Virgin Atlantic + Social Media

Evening,

I've recently been looking at the VS Facebook page and I've noticed something quite interesting. There appears to be a group of people who frequently respond to comments, often quite negatively towards VS. Comments include challenges to policy, opinions on how VS manage the customer experience and generally how VS operate.

Why do you think this is?
What has caused such a negative backlash?

Some of these people are members here and some are even moderators. Should mods on this site support Virgin? ?|

Yes social media is there for people to vent and we frequently see customers log onto the page to complain, this is to be expected but i'm referring to those who regularly post negatively.

What are VS doing wrong? What do they need to do to win support?

Finally - if people are bored of VS, frustrated with what they are offering - why don't they go elsewhere? What is the mindset behind staying with a brand just to talk it down?

[preiffer]

What specifically do you feel is negative? Much of what I read is critical of where VS have issues (including my own) but not excessively negative/biased...?

[RichardMannion]

Interesting topic for a recently joined member. I don't regularly review the topics here on V-Flyer or on the VS Facebook page, but drop in from time to time to see what is going on.

The very essence of why this discussion forum is here is to get the real information regarding Virgin Atlantic, as they have and continue to do so have an interesting way of talking things up, glossing over salient points or distorting the truth. The mere fact that the site is still busy with questions and brimming full of 'additional' information would lay fact that the practice is still in place. Customers would come here to find out how things really work in the real world with regards to booking and travelling with Virgin Atlantic. As a regular customer back then, I (along with many other members here) were able to explain in intricate detail how various components worked, and the stuff that VS carefully avoided/omitted from their PR or marketing.

Now I've been a moderator since day 1, and to answer your question about should I support Virgin? Not necessarily; I used to be very loyal to them and go out of my way to use them wherever possible. However over time that loyalty is worn away by the continual hyped PR, and degradation of product so I did go elsewhere. So I'm no longer loyal, but I am still a customer. I'm travelling VS for the first time in two years later this month because they offer a direct flight to the destination I need to travel to. It will be interesting to see if the consistency issues of the past are still there.

Now tying all this to the social media element, Virgin appear to have made the same mistake a number of other large corporates have. They've had a panic, realised that they need to get on this Facebook thing without first thinking about their strategy and what is in scope. They've then compounded the issue by in my opinion but getting people with the wrong mindset to man the pages. Some of us have been involved in social media for a very long time, and have a better understanding of how it should be used and what not to do.

- There will always be unhappy customers
- By opening your doors to social media, you open the floodgates to all. So this means that other people that are not company employees can also take part (and there is your pitfall as they too are customers or prospective customers)
- Understand that you will have customers that know more than you
- You can't have anyone that understands the entire business end to end
- Customers always have economies of scale
- Where one poorly handled telephone call can alienate one customer initially, one poorly handled Facebook interaction can be instantly seen by an enormous amount of people.
- Never ever be negative or critical about a customer on social media, you never fully know who they are or the influence they may have.

VS need to step back and think about what they want from their FB presence. Some of it is working, but the whole 'wall' for customers staffed by people that seem to be selective in their engagements, cite 'other work commitments' and shy away from anything difficult is asking for customer satisfaction issues. It's either all or nothing.

Some of these people are members here and some are even moderators. Should mods on this site support Virgin? ?|

Why would you expect any intelligent person to blindly support VS or anything else if there are problems. The Mods ( anf everyone lse) can each have their own experiences.
Unfortunately VS are dropping the ball more and more as each month gets by. The posters on VF and FB just reflect this. Most of then are not bashing VS for the sake of it. They are expressing their experience and dissappointment.

[buns]

For me, whilst I continue to be a great supporter of VS, I will not be deterred from making negative comments when valid.

I will the first to praise sterling work by Crew and other staff I encounter, but I will not hold back from telling how it is when staff are not so professional.

I would be failing myself if I did not - else others think I am a paid mouthpiece

buns

[Darren Wheeler]

Put simply, from our 'Welcome aboard' (emphasis mine)

Welcome to V-Flyer, the largest independent guide to travelling with Virgin.

[preiffer]

You cannot take reservations agents and "make them" into a social media gurus and/or the PR face of a huge company with massive public image overnight.

This is the mistake VS have made to date, IMHO. The inconsistency of message, style of communication, lack of knowledge of "informed" people responding on behalf of the company and mixed messages the Facebook/Twitter presences send customers is not a sustainable "strategy" moving forward. I only hope they employ some professional guidance (and involvement?) moving forward, or the risks are massive.

[preiffer]

And to clarify - the crew, fleet, destinations, airport experience are *usually* top notch - and hence a reason why I historically chose to fly VS. Sometimes, I'd even go out of my way with a connection, etc. to do so. That is not the issue as such.

The problem is (as always) consistency and the amateurish ways that VS still deal with *certain* things. And that hurts me to say, because the spirit of the "old company" is still there, somewhere, buried deep. The reality, it's starting to feel like my time would be better spent in the long term with a "cold" company who can treat customers professionally and confidently at all times, deliver a *consistent* service and provide exactly what they market.

As a benchmark - for the very first time, I recommended to a very senior person where I am that they take the BA direct flight over getting the connecting VS flight with me this month. Why? Because while I dislike BA in general, I KNOW I won't have to apologise for any failings in service that will undoubtedly fall on my shoulders as a result of the recommendation, compared with what they advertise.

I think it's great that people can comment now on the marketing spin that VS try and promote on their facebook page.

When VS tried to send people off to their third party ESTA site to make some money, a comment on facebook, and a few more people saying how bad it was resulted in the web page being updated within hours. This would not have happened with an email or phone call to customer services. They only act when publicly shamed it seems.

Used correctly, social media sites are a great idea and can provide very quick updates in times of disruption.

All companies will have complaints, but now you can see how they are handled. A poorly handled one on a public site like Facebook will put people off and I'm not sure a lot of companies were prepared when they went online with the mass of customer issues and were set up to handle them correctly.

[preiffer]

Well, it's just cost VS a £5k J return. Literally, tonight.

I am presuming some misplaced assumptions, firstly that V-Flyer acts as a fan boy/girl site for VS - I've never thought that to be the case, but more about enthusiastic VS fliers who want to share their experiences - good and bad, but also something less tangible, that there's a some ethereal connection between the VS's ethos and what makes us tick, something that isn't massive and corporate where the person who is the customer comes some way down the line of thinking.

So yes, we hold VS to account (as much as can be) when things go wrong, but love it when things go well, and much prefer the latter.

I for one wish that some elements of the VS service put the customer at the heart of things. As an example, a cancellation and reimbursement can take weeks and weeks with VS, yet if I do it online with United in the US my CC is credited the same day. That's excellent service and VS fails miserably, it's a sign to me of not putting the customer first in this regard. In flight I don't think VS can be faulted (apart from Cherry-tomato-gate!), and I am happy to frequently laud VS for that.

As for Facebook and other social media, I applaud VS for engaging, there are good things and bad - particularly agree with comments about the social media team often lacking knowledge, and avoiding tough questions, but really, isn't social media about the crowd coming together to add to the mass when Greg et al get something wrong? Also agree, VS should be learning and improving, getting some good advise is always a good thing.

Also an odd question for a new member...VS staff?

I for one have posted negative comments...VS need to bring their PR inline with the product you see on the specific flight you are on... Not just "stuff" that will/may happen in the future..
I use VS as preference long haul carrier, however not getting straight answers on things is starting to wear thin...Alliances/cabin upgrade roll outs etc

Looking at this from a new members perspective, and also that of a regular business traveller on VS, it does seem a peculiar notion that just because a forum exists for people who enjoy a product, then it somehow means it's members should display a simpering, uncritical attitude towards it.

This either suggests an unhealthy obsession with VS to the point of fanaticism, or a staff member trying to unscrupulously conduct an information gathering task.

Interesting question.

Speaking on a personal level, I am flying VS tomorrow, and also have another booking for August. Mainly I fly VS because I believe they have the best PE and Business Class products across the pond (UK to USA routes), which is where we do the majority of our flying. I like the informal image of the company, the (generally) good craic from the crews, and the fact that I am able to approach flying with them as a pleasure rather than a chore (as would be the case with AA/UA etc).

I do have 80K avois burning a hole in my pocket, so I'm sure to use BA on a non-VS route at some point. The comparison will be interesting.

I believe this site is frequented by people who are similar to me. They enjoy the Virgin experience, and really want the airline to do well, be the best it can be and enjoy their experiences onboard. However, they will also proactively call VS out when things go wrong or if they slip in any way.

Regarding social media, I think the VS FB page is good up to a point, because it gets quick answers to queries that would otherwise clog up the regular 28 day customer services process and the phone lines. However it's set up in a totally un-regulated way, so is polluted by trolls, wind ups and arguments. In addition the VS staff who man the page don't respond to 'too difficult' questions, which can create suspicion.