Are the Virgin Atlantic Facebook pages good for the airline?

Fergus,
Many thanks for that detailed reply. I'm sure that it does help for us to hear the personal side of things and to understand the strategy.
There will always be some who complain - I do myself when something goes wrong - but I hope I also give praise when it's due. The problem does come when the complaints seem to swamp the good things - all too easy on the web ... as in the media. I only hope the team does not become too dispirited - I guess Greg really needed that break!

At least on this site, I hope, there is balance.

@ Fergus - really interesting to read your post, thank you for taking the time to write it.

Luke

[Darren Wheeler]

Fergus.

Thank you for the update. Good to see that Kyle, Greg and Howard are getting their teeth into the role.

One of the problems that see is that where customers contact Virgin to request info, complain, compliment or whatever, in private and use traditional method (and I include email here) and they don't get a response fairly quickly, they raise it loudly in public.

I guess this is something that needs addressing with Caroline (I guess) but in my view, the 28 days to respond tagline is far too long, yet hopelessly optimistic. OK, the weather has caused a knock-on there and along with refunds too, but it does seem to be a continual complaint.

Negative posts are a fact of life but not necessarily a bad thing, especially when the complaint is totally unreasonable.

[Scrooge]

Just to echo what Darren says, 28 days and not hearing back from a company will cause that company to lose business, while things do happen there is no reason for a company not to at least reply.

While you can never make everyone happy, you can at least appear to be making an effort.

Also on that point, there are a couple of things we have noticed, there seems to be a rather large use of boiler plate responses, while this does make answering questions quicker and at times more accurate it does come off as "cold".

Now before I say this next part, I do have to commend the current FB team as they have made great strides.

Also, there seems to be times when they actual information posted is inaccurate. Now while this can happen to anyone it does make the company look inept.

To give you an example : The question posted asks why there is a single 6kg cabin bag limit.

"Hi Jon,

A little feedback I have to share - So our carry on allowance is agreed when our fleet of aircraft are delivered/fitted. (Hand baggage is restricted around the size and weight limits our luggage bins can take). Therefore, it's a policy which cannot be easily amended.

However, perhaps this is an area which will be revisited when our new aircraft are delivered from 2011. Though for the time being, it's not something which we can alter...

Thanking you for taking the time to raise this with us Jon.

Best wishes,

Reena."

Customer reply

Ok, just looked at the picture.

Weight limit per bin is 40kg/88lbs meaning 6 2/3 rd carry on bags per bin, which as we all know isn't happening.

So with that info, sorry Renna, but I have to call BS on your post, of course because it is a VS sign on the bin that states the weight limit.

Now, this clearly showed that someone had misinformed Renna, her reply to this post was :

Well actually, nothing, which to me looks worse than saying "opps we messed up there"

Anyways, factually speaking the FB page is not what I would call accurate by any means.

On that note, Fergus, I have an idea, let me send you a PM.

And we all know that the 6kg cabin bag limit is utter tosh - other airlines use exactly the same overhead bins and have completely different rules.

It is that sort of thing that makes VS through FB look stupid, and boilerplate responses don't help on a public forum where 'smarter' people can see them. Actually, this is one area that makes me wish VS would just be a little more customer friendly and flexible - sticking to its outdated little quirks shows a mindset that is stuck in the sand.

That said, I still think FB is a great way to connect - and, over time, perhaps more boilerplates can be developed to make it look less 'cold' ):

Perhaps VS should think about having extra luggage bins at floor level....

[mitchja]

Fergus

When are VS planning on improving customer relations?

Sorry but I simply cannot believe they still have a back-log of compensation claims seen as we are now in March?????

The vast majority of posts on FB are complaining about how long CR take. I can also back this up as I complained and the 28 days thing came and went. It was only after I moaned on FB, did I actually receive a response from CR.

Sorry but your customer relations is an absolute disgrace.

I do think your Facebook page is a good idea though. I now use Facebook to contact other companies too. Recently contacted BMI and HP via Facebook.

One of the more frustrating boilerplate responses I've seen recently was to someone from this site querying whether revivals would remain open later due to the later arrival time of the VS20.

[Darren Wheeler]

One of the more frustrating boilerplate responses I've seen recently was to someone from this site querying whether revivals would remain open later due to the later arrival time of the VS20.

:w

Still never got an proper answer...

[honey lamb]

One of the more frustrating boilerplate responses I've seen recently was to someone from this site querying whether revivals would remain open later due to the later arrival time of the VS20.

:w

Still never got an proper answer...

Nor me, since I tagged along on your coat tails

It is a shame that the best way to get a response nowadays is to make your complaint public. It shouldn't matter how you complain, if you have a valid issue, it should be the same answer whichever channel you use to report it.

It is good to see VAA using Facebook and Twitter especially in times of disruption like the snow, though I'm still against them ripping people off with revenue earning phone numbers.

[mitchja]

though I'm still against them ripping people off with revenue earning phone numbers.

It winds me up that all US FC pax get Freephone numbers (which go through to the UK anyway) yet only UK AU Flying Club members get a Freephone number. A British airline charging UK customers to call them, yet they offer all US passengers free numbers. What's that all about???

A British airline charging UK customers to call them, yet they offer all US passengers free numbers. What's that all about???

It's cheaper for me to call the US number than it is to call the UK number. What's up with that?!