Inconsistent Customer Service - Going back on what they promised
 

As a constant defender of BA even I am now getting frustrated at the constant back and forth with customer service and them saying one thing and doing another.....

On the 13/06 I received the following email:

Dear Mr Gomac

Thank you for contacting us. I am very sorry that you had to endure such inconvenience during the recent disruption to our service.

I would like to assure you that your membership will be renewed at Gold and your new expiry date will be available for you to see on ba.com shortly.

Until you receive your new card, you can order a digital copy of your membership card on ba.com or the BA mobile app. The digital card is just like a plastic card – it has your name, membership number and card year expiry date but there’s no need to carry it with you. It still allows you take advantage of your membership benefits while you're at the airport.

I would like to thank you for your continued custom and hope that our gesture of goodwill in some way assures you of our commitment to continue to serve you in the future.

Best regards

British Airways Executive Club

And then this morning I receive this email.....

Dear Mr Gomac

Thank you for contacting us again about your Executive Club account.

We recently wrote to you regarding the gesture of goodwill offered to those members disrupted during our recent problems from 27 to 29 May 2017.

Having checked our records again, I'm afraid you are not eligible to receive this gesture of good will, as this is reserved for those members most heavily affected.

Please accept my apologies for the incorrect information given to you previously and for adding to an already frustrating experience. However, please do contact our customer relations teams about any compensation you may be due.

Once again, please accept my apologies and thank you for your continued loyalty and support.

I know this is not the answer you were hoping for, but if there is anything else you would like help with, please feel free to contact me using the link below

Best regards

British Airways Executive Club

Being promised one thing and then doing another seems to be a theme now with BA, another example in December my Flight EDI-LCY was cancelled due to bad weather, I was told at the airport check-in to take the train and get it refunded and hotels in EDI that night were £200-300 so I did what was advised only to be told by customer service that unless I had that promise in writing they couldn't refund me.

That's crazy! Have you lost out at all by them reneging on their status promise?

Absolute tosh! A friend was on a GLA-LHR on the Monday - Reward Flight - left 20 mins late - he got the two year extension. This is unacceptable

Over promise and under deliver. A new era in customer service!

I have already renewed Gold for another year, current expiry 08/18 so there is a bit of time to sort this if they are willing.

Sorry, it's a bit unclear - were you affected by the big IT-issue or is this related to something else?

Regardless, I think they should stand by their word.

Only twitter has the answer .....


cs

Unbelievable that you would risk alienating a customer over something that was your error in the first place.

Even if you accept the OP was not entitled to the gesture, the cost of allowing it to stand are very small.

Very short sighted by BA

Yes I was affected, but almost certainly not as heavily as others. Booked on Saturday morning LHR-NCL for Sunday but then the IT problems started to cause problems as I received an error message at booking confirmation and said that it hadn't gone through although I could see the money on the Amex taken. After an hour I had not received an email confirmation so called the Gold line and this is when things were just starting to get bad with all the IT issues. They said I didn't have a booking and the money would be released back on to the card and to try again when the systems are back up and running. At this point it didn't look like anything was going out on BA for some time so I cancelled my plans and left it. Lone behold in the early hours of Sunday morning I received a booking confirmation saying I was booked, I couldn't travel anymore so I called up to cancel my booking which they did free of charge to be fair. A day later I receive an email from Alex Cruz apologising that I was caught up in the IT mess.

It was twitter I first contacted to see if I was eligible and they passed it on to the Executive Club team.

So you contact CS who offer you some service recovery, they then withdraw that service recovery, then tell you to contact CS for compensation you may be due.

Thats almost as good as the customer who got told the seat was complimentary.....

So were you ever at the airport during the chaos, or the booking was just cancelled and refunded? If you were at the airport and flight was cancelled, I don't see how they wouldn't give it to you. If it was just a cancelled ticket, I can see why they are less keen...

I never went to the airport but I feel the bottom line is that I was unable to take a flight I booked, which was directly caused by their IT issues.

Winners and Losers
 

An example would be: self check in hbo, spend 3 hours in first lounge with all the perks, exit and take the train. Claim fares back, get Eu compensation and be rewarded with Gold until 2020. Some would say the best use of 4000 Avios ever.

Do you think it could be human error that you were sent this email in the first place? It doesn't really look like you've suffered any disruption.