Broken V:Port to MIA, what to do?

I just returned from MIA and on the way out the V:Port was broken in around 20 seats. As the flight was full, there was nowhere to move to. I know this is an 'added bonus', but I checked my book as I thought I would be occupied. Instead spent 9 hours staring at a blank screen, trying (unsuccessfully) to get drunk!!!

They have offered £25 or 5000 miles. Should I take this or try for more. I am a fidgety guy and was going absolutely stir crazy!!

Thanks in advance for advice.

[preiffer]

Sounds like the standard compensation amount to me.

I dare say you could try for more - if you felt it took that much out of your journey, then you're perfectly within your rights to complain further.


(By the way - welcome to the site [y])

[Pete]

The on-board compensation is pretty standard (think it used to be £50 in duty free vouchers), but I'd probably go for the miles.

They also have portable DVD players, but with so many seats out, the supply was probably exhausted.

Although it's a pain, I think the on board compensation is about right. No need to chase for any more.

Pete

The 'goodwill' offer they've made so far is pretty standard. You basically don't have any real claim for compensation as your contract was for Virgin to get you from A to B within reasonable carriage, which they did.

However, that doesn't mean you have to leave it there.

From my previous experience running Customer Relations for another airline, my advice would be to write back, expressing how disappointed you were not to get the usual high standard from Virgin, which you had really been looking forward to and which had influenced your decision to choose Virgin for this flight.

I'd acknowledge in the letter that you understand compensation is not due, but that you hoped the 'Offer of Goodwill' to restore your confidence would be more generous.

The Customer relations guys will get loads of very angry ranting letters each day, many of which are quite unreasonable, demanding the buzz word 'Compensation'.

If you reply in a reasonable tone, expressing disappointment, rather than anger you're much more likely to get them onside and more likely to get something more.

In my old job, if someone sent a very angry, demanding letter, or threatened legal action, or some kind of media coverage ("I WILL be contacting watchdog!") then they used to get the standard response and the standard good will offer (if anything at all). But those that sent reasonable letters in, or who showed real disappointment often got offers above and beyond other people.

Good luck and let us know how you get on!

I also think it depends on how the staff deal with these types of problems when they do occur. If they are seen as doing their best to resolve the problem or come up with a compromise, then I'd probably accept what was offered. If the attitude was any different, I probably would take it further, and ponder my loyalty towards such companies in the future.

I used to love people threatening to report me to Watchdog, I was quite happy to give my name and extension in the hope that Lynn 'Potential Death Trap' Foulds-Wood would phone me up. She never did [:#]

I have to say I take a very sanquine attitude to these "problems"
If the plane gets me to my destination in one piece, what is the problem?

Originally posted by AlanA
If the plane gets me to my destination in one piece, what is the problem?

I sit half way between this and thinking that when an Airline heavilly promotes itself on a kind of service it should deliver or offer some goodwill responce.

Unfortunately the IVOD systems that most airlines operate are still pretty unreliable.

Yes, look at Ryanair, Easyjet and Thomsonfly, all you get is one channel (the window) [:o)][:o)][:o)][:o)]

Well thank you all for your reponses and the welcome to the site.

In light of the posts, I am going to take the miles they offered and look forward to the next flight with the hope of a working screen and if not, get in early with the portable DVD players (they had all gone pretty quickly)

The crew were nice enough, there wasn't much they could do at the time though.

If it happens again though.........

Originally posted by AlanA
Yes, look at Ryanair, Easyjet and Thomsonfly, all you get is one channel (the window) [:o)][:o)][:o)][:o)]

Apparently Ryanair are considering charging for the window on their flights. If you don't want to pay for it, the cabin crew will come and lock the blind! [}:)]

Sorry, couldn't resist!

Neil.

I think V-Ben's approach when writing to the airline is spot on.

I had a problem with VS last summer. I had called customer service to ask about upgrading our Economy tickets to Premium. I was quoted a price of the difference in fare class, etc., told the record was documented with the price, and I could discuss it with the other people in my party, then call back and finish the transaction.

I called back 30 minutes later, and got another guy that recalculated the price at $500 more per person than what I had been told. When I questioned it (because I had my notes), I was redirected to a supervisor who decided that despite the first agent's error, I had been quoted a price, and that he would honor that price. Throughout all of the phone conversation, the customer service people, especially the supervisor, were absolutely excellent.

When we got to EWR to check-in, the staff at EWR claimed the upgrade hadn't been paid for. Despite the fact that the supervisor said he'd take care of it all, and assign us seats. Despite the fact that the amount was quoted in the record, the EWR staff decided it best to charge us the difference in fare between what we paid originally for Economy, and the last minute, walk-up fare for Premium (something like $1200 per person). We paid it, assuming we had no other option, and I later wrote to VS.

I outlined all of the positive aspects of the service, along with the negative experience at VS. They sent me a letter asking me to send all of our travel documentation to Norwalk, then about a month later we got a letter saying they refunded our credit card like $2400 to make up for the overcharge at EWR.

Excellent service overall, and they do stand behind their product. But I do believe if I had written a snotty letter demanding a refund, I would have got nothing.

I believe my words at the end were something to the effect of, "I'll leave it to you to determind if any refunds/compensations are due.", instead of asking for a refund. I think it may have been archived by now, but I did post the actual letter on here...