Should I take my complaint further?
Nov 17, 2018, 1:27 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2016
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 343
Should I take my complaint further?
I am looking for some collective wisdom from FT. I am furious at the pathetic non-response which I have received from customer services. When I complained, I was only really expecting the usual cut and paste reply, with sorry, thank you for being a silver member etc. and perhaps a few avios. What I received was a summary of what I had told them with a “we should have done better” sentence and that was it. No explanation, no suggestion that the staff member would be contacted and no remedy.
The complaint related to the service I received from YouFirst. I needed to call to book the return of a 241 whilst we were on safari. So I duly got up in the middle of the night and called. Only I had miscalculated and was a day too early (no Internet access to check). However, the man in the Indian call centre very helpfully told me that he would book the seats for me the following night and call me back. I therefore spent a further few minutes on the call ensuring that he knew which flight and cabin I wanted. He agreed to call me back at 6am local time, to save interrupting my sleep again. As I had heard on FT about this happening, I was relaxed about it and went to bed happy in the knowledge that he would grab the seats for me and I did not get up again at 2am. However 6am came and went - there was no phone call. So I rang back and asked for the extension that he had helpfully given me. The problem? He was not at work that day, so no seats had been booked. Luckily it is a destination with two flights a day, so I was able to get a return, but not for my preferred flight or cabin. Why bother going through the motions with me, if he knew that he would not be able to do the task?
I think my main annoyance at BAs reply is firstly that YouFirst is supposed to service the companies’ highest value customers and therefore one would expect far better service from them and secondly that they wouldn’t even offer a few avios, or indeed refund the extrortinate cost of my telephone call whilst roaming as “this is not covered in our policy guidelines”
What do you think?
The complaint related to the service I received from YouFirst. I needed to call to book the return of a 241 whilst we were on safari. So I duly got up in the middle of the night and called. Only I had miscalculated and was a day too early (no Internet access to check). However, the man in the Indian call centre very helpfully told me that he would book the seats for me the following night and call me back. I therefore spent a further few minutes on the call ensuring that he knew which flight and cabin I wanted. He agreed to call me back at 6am local time, to save interrupting my sleep again. As I had heard on FT about this happening, I was relaxed about it and went to bed happy in the knowledge that he would grab the seats for me and I did not get up again at 2am. However 6am came and went - there was no phone call. So I rang back and asked for the extension that he had helpfully given me. The problem? He was not at work that day, so no seats had been booked. Luckily it is a destination with two flights a day, so I was able to get a return, but not for my preferred flight or cabin. Why bother going through the motions with me, if he knew that he would not be able to do the task?
I think my main annoyance at BAs reply is firstly that YouFirst is supposed to service the companies’ highest value customers and therefore one would expect far better service from them and secondly that they wouldn’t even offer a few avios, or indeed refund the extrortinate cost of my telephone call whilst roaming as “this is not covered in our policy guidelines”
What do you think?
Nov 17, 2018, 1:40 pm
#4
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: Hertfordshire
Programs: BA Gold, Accor Diamond, IHG Diamond
Posts: 553
I’ve had similar promises about call backs in the past and they’ve never materialised. It’s extremely poor customer service, but perhaps a bit of a life lesson that despite what they say, call centres all over the land tend to be pretty woeful at calling you back.
I wouldn’t expect any avios. They didn’t screw up a booking or anything. You were trying to take advantage of an offer which caused you to incur roaming call charges. You knew this before you set out on your trip and to avoid the hassle/charges you could very well have made a revenue booking prior to travelling.
Apologies for sounding unsympathetic, but as soon as you get put through to an outsourced lowest common denominator call centre, expect lowest common denominator service.
I wouldn’t expect any avios. They didn’t screw up a booking or anything. You were trying to take advantage of an offer which caused you to incur roaming call charges. You knew this before you set out on your trip and to avoid the hassle/charges you could very well have made a revenue booking prior to travelling.
Apologies for sounding unsympathetic, but as soon as you get put through to an outsourced lowest common denominator call centre, expect lowest common denominator service.
Nov 17, 2018, 2:05 pm
#8
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2016
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 343
If i wasn’t on FT, I would not have relied on him calling back and this was my error....I won’t make the same mistake again!
Nov 17, 2018, 2:21 pm
#9
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: South East, UK
Programs: BA Gold / GfL, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 2,432
Nov 17, 2018, 2:35 pm
#10
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Brighton. UK
Programs: BA Gold / VS /IHG Diamond & Ambassador
Posts: 14,196
I think my main annoyance at BAs reply is firstly that YouFirst is supposed to service the companies’ highest value customers and therefore one would expect far better service from them and secondly that they wouldn’t even offer a few avios, or indeed refund the extrortinate cost of my telephone call whilst roaming as “this is not covered in our policy guidelines”
What do you think?
I'm afraid that a Silver with an F redemption comes relatively low in the pecking order of passengers that BA feels have any value to it.
Should the agent have done what they said they should then yes they should but people are human and forget to do things or get diverted with other tasks.
Nov 17, 2018, 2:50 pm
#11
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: DCA
Programs: UA US CO AA DL FL
Posts: 50,262
Of course BA ought to have done better and of course none of this ought to have required a phone call in the first place and of course BA's own IT ought to have permitted the phone agent to have made the entries and have them take effect at the specified time and of course the same IT ought to have sent you an automated message that this had all been done.
But, you've made your complaint and that's all that matters. The phone agent has either been terminated or not (and BA won't tell you what happened if he was), so a gushing further response won't change what does or does not happen.
Asking to have the cost of the call reimbursed is not going to happen. Not worth the value of the bandwidth used to send an email to that effect.
But, you've made your complaint and that's all that matters. The phone agent has either been terminated or not (and BA won't tell you what happened if he was), so a gushing further response won't change what does or does not happen.
Asking to have the cost of the call reimbursed is not going to happen. Not worth the value of the bandwidth used to send an email to that effect.
Nov 17, 2018, 3:09 pm
#12
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Cumbria
Programs: BAEC GGL/CCR, Hilton Diamond, Starbucks Gold
Posts: 4,510
Of course BA ought to have done better and of course none of this ought to have required a phone call in the first place and of course BA's own IT ought to have permitted the phone agent to have made the entries and have them take effect at the specified time and of course the same IT ought to have sent you an automated message that this had all been done.
But, you've made your complaint and that's all that matters. The phone agent has either been terminated or not (and BA won't tell you what happened if he was), so a gushing further response won't change what does or does not happen.
Asking to have the cost of the call reimbursed is not going to happen. Not worth the value of the bandwidth used to send an email to that effect.
But, you've made your complaint and that's all that matters. The phone agent has either been terminated or not (and BA won't tell you what happened if he was), so a gushing further response won't change what does or does not happen.
Asking to have the cost of the call reimbursed is not going to happen. Not worth the value of the bandwidth used to send an email to that effect.
Ok, can I request two J seats to SYD on 20/12/2023?
Sorry but this is unreasonable. There is a clear system and you can choose to follow that or not.
As for OP seeing themselves as a high value customer... they are silver. Certainly not a lot of value there. However, I agree that if an agent agrees to call you back then that is what they should do. Not calling back is not acceptable.
Nov 17, 2018, 3:16 pm
#15
Moderator: British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: TPA/ABZ
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold. GGL/CCR.
Posts: 13,248
You made a complaint and you received a response saying that they should have done better which sounds a lot like an apology to me. I'd suggest you leave it at that.