Qantas off shoring FF loyalty call centre

[JohnPhelan]

Ahhh, IBM - the company responsible for the Census fiasco and the Qld Health payroll debacle ......

 

[mrfreeze]

The one common factor is, however, that none of them care about you or your concerns. Their job is to get you off the phone. While some QF staff in Aus are terrible, I've crossed some excellent ones who bend over backwards to make sure they can achieve what you want because they have a genuine desire to do so. They also take a genuine interest as they can relate. These people in the third world on minimum wage cannot even comprehend a first class seat, so you can imagine how concerned they are about your efforts to book one.

I've actually had an Indian call centre worker tell me that "I wasn't left on the street and got a bed so that is all that matters" when a 5 star villa overbooked and moved me into a hotel.

About 12 years ago I had to go to Canberra to pick up the kids on a court recovery order and was basically flying in and then out within a few hours but they were not where they should of been on the day so I had to book a hotel and then hope the Federal Police would pick them up the next day.

I rang Qantas and spoke with a nice lady who said she could not do much as the tickets were no refund, change etc. but will put me through to her supervisor who might be able to sort something out.
Spoke with Wendy who put the tickets into credit and gave me her direct number to call the next day once I knew what was going on etc. and she would sort out flights.
Luckily the next day the kids were picked up and when they were on the way to the police station I called her and she started sorting stuff out, when I told her they had just walked through the door she started crying.

Friday and no same day flights available so had to over night in Melbourne and she said where to stay and what it would cost etc.
She organised everything for me.

I really doubt a overseas call centre person would do that but you never know and it is the reason I only fly Qantas where possible.
Wendy understood and cared about my situation and found a solution to it.

 

[N860CR]

About 12 years ago I had to go to Canberra to pick up the kids on a court recovery order and was basically flying in and then out within a few hours but they were not where they should of been on the day so I had to book a hotel and then hope the Federal Police would pick them up the next day.

I rang Qantas and spoke with a nice lady who said she could not do much as the tickets were no refund, change etc. but will put me through to her supervisor who might be able to sort something out.
Spoke with Wendy who put the tickets into credit and gave me her direct number to call the next day once I knew what was going on etc. and she would sort out flights.
Luckily the next day the kids were picked up and when they were on the way to the police station I called her and she started sorting stuff out, when I told her they had just walked through the door she started crying.

Friday and no same day flights available so had to over night in Melbourne and she said where to stay and what it would cost etc.
She organised everything for me.

I really doubt a overseas call centre person would do that but you never know and it is the reason I only fly Qantas where possible.
Wendy understood and cared about my situation and found a solution to it.

They're the sorts of things that just don't happen in these cheap offshore call centres unfortunately. I can't say the QF staff in Auckland have been very good and this will only worsen the experience. I've had experiences so great with QF in MEL that I've made sure the staff receive excel nominations. That said, some of the worst customer service experiences I've had come out of the HBA call centre.

 

[NM]

Im not assuming, i used to be part of the audit teams that reviewed IBM Qantas compliance. I just cant remember which DC the staff i was speaking to were in.

As I probably know way too much about this topic, and its not directly related to the topic of call centre geography per this thread, it's not appropriate for me to comment further about IT services contracts in a public forum.

Any comments I have made should be regarded as my own personal views and general in nature and not relating to any specific organisations.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

As on another thread, I called 131313 today, at 12.45pm, and got an answer at about 12.55pm, ...
Wonder what sort of wait time that we have to wait, once this offshoring of the QFF centre goes through.
Beep, beep, beep, music, your estimated wait time for the next available operator is 35 mins, ...
So sad.

 

[fairbasa]

I think the idea is with cheaper labour they'll be able to reduce the wait time.

While they're at it, can someone please change the hold music? It's VERY grating on the ear, especially those weird sound effects that sound like a jet passing overhead in super low bitrate. I'm sure it sounds great in a sound studio, but absolutely horrible over a phone.

 

[dajop]

Wonder what sort of wait time that we have to wait, once this offshoring of the QFF centre goes through.
.

Generally with offshore call centres wait times are not the problem. Usually calls are answered very quickly, much more quickly than onshore call centres.

The concern of most is that whilst the call may be answered it takes longer and is more difficult to get done what you call up for, which can get frustrating and sometimes problems aren't even resolved properly.

Which is better?
1) Wait on hold for 20mins for call to be answered, whilst you are busy doing something else, and then have a 5 min call to resolve your particular request, or
2) Have the call answered instantly and take 30 mins to resolve the request , whilst you are busy banging your head against a brick wall .....

 

[JohnK]

Called SQ earlier. On the phone ~14 minutes which included waiting time to try and secure bassinet for booking and allocate seats. Clearly an issue with her understanding me adding an "A for alpha" into the booking reference that I did not recite to her. A couple of times on hold. Didn't get desired result.

I feel sorry for anyone having to deal with Qantas new call centre and having complex issues.

 

[Limewood]

While this is really poor conduct from a company doing so dam well. i do hope once connected :evil: one cannot hear hundreds of other consultants babbling away in the background while trying to have a conversation. iinet is a typical example of moving customer service centre offshore with consequences like background noise and often people with poor english speak, I hate calling them now.

 

[RichardMEL]

While this is really poor conduct from a company doing so dam well. i do hope once connected :evil: one cannot hear hundreds of other consultants babbling away in the background while trying to have a conversation. iinet is a typical example of moving customer service centre offshore with consequences like background noise and often people with poor english speak, I hate calling them now.

To be fair, I've heard the background res hubbub when on the phone with QF over the past few years. Sometimes louder, sometimes hardly at all. Doesn't bother me.

I'd also make a comment that I agree with SOME foreign call centers the quality of the lines and the issue with understanding of accents can combine and cause real difficulty.

I would like to, without in any way defending QF's decision to offshore, say that a few months ago I had to call Telstra on behalf of a family member who "didn't want to deal with those people in Manilla" and yes, got through to there and I have to say it resilted in some of the best service I've had. Clear, understandable(both ways) - and as someone noted earlier if you're going to outsource the Philappines is perhaps a better choice than most... and even when we somehow got disconnected as my mobile went mental, that agent actually called me back right away when my phone rebooted (whole other story!) and was really good. Now, that's ONE anecodte of another major Australian company interaction, but I was very surprised in a good way. Would that sort of thing happen with QF? probably not.. there are horror stories about AA and UA call staff for example so hopes are not great, but you never know it could be not so bad

And yes, I expect way reduced call wait times from going offshore - that would be half the point of the exercise.. It's been an issue for over a year, maybe 2+ now the horrible call wait times.... so how does one get more bodies to deal with calls without a massive cost blowout? (specially after already consolidating BNE and MEL to HBA) is to offshore. Again I am not trying to defend this action if it's happening but more to understand the rationale from the business point of view.

 

[amaroo]

To be fair, I've heard the background res hubbub when on the phone with QF over the past few years. Sometimes louder, sometimes hardly at all. Doesn't bother me.

<snip>

I would like to, without in any way defending QF's decision to offshore, say that a few months ago I had to call Telstra on behalf of a family member who "didn't want to deal with those people in Manilla" and yes, got through to there and I have to say it resilted in some of the best service I've had.

<snip>

Wholeheartedly agree with this!

 

[ABC1]

The company that was outbid for the contract is Publicis Solutions/Loyalty. They run numerous call centres for other companies. They were well and truly undercut meaning around 80 jobs are gone. AKL will continue to operate mainly for Bronzies and Nonzies and some others.

 

[11sjw]

It would be nice to see our government say "Fine you can do this but we're adjusting your company tax rate to maintain the social dividend lost due to the now 80 unemployed no longer paying taxes." I doubt we ever will though.

 

[bPeteb]

Slightly off-topic but slightly on. Regarding Telstra and outsourcing to Manila. A large number of the people who answer your calls in the Philippines are employed directly by Telstra. They are not third party provider employees. Possibly this explains the lift in the quality of service.

 

[dajop]

Slightly off-topic but slightly on. Regarding Telstra and outsourcing to Manila. A large number of the people who answer your calls in the Philippines are employed directly by Telstra. They are not third party provider employees. Possibly this explains the lift in the quality of service.

That can make a big difference. My current company (an MNC) "outsources" various IT, HR and finance services to external service providers with staff in places like India and China. The process is a PITA and dealing with issues satisfactorily can take a lot of time, their interest seems to be to resolve the "ticket" ASAP. My previous company (similarly sized MNC) used to just "insource" such services to India - with the people at the end of the phone/email being company employees rather than employees of third parties. In my experience, serve from "insourcing" rather than "outsourcing" was so much better.

 

[Mrmaxwell]

The money saved by companies offshoring is massive. The Philippines is booming right now due to western companies around the globe all moving their service centres and business processing to Manila/Cebu. Sure the service level drops and usually never again reaches the standard before the offshoring however the financial gains outweigh this by a large factor (JQ customer service has been based in PH for a long time now). Board any QF19/20 and half the plane is filled with Telstra/JQ/ANZ/QBE etc middle managers, training teams, etc. It's hilarious. I've been in a cafe in Manila while a JQ team meet to my right and a QBE team meet to my left.

It has been estimated that 1-2 million Australian white collar jobs will be offshored within the next decade. Massive change as a result of globalisation and technology. I do not agree with the logic however until government steps up shareholders will demand more profit and fatter dividends.

The average Joe knows no better, they'll keep signing up to credit cards with QF points bonuses and they'll keep flying QF. End of story - sad but true.

 

[Danger]

An hour ago I phoned Hilton's Australian number and it went straight through to the US. I asked for reservations and was transferred to some offshore call centre. I told the agent I wanted a day rate for the DoubleTree Doha. Tap away. The response was the something (I didn't get what she said) Durham is actually a Marriott so we can't book that.

"Doha," I said, "In the country of Qatar".

"Can you spell that for me please?"

"D.O.H.A."

"Okay, that's in Ottawa, Canada".

"NO. D.O.H.A."

"For this I will transfer you to the hotel".

Where did I end up? The ****** Hampton Inn Raleigh, Durham.

 

[DC3]

... I told the agent I wanted a day rate for the DoubleTree Doha ...

I know that your post relates to the frustration of using (overseas) Call Centres.

As an aside, I can find a day-rate at that hotel within about one minute, on the web. Is there an advantage in making bookings/enquiries by phone, or maybe you didn't have web access at the time? I find the Oz accent is no good for calls to the USA (and other places).

 

[Bugalugz]

Think this is a bad move for Qantas to move their loyalty call centre of all things over.....the most important customers potentially getting the worst service. Telstra has picked up their game most of their staff overseas are actually pretty decent but some of the banks.......i had a screaming match with Westpac in I assume India the other day, 87 minutes to perform a basic function becasue they didn't understand the product or process then to be told no one in Australia can help me only their call centre deals with those issues and then the supervisor couldn't even speak english. Hopefully Qantas has decent staff that are clear and understandable and know the frequent flyer program well and understand it's in's and out's.

 

[neverhappy]

This is a QF outsourced call centre. Back Office tasks will be managed in Manila and Calls in NZ