FlyingTed

Hi, I had absolutely abysmal service in BA’s Concorde Room before my (cash) first flight.

I wanted to put in a complaint regarding the service (only in relation to a single member of staff) but was wondering, what can I actually expect as a result of my complaint? I don’t want a cut and paste “sorry, we’ll try to do better next time” where nothing actually is investigated.

Issues included:
My girlfriend and I being completely ignored whilst the table directly in front of us and the table directly beside us were proactively waited on, cleared, and prepared again, all whilst we’re trying to get her attention to serve us (with empty glasses sat on our table for well over 2 hours).
Getting up and going directly to the waiter in question and asking, “excuse me, could you come to our table and take our order please?”, only to be met with a blunt “what you want?” and refusal to come to the table to take the order.
Then after the table was cleared (whilst we had gone to duty free), my girlfriend got up and asked for new menus (as no chance they were coming to ask us if we wanted anything) then being sat at the table for over an hour with menus and the waiter deliberately not bothering to take our order, yet asks tables directly next to us again if they’d like anything.

We weren’t rude whatsoever (quite the opposite!), and we were very polite and said thank you the first time she brought out our order (which we placed with the staff member who initially sat us down). I genuinely have no clue what she seemingly had against us, unless it was resentment for the fact that we’re young and flying first, which doesn’t make any sense for somebody working in the Concorde Room!!

We could not have felt any more unwelcome and it totally ruined our very first experience of BA’s First.

Best regards,
Ted

armouredant

Reserving my judgement for now, but where in the CCR were you sitting?

ThatT1Feeling

… and can I ask was this today?

FlyingTed

The table in the corner of the terrace directly in front of Concorde’s nose. Funny enough directly facing the waiter’s little bar area thing.

Wasn’t today, was just over a week ago - just got back from holiday and unpacked so before complaining thought I’d ask on here whether I can expect somebody to actually look into this rather than a promise to improve that isn’t followed up.

1Aturnleft

It's frustrating from my perspective as to why you chose not to escalate this as the bad service was unfolding. I know you flagged the waiting staff in question but with the response received clearly not hitting the mark, you've chosen to continue with it without raising the issue there and then.
Perhaps that comes with age but if I'm under the impression I'm getting an off service, I tend to flag it in the moment to the appropriate manager/supervisor and not in the days that follow to a web forum.

DXB2745

whenever someone has to state this, in my opinion and experience, it is always not 100% true but anyway.

you just sat at the table for one hour waiting? And did nothing?

email BA if you feel strongly and you’ll get some Avios. I think you actually want something along the lines of “we’ve identified the staff member and they’ve been disciplined/dismissed etc etc etc” and the intricacies of an investigation. Yeah - you’re not gonna get that.

wrp96

Welcome to FT. I'm sorry such treatment brought you here. There are some extremely helpful folks here that hopefully will be able to advise. FYI, as a new poster you have a 5 post limit within the first 24 hours. Just so you are aware as you are getting close.

FlyingTed

Simply put - I don’t like making a scene, especially not in front of other passengers. Had the CCR been completely empty, I may have, but I don’t like making a scene in front of others.

1Aturnleft

Who said anything about making a scene?
I'm of a similar disposition and find a quiet word off to one side can work wonders with the relevant individuals. Invariably those who insist the need to shout and create a scene generally says more about them than the situation being addressed.

FlyingTed

And to be honest, I’d probably agree with you on that opinion. But I know myself that I was very polite. It wasn’t too long ago that I worked in hospitality myself, so I know how much a really polite customer can improve your day, so I always like to treat others how I would want to be treated in their shoes.

No, I didn’t just sit and wait at the table for an hour, we had an hour until we needed to head to our flight so I sat and spoke with my girlfriend the entire time, putting aside the bad service and instead looking forward to our holiday.

I certainly would NOT want them dismissed, my experience alone doesn’t warrant that and I’d feel very bad if they left their job due to the complaint. I’d just like it looked into and addressed - why was the service below par? And what can they do to ensure it doesn’t happen to other passengers?

and 1Aturnleft that may be your experience, but my experience flagging it to a manager has been asking the person who I want to complain about if I could speak to their manager (very awkward to ask) and then the manager coming to whatever table I’m at and speaking with me (again, awkward when it’s in front of people). I simply don’t like confrontation or (in my opinion) making a scene.

I’m not flagging it on this forum as you put it, because you guys aren’t BA so what would I achieve complaining to you? What I’m trying to do is ask for advice and to see whether I should bother writing a complaint because there’s no point doing so if all it would achieve is being fobbed off with a cut and paste “Sorry, we’ll do better next time. Thanks for choosing us!”.

wrp96 I didn’t know about the post limit, thank you for informing me.

crazy8534

I can understand that, it does sound like you had a very poor experience. I think you are now in the situation where the best thing to do would be to make a complaint via You First. I can’t guarantee an outcome that you would find acceptable to make up for the experience but at least you would get to tell your story in full.

No criticism of you whatsoever, and if you say you were polite I am sure that is true, but one thing I have felt in general with gradual accumulation of experience is that on occasion you must make yourself heard in clear and frank terms. For me that would have been a request to speak to the duty lounges manager and then a pointed explanation of the aspects that were unsatisfactory. It allows you to get it off your chest and it also allows them a chance to make things right.

I spend a bit of time in the CCR, not nearly as much as some on here, and I find the staff usually polite and capable, but there is no doubt that anyone can have a bad day. Again, not defending what happened but being generous there are a significant number of CCR users who wish to be left alone most of the time, and it is possible there was some kind of misunderstanding.

layz

Sounds like my first visit to the CCR (2009), since then I go around 1-2 times a year and have had good service. In my case I think the issue was I went into the dining room, hadn't seen the please wait to be seated sign and just took a seat. This meant everyone thought I was someone else's problem.

So I'd say it's worth giving the feedback, don't expect much if you're the only person who's complained, but if other people have reported similar then I'd hope they'd investigate.

Have you been to other First Class lounges? For example the Air France La Premiere lounge in CDG basically hand holds you all the way. You don't have to think of anything there, someone keeps you up to date with the flight and then drives you to the plane when boarding is due. If you had something like that before I can see how your expectations were dashed. Even if BA wanted to (and they probably don't) they'd not be able to offer that level of service as BA has a lot more first class routes than AF does and also they have CCR/Prem using the lounge.

In my experience the indoor dining area is the best place for food, but I was on the terrace in July and it was fine then.

ThatT1Feeling

The reason I asked if it was today is that I was in the CCR this morning and there were maybe 4 members of staff I hadn't seen before in the lounge.

There was a good mix of experienced staff who recognised me and said hello including one lady who is normally in the F lounge rather than the CCR. They were mentoring some of the new team members but the service seemed to be generally quick and efficient despite this.

I wonder if there is a larger group of new staff who need more experience and / or training at the moment?

The staff of course would not have known whether you were travelling on a cash F ticket or were a GGL member on the cheapest Avios redemption - but I appreciate it makes it even more galling if you have paid a lot of hard earned cash for a service that sounds very under-par.

As an FYI the lounge staff aren’t BA employees which shouldn’t matter but it’s not a direct relationship that BA has with the CCR team and they’re lucky that there are a few highly dedicated staff that normally makes sure it works as it should.

If it helps, I was completely ignored by the cabin crew on my flight this morning despite others getting a Gold greeting and another passenger being moved to club once boarding complete. And I had showered and everything this morning. Sometimes it just happens like that and it probably and hopefully isn't intentional at all.

JapesUK

Makes it sound like a rare occurrence, lockdown has a lot to answer for

1Aturnleft

Then perhaps look beyond the person you're wanting to raise complaint against if that is uncomfortable for you by asking someone else???

In relation to your other question which implies you really want this dealt with after all (but only in writing), with the greatest of respect I feel a formal complaint in writing is going to end in further disappointment if you're looking for something more than a stock answer. It's not going to happen.