simonsmith

For two days now I have tried ringing the UK call centre to sort an issue out with a booking to Tokyo in business class. I have yet to speak to any one. The calls either don't go through or when they do I have had to listen to a cycle of messages reassuring me that my call is valuable . I have then on ; occasions given up after 40 minutes or so or in the last instance been cut off after 50. It's not exactly a 5 star experience.

BERbound

You could always send them a facebook message. I waited 4 weeks for a reply, then it came in the form of 'im sorry , do you still need help?' , i repled immediately with a yes, and im still waiting for another reply 3 weeks later. Onbord Qatar is excellent but their booking support is truly awful.

plunet

I had to call them last week. Gave up on the UK number after 15mins. Called the US number and was answered within 5mins.

pumatwin

Also, gave up with UK call centre. Tried Copenhagen instead and was answered in a short time. Even called me back.

simonsmith

Tx: I will try an alternative!

Phil the Flyer

At the opposite end of the OP's experience, totally unexpectedly QR in CAI called me yesterday afternoon to advise of a minor schedule change to a forthcoming AMM-DOH-BRU and vv itinerary (I was originally booked ex-CAI because I currently live and work there).

Fair play to them for their initiative; I guess with no flights into/out of CAI at present the CAI sales staff are all sitting in their office twiddling their thumbs, with very little to do.


A follow-up: not one, but two more calls this afternoon (16 August)! One for Mrs PtF (identical itinerary to mine, but separate booking ref) and one for Master PtF, for an AMM-DOH-MIA and vv itinerary. I've never known such proactiveness by an airline. ^

jckl

I believe they handle all European calls centrally in Wroclaw, Poland. The so-called "European Customer Contact Centre"

hotwingz

Yes. Whenever they called me back it has always been an number from Wroclaw, Poland. Does that mean all the phone agents are stationed there?
Then, how is their command of other European languages so good?

TheDinge

Having dealt with QR for years, I can safely conclude US call centre has the best English speakers and Qatar call centre staff are usually more knowledgeable with better access to hidden features of the system

jckl

Polish people are quite linguistically talented, my Polish colleagues speak all Polish and English and some even speak a third European language (french/spanish/german).

However wages in general is very low in Poland, the call centre staff maybe paid top dollars in Polish standards but still cheaper than staffing at local countries. Hence the high linguistic standards.

Having said that, some call centre staff have a rather strong accent (mind you I'm based near Coventry, UK), while their grammar is flawless, still makes communication rather challenging.

JasperT

While I do believe that Polish people do have a fair knowledge of English, most of the people working in those callcenters might actually be from elsewhere in Europe.

Taxes are low in Poland, and a lot of EU-'expats' live in Poland, get an appartment and a 'fair' wage (for Poland that is) to work over there.

I only know this because one of my friends has worked for a callcenter in Poland for a few years, untill he realised he couldn't really save enough to ever come back home again. (A lot of people just love the idea of working abroad for a couple of years, Poland is big in callcenters but so is Portugal, mind you Portugese people don't speak English that well either, but they do hire a lot of Europeans..)

yurtripper

Normally, when Polish call centres are hiring multi-lingual staff, they look for people who speak the particular language plus Polish, unless the language is one where it relatively hard to find speakers who are sufficiently fluent (e.g. Italian). So I've known Italian native speakers (who hardly spoke a word of Polish) be hired for call centres but it's not so easy for native English speakers because they can simply hire Polish graduates straight out of college whose English is sufficiently good.

Most of the so-called expats tend to divide into two camps - those who have been posted to Poland to work for a western corporation (and given a decent salary package + benefits) and those who live a much more precarious existence as English teachers (who may often earn less than the average Pole who works in retail stores, etc.).

simonsmith

Well who ever it is the UK calls go to ...they dont answer the phone...I rang the US as suggested and got through in 5mins...

Dr. HFH

That's really interesting (at least to me). I wouldn't have guessed that it would be hard to find Italian speakers in Europe. Tagalog speakers, sure, -- I can see the potential for scarcity. But Italian? Surprising.

JasperT

Yeah, that makes sence.

But indeed, I guess a lot of western company's just set themselves up in Poland due to the low tax and then fill it up with Polish as much as possible and fill the gaps with EU-expats.