Tuesday 3 August 2010

Virgin - denying the Pakistan floods

From http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/us/customerrelations/index.jsp:

We put customer service and commitment to our passengers at the heart of what we do. We strive to get it right, first time, every time. But occasionally, things don't go as planned.
Indeed. But they make it seem like a minor inconvenience. From http://consumerist.com/2010/08/virgin-atlantic-thinks-customer-is-making-up-pakistan-flood-disaster.html:

After four of the most terrifying days of my life - driving speedily through landslides, trudging through swollen rivers, and broken dams to get to dry ground, the most frustrating experience I encountered from living through the Pakistani floods (the worst in 80 years with hundreds dead and over half a million displaced) was with Virgin Atlantic Airlines.
 [...]
[CS staff] insisted that there were no indications in her notes that a flood had happened in Pakistan. [...], she eventually suggested that I try and convince another airline company to call her and convince her that an international crisis had happened. Confused by this strange request, but eager to resolve the situation, I asked her what information she would need, which airline she recommended, and which number I should have them call. She either hung up on me at that point, or I got disconnected.

 From the Virgin page again:
We really want to give only the best levels of service to all our customers.
 I think they need to train their staff first.

3 comments:

  1. Good grief, wouldn't checking Google News be the first thing the counter staff should do in these circumstances?

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  2. I'm starting to have my doubts about this one - I've yet to see any of the MSM pick up on it yet..

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  3. Nothing special, probably just someone upset that they not all airlines are so easy in giving free flight changes and they couldn't persude them to give them a free flight. They seemed to give up too easily. Why didn't they ring again and get someone else. I doubt they were on the phone 30mins. CSRs are monitored and have to get through as many calls as possible. As to the CSR not knowing about the floods - you'd be surprised about how many people don't know whats going on in the world. Not everyone reads newspapers and watches the news.

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