milepig

1K's have certain differences in the rules that apply to them but not other lower-level pax. The point of dedicated agents is that they're specially trained to know how to work with a 1K. A general agent who happens to get a 1K every once in awhile just isn't as adept at deal with them. Or, before all the rules changed, the ability to bend certain things to keep them happy.

Like when my Chase bill got lost in the mail and I realized a day after the payment was due that I hadn't paid it. They'd already added the interest to the amount due but not paid, and I had a message that my interest rate would be going up due to the missed payment. Called them, got the premier line and within 5 seconds it was all reversed. The person I was talking with was empowered to help a premier customer.

dfe

Which I presume is worthless with this particular issue. Of course YMMV but what I have seen since the merger is that 1KVoice is largely worthless and pretty much unresponsive. Kacee, do you honestly think that 1KVoice is going to take the effort to find out who her supervisor is and really transmit a copy of my commendation and make sure that it gets put it her personnel file? If so I would be very much impressed, but I actually believe that it will just be another blow-off by UA, with a Thank You form letter, and not do anything for the employee. If you can suggest to the contrary and not just generically say that 1KVoice is "good" but 1KVoice would actually forward the commendation to a specific named employee's supervisor and make sure that it get's into her personnel file, I'll certainly eat my words. If it does not end up in her file, it is just wasted effort.

mmack

Send a letter to 1K Voice. It still works. She'll be commended.

Kacee

Yes.

I consistently receive swift personalized responses from 1kvoice.

I'm still having difficulty understanding why you didn't end this call in the first 30 seconds.

goodeats21

As with most things United, it is very inconsistent

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...-1k-voice.html

dfe

Well when I call the supposed "Premier" line I expect to get Premier friendly, knowledgeable service--just as I received on my second call as I reported above. Sometimes we all have bad days or bad starts, but I give the agent the benefit of the doubt--a bad start does not necessarily mean it will have a bad outcome. But if you can predict that your experience will be totally bad within the first 30 seconds of a call then you must be prescient--and I am not.

With all due deference, it appears to me that you and many others on this forum have simply rolled over into the mentality that "underperforming" is an acceptable way of doing business, and that we all we need to do is just hang up in 30 seconds and call back. What sort of nonsense is that? Why not great really good customer service right out of the box the very first time.

I know that the easy reply is that it's not how it works in this day and age. And we all accept it and just roll over.

Why not insist on good service in the first place? Some of us more tolerant folks tend to give the less fortunate the benefit of the doubt--but after a while you recognize that an idiot is and idiot, and you simply give up--but not necessarily not in 30 seconds.

Why in the first place should you ever, ever HUACA if UA customer service was up to a reasonable level of friendly and knowledgeable customer care and a IT system that actually works? Xplain me all of this.

My whole point was that UA has hired idiots to take care of their top level customers--not that we should have to hang up in 30 second to perhaps get someone who might be able to take care of us in a knowledgeable way.

I'm done so flame away.

ThisYearsModel

Seems to me that this phone system is like all others. The greeting from the customer service rep is customized based on the line the call comes in on. Has anyone inside, or formerly inside United stated that there actually is a special group dedicated to premiers? Sure does not seem like it to me.

I don't think that such a thing as a premier group of reps exists. It is one big group of customer service reps who gree you based on what their system tells them to. Who knows, with Jeffy's prior moves we might see this outsourced to India at some point.

gengar

As I said in my original response, the reason to HUACA is so that you don't allow a bad agent to negatively impact you. This is not to "accept it and just roll over" as a sign of believing it "is an accceptable way of doing business", but accepting the reality of how bad UA (and US-based airlines in general) are so that they do not negatively affect you and that you eventually accomplish what you are trying to do. I do not think advice to be goal-oriented is worthy of criticism.

Few will disagree with your greater point that customer service on UA (and US-based airlines in general) can often be terrible, and I think your post is a perfect example of how the 'race to the bottom' strategy that has been adopted as gospel by most US-based airlines (and to some degree in some aspects, even premium international carriers as well) can only turn out badly for the airline industry as a whole.

Kacee

Perhaps you would be happier with another airline.

halls120

Every e-mail I've sent 1KVoice has been answered within 24 hours and with an answer that I might not like, but not one I can complain about as being non-responsive.

UA has gone downhill in many respects since 3/2012, but 1KVoice is still a great resource.

cmculp

This thread took off because so many of us who fly UA a lot completely understand that alert uneasy feeling we get when after a few seconds we realize the agent at the other end of the call doesn't fully know the system or the rules and our ticket is at risk of badness. HUACA radar.

My experience post merger (I came from the UA side) is that those wonderful 1K agents are still out there, still helpful and are mostly who I talk to. They are just less consistently reached with the B*Bs more commonly sprinkled in.

And the Honolulu staff still seems to be the best (call very late and you are likely to get Hope or one of her colleagues there, always helpful).

Even the best of the agents still seem to struggle with SHARES a bit and even the simple tasks take much longer than they once did. The rules and the system seem to just be far more complicated that pre-merger.

B787938

I was on the phone with the Premier desk earlier in the week trying to rebook after an IRROPS situation. The agent told me i needed to fly through LAX on RJs. When I asked what SFO flights looked like, she said, "oh, you do not want to fly through San Francisco. Los Angeles is a big hub for United. San Francisco is not." I ended up flying through Denver. Where do they find these people?

chavala

All I know is, horror of horrors if you need to call on a weekend. The lowest of the low are working. It's really gotten bad. I'm old CO since 1990 and I never had problems like I have now. So please stop blaming CO for everything. It's getting old.

joshwex90

^ (I have no problem with GS having a line reserved for them, and 1Ks for them, and another for other Premier customers, and then the regular line. As someone who flies more, you deserve dedicated agents which means shorter wait time, and maybe agents who go above and beyond. But EVERYONE deserves manageable wait times, agents who know the rules and follow them, agents who have manners, etc. There are still some of those in the UA ecosystem though )

scottsam66

Really? So accept unknowledgeable agents or hit the bricks to another airline?