EK Customer Service Rant
 

Hey y'all.. (Major Rant ahead)

Sorry been lurking for a while now. This may be an exception to what all of you have faced. I applied for a Status match from DL (Plat) to EK (Silver) month and a half ago and I didn't get a response from EK Customer Service until after I sent them 3 emails using their Contact Us page. I got Silver but I actually flew and accrued the Tier Miles. I'm not complaining about that, because I know EK is not obligated to provide me with their Elite status match. It is just that no one bothered to inform me whether or not my request was being processed/approved/denied. I'd have understood if they denied my request, but zilch.

Next is a request to change my name to match my SPG account so I can earn Starpoints on flights (Now who doesn't want that, correct?). The first time I submitted my request the guy swapped my first and last names. The second time they added my middle name to my last name. The third time I called a live agent and asked her to change it, which I thought she did but apparently not. I gave EK an earful on their Contact Us page on why is it so hard for me to change my Skywards Account name, not my travel details. With Delta, honestly took me less than 5 minutes to match my name to SPG.

Which brings me to the third strike, they didn't credit my miles for two weeks after my trip. 10 business days after trip completion and almost month and a half after my onward flight. I was given the standard response, your name didn't match our records. Why would it, when they had my first and last names swapped?

So, really am thinking if I should be loyal to EK when my customer service experience with DL was far superior. I got to be honest, the EK pre-flight, in-flight and post-flight experience is above the charts, but I am really frustrated to deal with back office customer service reps for every single thing.

Minor rant: The website is so annoying, I have to verify CAPTCHA everytime I login/submit a request. It's also very sluggish to access from East Coast of US.

Am I asking for too much? I don't think I'm entitled to anything.. But I just don't feel that EK values my opinion/business.

Won't go into too much of the above trying to be an apologist, but I do recommend you call in general, EK is excellent in the phone and terrible on e-mail.

When the name on the account matches it's pretty instant credits (few hours after arrival of a segment). The source of your issues seems to be that.

SPG earnings aren't that great from EK, so Not sure if it's worth the hassle. if you're SPG (like I am) you get 2 points per USD spent at EK I think. Doesn't add up to much, but then I buy Y fares...

Hmm.. Will try calling them again, really don't want to let one bad experience ruin a lifetime of happy flying!

The reason is I get Starpoints for every $ I spend on EK flights. I usually buy J-Flex fares so that's a lot of Starpoints.. And I think Starpoints are a good currency to accumulate (at least till end of 2017) so we can trade them for miles/stays later.

I also find the website sluggish, quick to tell you that your password wrong then takes 20-50 seconds to load and a further 20-50 to get to the account page. It happens everywhere I go, I even gave up this morning !

​​​​​​It is slow, but it has improved. Now if you forget the captcha image it doesn't clear the password so one doesn't have to re-type it (they had done this before but then went back to clearing it when they changed the login form design). I also find overall load times a little better, but still slow.

While the CSRs still botched your requests, you're bound to be disappointed if comparing a Delta Plat telephone CSR (the most experienced of the bunch). US telephone customer service, especially at the higher end for Elites, remains way ahead of their global counterparts. Add to that language and cultural differences and you're bound to be disappointed.

Of note: for small tasks (PNR notes/inquiries, chauffeur drive bookings, etc), if find that the EK twitter team (@emiratesupport) is pretty responsive and efficient.

I also find the SPG points to be a nice freebie bonus on my EK ticket spend. It's also a nifty (though depressing) way to track how much I spend on EK tickets. It does take 2-3 weeks to post, however.

I agree.. I just didn't want to come off as an entitled prick. All I'm asking for is my points, give me my points and miles and I won't complain about anything..
;)

Everytime I had a complaint about Delta, I got 20,000 RDMs.. I'd have loved MQMs but I'll take what I get. Not sure if EK would shut me up with some miles? Maybe I'm used to being the squeaky wheel, because of DL?

Either ways, their CSR over email suck! In a perfect world, I'd have DL's Elite CSRs and EK's hard and soft product! IF only that was possible...

EK are quite stingy with miles, 20k especially is for quite a serious issue.

Doesn't mine qualify as a serious issue? :p

Whose was the initial error - yours or EKs? ;)

Theirs, clearly.. My email read like this

Please update my Skywards account as follows:

First Name: Glass
Last Name: Man
Middle Name: 36

They did this.. Glass36 ...:rolleyes:

With all due respect, they may have been confused by the number as a name ;)

I meant before any emails. On sign up to each scheme, Skywards and SPG Starpoints, what combination of names were used.