Credit when it's due - good Customer Service experience

[Neil]

I know Virgin CS department and the VS FB team get plenty of stick on here, so I thought it only fair to highlight a positive experience.

After returning from our holiday, in which me and my partner were involuntary downgraded from PE to Y at the airport, I realised the compensation that we received on the day wasn't sufficient as per the EU regulations.

I posted on the VS FB team asking how best to get this sorted quickly, as the standard CS response time is within 28 days, and the EU regs state the compensation has to be received within 7 days. Howard from the FB team was very helpful via email, in not only passing on my query to the relevant team but also in keeping me informed with the progress.

The Virgin CS manager who also emailed me, was extremely helpful, and apart from being a day late in her final response, for which there were reasons, I have now received the correct compensation, along with some additional compensation from Virgin.

So it's all been sorted, satisfactory within 9 days of my post on the FB wall y)
I know social media isn't loved by everyone, but the fact I could contact Virgin through FB and get a quick and helpful reply is a big plus for me.

Bad luck on the downgrade but good that VS have responded promptly and positively.

Well done Neil but VS should be meeting these legal deadlines without prompting from customer AND giving the right compensation from the get go.

You should't have to embarrass them on facebook into doing what they should be doing anyway !

Well done Neil but VS should be meeting these legal deadlines without prompting from customer AND giving the right compensation from the get go.

You should't have to embarrass them on favebook into doing what they should be doing anyway !

I love Favebook!

[Neil]

Well done Neil but VS should be meeting these legal deadlines without prompting from customer AND giving the right compensation from the get go.

You should't have to embarrass them on favebook into doing what they should be doing anyway !

In fairness, it was the airport team that was at fault, but I also think the regulations don't make it easy to work out the compensation required, given it is only for the specific leg, and when on a mixed fare code, round trip booking, it's not a quick answer.

I received a large % of the compensation on the day, and the balance now has been sorted quickly, so I still think VS have done a good job for me.

Well done Neil but VS should be meeting these legal deadlines without prompting from customer AND giving the right compensation from the get go.

You should't have to embarrass them on facebook into doing what they should be doing anyway !

I agree y)

It appears that BA are equally guilty of offering less than the required EU compensation to try and fob customers off.

Well done Neil but VS should be meeting these legal deadlines without prompting from customer AND giving the right compensation from the get go.

You should't have to embarrass them on favebook into doing what they should be doing anyway !

In fairness, it was the airport team that was at fault, but I also think the regulations don't make it easy to work out the compensation required, given it is only for the specific leg, and when on a mixed fare code, round trip booking, it's not a quick answer.

I received a large % of the compensation on the day, and the balance now has been sorted quickly, so I still think VS have done a good job for me.

I think it's quite clear that you're entitled to 75% of the overall ticket price for an invol downgrade, not just for the leg concerned. It's designed that way to make it very uncomfortable for airlines to do!

That's good news Neil. Only thing I can't help but wonder is whether or not you may have got special treatment as perhaps they were aware of your V-Flyer connection? Fingers crossed this isn't the case, it did cross my mind though!

Vegascrazy ,I wanted to post the exact same thing but didn't incase I had misunderstood something and looked stupid

[buns]

Neil

Glad this has been sorted y) y)

Top Marks to Howard y) One wonders if he had not intervened how long this would have taken

buns

[Neil]

I hope it wasn't anything to do with me being a V-Flyer, and from what I see on the VS FB page, the team do often ask posters to email them so hope it was a normal service.

Howard was excellent and very helpful, even though it was something he couldn't sort him self, he acted as a go between and tried to help where he could.

Glad you got it sorted out. y)

Just to rewind the story a bit, was there a particular reason given for the downgrade? (I had the impression you are AU.)

[Neil]

Glad you got it sorted out. y)

Just to rewind the story a bit, was there a particular reason given for the downgrade? (I had the impression you are AU.)

We were downgraded due to the earlier VS75 being oversold in PE, which meant they put some of those pax on our VS73, meaning they were now over allocated in PE for our flight thus resulting in us being the (un)lucky two pax downgraded due to us being the last to check in (OLCI wouldn't work for us), and me not being mean enough to make my parents take the downgrade while we stayed in PE .

They actually had to voluntary offload 7 pax and involuntary offload 2 pax from our flight, so given the fact we got row 75 economy seats (the best Y seats on the a/c in my opinion), the compensation as per the EU regulations, and some extra compensation from VS we can't really complain, given we still arrived in our destination on time and actually had a great flight with excellent crew.

Overbooking is standard practice in the airline industry, and I understand why they do it (whether I agree is another matter) and it's not going to change. We've been op-up'd before due to overbooking so its swings and roundabouts.

Sounds like you did well in the end. Thanks for the update.

.... so given the fact we got row 75 economy seats (the best Y seats on the a/c in my opinion),

I have to agree, always my favourite seats when in Y and much more legroom than in PE. Plus your own personal storage cupboards directly in front of you!