Virgin - Customer Service

Hi All

I wanted to see if anyone else is finding that Virgin Customer Service is particularly bad at the moment.

To ellaborate:- They have 3 day turnaround on e-mails they state, but I have now been waiting for 5/6 days and 4 emails later and I still have no response.

I also seperately called and sat on the phone for 40 mins to find that I was transferred to post-flight Customer Service and not pre-flight customer service, that then subsquently meant that the telephone operator was far from interested in my query which was chasing up about my complaint! I insisted on staying on the phone and if he could transfer me to the correct department but he was more interested in taking my name and number and getting them to call me back!, I was trying to get some kind of conclusion to my complaint!.

I am also frustrated at the lack of transparency concerning pricing more so around the "so called virgin sale" which is just a farce considering that the identical flight, class etc fell in price after the sale period!

Let me know your thoughts

David

I often have trouble with miles being credited to my account for purchases through the site but if I fire of an e-mail I get a reply within 48 hours and often within a few hours.

This week I sent on on Monday and a chaser today and still no reply so maybe they are just busy and you just have to wait your turn

I chased them up on the phone having not received a response to a complaint I emailed in. I was actually told by the operator that they had received a lot of complaints over the Xmas period so were taking longer to respond than normal! I actually waited 1 month for the response.

I think the process is an acknowedgement in 48 hours and a formal response in 28 days - often sooner but it can be complicated if they have to track down crew for comments. And that can be hard as crew don't work 9-5 in the same base and can't be contacted at home either.

Repeated email 'reminders' don't help and just clog up the system and cause more delays for you and everyone else.

As to fare 'transparency' if you feel you have been misled then contact your local councils trading standards department.

But as far as I am aware it is not illegal to offer a flight (or a fridge/TV/Sofa) for sale at 'X' price, have a sale and offer it at a reduced 'Y' price and then offer it at a further reduced (but not advertised as a sale) 'Z' price. Annoying yes but not illegal.

Thanks for all the replies so far.

I do understand that its not ilegal but i feel its not treating customers fairly, hyping up the sale to be more then it is and then kicking you in the face shortly after it finishes.

On the point of service levels for e-mails, the auto response i have received does specifically say 3 days and i had this confirmed on the phone when i spoke to a lady in call centre about the exit seats, if they are running beyond 3 days at least some communication to let us know its taking longer then planned, rather then this wall of silence.

At the end of the day my complaint concerns pre-flight issues with no need to contact anyone on board a flight.

Maybe i'm angry over nothing, i might not be virgins biggest customer but im certainly not their smallest i just think things should be more prompt! No other business includimg my own could get away with it.

Coming from a customer service perspective, I do feel VS are particularly behind in terms of their response times! Most companies now respond to general emails within 24 hours and complaints with 5 working days (from recent experience and mystery shopping as part of my job).

VS don't manage expectations well, a good example is with the snow complaints - the email still said 28 days whereas Greg and the FB team were clearly communicating a much higher turnaround then this.

On a side note, 20 minutes to get through on the phone is unacceptable (recent personal experience on a number if occasions plus comments on FB from Greg confirming 20+ minute wait times!

I suppose we want cheaper flights so unlikely to see further improvrment on the above. Things did initially improve with the Swansea centre but still seems lack of investment in staffing in the customer service area.

From my own experiences last weekend whilst in New York (when my booking was cancelled)trying to get through to the Premier team was pretty uimpressive - after many attempts and often a 20mins+ wait in queues (which cost me a fortune) I still had to sort it all out at the airport myself.

Indeed, emails are taking far too long to be processed for a response to be issued and that really is unacceptable. I struggle to see why "holding emails" cannot be issued to at least keep the waiting customer aware of what is happening, we are all much more understanding if we know we have not been forgotten!

I think we all realise that sometimes crew have to be contacted never mind overseas stations to collect information and that all does take time, but communication is the key.

Jon

Seems to come up again and again, the whole customer (lack of) service thing.It puts me off doing things with Virgin that I otherwise might do, such as car hire/package trips - cos I know that if I have a problem or even a question, I'm unlikely to even get a reply. Let alone within a reasonable time. Which in turn means they're losing business.

Contrast that with eg John Lewis.... if they can do it, surely there's no excuse for other companies being so bad about it???

My recent experience isn't positive.

Since getting back from holiday 3 weeks ago I have e-mailed Virgin Atlantic 3 times. The e-mail was 75% about good stuff and 25% about negative (the foul mouthed CC). y) y) y) v(

The e-mails went to different VS customer service addresses - I wasn't carrying out a mail shot, the lack of response to the first meant I wondered whether the e-mail had been received so tried another address. One address I had used successfully previously, one is current and one was via the feed back form on the VS site. As requested, the VS site sent me a copy of that one. To date none of these have been acknowledged.

I then contacted Greg on Facebook and he gave me his e-mail address. I sent the e-mail, he said he didn't receive it! The words "spam" and "filter" were coming to mind but Greg said that VS don't use them. Hmmmmmm. ?|

Anyway, he then told me to copy my e-mail to him via the Facebook message facility; this I did, he acknowledged it and he directed it to customer service. y)

Have I heard from them since?

No.

V flyers need to unite and petition for change!

From my own experiences last weekend whilst in New York (when my booking was cancelled)trying to get through to the Premier team was pretty uimpressive - after many attempts and often a 20mins+ wait in queues .... I still had to sort it all out at the airport myself.

Jon

Ditto.

In Orlando a couple of weeks ago.

I gave up on 3 calls as I was holding for over 20 minutes.

If that is the Premier line......

I have just written to Virgin to complement a particularly good cabin crew and got the following holding message back.

Thank you for writing to us.

If your comments are about a flight you've taken, one of our customer relations people will be in touch in the next 28 days.

We'll forward any other comments/suggestions on to the relevant people.

Virgin Atlantic
Customer Relations

PO Box 747, Dunstable, LU6 9AH.
Telephone 0844 873 7747
Fax 0844 209 8708

My own experiences have been at both ends of the scale, 3 years ago made a complaint which took 6 months to get anyone to respond. Eventually someone here pointed me towards the right person who resolved it within 24hrs

Several emails sent over the last few years complementing crew normally get a response within a few days.

However recently an email sent to complain ref various bits and to complement crew, and i got a response to my satisfaction within 13 days.

Have never had problems getting through to the premier team even from abroad, lucky i guess

Hi All

What is this "Premier Team" number that keeps being mentioned? Is it a "high end" contact for Au members only?

Thanks
Paul

[honey lamb]

Hi All

What is this "Premier Team" number that keeps being mentioned? Is it a "high end" contact for Au members only?

Thanks
Paul

The Premier Team is the number on the VS website for UC passengers and also when calling Flying Club Gold one usually gets through to them

Hi All

What is this "Premier Team" number that keeps being mentioned? Is it a "high end" contact for Au members only?

Thanks
Paul

The Premier Team is the number on the VS website for UC passengers and also when calling Flying Club Gold one usually gets through to them

Many thanks HL...all clear now

Cheers
Paul

Regarding my post above, I finally heard from VS Customer Services yesterday.

Their response was fine. I was thanked me for the positive stuff and the e-mail outlined the procedure they were going to follow re my point of concern. Good stuff.

Just a pity it took 44 days to get a response. :0

Regarding my post above, I finally heard from VS Customer Services yesterday.

Their response was fine. I was thanked me for the positive stuff and the e-mail outlined the procedure they were going to follow re my point of concern. Good stuff.

Just a pity it took 44 days to get a response. :0

44 days is shocking!!! There is no excuse for that, but it seems VS still blame snow or volcanic ash!

I woudnt be surprised if this is actually some of the worst service currently out there!

I do appreciate both resource and budget constraints but VS have had enough time supply necessary resourcing. Even adhering their 28 day SLA would be an improvement!

What happened to the days over under promise, over deliver!