V-Flyer

Not a good day to call I guess with the Daily Mail Promotion

Ah, that could explain it I guess, I had the same problem.

I do think charging premium rate (0870) numbers and just leaving people on hold is disgusting though. Up to 5 minutes wait I don't mind, but when companies make a fortune each year from revenue producing phone calls, there's not much incentive to answer the FC red phone is there?

I'm sure the gold one isn't left ringing as long. As for that awful advert of the woman falling asleep in Upper Class, I almost did the same listening to her drone on about it. [:(!]

And then after 35 minutes on hold the person I got to rather rudely cut me off, so now I have to write and follow up. Im not feeling like a valued customer today at all.

I'm an AU and called FC earlier as the computer had booked me twice on the same flight!!

I had to wait about 5 mins - so I guess they were busy
0870 isnt premium rate is national rate - although I agree an 0845 would be fairer - having said that the dark sides CS is 0870 too!!

Ive just written to Customer Services.

"Well I dont suppose you started the day to irritate me but its been successful.


Timetable

17:45 Entered all the details for my wifes membership in response to your ecard program.
18:00 Error (you may already be a flying club member) (see attached print of your web page)
18:05 Called the 'website issues' number on your contact page at http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/cu ... /index.jsp
18:10 The person who answered insisted I needed to be transferred to Flying Club then disconnected me.
18:12 I called again, The person who answered insisted I needed to be transferred to Flying Club then put me on hold for several minutes before coming back to say that I couldnt be put through would I like the number and gave me the wrong number (a missing digit).
18:15 Called Flying Club Silver
18:45 Somebody answered. Had to give all the details manually (I have already entered them all in your website see above)
18:50 Asked a further question about future availability for reward flights and was disconnected.

Its absolutely not good enough in 2006 for web sites to take all the info before pronouncing that there is no way forward and just not providing a way to escalate or save your work to allow an operator to pick it up and over-ride it.

Its absolutely not good enough in 2006 for long waits to be followed up with disconnection.

Your representative had my number and did not call back so I can only assume the disconnection was deliberate.

Im really annoyed - and Ive just today booked a premium return trip with you to LAX!"

Wonder what they will say.....

Originally posted by Jonathan

0870 isnt premium rate is national rate

Oh, I realise that's what BT say it is, however when a geographic number costs me just 3p and an 0870 costs me 8ppm I think it should be classified a premium rate. Most consumers just don't realise how much these calls costs and how the company benefits from keeping you on hold. The DVLA makes £1.1m per year from 0870 numbers.

Oh, and I do use http://www.saynoto0870.co.uk where possible

And then after 35 minutes on hold the person I got to rather rudely cut me off, so now I have to write and follow up. Im not feeling like a valued customer today at all.

At 10p per minute... Thats £3.50.. VS will see that as value[:?].

To be fair VS are not the only ones at this game.
You may now understand why you always get long winded pre-recorded messages with numerous options or the companies policy on the monitoring of calls at the start of all 0870 numbers.

Originally posted by locutus

Originally posted by Jonathan

0870 isnt premium rate is national rate

Oh, I realise that's what BT say it is, however when a geographic number costs me just 3p and an 0870 costs me 8ppm I think it should be classified a premium rate. Most consumers just don't realise how much these calls costs and how the company benefits from keeping you on hold. The DVLA makes £1.1m per year from 0870 numbers.

Oh, and I do use http://www.saynoto0870.co.uk where possible

Yep, that's it in a nutshell - companies raking off a profit from customers calling them. Thanks for posting the website locutus - I was thinking of posting it too, but then I thought it'd just make me sound like a grumpy old woman.....[:0]

I've waited as long before, then gone through the whole being cut off thing [:(]. I had to wait ages on FC Red yesterday to chase up those miles for my return flight (and more importantly tier points) but I have to say the person who answered was then very helpful and sorted me out instantly! I am now silver so get to cut costs a bit on the 0845 number as opposed to the 0870 [y] Let's just see how that works out ...[:?]

The cost per minute may be less on the 0845 number Jacq but IMHO the queuing stack is just as long when you ring silver as it is for red.Phone only seems to be answered promptly when calling Premier.

Some good news at last...

Ofcom slashes 0870 call costs

Originally posted by locutus
Some good news at last...

Ofcom slashes 0870 call costs

Not until September though. Begs the question 'why so long? Can't it be done sooner (like now)?

Better than never I guess. I also see that they can still charge higher rates, but they have to warn you first, and give you a chance to hang up. Be interesting to see what companies still try and do this once consumers realise how much they have to pay to be on hold.

As I said, I'm not totally against it, if they answer the phone promptly and can help me, I don't mind paying 8ppm for a 5min phone call.

And the customer service reply....

Thank you for your email. I apologise for the delayed response.

Firstly may I apologise for the poor standard of service you received so far. It is unacceptable that upon several attempts at requesting assistance from the Flying Club helpline, you were not given the high level of service that Virgin Atlantic endeavours to provide our passengers and Flying Club members.

Our Flying Club Advisors go through a rigorous training programme, however there will be occasions, and this may be one, when a simple lack of concentration may result in an error being made. We realise our success depends on pleasing our customers, especially our regular and loyal travelers.

We go to considerable lengths to train our staff in all aspects of customer care and I am most concerned that this particular member of staff did not meet your expectations. You may be quite sure that the points you have raised have been drawn to the attention of the Call Centre Manager.

I am sorry to learn that you were unable to complete your wife's Flying Club enrolment through our website. When completing an enrolment online, the website searches our database based on a set criteria. If it finds a match (based on any or all of the set criteria), it will return the message you've encountered. We're currently looking at adjusting the search criteria to reduce the chances of a match being found.

Thank you for taking the time to contact us and allowing me to discuss this matter further with you. We hope to have the pleasure of welcoming you both onboard in the near future.

Originally posted by mysteryflyer
And the customer service reply....

Thank you for your email. I apologise for the delayed response.

Thank you for taking the time to contact us and allowing me to discuss this matter further with you. We hope to have the pleasure of welcoming you both onboard in the near future.

Er, but did the reply actually address the issues you raised or maybe you've edited their reply to make it shorter for us to read?

Oh, that last paragraph - I had s a similar one in a reply from them - and I have to say it didn't do much to help! [B)]

No I didnt edit it - thats it. It did at least refer to the issues - it was either very clever auto answer software or a real person.

Originally posted by mysteryflyer
No I didnt edit it - thats it. It did at least refer to the issues - it was either very clever auto answer software or a real person.

No mention of any free points to make you feel better about it though - and is it sorted out now?

Was the issue with enrolling online that you got most of the way through then it flung back at you to say that username was already registered? This has happened to me at least twice now trying to register friends (luddites) so that I could get the 7500 mile bonus on their first flight as a FC member. [?]

Yes, all the way to the end then 'please call us' and had to read all the info out again.

"Why am I reading all this out to you - Ive already typed it all in " I said to the operator
"I cant see that" he said (or something like that)
"So I should just call and not bother to try to use the website then if I have to do it twice anyway"

no response..

Originally posted by locutus
Oh, and I do use http://www.saynoto0870.co.uk where possible

Get Human is another useful site to use - how to talk to a person and not go through stupid annoying menu / automated systems that are about as far from "Customer Service" as you can get.

Mat xxx

If I get into one of those "press this then press that" systems I usually go for the 0 key which often gets you through to an operator. The other trick, particularly with credit card compnaies is to use the "dialling from abroad" nmber which is usually a regular std code line and gets you through to someone.

I also agree with Jacq though - the system for getting friends onto Flying Club needs to be reviewed as I have had at least 4 friends enrol in the past year and not a single mile added to my account - I realise that they have to use the link the VS site sends them but its not always possible to be there when they join - and if they go direct to the VS website then we miss the miles credit.

Anyone else got a view on this?

Originally posted by MarkJ
...I have had at least 4 friends enrol in the past year and not a single mile added to my account - I realise that they have to use the link the VS site sends them but its not always possible to be there when they join - and if they go direct to the VS website then we miss the miles credit.

Anyone else got a view on this?

Bear in mind, Mark, that you'll receive no mileage credit unless they travel in an MMF eligible fare class. In Economy, this is only Y/B/L/M. If they travelled on a discounted Y fare, you won't receive any referral bonus.

Your account, however, will still be linked to theirs, so you'll get a nice surprise when they DO take an eligible flight.

Thanks for that Paul - I have no idea what class they travelled in but most likely was a Y class as they were al with VH - I guess its a good idea to ask themm what class they are in - mind you for a novice it isnt always the easiest thing to find on a ticket is it - thats why this site is so good with stuff like that.

If it was a Virgin Holidays booking, it'll have been in either V or N - so not applicable for any MMF bonus miles I'm afraid Mark.

I got the bonus off a VH booking in PE, if that helps?