ZKNHB

Man, their iMessage support desk is really bad. Obviously people from overseas who have NO idea what they are talking about.

Just one example of what I’ve been through:
“Hi, just wondering if you still do physical cards”
“Yes, I checked and we do still send physical cards. It has been mailed to your home address
So it’s on the way?”
“Yes, normally takes 5 business days.
It’s been 22”
“Apologies for information provided. we no longer send physical cards. use the app”

Thai-Kiwi

It gets worse. Helped a friend book a fare to Asia with final sector on SQ. After payment a PNR was displayed, but also an error in red text saying there is a problem with the partner airline sector, and call 0800xxxxxx. No other option or information provided.

So I phoned, via a callback that took 35 mins. The CSR simply noted that there was nothing to be done at this stage and the manual ticketing team “would likely” be working on it, and to check emails over the next few days. Not especially reassuring either.

So there was utterly no point is directing the customer to call the number provided, and time was wasted both for me and the CSR. The auto-message could simply have indicated that the pax should wait for ticketing within XX days, and if not received then call……

ZKNHB

I had a crazy situation with UMNR. Flight was diverted to AKL, from AUS. If my son didn’t have a phone. I wouldn’t know he got diverted. They locked him in a staff room without an adult looking after him, and his airband didn’t text be had been diverted until 7 hours after he had been diverted…. Anyway, there’s a lot more but this is not the thread. I flew up to meet him, and then requested a refund for my flights $800 to AKL return (?!) and they said it would take 14 weeks!!!!! I hadn’t received it at 15 weeks, contacted them went through the whole process and they said “sorry can you call back tomorrow, I don’t know”. Still haven’t got the refund

Thai-Kiwi

Well, a warm welcome to your first couple of FT posts, despite what's sounds like a couple of nasty experiences.....

I'd express my dissatisfaction to the CEO - he does read and respond to messages, and with the UMNR situation there are some quite serious liability issues clearly to be unpicked.... and should be under his nose. At least IMHO.

ChasingDaylight

Take them to DT? Otherwise I'm not sure if you could complain to the CAA about the UMNR bit. Being locked in a room is highly unsatisfactory as is the Airband issue. Surprised really!

Edit: Agree with TK. I generally (and genuinely) am not a favour for emailing the CEO for most customer service issues, but this is one that someone needs to unpick pretty strongly.

ZKNHB

greg.foran at airnz.co.nz ? Will update you.

Thai-Kiwi

Email is correct. Also consider including :
GM International [email protected] and
Chief Customer & Sales [email protected]

ZKNHB

Hi! I got a reply from Leanne and she said she has contacted the customer care team to contact me, and she cc'd Jeremy O'Brien, and Alisha Armstrong, do you know who they are?

WLG Base

Jeremy O'Brien - GM Short Haul Airline
Alisha Armstrong - Head of Customer Services

ottiehund

I haven't had occasion to call the 0800 for some time but did today due to a flight schedule change.

Interestingly this was only noticed when I looked at my website bookings to check on another trip, the "contact us" message in red, but when I checked my app the flights were all unchanged from what was booked. Anyway before I called I checked and confirmed the international flight departure had changed and my domestic no longer connected.

I called 0800 and the first agent (with a very strong Indian accent) told me firstly that my flights had been cancelled and he would book me another day "does that suit". I said it didn't and from what I can see the flights hadn't been cancelled but simply rescheduled. "What do you want me to do" was his reply - he simply had no idea, and he told me I didnt need to do anything and that 50 min was sufficient time to disembark the domestic at Auckland, get from domestic to international, navigate immigration formalities etc and get to the departing flight. I queried this and again he just replied "What do you want me to do?".

This guy was SIMPLY HOPELESS, he had a basic misunderstanding of the problem or how to fix a schedule change, and isn't that about as basic a task as a call centre agent might expect to be able to deal with??

I thanked him and hung up and called again and another agent (Stella) understood the issue. She took a while, and I did need to suggest connecting flight options to her, but she did help me and fixed the problem by changing our domestic flights to an earlier departure so they connected with the rescheduled international flight.

Long story short - apart from the palava now to get through to an operator which in itself (I agree with the OP) is painful, this was one of the worst experiences I have had with the 0800 line with a completely clueless agent on the other end the first time.

What has happened to the callback option?

nzkarit

When the queue length is static or shrinking callback is offered. When the queue length is over X time or growing in length it is not offered, as the callback will make things worse. This is standard setup for queue management.

Eltham

Interesting how you link competence with race and accent.

ottiehund

Actually Eltham, you made have made a link that I didn't.

I mentioned his accent as I found him very very difficult to understand (and for what it is worth I am used to dealing with Asian cultures). It certainly did not help the call overall but was not the crux of the issue.

The question of competence, which is the point of my message, was the complete lack of any ability to deal with a simple rescheduling event.

Eltham

I don’t know what all the fuss is about…. I called at around 9.30am and got straight through to a real person after entering my details. I had an issue with non recredit of RUs after a cancellation. She put me on hold, got a colleague to fix it. Total call time < 5 mins. And to top it off, both RUs confirmed immediately on the new flights AKL-LAX and YVR-AKL in Oct. I should buy a Lotto ticket….

akl_cat

I don't think there is any contention, as with any other call centre, that the Air NZ's one also has a wild mix of experience, attitude, and competency levels.

My wife + baby and I are booked on separate PNRs. My wife could select the bassinet seat no problem as the infant is linked to her PNR. I had to call in to be seated next to her. The first agent was categorical that this could not be done, and told me "it is against laws and regulations for us to seat an adult without an infant in the bassinet row". This is despite him linking our two PNRs together a minute earlier. I almost lost it as it was more of a attitude issue than a competency one. Instead of escalating, I simply said thank you and ended the call, and dialed back again. This time I got another agent who had been there a while. I knew that because she said "oh it's been awhile since I had to do one of these so please let me find out how I can do it". And after holding for 5 min or so she seated me without any issue.

The trick is, as coined by the UA forum, HUCA (hang-up, call again).