Forum

 
  Back to OzPolitic.com   Welcome, Guest. Please Login or Register
  Forum Home Album HelpSearch Recent Rules LoginRegister  
 

Pages: 1 ... 3 4 5 
Send Topic Print
Qantas "customer care" (Read 4785 times)
freediver
Gold Member
*****
Offline


www.ozpolitic.com

Posts: 47067
At my desk.
Re: Qantas "customer care"
Reply #60 - Oct 21st, 2014 at 12:37pm
 
That was quick. I got a call yesterday morning from the airline customer advocate, which I returned in the afternoon. It was the weirdest conversation, like a drunk Pauline Hanson trying to pick a fight with me.

I missed the original call and called back. The lady was reluctant to establish what the call was about, although she brought up that it was a complaint about Qantas before I suggested this, so she obviously knew. After establishing why I was calling back, she then revealed the reason she was getting in touch. It was not to discuss my complaint, but to talk about her complaint about me saying she had a big arse. I had never met or spoke to this woman before. She went into a lengthy spiel about how difficult it was to advocate for people when they say these things about you.

Eventually I coaxed out of her that I did not actually say this, and that she was referring to my complaint that the customer care process was designed to be a pain in the arse. She then backpedaled for a bit, before trying to establish that it is OK for me to say this at the end of the process, but not at the start. Eventually she stopped talking long enough for me to point out this was not actually the start of the process, that I was three months into it, that I had already submitted 3 online complaints, two of them to her organisation, and that each time I had to dig up all the information from scratch because neither Qantas nor the customer advocate include a copy of the complaint in the acknowledgment email. The customer advocate closed my complaint while it was still pending, meaning that I could not continue with the one I had already submitted or respond in any way. The emails they had sent were from bounce address that you could not respond to either, so my only option was to start from scratch.

Pauline explained that they do not normally include a copy of the complaint in the response email, but made a big deal of promising to do so, as if this was a huge inconvenience to her. I have not received this info yet.

Throughout this conversation she kept trying to get me to drop the complaint process with them and take it up with consumer affairs instead. She even had me thinking that this was my idea for a while, so she obviously knows how to do her job. Eventually I had to insist that after filling out their online forms twice now, I still want them to look into my complaint. Eventually she agreed to forward it on to Qantas (which probably amounts to clicking a button for her) on the condition that I also take it up with consumer affairs. So I am once more waiting for Qantas to respond.

The airline industry is unusual among Australian retail industries in not having a government mandated customer ombudsman. The airline industry customer advocate is funded, owned and controlled by the airline companies it supposedly stands up to on behalf of mistreated customers. The website of the advocate makes promises about being timely, fair, independent and easy to use - so far it has failed me on all counts. Their website also says that it cannot handle complaints that have also been submitted elsewhere - eg consumer affairs. I am still wondering why she was so keen for me to take it to them instead.
Back to top
 

I identify as Mail because all I do is SendIT!
WWW  
IP Logged
 
freediver
Gold Member
*****
Offline


www.ozpolitic.com

Posts: 47067
At my desk.
Re: Qantas "customer care"
Reply #61 - Oct 25th, 2014 at 7:41pm
 
|dev|null wrote on Oct 20th, 2014 at 11:29am:
It's funny.  I've never had a complaint about Qantas.  I've had luggage lost (my fault, not theirs) and they've flown my bags on to me and delivered them to me personally.  I've had excess baggage allowances waived.  I've had banned items placed into envelopes and carried on the flight by attendants and given to me at the destination.  I've had lost stuff returned without a problem.

Perhaps it's an attitude problem?  I have nothing but praise for Qantas staff.  They are invariably polite, calm and efficient.   They have usually solved my problems on the spot or promised to get back to me and done so, ASAP.


Get back to us if you ever have to use the service I am complaining about.
Back to top
 

I identify as Mail because all I do is SendIT!
WWW  
IP Logged
 
freediver
Gold Member
*****
Offline


www.ozpolitic.com

Posts: 47067
At my desk.
Re: Qantas "customer care"
Reply #62 - Oct 30th, 2014 at 7:47pm
 
Got another call on Tuesday. Same lady. She was nice this time, or at least, not outright antagonistic. Apparently Qantas lost my request for a review of their decision. Anyway, they are apparently going to go ahead and review it now.

Over three months in, and I am still at stage 1.

In the second "official rejection letter" from the customer advocate that I received later that day via email, there is a quote from Qantas advising that I was asked to pay the fee because my fishing gear did not meet the American Airlines requirements. This is a lie, and to me indicates they either have not even read my complaint, or have already started passing the buck back and forth between AA and Qantas (who are in a partnership agreement and should be able to sort their poo out). The AA check-in lady said it was a fee for Qantas based on Qantas rules and showed me the Qantas website to justify charging the fee. Qantas also confirmed to me before I left that the Qantas baggage rules would apply to the flight. I believe there are international laws that dictate that the Qantas baggage rules apply.

She also said, again, that she would forward me the text of both of my complaints, as well as the ones to Qantas. In the official rejection letter, she has acknowledged this and quoted the text of my very last complaint, which was very brief and merely referenced my earlier complaint, which had been closed and which I can no longer access.

They are either incompetent, or pretending to be idiots.

American Airlines has not responded at all to my complaints.
Back to top
 

I identify as Mail because all I do is SendIT!
WWW  
IP Logged
 
Aussie
Gold Member
*****
Offline


OzPolitic

Posts: 37678
Gender: male
Re: Qantas "customer care"
Reply #63 - Oct 30th, 2014 at 7:55pm
 
freediver wrote on Oct 30th, 2014 at 7:47pm:
Got another call on Tuesday. Same lady. She was nice this time, or at least, not outright antagonistic. Apparently Qantas lost my request for a review of their decision. Anyway, they are apparently going to go ahead and review it now.

Over three months in, and I am still at stage 1.

In the second "official rejection letter" from the customer advocate that I received later that day via email, there is a quote from Qantas advising that I was asked to pay the fee because my fishing gear did not meet the American Airlines requirements. This is a lie, and to me indicates they either have not even read my complaint, or have already started passing the buck back and forth between AA and Qantas (who are in a partnership agreement and should be able to sort their poo out). The AA check-in lady said it was a fee for Qantas based on Qantas rules and showed me the Qantas website to justify charging the fee. Qantas also confirmed to me before I left that the Qantas baggage rules would apply to the flight. I believe there are international laws that dictate that the Qantas baggage rules apply.

She also said, again, that she would forward me the text of both of my complaints, as well as the ones to Qantas. In the official rejection letter, she has acknowledged this and quoted the text of my very last complaint, which was very brief and merely referenced my earlier complaint, which had been closed and which I can no longer access.

They are either incompetent, or pretending to be idiots.

American Airlines has not responded at all to my complaints.


Yeas I agree.  It is bloody annoying having to skip through hoops or stages to get to what ought be a quick end result, and more annoying when anyone's complaints to those in control get ignored.  I really feel your pain, freediver.
Back to top
 
 
IP Logged
 
Pages: 1 ... 3 4 5 
Send Topic Print