In July I made a return trip to Africa, and the miles for the trip were correctly credited. While out there, I rented an Avis car (booked from the UK) and during booking I provided my FC number (like I always do).
I come back, and 8 weeks later, still no 1,000 mile car rental credit for that trip. I email Avis. Avis says 'we sent your details and your rental to Virgin, so it's not us' and using their online claim tool has the claim rejected for the same reason. Considering that all my car rentals post-July were correctly credited, I'm inclined to believe them.
So, I email FC Customer Service. I get the auto-responder message. Nothing else. I call FC Customer Services several weeks later. I tell them my problem. 'No problem, it should be credited in the next week'. Quelle surprise - NO miles, even three weeks down the line. [:?]
So I call again. I ask to speak to a manager. They ask what it's about. I tell them. They get a manager on the phone. He goes through the account and expresses surprise in a (how shall I best describe this) 'what, you're not happy, look at all the miles you have, why are you fussed with 1000 miles' tone at the amount of car rental credits I have. [V]
By this time I'm getting upset. I tell him that yes, I do earn more miles a year through Avis than through VS (and why is that any of your business how I earn my miles anyway), and yes, 1000 miles not credited ARE a problem, because if I can't trust my FF programme, why should I bother continuing to fly with them. He promises to sort things out.
Yes, in the end the problem is resolved, the credits finally, after nearly 3 months, show up. What really upset me about this is the tone the conversation seemed to have. I generally don't lose my cool with customer services because I know how crap that kind of job can be, but I really felt let down, by the service, by the whole experience, even if the problem was eventually resolved months later by someone who was pretty much cornered into doing it. Was FC outsourced? [n]
That has not stopped me from booking my next PE reward flight for July 2009 though... The on-board (and reservation) experience tends to make up for whatever goes wrong on the ground. [8D]
S.
P.S. Has anyone noticed the 15 quid transaction fee payable when you buy extra miles (I only needed 100, but time was running out for my dates, so had to buy 1,000 miles and got another 150 free)?
I come back, and 8 weeks later, still no 1,000 mile car rental credit for that trip. I email Avis. Avis says 'we sent your details and your rental to Virgin, so it's not us' and using their online claim tool has the claim rejected for the same reason. Considering that all my car rentals post-July were correctly credited, I'm inclined to believe them.
So, I email FC Customer Service. I get the auto-responder message. Nothing else. I call FC Customer Services several weeks later. I tell them my problem. 'No problem, it should be credited in the next week'. Quelle surprise - NO miles, even three weeks down the line. [:?]
So I call again. I ask to speak to a manager. They ask what it's about. I tell them. They get a manager on the phone. He goes through the account and expresses surprise in a (how shall I best describe this) 'what, you're not happy, look at all the miles you have, why are you fussed with 1000 miles' tone at the amount of car rental credits I have. [V]
By this time I'm getting upset. I tell him that yes, I do earn more miles a year through Avis than through VS (and why is that any of your business how I earn my miles anyway), and yes, 1000 miles not credited ARE a problem, because if I can't trust my FF programme, why should I bother continuing to fly with them. He promises to sort things out.
Yes, in the end the problem is resolved, the credits finally, after nearly 3 months, show up. What really upset me about this is the tone the conversation seemed to have. I generally don't lose my cool with customer services because I know how crap that kind of job can be, but I really felt let down, by the service, by the whole experience, even if the problem was eventually resolved months later by someone who was pretty much cornered into doing it. Was FC outsourced? [n]
That has not stopped me from booking my next PE reward flight for July 2009 though... The on-board (and reservation) experience tends to make up for whatever goes wrong on the ground. [8D]
S.
P.S. Has anyone noticed the 15 quid transaction fee payable when you buy extra miles (I only needed 100, but time was running out for my dates, so had to buy 1,000 miles and got another 150 free)?
