Qantas on hold and call backs

[THE TRIMMER]

I would bet that if after waiting for a call back & it came after the 1 hour wait time you informed that you had booked with Virgin in the meantime ,would that maybe shake the system up a bit ,or would they say sorry but we are just so busy!No wonder other airlines are getting more bookings.The easier it is to make a booking the more bums on seats you get.

 

[JohnK]

This can't be good. There's at least one new thread a week on Qantas call centre hold times.

 

[mviy]

This can't be good. There's at least one new thread a week on Qantas call centre hold times.

If you look at the complaints on QANTAS's social media pages I reckon the most common complaint by a long way is the long call centre hold times, calls being hung up (so then back to the end of the queue when ring again), call backs not being offered or happening etc.

Either they don't care or they are taking a long time to find a solution. A lot of businesses these days are wanting to cut their phone support costs so they can maximise their profit margins whilst offering a competitive price.

They can try and claim there is an unexpected surge in demand (or some other excuse), but this is happening often enough that they should be increasing their call centre staff levels to reduce how often there are long wait times.


One possible solution I guess would be to increase the prices for getting help over the phone and take a harder line on when to give exceptions for charging for assistance over the phone, but either of these would be unpopular.

 

[JohnK]

One possible solution I guess would be to increase the prices for getting help over the phone and take a harder line on when to give exceptions for charging for assistance over the phone, but either of these would be unpopular.

If you are providing a service you should follow up that service with acceptable customer service and waiting over an hour on the phone is not acceptable customer service.

There are some companies I deal with where I do not have to wait longer than 1 minute or 2 on the phone. It is a pleasure to deal with these companies. As a Platinum I am Ok with Qantas as I have never had to wait but it is not good to read these stories. It wreaks of a company trying to cut costs everywhere yet the CEO, CFO and other upper management are overpaid and continue to be paid bonuses and salary increases year on year for sub-standard performance.

 

[puppysparkes]

I see where this is going. Wave the magic customer service wand and a sprinkling of empathy dust... **poof** Gaze into the crystal ball and then, look into my eyes, look into my eyes. VIOLA! Press 1 for Jetstar, press 2 for Qantas, press 1,2,3,4, leave customer service, at the door!

 

[marki]

One possible solution I guess would be to increase the prices for getting help over the phone and take a harder line on when to give exceptions for charging for assistance over the phone, but either of these would be unpopular.

They charge quite a lot for booking over the phone 65AUD I think. It compares very poorly to seeing a General Practitioner who requires many years of practice and study etc etc and insurance collage fees.......or is it just me seeing this ??

 

[mviy]

The point is that if they are charging prices for tickets that doesn't allow them to get the margins they are after with providing adequate phone support times, the other option (apart from raising prices for flights for everyone) is to charge those who need phone support more (perhaps more than what they currently do). By charging more less would likely want to use phone support. If the numbers seeking to use phone support didn't drop they would get more cash to be able to justify increasing staff levels.

People want the prices for flights to go down but then expect to the get same standards of service from back when they were paying a lot more. Something has to give.

We may not like it, but this is how businesses operate these days. Businesses seek to obtain the best return they can for their shareholders.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Something has to give.

yeah - highly fuel efficient planes, thousands of staff sacked, overseas cabin crew on lower paying contracts, and cheap-as-chips fuel.

Where you don't want to cut back is in actually giving [potential] customers a chance to buy the product you desperately want them to buy.

 

[mviy]

Well it would be interesting to find out what the percentage of calls that are pre-sales are. They must feel it is not costing them too much business or they wouldn't be allowing the long call wait times.

QANTAS would prefer you bought your tickets online (or maybe at a travel agent) than ring up to purchase them.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Well it would be interesting to find out what the percentage of calls that are pre-sales are. They must feel it is not costing them too much business or they wouldn't be allowing the long call wait times.

QANTAS would prefer you bought your tickets online (or maybe at a travel agent) than ring up to purchase them.

Qantas' official explanation was that the 'higher than normal call volumes' was due to schools and businesses returning following the holidays.

If they truly believe that, they probably don't even realise they have a problem.

 

[mviy]

I'm sure they would be aware of the problem. But if the long wait times are helping their profits they may not care and will give whatever excuse sounds reasonable to try to placate the customer.