new Canberra lounge I accidentally ate pork that was in a vegetarian dish!!! I was asked if the lounge manager could call me to apologise and discuss the issue but I never received the call. Can I repeat again - I *ate* pig. I do not eat meat. And don't let me start on the lack of choice for vegetarians and vegans.

Hmm... yes its quite unacceptable and I wouldnt be happy. If its labelled as vegetarian that it ought to be vegetarian. You didnt mention tho, if the dish was full of pork, or if somehow a piece or two got into the dish. But im sorry to say... i think you have a responsibility to look at what your eating, and like i said, i wouldnt be happy about it if it were me either, but we must bear some responsibility for our own actions, and no one actually made you eat it.

I recently had my bag miss a morning SYD - Melbourne flight despite having a Q Bag Tag. I did not receive the bag for 12 hours post departure. It was a business trip and my phone charger amongst other things was needed. no phone for 5 hours!

Again not cool... but as im sure you will learn, anything that you will need with you at your destination, you should take as carry on. Thats not making excuses for them not delivering your bag for 12 hours.

On a more recent flight back from Perth to Sydney service was so offensive the Cabin officer was involved. In addition to this the IFE was down.

Could you explain what happened here?

five flights in a row have been problematic to the point of inconvenience or discomfort.
I no longer believe that Qantas really care. I do intend to write a letter of complaint detailing each of the flights but if I get another proforma response I'll go postal.
I know many of us think this is just a sign of the times but I'm not prepared to accept that after 5 bad flights in a row.

SG

Sadly.. ive come to believe that this is the new Qantas, and not that of old. IMO, they dont care and in all likely hood you will get the automated response, with the added bonus of a $100 travel voucher to "show that we value your business"!! % flights ina row is a bit rich... but like you yourself have said... this is sadly a sign of the times.. and IMO, its only going to get worse. I personally cant for until I board QFxyz operated by jetstar! (note the sarcasm)

 

[markis10]

Feedback at every opportunity is good for a business, saving them up and lodging in bulk not so as with time passing the ability to find out what went wrong diminishes. By all means let them know, and continue to do so each time you feel unhappy with the product, while you may get a canned response at least you will have done your part! I had to put some money into my St George account recently via the Bank SA branch in Darwin and it was a very unusual and pleasant experience (no waiting, friendly and efficient staff), I got a call to ask me how was my experience and I said it was great! I then got another two calls asking what exactly made it great, I must have been lucky!

PS You are always welcome to join one of our abbreviation appreciation classes held on an informal basis in many capital cities, they are often advertised as 'drinks" nights in the meetings area!

 

[NM]

While I am in no way suggesting Qantas's actions are correct or justifyable, and I do believe a well written letter of complaint seems justified, do remember that you have a choice and the right to vote with your feet/butt/wallet/credit card.

 

[somebol]

Hi All,

I've had problems with meals ( vegetarian) not being available (I was offered a bag of nuts twice) one was international, the other was Business domestic. To be clear, the international was with AA, but I was on a full fare economy flight and was not advised no vegetarian meals would be available. On the domestic flight they called my husband to apologise but not me!

At the brand new Canberra lounge I accidentally ate pork that was in a vegetarian dish!!! I was asked if the lounge manager could call me to apologise and discuss the issue but I never received the call. Can I repeat again - I *ate* pig. I do not eat meat. And don't let me start on the lack of choice for vegetarians and vegans.

Did you request a special meal (vegetarian) before the flight?

Usually airlines don't carry vegetarian options unless ordered as a special meal

 

[QFMEL]

To be honest, I wouldn't bother. I've only had three dealing with QF "Customer Care" over the years and each time it's been the same. Plenty of promises on the phone but when it comes down to it, they won't put a thing in writing and hence you can't hold them to anything.

There's often speculation, of course, from aggrieved pax/complainants that if they were to be assertive with QF that their bags on SYD-MEL flights might coincidentally wind up somewhere like PPG...

 

[markis10]

There's often speculation, of course, from aggrieved pax/complainants that if they were to be assertive with QF that their bags on SYD-MEL flights might coincidentally wind up somewhere like PPG...

Wondered how my bag ended up at Horn Island instead of Darwin for one flight last year :evil:.

 

[medhead]

I find the food labels in the lounges to be confusing at times. They seem to be in the wrong order somehow.

 

[drewbles]

I'd suggest you email [email protected] with your concerns.

Also in future, probably a good idea to pack things like a phone charger into your carry-on (heck I can do a 9 day trip to the USA with carry-on only, not exceeding the carry-on rules so it shouldn't be too hard to to SYD-MEL, unless of course you have stuff that can't be bought on board for size/weight/security reasons).

 

[nlagalle]

Wondered how my bag ended up at Horn Island instead of Darwin for one flight last year :evil:.

I still wonder how my bag ended up in ADL when I was flying to CNS a few years back! I did have a chuckle and my bag was delivered as promised later that day at 4pm.

 

[Balwyn3103]

I have found two things helpful in order to get a meaningful response-one I used with Qantas, the other with another company I felt let down by.

With Qantas I searched their website and noted the names of several corporate managers I thought could help. I then emailed them my complaint. Since their email addresses weren't made available, I simply wrote to every combination that seemed logical: for, e.g., John Smith, I wrote to [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], etc. I got a very useful phone call soon after with an honest discussion of what had gone wrong and some compensation (which I had not asked for)

In the other case, I simply drafted the pro-forma letter (slightly exaggerated I must say) that I did not wish to receive and attached it to my letter of complaint in which I stated that I did not wish to receive a response of the sort attached. This also resulted in a phone call and a successful resolution. .

 

[Oneworldplus2]

Also in future, probably a good idea to pack things like a phone charger into your carry-on (heck I can do a 9 day trip to the USA with carry-on only, not exceeding the carry-on rules so it shouldn't be too hard to to SYD-MEL, unless of course you have stuff that can't be bought on board for size/weight/security reasons).

Drewbles, this is where men and women are different...
(I did 10 days in Thailand with 5kg carry on)

 

[Gold Member]

Nothing excuses Qantas of poor service. Unfortunately though, the truth is that your status, cabin flown and price paid has a lot to do with your ability to extract any compensation out of Qantas. It's another way for Qantas to acknowledge customer loyalty and the higher up the tree you are the more you get. You also need to cleverly word your complaint to ensure it is not seen as a rant and that it has merit that warrants further investigation and actual compensation.

I recently made a complaint for a SIN-MEL service on an AA ticketed AONE4. This was the final leg of 16, so the flight itself would have been proportionally valued at something like $1,000 given I paid $15K all up. Within 1 week, I recevied a call to advise that QF would like to acknowledge my troubles and say sorry by way of a $500 MPD! I doubt a NB or PS would have got $500 for the exact same circumstances.

 

[opusman]

I doubt a NB or PS would have got $500 for the exact same circumstances.

Would it be possible to do 15/16 legs of an AONE4 and still be NB or PS though?

 

[Gold Member]

lol good point!

 

[ermen]

Would it be possible to do 15/16 legs of an AONE4 and still be NB or PS though?

Sure! You could simply not credit the flights to any OW FF account