Virgin Community[/Communication] FAIL?

[markis10]

In the time i have been part of this community Virgin Australia have slipped somehow from amongst the best companies i've seen at social media communications to utterly awful. I think it's a real shame and it is particularly noticeable at times like this when there is a great deal of doubt and uncertainty about their plans and intentions.

Perhaps they are readdressing their social media commitment in light of recent disasters experienced by other companies? Its only been a recent phenomena as such to have such participation here compared to how long AFF has been going, I take the view that if you want a response use the official channels, while taking comfort in the fact such companies are taking onboard what is said here albeit in a one way manner via passive involvement. I note there has been no reports of PMs going unanswered

 

[bcworld]

I take the view that if you want a response use the official channels, while taking comfort in the fact such companies are taking onboard what is said here albeit in a one way manner via passive involvement.

This is a tricky one because that is certainly the official position. But over on FB VA are continually asking people to PM their booking ref / contact details etc. as well as directing others to the customer feedback form. So there seems to be no clear intention as to whether social media is a true customer service channel or not. It could be the case they've made that decision for AFF though?

 

[777]

Perhaps they are readdressing their social media commitment in light of recent disasters experienced by other companies? Its only been a recent phenomena as such to have such participation here compared to how long AFF has been going, I take the view that if you want a response use the official channels, while taking comfort in the fact such companies are taking onboard what is said here albeit in a one way manner via passive involvement. I note there has been no reports of PMs going unanswered

They may well be but if they are and as a result they leaving a community of their strongest customers to speculate (generally for the worse) about what they are doing and reviewing their booking plans accordingly then it is obvious that they don't get it. The irony is that previously they did get it.

PM's and directing everyone to the call centre are all well and good but they are much more time consuming and much more effort than simply providing useful information to everyone about what is and isn't working, what is and isn't finalised and assuring us that things are being fixed.

Also, in other threads here there is a rolling catalogue of failures with the new website. A simple post or two in there thanking people for help them identify issues, assuring us that all the bugs are being looked into, and even the occasional "we think we've fixed this can you check it out for us" would change the whole tone of thread from whinging about VA to working with VA to solve the problems. It's issues management 101 stuff and for whatever reason they aren't bothering to.

 

[AdMEL]

Perhaps they are readdressing their social media commitment in light of recent disasters experienced by other companies? Its only been a recent phenomena as such to have such participation here compared to how long AFF has been going, I take the view that if you want a response use the official channels, while taking comfort in the fact such companies are taking onboard what is said here albeit in a one way manner via passive involvement. I note there has been no reports of PMs going unanswered

That addresses the social media aspect, but what about the general communication (e-mail, website, media announcements, etc)of their intentions, changes (to seat allocation, etc), issues (booking engine, etc), etc, which have occurred recently and have gone without any communication whatsoever. Pretty poor, in my opinion.

 

[markis10]

That addresses the social media aspect, but what about the general communication (e-mail, website, media announcements, etc)of their intentions, changes (to seat allocation, etc), issues (booking engine, etc), etc, which have occurred recently and have gone without any communication whatsoever. Pretty poor, in my opinion.

Agree totally with that assessment, especially the more worrying aspect of people having their flights changed to suit Virgin re the new sector definition!

 

[777]

For another case in point. Their blog has nothing about the changeover: Virgin Australia Blog

How hard would it be to answer a few FAQs there and link people to it?

 

[777]

For extra fail points check out twitter. The last VA tweet:

We’re aware of an issue with our online booking system and are working to rectify. Thanks for your patience #VAnewsystem

ELEVEN DAYS AGO.

 

[bcworld]

For another case in point. Their blog has nothing about the changeover: Virgin Australia Blog

How hard would it be to answer a few FAQs there and link people to it?

Wow. 1 substantive post about VA operations in the last month and nothing about Sabre. Time to close down the blog I think.

 

[lovestotravel]

Do they? Or is that the usual line people trot out constantly when they dislike virgin?

Yes their social media responses currently suck, but if you were to look towards the teat of Qantas you would be sorely disappointed.

How about tiger, emirates, cathey etc. I see a great level of care from them.

I can list them for you if you want

I don't fly Tiger/Emirates/Cathay, so it's not relevant to me or this topic

FACT is Virgin have failed at communication over the past 12 months

Removal of ATA was the start of it....

 

[Bofter]

My loyalty to Virgin is in substantial part a legacy of the really positive engagement that CrazyDave has in this forum a few years ago that gave a very strong halo effect for the company. I rarely, if ever posted in those discussions, but it gave me a sense of engagement with the company that has lasted (albeit somewhat diminished).

Now I am in a position where my spend on airfares is starting to increase due to self-employed work travel, albeit not to the levels of quite a number here. At the same time, the last few weeks have taken what ever shine was left off the image I had of Virgin, regardless of what they might be doing behind the scenes via PMs.

To me there seems to be a real missed opportunity with this booking system transition. Most people seem to understand that it is a challenging time for the airline. I think quite a few would have been really happy to assist Virgin in a productive way to find the problems that will almost inevitably exist, including those which would be not in the favour of the airline. What seems to be happening however is a story line of Virgin quite aggressively chasing anything that is a bug or even arguably a feature that works in favour of some of their customers while it being far more frustrating for people to try and resolve anything which is a bug of the system that is not in the favour of the customers. Regardless of whether this is an accurate picture, it seems to me to be the general storyline.

 

[DJSYD81]

For extra fail points check out twitter. The last VA tweet:



ELEVEN DAYS AGO.

To be fair that is just their last twitter post. They are replying (and in a timely manner) to questions asked by people. I had an issue with my Velocity account that was sorted within minutes of the communications with them via Twitter.

I do agree though that their engagement with this community is missed.

 

[777]

To be fair that is just their last twitter post. They are replying (and in a timely manner) to questions asked by people. I had an issue with my Velocity account that was sorted within minutes of the communications with them via Twitter.

I do agree though that their engagement with this community is missed.

True that is just their last announcement/ public post. Yes, they have been replying to individual requests and DMs but the failure to provide useful updates about what is going on and isn't almost certainly means they are dealing with a lot more DMs that they would need to if they simply updated what was going on.

 

[bcworld]

Another data point. There are flooding rains in N Qld. It seems at least ROK is closed. But the flight status function on the VA website has been broken all morning...and still no proactive highlight post on FB to update the situation or travel advisory anywhere on the VA website.

 

[DSFlyer]

I was always able to get a response from CrazyDave98 and Dean either within the forum or by private message and their input into the forums helped keep the messages accurate and on topic.

I miss those days, but never regret the move to Virgin

A lot of the bad press Virgin is getting around here is based on misinformation or partial information and confusion caused by the new booking system. Many of the things such as the lack of ability to improve seat selection for golds, glitches in how the web site works, actual future pricing on 2for1 tickets, confusion in whether connecting flights are priced correctly, whether WOAG fares have gone up or not, etc etc may or may not be the product of a plan but are just as likely simply transitional problems. Unfortunately we have no way of knowing.

The easiest way for Virgin to improve this would be to have a rep here who was publicly and quickly getting to the bottom of these issues and if not fixing them at least explain what is going on and what the long term plan might be.

Virgin through CrazyDave98 when he was there and Dean when he was the Virgin Australia social media guy did a lot of great work in keeping this community informed and through it the wider travelling community. It was a reason why i always felt confident with VA. VA used to run rings around Qantas in how responsive they were here and partially as a result a lot of very rusted on QF flyers have switched over fully or partially.

Am I the only one who thinks that Virgin's near total absence on these forums of late reflects very badly on them?

 

[Dee Thom]

I was always able to get a response from CrazyDave98 and Dean either within the forum or by private message and their input into the forums helped keep the messages accurate and on topic.

I miss those days, but never regret the move to Virgin

Agreed !
It is noticeable on this Post that most negative replies are due mainly to the lack of response from VA to actual AFF members queries and expectations. Boys and Girls you may travel a lot, but you are not GODS ! VA has it's hands full with implementing Sabre, no-doubt checking the TT books, alliance hook ups etc., It's a good product, give it a chance to sort its re-invention, and I think you will find a more forthcoming P.R. system.

Cheers,
Dee.

 

[serfty]

Another data point. There are flooding rains in N Qld. It seems at least ROK is closed. But the flight status function on the VA website has been broken all morning...and still no proactive highlight post on FB to update the situation or travel advisory anywhere on the VA website.

I noticed earlier this aftermoon VA had updated thier home page:

[h=4]Travel Alert:[/h]Adverse weather affecting Queensland. For further information, please click here.

 

[yohy?!]

VA Reps now would be a good time to chime in and kill all this moaning...

 

[777]

Agreed !
It is noticeable on this Post that most negative replies are due mainly to the lack of response from VA to actual AFF members queries and expectations. Boys and Girls you may travel a lot, but you are not GODS ! VA has it's hands full with implementing Sabre, no-doubt checking the TT books, alliance hook ups etc., It's a good product, give it a chance to sort its re-invention, and I think you will find a more forthcoming P.R. system.

My argument is the exact opposite: i'm not suggesting that they should answer every question, PM and query about every petty issue. I'm suggesting they should provide timely updates to everyone during periods of great change and inconvenience via their blog, twitter, facebook and forums like this one. This would actually save them work -- particularly the poor sods in the call centre and answering the DMs that are getting the same questions over and over again about systems that are broken.

 

[smatho10]

Two weeks ago - the info regarding the changeover was everywhere. The planning was there, questions were answered, scenarios were explained. So it was proactive approach.
Now - people are looking for reactive responses which can go around in circles.

 

[QF WP]

Have to agree with 777, markis10 and DSFlyer. I had the pleasure of meeting CrazyDave98 and Dean in their previous VA roles and they were part of my reason (along with Brett Godfrey) to finally jump aboard the VA program.

I have tried to contact the new person in the job, to no avail.