Qantas off shoring FF loyalty call centre

[Tassieoptom]

Thanks Samh004, disappointing but a reality i guess.

 

[Melburnian1]

Thanks Samh004, disappointing but a reality i guess.

Why is it 'disappointing?'

Trade occurs because it's an exchange for mutual benefit.

Businesses here (provided that they train the overseas based call centre staff properly, and have supervisors available who can resolve the more difficult questions) gain through lowering their costs. This helps them to stay competitive in a fast changing world.

Overseas, call centre staff in say Philippines are able to support families or spouses. Living standards increase gradually and so does disposable income.

Those displaced in Australia can sometimes find it hard initially to find other work, but a recent study of employees displaced from car manufacturing found that 66 per cent or so had quickly found work, and that more were likely to do so. Some who do not may be almost at or close to retiring age, and may receive substantial redundancy payments (though not everyone will if years of service are low.)

Successful economies concentrate on what they're good at. For instance, Israel and Silicon Valley, California focus on high tech and innovation; Japan has many focuses but one I saw last night was high speed rail; Thailand and Bali concentrate on tourism and hospitality; Philippines (the fastest growing economy in southeast and about level with mainland China for all of Asia) has many call centres and increasingly tourism; Germany is a centre of excellence in technology with France strong in tourism (admittedly suffering a downturn following terrorist attracks), wine and food and Spain fairly similar.

Let's concentrate on Australia's strengths in mining and resources, tourism as well as tertiary services (real estate, legal and accountancy services, some engineering, education to international university students) plus agriculture.

 

[mviy]

For an airline that prides itself on being Australian and heavily promotes this in its marketing, it's nice to be able to pick up the phone and call them and hear an Australian at the other end. Just like it's nice that most of the FAs onboard tend to be Australian.

With all the complaints on FaceBook the offshoring of call centres hasn't solved the long call wait times.

Rather than off-shoring call centres QANTAS should focus on improving their website so that calls don't need to be made in the first place.

 

[TheInsider]

With all the complaints on FaceBook the offshoring of call centres hasn't solved the long call wait times.

The long call waits related to the reservation/sales call centre, this isn't changing. This whole thread is related to the Frequent Flyer Service Centre, this only relates to the Frequent Flyer program.

 

[Pushka]

If this has already started, then today I received excellent service from I'd say an Indian accented gentleman. Sorted my issue out very quickly and politely. I was on hold for less than 30 seconds as SG.

 

[Primadon]

Unfortunately, neither Manilla handling Back Office tasks nor Auckland handling calls will have the Melbourne team to fall back on to clean up their errors. Something the Melbourne office has been doing for the last three years since the Auckland office originally opened.

 

[Primadon]

Maybe some good news.

I just got off the phone from Qantas. I started by telling the Tasmanian-based agent that I was very disappointed that Qantas was offshoring the call centre. He scoffed a little and said that's not happening. He said "Qantas has invested heavily in the call centre here in Tassie . . . The company has just refurbished the call centre".

The agent added what I think we already know - that the chat service is managed elsewhere - but there's nothing happening with Tassie.

And naturally, awesome service from him at midnight down there. No mention of a booking fee for making an award reservation that can't be done online.

Hobart reservations has nothing to do with Frequent Flyer Service Centre

 

[MisterX]

Update on this...

• Call wait times are atrocious. Over 90 minutes wait time for Bronze.
• After 40 minutes (wait time), many calls are being dropped in both FF and Reservations.
• Chairman's Lounge customers are incorrectly being routed to Manila (and waiting for over 40 minutes!!).
• According to a source within Qantas Loyalty, It is a general "catastrophe".
• Privacy (PCI compliance) issues.
• Poor customer service and issues not being dealt with quickly & efficiently.

Someone's head should roll over this.

 

[TomVexille]

Update on this...

• Call wait times are atrocious. Over 90 minutes wait time for Bronze.
• After 40 minutes (wait time), many calls are being dropped in both FF and Reservations.
• Chairman's Lounge customers are incorrectly being routed to Manila (and waiting for over 40 minutes!!).
• According to a source within Qantas Loyalty, It is a general "catastrophe".
• Privacy (PCI compliance) issues.
• Poor customer service and issues not being dealt with quickly & efficiently.

Someone's head should roll over this.

Welcome aboard!

No chance you have a source for this?

 

[Princess Fiona]

Welcome aboard!

No chance you have a source for this?

No source from me but this is my two most recent calls as P1.
First call on hold for 7 minutes and then cut off without being answered.
Second call answered after 6 minutes, definitely not a Premium experience. Had to walk the agent through a simple return flight booking to the US. Had to be put on hold while she checked if I was eligible for fee free phone booking.

 

[TomVexille]

No source from me but this is my two most recent calls as P1.
First call on hold for 7 minutes and then cut off without being answered.
Second call answered after 6 minutes, definitely not a Premium experience. Had to walk the agent through a simple return flight booking to the US. Had to be put on hold while she checked if I was eligible for fee free phone booking.
View attachment 100384

Don't get me wrong, I don't think things are good at the moment, I'm generally getting calls picked up somewhere between 35-45 minutes of hold time. It's just interesting to see some stats thrown out there from what sounds like inside sources

 

[Archphoto]

Update on this...

• Call wait times are atrocious. Over 90 minutes wait time for Bronze.
• After 40 minutes (wait time), many calls are being dropped in both FF and Reservations.
• Chairman's Lounge customers are incorrectly being routed to Manila (and waiting for over 40 minutes!!).
• According to a source within Qantas Loyalty, It is a general "catastrophe".
• Privacy (PCI compliance) issues.
• Poor customer service and issues not being dealt with quickly & efficiently.

Someone's head should roll over this.

As a Bronze member who spent 12 hrs in total over 4 days on hold, I have to agree - this "service" is farcical. I've come to the conclusion, QFF don't care about Customer Service. In fact, the quickest response I got (albeit unhelpful as the problem has been solved for now) to an email complaint, was when I scathingly responded to a) their canned response and b) pointed out they had flat out lied in said response - I pulled no punches and got a response in 1 minute!:shock:

It's extremely rare that "let fly", but the response didn't address the issue at hand and after so long chasing my tail, I'd had enoiugh. thus I sent the following in response to the initial response (yup I was beyond p****d off by this stage):

Dear (QFF Minion).

Thanks so much for the canned response.

To take you up on your statement that you were unable to contact me: I never received any indication of a call to verify who I was via my account phone number, so I'm going to take a leap and suggest nobody even bothered to pick up a phone at any stage.

It is sadly quite obvious palming off your customers to wait for hours on end, on your 131131 number, is the current mindset of Qantas, but 6 hours of being on hold over 2 days is preposterous!

Thanks again, for showing no interest in my situation, not taking on board the ridiculous call waiting times I've been experiencing over the past week, and for showing little interest in an obvious bug in you verification processes.

Once again, I'll set myself up to wait for another 2-3 hrs of call-holding, after all it's not interfering with your working life, nor that of Qantas.

Sincerely,
Archphoto

Heads should definitely roll, but I bet it won't be the head of QFF Customer Service nor many of his utterly useless staff. Sadly, you get one or two who are extremely understanding and helpful, but the time you are expected to wait to actually talk to them is preposterous.

 

[MisterX]

Welcome aboard!

No chance you have a source for this?

Thanks Tom,

Ahhhh...not sure what my legal liabilities are here? And don't really want to drop anyone specific into the **** LOL...Let me assure you, I am VERY familiar with Qantas Loyalty Operations. pM

 

[Cool Cat Phil]

I would love to know who Qantas have outsourced this to?
If it's Salmat ( who operate a plethora of call centres in both Australia & In Manila for Australian based Companies) then I too will have lost hope.

 

[TomVexille]

No worries MisterX

 

[MisterX]

I would love to know who Qantas have outsourced this to?
If it's Salmat ( who operate a plethora of call centres in both Australia & In Manila for Australian based Companies) then I too will have lost hope.

TeleTech. Took it on without comprehending the complexities me thinks.....And vice-versa for QF Loyalty (which = arguments and a very poor customer 'experience'). Lots of finger pointing going on (probably!!!)....
I think I remember Qantas being the most 'recognised' Australian brand a few years back...so much for that. 'Qantas Loyalty' BU should change their name to 'Qantas Unpatriotic'. Or maybe 'The Qantas Subversive Program'.

 

[MisterX]

Seriously though, If I was a Plat, CL or Gold tier status (in fact, any), I would be absolutely f()C&}^g fuming. I don't know how this hasn't reached the media? Not only are they making Australian jobs redundant, they are completely pissing on their most 'Loyal' customers LOL!!! :shock: Good night!

 

[dairyfloss]

I don't call through that often, but in the last couple of weeks I've called through twice for things, and both calls were answered by the kiwis in short order (<1 min), and matters quickly resolved. Sounds like I'm a bit lucky. I use the local 02 number on the back of my WP card, not the 13 number, if that makes any difference I don't know... always get the IVR saying I've reached the Platinum Premium service line before someone answers.

Cheers,
Matt.

 

[donovan301]

Sounds like I'm a bit lucky. I use the local 02 number on the back of my WP card, not the 13 number, if that makes any difference I don't know... always get the IVR saying I've reached the Platinum Premium service line before someone answers.

Cheers,
Matt.

Any chance it is a common time of day that you have called?

Could be due to operational / shop open timeframe for the Asia regional call centre?

NZ centre doing coverage at certain times for the central Asia call centre?

As you know, NZ is at a minimum 2 hours ahead of the rest of the world....... We're just that far ahead of everyone else

 

[MisterX]

I don't call through that often, but in the last couple of weeks I've called through twice for things, and both calls were answered by the kiwis in short order (<1 min), and matters quickly resolved. Sounds like I'm a bit lucky. I use the local 02 number on the back of my WP card, not the 13 number, if that makes any difference I don't know... always get the IVR saying I've reached the Platinum Premium service line before someone answers.

Cheers,
Matt.

Hey Matt, I reckon you're going through to CL/Platinum 1 (one) call centre in Canberra? There is a specific call centre for Platinum One etc. Possibly with a few Kiwi's working there?! Much faster response time. They specifically deal with FF and Res queries (combination of both) for CL & Plat 1.