verve

Just had a unpleasant conversation with a guy from the CPT call center:

Background: I'm working on a award ticket on MH and some segments weren't confirmed so far. In my experience this is quite often the case if you're booking on STC's partners as every segment has to be requested manually.
This guy looked at my booking with the comment "this won't work". So I asked him to try some other flights, as the problematic segments seem to be the ones between SIN and KUL - and there are plenty of flights on that route.

Me: "Could you check some other flights"
Agent: "I don't believe this will work, you already had some very patient people working on this."
Me: "Still I would like you to try again"
Agent: "Could I have your Travel Club number please"
I gave him my number
Agent: "Well Mr. Verve I see you're flying quite often so I will do an exception, usually we only allow 3 requests per booking"
Me: "So I'll need to start the process all over?"
Agent: "I'll make a note for the colleagues in BSL that you already had you're three request concerning this booking"
he added some different flights
Agent: "Please call us back in two hours"
Me:"I would prefer if you would call me, as I will be out of office"
Agent: "We don't do this and besides I'm in CPT"
Me: "The people from BSL usually give me a call or a mail"
Agent: "Yeah, but this won't work anyway..."
Me:"Thanks, have a nice afternoon"

I already dealt with this Agent before - I remembered his name - and then he just hung up on me, because the call queue was to long...

Shall I complain to STC directly - I don't think that is the attitude how LX wants mind pearl to treat their Elite customers? And has anybody ever heard about this rule, that they just do 3 requests per booking?

fernandoswiss

Dear all,

SWISS' callcentre in Cape Town is a nightmare, I often had unpleasant experiences with the personnel there. The agents there are unfriendly and often rude. Besides the fact they they lack good manners, they are also uncapable of carrying out a complex booking.

The personnel there dare to yell at Elite customers over the phone (including Circle - happened to me twice when for some reason they mistakenly thought I was a Circle - treatment was as bad as ever) and to tell us that things are not possible. They usually ignore basic rules and once, the agent asked me to spell out "Geneva" - then she said that she would check whether if SWISS operated any flights between "Geneva" and Zurich ! Shame on SWISS !

I complained twice to the SWISS TC GOLD Customer Services (even non-Gold can call, they aren'r picky) Keep the number, it was hard to obtain:
They weren't much better, they asked for the agent's name and said they'd follow up and send me an email, which needless to say, never came through. They then told me that from now on I should only call 0848856000 during the day so as to speak to an agent in Basel - it usually works. What was surprising is that Customer services did not really do anything, the agents in Cape Town are still there offending elite clients, with total impunity.

You know what? SWISS is not as good as before, service has gone down the drain at a stead pace during the past years, which is a big shame, they lost they place as an elite carrier - Except for SWISS FIRST, which is perfect.

May I suggest that we ppost the name of the rude agents we speak to over the phone on this forum? If I remember well, there used to be a gentlement who worked at STC who posted some messages on this forum, please mister, do something.

Best,

fernandoswiss

Guy Betsy

I've never had but EXCEPTIONALLY good and pleasant service from CPT. Mainly because if one tend to ask nicely.. and perhaps ask them how they are doing might do the trick...

I personally find South Africans one of the most pleasant people to talk with.

verve

I didn't intended to start a discussion on South Africans or any other nationalities in general but wanted to share a very unpleasant experience I had this afternoon.

Btw I consider my manners completely OK and so far had many positive experience with MindPearl's other "destinations" as well as with STC's own Staff in BSL.

airoli

I think it is much more a question of every single agent and his/her personality, seniority, detail knowledge etc. than it is of call center location. I have spoken to some good and some bad people in CPT, just as I have had nice and absolutely awful people in BSL (mostly Alsacian ladies with a thick French accent in both English and German). What I really, really miss is the "dedicated" STC Gold / Circle team, where I knew most of the people by name - most of them were exceptionally friendly, forthcoming and competent.

It goes without saying that saving the money spent on proper call center agent training will backfire eventually... but considering that LX has / will sell MindPearl anyway, they probably don't care anymore...

Edited to add: Never heard of that "3 requests per booking" rule before - I think the agent in question just made that one up. In fact, most of my awards would never have happened with just 3 requests.

airoli

From yesteday's NZZ:Abstract: Swiss sells its call center subsidiary Mindpearl to the company's management.

edwardg

Travel Report

Actually I wasn’t flying yet, but it seemed like I was passing through one of Dante’s hells as I was talking to Swiss International airlines call center. I wanted to book a ticket for my brother and me and because it was a bit complicated, 2 tickets, each with 2 legs, I chose to pay the $20 extra and talk to an agent (but, in Fiji?).

The first conversation started badly. I could barely understand the woman’s English, and she had lots of problems understanding me. I didn´t ask where she was. I already know that Swiss isn´t Swiss. When Swissair collapsed in 2001 the Germans took it over. Anyway, forget about talking to a Swiss or even a German when you call them. It might be Ireland (good), or South Africa (ok) or Fiji (terrible). I had to break off my first call on January 16, because the lady’s English was so bad and she couldn’t answer my questions about clearing immigration in Chicago. I told her several times I wanted to speak to her supervisor. “No, she’s too busy.” After eighteen minutes of pure frustration, I decided to hang up, call back and begin my booking anew.

Call N.2. This time the woman spoke good English and seemed competent. Where are you?, I asked. Fiji. I got the job done booking and charging the two tickets, even reserved my chosen seats and felt relieved. I would receive an email confirmation and e ticket within an hour, she said. OK, I thought, that wasn´t too bad, that took only 45 minutes. I felt relieved and that I had accomplished something.
For the next hour I repeatedly refreshed my hotmail account expecting to get my e ticket confirmation. Nothing came. I went to sleep that evening under a cloud of dread.
The next day I made call N.3 to Swiss. Six minutes. Why haven’t I received my e ticket confirmations? Oh, it’s good you called us. We forgot to ask you for the security code on the back of your Mastercard and we couldn’t process your ticket. But why didn´t you e mail me, I asked? They hadn’t thought of it. “Well, you’ll have the two confirmations within an hour.”

Yeah? One confirmation came through.

So I made calls N.4 (six minutes) and N.5 (seven minutes). Be patient, Mr. Gasser, our ticketing department is sending it out. You should have it in an hour.

They’d told me that before.

Nothing came through. Calls N.6 and N.7 were spent trying to find out why I hadn´t gotten my confirmation. Meanwhile, I had already spoken with my bank, a friendly and very personal bank serving Midwest corn and soy bean farmers, the First Nat. Bank at Amboy.

The billing for the second ticket finally had been charged to my account, but where were the e ticket and confirmation?

I was really getting exhausted from this ‘chase the rabbit’ game. What the hell has happened to Swiss, and more precisely, their call center staff? Swiss used to be good. Until recently you always got competent call center agents, often European. Now it is positively dismal. Worse than their 3rd world competitors. I often book with Taca Airlines (El Salvador, Central Amer.) and they are quick and friendly and without error.

The fourth day. I make call N.8. My impatience and anger subside. I’m beyond that phase. Now I’m feeling somewhat detached, like I’m watching a YouTube video. Or, this feels like fiction, I find myself thinking. How can such a series of screw-ups happen in a modern, respected business like Swiss? What can happen next?

Indeed.

Why haven’t I received my confirmation, I ask? Oh, Mr. G, we sent it out to you three times. You’ve got it and just overlooked it. Hello?, I said, while I´m speaking to you I´m looking at my hotmail account. It hasn´t come. Please check to see if you´ve spelled my name correctly, and I spelled it. Oh, yes, Mr. G, your name is correct….(long pause)….oh, oh! Well, I said, you’ve found something wrong again, have you? Yes, we typed hotmail.com wrong. You’ll have it immediately. Check your mail. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Inconvenience, indeed.

Dante’s hell.

But at least it’s now over, I think. I can relax and look forward to joining my brother in Switzerland for hikes in the bracing Alps, biking the hilly countryside checkered with cow pastures, eating cheese, chocolates, and lingering over long dinner visits with cousins over kaesekuchen.

I check the billing on the ticket confirmation and it seems too high, so I Iook on the bottom of the e ticket. Swiss Service Charge: $250.00. Oh, god. That’s supposed to be $20.00.

Dante’s hell revisited.

Another call to Swiss. Yes, we’ll correct that immediately, Mr. G. Have a nice flight. No, wait, I want to speak to your supervisor, please. Sorry, that’s not possible. We’re swamped with calls at the moment and she’s busy, but if you want, I can put you on hold, but you might have to wait a long time.

The next day I attempt to alert someone in Swiss management about the deficiencies of their call center but, of course, a passenger can’t speak to anyone. You must send your complaint through their web site and be content with receiving a terse, computer generated robotic response: We take your comments seriously blah, blah…be assured blah, blah…

A couple days later my calm and considered reaction to these events was to first suspect that Swiss put penny pinching ahead of competence and knows that the call center service is terrible. But no, that’s not likely, because Swiss managers are smart enough to realize customers would abandon their air ship with that kind of miserable service.

So, I ventured, the first agent I hung up on during the first call was angry at me (maybe these calls are monitored and she would be chastised for her poor service) and she organized a kind of hazing of me through her colleagues, and one of them after another was screwing up my booking, giving me a complimentary tour of Dante’s hell.

Simple vindictiveness.

No, I concluded. More likely, this is a kind of slave revolt against the colonial bosses. It’s very possible, knowing the inherent conflict between Germanic work ethic and tropical laxness that the Fiji Islands employees are sabotaging the bookings as retaliation against their strict European overseers. (Or am I too generous to think there are European managers down there in Fiji keeping an eye on the shop?)
Have I exited Dante’s Hell for good, or will I revisit it on my flight?

ps—I´m sending this account to Swiss head offices in Basel in hopes that someone will be concerned enough to correct the failures of the call center. But the way airlines are run today what are the chances that a real person will open a real letter from a passenger and react positively?


After 10 days I finally spoke to a Swiss employee in Basel, she said, "Officially Swiss does not have a call center in Fiji." So, what's going on? Was Fiji just a scam and I've lost $3000?

Edwardg
January 21, 2012

Air Rarotonga

Well this info could be correct - meaning there is a call center on Fiji that handles LX calls. Did not know it either...

On 1999 Swissair started to outsourc it's call centers from ZRH and GVA to the company Mindpearl. They operated call centers in BCN, CPT, BNE. As I look at Mindpearls internet site, it's showing that they have new call centers in Fiji and DXB...

Have a look here: www.mindpearl.com

irishguy28

I doubt anyone will read such a long, rambling letter, let alone act on it.

will2288

^

I read a few paragraphs and then realized how long this post was. Repeating Dante's hell doesn't do much for your post.

more4less

+2

more4less

Hi edwardg,

Many of us have debuted in FT with long complaining threads, and in general those do not bring much sympathy or attention. In any case, welcome to FT!

IAN-UK

Sorry your reception here has been less than warm. You have my total sympathy: I have just been through a gruelling series of utility-related calls with an overseas call-centre, so I feel your frustration

I recognise you have dressed your story to make it entertaining, but I suggest you formulate any complaint to SWISS in a much tighter way, with a clear focus on the two/three most important components of your unhappiness.

edwardg

Yes, my first post.

Now I know to post short blogs.

I posted the long version because I had written it for private posting elsewhere.

I just thought such incompetence should be aired.

I'll do better next post.

Rambuster

Does LX really have a call centre in Fiji ?
I always call Basel and they are very helpful indeed.