KLouis

Yes, I feel a bit ashamed, but it was like talking to a Greek civil servant!

I was trying to buy a ticket for tomorrow but, on three attempts, when I arrived at the payment step their system replied that there was something wrong with my CC. Having used the CC a little earlier successfully for something different I called their CS in order to see whether they could do it for me without me having to pay the extra 20€ fee. The agent first told me that I should use Explorer because this was the only browser that worked with their system (sheer BS!). I told her that the message I was getting was literally "there is a problem with your card" whereupon she said I should call my bank or take a screen shot and they would show it to their IT people! I tried to see whether she would do it for me "for free" and she replied that since my CC was not good, she would not even try. I asked to speak to her supervisor and she said that she had orders not to connect anybody to a supervisor. I started "screaming", politely buy=t very loudly and, I guess, to get rid of me she put me on hold; after 2-3 minutes wait I was connected to a male, probably an IT person based on what he was saying, who said that the Explorer part was, as I thought, utter BS and that most probably the problem was with my cache that, for reasons unknown to him, bothered the payment process. He did ask me to clear the history (or alternatively use a bona fide Mac-compatible browser (Chrome or Firefox, but not Explorer) and, needless to say, I did get my ticket when I used the "virgin" Safari. That guy was nice, patient and knowledgeable..

This was the very first time I had any kind of problem with an A3 CS agent on the phone. Well, what can I say, s..t happens but all's well that ends well.

irishguy28

I hope that the new M+B partner, Santa, wasn't listening in! Otherwise, he might mark you down as a bad boy, and take you off his list!

headingwest

hehe, no sitting on his lap in the grotto either!

I've had problems like this a few times with airline websites, clearing the cookies usually does the job.

NWIFlyer

I think the frontline agents must actually be reading from a script - this sounds rather familiar! I remained calm in the face of severe provocation, however - British diplomacy at its very best .

irishguy28

Your top diplomat has rather sullied the reputation of British diplomacy of late!

blackball

Which probably means it's their managers' instructions and it's company policy. Now that's unacceptable and definitely worthy of complaining to A3 management.

Given the current situation in Greece, I am pretty sure the agents are underpaid and very possibly undertrained. Add to this the stress incurred from customers with crazy requests (obviously not everyone is like FTers). As frustrating as it may be to deal with them sometimes (and I must stress, my experience with A3 agents has been 99% impeccable), I personally will try not to escalate with someone in such a job.

When I believe an agent is not knowledgeable or helpful enough, I will call later on to get another agent (that assumes it's not urgent, of course).

NWIFlyer

Ah, yes. A Care in the Community scheme gone horribly wrong, and possibly not the best person to let anywhere near the nice people in A3 CS ...

KLouis

Excellent comments! Here are some answers (in random order).

- Stressed at 7:30? If yes, the reason may have been her boy-friend, certainly not me.

- This was the very first time I had problems with somebody at the phone at A3.

- If I had a say, I'd choose NWIFlyer over Boris as the boss of the Foreigh Office.

- Santa made me a big gift today: there was a fire at the harbour a couple of hours ago that completely destroyed 2 boats and severely damaged another 2. Although mine was moored less than 10 m away from them (the guy texting stands exactly in front of it), I did not even see any foam or any sign of a fire (the harbour actually looked as if it were covered with snow)! Wind to day was 1 Bft, yesterday it was 5 Bft from the NW, which would have brought it right into mine...

irishguy28

Phew! A lucky escape! (And the boat would make an excellent venue for a floating A3 mini-do! )

Any idea how the fire started? I hope it wasn't malicious!

NWIFlyer

You really haven't seen my zipwire skills, have you ...?

blackball

Damn... Is there insurance for this sort of thing?

KLouis

I asked one of the firefighters. He said that according to the owners (a german couple of ~70, who saved themselves by jumping into the water) said that the fire started as they started the motor. It was a big, beautiful, old sailing boat...

Check the next post and you'll see what ziplining really means!

Yes, all Greek boats must ne insured. I guess the same must be true for the German ones.

KLouis

Last year in Arenal.

LTN Phobia

Not sure about German ones but I think Greece is one of the more 'strict' countries in terms of marinas and others requiring insurance certificates to a certain level in Europe - and I have to say that's a really good thing.

Glad to hear your boat is safe! Sorry to see the nasty damage to other boats though...

ObserverA3

This is now getting a bit off-topic, but I'm afraid you guys are confusing (mandatory) third party liability insurance with (voluntary) hull insurance. I would be surprised if hull insurance was mandatory anywhere - and in the case of a boat as old as the one affected, it might not be much help (this is not directed against the boat - I have a more than 40 year old boat myself which I just love).

Anyway, glad Santa took good care of Klouis' boat!