Anonba

As discussed please dont use the documents email as it is for just that sending documents. General enquiries or otherwise arent answered on any of the documents emails

FlyingPhoenix

Anonba, I realise that you work for BA, and I have removed the other contact methods you highlighted before. However, I am afraid what you are saying is simply not true, at least for the particular email address I have left on the list above.

In my office alone, recently, I am aware of responses to emails sent to [email protected]

In case you still don't believe me, the agents responding recently include:
Naomi W
Stewart W
Emily W
Alan C
Samantha R
Tracey P
Brian M

I have taken you at your word that the "documents" emails sent to the other departments are ignored (even though I think that shows a terrible attitude on behalf of BA), but I am keeping that one on the list, because it works, and the responses are helpful, even if lately they do take a couple days, because to me, at least, that is still preferable to waiting on hold forever for an unreliable standard of assistance.

gnarly

You'd think that Brian M would have enough to worry about.

FlyingPhoenix

Removed in response to Revan's suggestion

revan

It's generally considered poor form to publish full names on here - so you may want to edit your post.

vibguy

As so many, I wonder why BA does not want to communicate some official contact email addresses. On the other hand, it recalls memories of a CEO of a large company I used to work for who was very proud to have never received a customer complaint. This was true since he had no structured way to deal with complaints; All complaints randomly received by a mail, email or phone were put in the garbage bin and never ended up on his desk. This company was later part of a take-over deal, the CEO made a fortune and still today he is convinced and proud that he only had very satisfied customers. BA might use a similar strategy by making it extremely difficult to contact them.

Anonba

Ok that is your choice and if that is the way they choose to work fair enough i guess.

I was really mentioning it more so because i know that the other emails arent answered and apart from anything else i dont want people to waste their time sending emails somewhere which gives no response!

Anonba

You totally missed my point tbh. Its not complexity or training but rather that there are simply different solutions and it isnt always that one answer thats right.

There are several solutions and all could be equally valid! Personally ive discussed 2-3 different solutions with a passenger for sonething they were trying to do but some agents may try n offer more solutions some may offer less it doesnt mean they are wrong though.

EuropeanPete

Again, that's hardly unusual. I think we're going around in circles though, so I don't want to labour the point.

popmagnet

I'm seeing a lot of excuses for poor customer service on this thread. Complicated systems, inconsistent levels of knowledge, policy, etc etc. Those things aren't really relevant as they're issues that other airlines manage to deal with. The only important thing is that BA have seen other airlines get this right and they're simply not interested.

FlyingPhoenix

See, this is what I don't like about the (lack of) customer focus at BA. To say actually caring about and responding to customers who need help is "fair enough" and then going on to excuse the fact that some departments don't respond to emails as the customers' fault for "wasting their time" certainly does not reflect the "To Fly, To Serve" slogan BA uses.

Anonba

To be clear about this i work for BA but im not an official representative for BA in this forum.

Therefore its my personal opinion and also im not excusing bad customer service.

I was trying to highlight the fact that the documents emails are set up specifically for that purpose and therefore because of this people wont get a response.

Surely its better people are informed that they should not email these expecting a response as it isnt the purpose of those emails.

The reasons for not responding via these is because there are already alternative official ways already set up to allow people to contact BA by online webform or twitter.


The reasoning is that if people lots of peope decide to start to try and use the docs emails for anything other than the intended purpose it will cause problems in trying to react to genuine documents emails.

I should mention that the documents can be doctors letters/ death certificates so passengers are already in a difficult situation where we have then asked for the docs so we can assist. Im sure you can appreciate that in these situations a timely response is vital and it would be unfair if that was affected by people trying to get answers to other questions that they could get answered through webform or twitter.


So in actual fact my concern is about customer service because all customers have to be considered including those sending documents.

Therefore with that mind thats why i said "fair enough" if manchester operate their documents email differently it is then their choice and honestly i was surprised they work like that. I had also noted there was a former exec staff member who advised against using the exec docs email for anything other than documents too.

So personally i think its better that people are using the official channels.

User Name

All of these things are undoubtedly true, but the first thing they need to fix is staffing so they can answer the phones more quickly. I can understand perhaps a short-term staffing issue, but this has been going on for such a long time that I really don't understand how this low level of service can be anything other than intentional.

I mentioned upthread how I'd been answered in under 2 minutes on 2 calls to AA recently. I had reason to call United yesterday to change an award booking and was answered straight away.

I've been in the contact centre business myself for the last 18 years and this stuff is not rocket surgery.

GarynotJerry

I agree with this, but BA would also need to make handling more consistent. For example, if you don't get a flight credited within six months, contacting BA over the phone or BA.com will invariably get a refusal unless you have been in contact before. If you write to the Executive Club, go through the CEO or James Hillier's office, or if you email ec.documents you are far more likely to get some consideration and flexibility. By the way, I think Anonba is confusing ec.documents with Manchester.documents. They are two separate departments, I believe. Certainly the people that reply to them seem to be two groups of names that do not overlap.

The same inconsistency applies to many other topics besides missing Avios. Anything complicated or requiring a modicum of flexibility is far easier to resolve if you avoid ba.com or the Contact Centres. Anonba is correct to worry about the implications of everyone using ec.documents for every little thing. My rule of thumb is to write or fax everything that isn't time sensitive. For time sensitive things I use twitter, generally, but if you need something corrected on your account ec.documents is probably better. If it's urgent you may need to call, but don't just accept any nonsense you run into. If you hang up and try again, you can usually get someone with sense by the third try.

FlyingPhoenix

The Manchester.documents one is more reservations involved. That's usually where people send proof of illness or death, to get a travel refund, or proof of name being wrong on your account when you want to book a flight in the right name. I think ec.documents goes to the same group as the faxes and letters posted to the address on BA.com