Anyone else had the joy of calling Qantas recently? Needed to change a booking that wasn't being allowed to be done online due to 'generic technical error'.
First call I was on hold for 3h 1m, gave up.
Second call was on hold for 4h 12m, gave up.
Now after 7 hours of sunk cost, still no result.
Poll: after 4 hours on hold what would you have done?
Your use of bold words makes no sense. Why do you do it?
He did it to send a message…
keep waiting and video it.
I worked for one place doing BI work, and a customer was on hold for 27+ hours before he got cut off and it broke the ETL process, as the call spanned three days.
I've got screenshots
He called at like what 10pm to make it span 3 days? And then it hung up on him at 1am?
Yep from memory
why did the ETL break? hardcoded rules?
try online chat thing?
Got a link for the lazy?
Cheers
It's no faster. Tried that about 2 years ago. Every time I sent a message it took about 20-30 minutes for them to respond, sometimes just for them to ask the most basic questions (like something I had already explained or information I had already provided). I'd reply in 2 seconds and then have to wait another 20-30 minutes for the next response. I spent 6 HOURS "chatting" to them this way.
Only options I can see:
Drive to the airport and see the customer information desk.
Whine like crazy on Twitter
A bit hard when airport sales locations are now permanently closed.
What happened to the $1.3 billion of tax payers money we are giving to Qantas, a private company?
It's ridiculous that they can get away with this after we are giving welfare to a private business that offshores jobs and pays it's executives huge sums of money.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/finance-news/2021/03/18/q…
Try clearing your browser cookies/cache and using private browser mode. Their website is crap but you can sometimes make it work. Also call at times like 8 or 9am not times like midday or 6/7pm because everyone will be calling at lunchtime/after work.
Agreed with this! Get in early. I called at 9am and was on hold for 1.5hrs.
I called them a few weeks ago on a weekday at 5:40 PM, finally got through to a human at 10 PM. I was on hold for 4 hours and 20 mins.
call at around 12pm. they may then offer a callback service so you don't have to hold for all that time. for some reason, this service is only offered during certain hours.
Call centres will do this when they have too many calls on hold to try and drop the numbers. It must be bonkers at that time if the a 4 hour hold time is ok.
By the time they'd answer I'd have forgotten why I was calling.
Eww!
I need to call QANTAS, after they rerouted my departure flight so that I now fly for 7 hours with a 2 hour layover in Sydney (versus my original 2 hour direct flight), with the second 4 hour leg on Jetstar! (apparently Jetstar is now a comparable service!)
And outright cancelled my return flight, crediting the refund to a time limited "Travel Bank" rather than to my credit card and are apparently happy to leave me stranded at Uluru…
I haven't been looking forward to sitting on hold and this makes me even less enthused.
I might take mooney's advice above and try talking to a human at the airport.
Try a fre channels at once. Eg while on hold try the chat as well as Facebook too.
seriously, that bad?
what happen with this big companies CEO, they never studied marketing in uni ? gee…
They are trying to convince everyone that flights will be back to normal in the next few months, despite all evidence showing otherwise.
I used to work at a travel wholesaler and travel agents have a direct line to Qantas with minimal hold times. Might be worth popping into your local travel agent and ask nicely if you can get that number. From memory, I think it might have been 9481 11111.
LOL I recognise that number.
I think that's the direct line for Dougie
Send them a message on Twitter; you can get them to call you back. This is what I always do now; they even call me on overseas numbers!
Cheers
geeez, and I thought my 50 min wait on Commsec was bad….
Funny how they can do this to their customers but their reputation doesn't take a hit. People still flock to Qantas time and time again and pay premium prices for poor customer service.
that's what monopoly means, there is no competition in the premium/business market
That's odd. The company has all the time in the world to lecture Australians on social policy issues. And the foreign CEO is making so much money off a historical and oligopolistic company. Surely they have the time for customers?!
Agree. We are funding that business with corporate welfare
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/finance-news/2021/03/18/q…
CEO has lived here for quite some time. Xenophobia might detract from your point re service levels.
CEO has lived here for quite some time.
Really? Yet that preacher seems so utterly and completely disconnected from Australian cultural values.
I think the current CEO has done an amazing job of totally alienating most Australians from the airline. Most Australians want nothing to do with Qantas and certainly don't want taxpayer funding to support it. It certainly shouldn't consider itself representative of Australia in any way, shape, or form.
Do you have any outrage for the retailers which (unlike Qantas) are making big profits and refuse to hand back Govt assistance?
@SirFlibbled: Oh dear, @SirFlibbled, you think everyone that has a problem with Qantas is a "Sky News" enthusiast? Really!
Now how about you explain to everybody in this thread why you're happy and proud they have to wait forever for a customer services representative.
@[Deactivated]: Sky News/Murdoch is also getting $40 million handouts from Morrison.
They are on the corporate welfare taxpayer gravy train as well.
@icomeforthecomments: there's heaps of anger on here and Reddit about retailers including Harvey Norman, so yeah all parts of the political spectrum covered.
Had similar recently, gave up. Had considered just driving to the airport and asking someone there.
You'd think that after Scomo and Frydenburg gave them their own version of jobkeeper, effectively making wages free for Qantas they could afford to put staff on.
I've seen $30 flights this morning. thy're probably quite busy
Same thing happened to me a few weeks ago. I know someone who is a platinum frequent flyer. I got them to call up and conference call me in because they get priority service. Platinum member explained, I was the one who needed help, Qantas agent happy to help. Ask around and see if anyone you know is Platinum
Well, you jumping the queue partially explains why the wait is longer for OP and everyone else.
This is an excellent idea.
Yeah typical wait times when I was trying to book my RTW a few years ago. Worst part is when it is a complicated issue they just hang up when they don't know what to do. Shit me to tears just about. The south african call centre is horrific
what a joke!
It's an absolute joke to be honest. I've been needing to talk to someone for the past month, but end up needing to end the call after being well over an hour on hold each time. More frustrating is that the thing I need help with can easily be done online, but they insist I call to process my voucher.
While it doesn't excuse the wait times, book through a travel agent next time.
Same problem from late last year to early this year, they really have gotten bad
You mean late the year before?
I mean I've been on the line since last year, spam callers probably wondering why they can't get hold of me for 6 months
Yeah, it's pretty bad… When I had to call them weeks ago, at least there was an option for them to call me back when I was next in the queue, and they did call me after more than 1h…
You do realise you're not the only customer Qantas has to deal with??? If ur experiencing issues online… Good chance others are too… hence the long wait on the phone.
They should hire more staff. But they won't because it will cut into their CEO's $24 million a year salary.
Auckland? I thought it was an Australian airline
Why are we paying them over a billion dollars?
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/finance-news/2021/03/18/q…
@arcticmonkey: Being an international and domestic airline they have contact centres in Auckland, Hobart and Cape Town.
I called in Late March, Looking at my phone records. I called at 14:15 and the call went for 2hr 18 Mins. I think I was on hold for about 2 hours..
That seems standard for Qantas for a number of years.
I also tried to change my flight, because of the lockdown in Feb, however I got the generic error, so cancelled my original and booked another. I was only calling because I hadn't got my FF points refunded….
I did get the South African Helpdesk, and the line was quiet poor, could barely hear the staff member, however they were helpful and fixed my issue..
New Zealand above and now South African support?
It seems this airline spits on Australia whenever it can while taking handouts.
Best to call after 12AM. Done this and you practically have no wait time. And yes, South African call centre.
What other choice have you got?
Change airline
You can call them around 7AM and opt for call back service. They will call you after about 3 or 4 hours but saves you the wait time. It worked for me like a charm.
Ever tried ringing AirAsia? Not only are you on hold until your old and grey but half the employees didn't speak english well enough to understand/assist me so had to transfer me to another hour wait queue with a more proficient english speaking csa.
Not only are you on hold until your old and grey but half the employees didn't speak english
That would have given you enough time to learn their language.
Yes I actually tried to call Qantas yesterday via 13 13 13, and was on hold for almsot three hours and I gave up.
Called around 8pm, then had dinner , then shower , then brushed my teeth and they still didn't answer so I gave up and went to bed.
i called the other day at around 8am and was told a 2hr wait time, and could request a callback.
The callbacks were after 10pm when i was in bed, missed the calls… havent bothered since.
Jesus I hang up after 15 mins and just try alternative methods. Would be faster to drive to your nearest airport to get a change done….
We’ve made several calls to QF between 6-7am and gotten through pretty much immediately. Might have just been lucky but worth a try.
I thought I was doing good with 2hrs on hold with Iprimus back in the analog modem days.
happened to us in Japan, we wanted to change the flight to another airport, we hang up after 2 hours.
We asked at the counter, but the Qantas staff was from JAL, so had no way to change the flight.
This is way worst than other Australian call centres located in India and Philippines.
You have broken my record of waiting time 2 hours in 2015 for Qantas Customer Service. Since then I never use Qantas for both business or private trips.
Note to self: avoid ever flying Qantas.
Message them in Facebook.
They take 2-3 weeks to reply (serious)
I've had more success with Facebook recently than via the call centre.
My girlfriend was on hold for 3 hours, got forwarded on to various departments and we never received any confirmation emails of our flight credits following the call. The replies via Messenger came over a 2 hour period (but at least no one was waiting on a call) but we got all the confirmation emails pretty soon after.
Maybe a lucky one-off?
i bitched at them on twitter when they held my refund and they sorted it in a week
Hey OP - yes, been there, done that.
Try 5-6am on Monday morning. You get the NZ call centre before the rush.
If you're not a Platinum Frequent Flyer find somebody that is and call Qantas using their FF#… Generally wait time is <30min for the "premium" call centre.
It's one of their best and loss minimising strategies to fob you off
ayrib qantas
Personally, I think the oldies should get their own line of very patient customer support people instead of clogging up the call centre with their stupid questions.
Haha love the Lebanese curse word, fit perfectly lol.
I'm not Lebo but as much as I try and not talk like my mates who are lebo, I seem to drop the old arabic word every now and again.
Qantas has the best customer service.
I get a better response from a poo I drop into the toilet.
I think you better go to see a psychologist
I called twice, both times on hold for 2.5 hours each with no one answering. Both times I got cut off cos I had to go to the garage and there's no reception there. fml
I've gotten quick replies via Facebook chat with them so maybe try there. They seem more responsive on social media.
It was a 1 hr hold pre pandemic so not surprised there. Good luck OP
I found similar and waited an hour twice before needing to do something else/giving up on the idea.
It really is atrocious at the moment.
Someone has to pay for Joyce's salary and bonus.
jv on 04/05/2021 - 14:25 Comment score below threshold.
