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-   -   Unhappy first First experience - how long to wait for a reply from Customer Relations (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club/1982900-unhappy-first-first-experience-how-long-wait-reply-customer-relations.html)

GetawayGertie Aug 14, 2019 12:08 am

Unhappy first First experience - how long to wait for a reply from Customer Relations
 
I travelled First for the first time last Saturday on a longhaul from LHR but unfortunately not everything went well. There was an issue with a broken IFE system that never did get resolved. Unfortunately, this was made far worse by the attitude of the CSD, who I found to be dismissive, unsympathetic and - worst of all - patronising. I may be a female past retirement age but I spent my career teaching people how to use complex IT systems and didn't need a 'Janet and John' walk through of how to use the system when it was quite clearly broken!

I told the CSD I didn't consider his approach or his proposed recompense satisfactory and I asked for the issue to be raised with Customer Relations. Of course, I don't know what the CSD's report said but will hazard a guess that it didn't include the feedback I gave him! I received an automated acknowledgement the next day (and added an additional information note to say I wanted to speak with someone) but haven't heard a peep since.

So - a question please to this very helpful forum - how long should I expect to wait for a response? I am only a humble Silver, but have been for many years.

Aviator11 Aug 14, 2019 12:52 am

If you've left it to the CSD to raise it with Customer Relations, you can be sure it's not going to happen.

LTN Phobia Aug 14, 2019 12:57 am

I'd suggest allowing up to 2-3 weeks for BA to respond.
You mentioned that you have received an automated response, so it means it has been registered on their system.

DYKWIA Aug 14, 2019 12:58 am


Originally Posted by Aviator11 (Post 31414131)
If you've left it to the CSD to raise it with Customer Relations, you can be sure it's not going to happen.

Well, it seems he did as the OP has received an acknowledgement...

babats Aug 14, 2019 1:06 am


Originally Posted by GetawayGertie (Post 31414055)
proposed recompense

So what was this? Knowing this might solicit responses regarding whether CR will offer you a better deal.

ens100 Aug 14, 2019 1:07 am


Originally Posted by GetawayGertie (Post 31414055)
I travelled First for the first time last Saturday on a longhaul from LHR but unfortunately not everything went well. There was an issue with a broken IFE system that never did get resolved. Unfortunately, this was made far worse by the attitude of the CSD, who I found to be dismissive, unsympathetic and - worst of all - patronising. I may be a female past retirement age but I spent my career teaching people how to use complex IT systems and didn't need a 'Janet and John' walk through of how to use the system when it was quite clearly broken!

I told the CSD I didn't consider his approach or his proposed recompense satisfactory and I asked for the issue to be raised with Customer Relations. Of course, I don't know what the CSD's report said but will hazard a guess that it didn't include the feedback I gave him! I received an automated acknowledgement the next day (and added an additional information note to say I wanted to speak with someone) but haven't heard a peep since.

So - a question please to this very helpful forum - how long should I expect to wait for a response? I am only a humble Silver, but have been for many years.

Hello Gertie, and first of all, Welcome!.

What a shame to hear that your first First experience did not go as planned. Even more frustrating I am sure was the CSD's reaction - sometimes it baffles me as to how common sense and general good manners are lacking in customer facing roles. In relation to your issue, personally I have found that a quick post on Twitter to the British Airways feed with a mention of a bad experience will generate a near immediate response (from a real person, not a Bot). You can then be guided to provide more information and try to get this resolved as soon as possible. No harm attacking this issue on two fronts.

Hope you get a good response from BA and are not put off flying First / BA again.

corporate-wage-slave Aug 14, 2019 1:09 am

Welcome to Flyertalk GetawayGertie, and welcome to the BA Forum as well. It's good to see you here, though the circumstances are less impressive. I hope this gets resolved, but condescension to older people is unfortunately so endemic that I'm not sure that is going anywhere soon. On a personal level I catch myself doing it too, though I strive to be different.

There are a few specifics which aren't clear from your post. Was the IFE completely down (on some systems there is a limited service loop)? Was there another seat with a working IFE in First? And did the CSD offer you 16,500 or 20,000 Avios on their iPad? The offer is intended to provide a swift remediation beyond that of Customer Relations, and is supposedly pitched at the top end of what CR would offer.

I'd agree with others to leave it a few weeks, given 4 bad irrop days in the last 2 weeks, CR must be overwhelmed at the moment. If you do want to chase it up thereafter you have two options, one is to call CR in the UK afternoon office hours; the alternative is to email YouFirst and ask them to chase it. And yes, Twitter is another approach too, you'll have to do a DM on it and someone from the Social Media Team will follow up within a day or two.

bedasaka Aug 14, 2019 1:19 am

You learn something new every day
 
what is 'you first' and how does one contact them?

Aviator11 Aug 14, 2019 1:19 am


Originally Posted by DYKWIA (Post 31414144)
Well, it seems he did as the OP has received an acknowledgement...

My bad

corporate-wage-slave Aug 14, 2019 1:20 am


Originally Posted by bedasaka (Post 31414180)
what is 'you first' and how does one contact them?

YouFirst is a department based in Manchester that looks after those booked in First. If you have a First booking, you should get the email address of the team in both the preflight email and also in Manage My Booking. UK based bookings also get a telephone number they can used.

andymcdonnell Aug 14, 2019 2:10 am

As ens100 above says, I had a less than stellar First experience earlier this year. Contacted BA via twitter and got a phone call within 48 hours

Can I help you Aug 14, 2019 2:15 am

The fact that you received an auto response the next day means that the CSD did complete the required proactive customer service form, they would have offered you the compensation level from a grid which you say you were not happy with. The form asks if this offer is acceptable to the customer or if Customer Relations have to contact the customer to offer resolution which is what has happened in your case.
You will be contacted by CR but this depends on how busy they are, baring in mind the IT issues last week it may take a little longer but please be assured you will be contacted.
Without knowing the situation I cannot say if you were offered the correct level of compensation, my first question is were there is other seats available in the cabin?


GetawayGertie Aug 14, 2019 2:19 am

Thank you corporate-wage-slave. The IFE wasn't completely down, it worked initially when I watched a film (although with much struggling to access it, the controller was very, very erratic and the touchscreen didn't work). When I tried to watch TV, I got either random selections on the controller or a list of gibberish instead of programme names. The only vacant seat had the same problem. They rebooted the system for both seats without any improvement. I finally got a TV programme showing on my screen by interrupting my husband's viewing to count through the options on his programme list to something I wanted to see (yes really!) and then choosing the gibberish that was in the right place on mine; but then the screen kept flashing up the control bar along the bottom every 20-30 seconds and interrupting the picture. I gave up at that point.

The CSD first said "what do you want me to do?" I said perhaps some Avios - he offered 5,000 which I didn't think was satisfactory. From memory, that was when the condescending explanations began. He came back a few minutes later and offered 10,000 but by that point I'd had enough of his attitude, to be honest.

Sounds like a call to YouFirst might be my next step. I don't want to be unreasonable but I do think it was handled very badly.

GetawayGertie Aug 14, 2019 2:21 am

Thanks for the replay babats. Please see below above and forgive me if I've done this wrong, I'm new to the forum!

(Edited as I now see where my previous post appeared)

Can I help you Aug 14, 2019 2:27 am

I sorry to hear about the CSDs attitude, I would have been offering you more compensation than he offered, you may also get extra now because of the way he mishandled this.


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