VS Call Centre versus VS Live Chat..

Due to a fun little bug that kicked my ability to check in for my LR flights tomorrow I was forced to approach VS for help. Granted, it is after 6pm on a weekday, so I did not expect the best agents VS have to offer to be manning the phones awaiting my call and ready to jump into action should a problem arise, however when a strong Welsh accent answered the phone I knew I had been transferred to the CS call centre in Swansea.. Unfortunately those top agents must have been out fighting crime in another city, as the agent I was speaking with lacked the knowledge or even the humour that I have come to welcome from VS staff in the past. Ultimately she could see my flights, but not help me with the failings of VS IT .. aside, of course, for the obligatory keeping the customer on the phone listening to Samaritan cheery on hold music for 25minutes whilst she called other departments for help and then tell me she “did not know how to help, but is there anything else that she could help me with today?” - what an irony loaded into that statement!! I cast off this agent and thought myself constrained to the only piece of advice offered - “have you thought about checking in at the airport?” - wow, who knew you could do that. ii)

After a mandatory glass of wine, I wandered onto the VS site in the bid to give OLCI another try and low and behold it was still not functioning ... then a box appeared asking if I would like any help, somewhat akin to how Clippy used to appear at random in Microsoft packages, help would be very welcome so click I did.

Online chat starts up and straight away I am welcomed by a friendly greeting (probably preloaded but the sentiment is there ) and then we get down to the crux of my little issue with the VS check-in computer. Well 5 minutes later check in was confirmed for both of my flights with the seats I had requested (would need to collect BPs from the airport though, along with lounge invite too so no biggy).. Wow, Online Chat 1 - Call Centre 0

I know where I will be going in future when trouble strikes. Well done VS Live Chat y) y)

Good result there Joey , I was surprised at the outcome as it's not what I expected to happen , where you off to btw ?

Ah, that talking paperclip. Those were the days. "It looks like you're writing a letter." The days when people wrote letters...

[mitchja]

I've used the VS online chat couple of times now and the service has always been great.

This does seem to be the trend with other companies now as well these days. A couple of the UK mobile phone networks offer online chat as well now and it's a lot better and quicker than their call centres.

Good result there Joey , I was surprised at the outcome as it's not what I expected to happen , where you off to btw ?

Manchester

I've used VS Live Chat a number of times (if I'm at work and don't want my boss to know I am talking about holidays! or just don;t have the inclination to wait on the phone) and 9 times out of 10, I have had brilliant and friendly help.

Some times, I do get the impression that they are an appeasement service but if I have a quick question about a service they provide, or a basic question about my booking, I use Live Chat.

My only gripe is the length of time it can take to type an answer back as I (assume) they are talking to several people at once. I did have one conversation where I had my questions answered with a completely off topic remark and the operator commented that he had cut and paste his answers into the wrong conversation.

Plus point is that you can save your conversation should you feel you need to.

Glad you got it sorted though Joey!

I've found them very helpful too, although they still can't make up for some of the inadequacies of the booking system. As it stands at the moment I have no choice but to use the call centre anyway as we have an 8 month-old baby who needs his own seat and te system won't allow the booking to be made as he is under 2. He's too big for the bassinets so the thought of having him sitting on our laps for 9 hours doesn't appeal even if it is cheaper!

Cheers guys, I was also a little surprised by the result. Good that VS can still surprise though.

Ultimately nailed SEQ 3 and 1 for my flights respectively so it must have partly checked me in to get such a low number.. VS IT.. who knows

Also used the live chat for the first time yesterday. Low and behold in less than five minutes, they had credited me with the mileage and tier points required.

So saved a fortune in telephone calls/charges, and it was all correct, top marks live chat. y)

I used the VS live chat facility yesterday and it was great
They were very helpful ad provided the info I needed

Used VS Live Chat myself when the name of my travelling partner got truncated when I booked the flights on Delta's website. Very quick and efficient plus I got a hard copy of the conversation via e-mail, may come in handy if there are any problems once I get to the airport.