George K

Hey folks,
I’ve had quite a long phone call with the Silver line earlier today in which I asked to have an infant added to the household account (fairly straightforward) and then book an RFS for two adults and the aforementioned new member of the family to the south of France.

Adding the baby went fine, but trouble began during the booking process. At first the agent advised me that the kid’s middle name could not be added to the booking so he just used an initial (him saying that he’d add a note to the booking and with this being a European flight, I wasn’t particularly concerned.. at the beginning).

Then after confirming the flights for 3 economy [peak outbound, off-peak inbound] tickets, he quoted me Ł45 for the taxes and a number of avios, before asking for a credit card number. I kindly asked whether the price was correct, as I was expecting more along the lines of Ł80. He said that Ł45 was the right price but I asked him to double-check once again. He then apologised and agreed that the correct figure was Ł80, alongside 18850 avios.

Again, I asked him to make sure that the avios figure was correct – having done a rough calculation myself before I called, I came up with 17850, so was keen to find out why he was quoting 1k avios more. He told me that the number was indeed correct so I proceeded to break down my calculation (8500 per adult ticket, and 10% of that for the baby). He apologised once again and admitted that my figure was the correct one.

At that point, I became concerned about every other aspect of the trip. If the two things that are fairly automated (calculating RFS price) were being quoted so wildly incorrectly, I was worried that other bits would not have be done properly too. I asked to proceed with the booking with the proviso that as soon as I get the confirmation, I will be able to make amendments with no trouble should I spot anything wrong. He agreed and also opened up a complaint (on the basis of the two incorrect prices I was quoted).

12 hours later, I still have yet to receive an email confirmation of the flights and the booking does not appear on my account ( I stupidly forgot to ask for a confirmation number over the phone). The money has been drawn from the card, BUT, according to ‘My Recent Transations’ on BA.com, 17158 avios have been deducted (as opposed to 17850).

So once again, this appears to be a mistake. [EDIT: This indeed is because the rest was drawn from the other member of the household account]

The Silver line is closed now so will be calling tomorrow, but wanted to get a sounding from the good people of this board, as to whether I’ve been particularly unlucky with this agent, or whether this is the standard that I should have expected (and whether I should have done anything differently . I was perfectly willing to book the RFS online, but the agent advised me that it’d be best to do it over the phone.

Thoughts welcome!

Starship73

George K

Good thinking - indeed it is! As a new household account holder, I completely forgot about that...

darthlemsip

Flexible preferences

Well my thoughts are he pro-actively offered to open up a complaint...about himself - and you didn't disagree. Sounds a little tense.

Jed

George K

Only as tense as asking someone - politely but repeatedly - to double-check everything so we can finally get to the right amount in the end. Overall during the hour-long call, the guy was perfectly pleasant but he did keep getting things wrong, and can't help but wonder what would have happened if we went ahead with the original erroneous totals.

I'm more concerned about the absence of the booking at this point than whether I'll pursue the complaint or not. Is it normal after a phone booking for the confirmation to take this long to arrive?

PS: I went back to RFS online to see if the reward seats are still available, and it looks like they are not - so I'm taking this as a good sign!

Flexible preferences

If the complaint is opened then it will proceed, as far as I can see it won't matter whether you'll pursue it or not

It does sound like a long time, and the errors are unfortunate (although one of them was not an error and down to you misunderstanding how Avios are deducted in a household account), but I think if a pleasant agent had asked me whether I would like him to open up a complaint about him, despite my frustrations, I would have declined. I may be wrong about that, and we all can have different (and valid) approaches, but that would have been my decision.

George K

What I meant is that I'm more concerned about getting a booking confirmation, than hearing the outcome of the complaint process. But I do take your point.

navylad

HIDDY

Might be worth checking the email account associated with the other member of the HHA.

George K

Another good idea - and one that unlocked the puzzle.

Upon checking my wife's account, turns out, that while I am on the booking, there is no EC number associated with me, or any other additional details (hence I never got an email). Furthermore, the child's middle initial has been pasted in as the last letter of his first name (!) which I'm pretty sure is NOT ok as his first name now no longer matches with his passport.

I sense an even longer phonecall tomorrow...

Many thanks for all your suggestions. I wouldn't have gotten there myself.

Infinite Possibilities

George K

Thanks for this - I have to say this is all quite new for me so any assurances are appreciated. The agent spent a long time on the phone trying to add his middle name properly, to no avail. I'm more concerned about overzealous border officers inside and outside the UK, than the airline denying us travel.

HIDDY

I think you're sweating over details that aren't that important.

Yes the agent might have come over to you as being incompetent however he may have been new to the job.