Customer Service, WTF

[AuxBatOn]

I always gave Air Canada a chance for customer service, because I never really had major major issues with them, however last night and today, I had the very worst customer service ever.

I booked tickets 1 week ago. I need to change 1 of the tickets before 9 AM Eastern today or I have to forfeit the whole fare. We tried to change it online, no luck. We have an error message (2 computers, we tried with 3 different credit cards for the charge. Somehow it wants to charge $10.50 when it should be $90 or so). We tried calling the customer service, we both waited for 1.5 hour (initial message said 30 minutes wait), only to have our calls dropped. I tried again and finally gave up at 2AM last night. I woke up this morning at 5 AM to try to call them again, only to still be on hold for 30 minutes now. I have to leave, I fly at 7 this morning.

Get your shit together, get more people in the call center when the call volume is high and fix your f'ing website. I know times are hard financially, but pissing off your customers and ripping them off of 300$ will not help your case. I now seriously consider to never ever fly Air Canada again (and we do fly commercial very often, about 3-4 times a month).

I guess I joined to pissed off customer group. Air Canada: You suck.

P.S. You could be original with your damn stupid music on the phone. 2 hours of that will make you go nuts.

[JazzJetDriver]

AuxBatOn,

Air Canada has had to deal with severe service disruption in the last 12 hours or so due to the massive storms that went through the southern Ontario area yesterday. I have a feeling that the call centres are being inundated with frantic calls from stranded customers trying to sort out their interrupted travel plans.

If you knew you had to change your ticket, why wait until the 'last minute'.

Quit yer bitchin' and get in line, just like everybody else.

[AuxBatOn]

AuxBatOn,

Air Canada has had to deal with severe service disruption in the last 12 hours or so due to the massive storms that went through the southern Ontario area yesterday. I have a feeling that the call centres are being inundated with frantic calls from stranded customers trying to sort out their interrupted travel plans.

If you knew you had to change your ticket, why wait until the 'last minute'.

Quit yer bitchin' and get in line, just like everybody else.

Because of said thunderstorm, my wife's sim ride has been delayed. Right after we figured that out (last night), we jumped online and on the phone to change it, so we did call as soon as possible.

The fact that they are dealing with a mass of people is not the customer's problem. If you need more people, get them in the call centers. We BOTH got in line with a total of 3 phones waiting for someone to pick up for more than 1.5 hour each and guess what, our calls were DROPPED. Plus, your website won't do the change properly. So, I will bitch as much as I want. I don't mind waiting. 3 dropped calls plus the website that doesn't work is more the issue for me.

[The Raven]

'Because of said thunderstorm, my wife's sim ride has been delayed.'

AuxBatOn,

Does your wife have to book her own transportation for her sim rides? Does she have to pay for it herself? If not, why not let her company look after it?

The Rave

[The Raven]

TRAVEL ADVISORY FOR FLIGHTS TO/FROM TORONTO, OTTAWA, MONTREAL AND THE U.S. NORTHEAST

MONTREAL, August 10, 2009 - Air Canada and Air Canada Jazz advise that severe thunderstorm conditions are expected to cause some delays and cancellations to flights on Monday, August 10, 2009.

Customers with flights to or from Toronto are advised to check on the status of their flight prior to leaving for the airport by consulting the Air Canada website at aircanada.com, or by calling Air Canada's automated flight information system at 1-888-422-7533, or by using a web-enhanced cell phone.

Customers with flights affected by these storms and wishing to make alternative travel arrangements can do so without penalty, space permitting, through Air Canada Reservations at 1-888-247-2262; TTY: 1-800-361-8071.

[Rockie]

I'm sorry to hear about your problems Auxbaton. It's embarrassing even if there are extenuating circumstances. Hopefully if you write to the company explaining your situation they will respond with the kind of customer service you deserve.

[yycflyguy]

Nicely done Raven! I guess AC DOES have their shit together... preventing 70k-80k passengers from moving through hub cities of YYZ, YOW and YUL due to thunderstorms might create a backlog on the 800 numbers.

[northernpilot]

AuxBatOn,

Air Canada has had to deal with severe service disruption in the last 12 hours or so due to the massive storms that went through the southern Ontario area yesterday. I have a feeling that the call centres are being inundated with frantic calls from stranded customers trying to sort out their interrupted travel plans.

If you knew you had to change your ticket, why wait until the 'last minute'.

Quit yer bitchin' and get in line, just like everybody else.

And right there we have a perfect example of sucky AC service. If the shit is hitting the fan, you still gotta be nice to your customers....at least give an accurate wait time, and don't drop the call, and then don't tell them to "get in line like everyone else". While that may be what they have to do, it's the attitude that pisses off all your customers more than anything else. If the situation is explained to them, most (granted not all) people will be understanding when it's outside your control. Maybe a bit of tact might be warranted here.

disclaimer: The preceeding comment is based on the assumption that you work for JAZZ/AC(inferred from your handle). If you don't work for them, then disregard.

[deflux]

I called WJ at 6 this morning and they answered on the first ring...

Just sayin.

[whiteguy]

I called WJ at 6 this morning and they answered on the first ring...

Just sayin.

and how many pax did they move through YYZ, YOW, ann YUL that day? Just sayin!

[Flying Nutcracker]

Probably all of them...

[Realitychex]

I called WJ at 6 this morning and they answered on the first ring...

Just sayin.

and how many pax did they move through YYZ, YOW, ann YUL that day? Just sayin!

WJ installs the correct support infrastructure given the number of flights and passengers they expect to carry, which is roughly 43,000 a day. The service is consistent whether or not its Kamloops or Yellowknife, with one daily departure, or Calgary and Toronto with umpteen daily departures.

Good customer service is easy to provide when everything is operating normally, but that is not the true test of customer service. It's when things are not operating normally when true customer service stands out. WJ tends to do very well in these instances.

[AuxBatOn]

'Because of said thunderstorm, my wife's sim ride has been delayed.'

AuxBatOn,

Does your wife have to book her own transportation for her sim rides? Does she have to pay for it herself? If not, why not let her company look after it?

The Rave

She needs to go somewhere, before she comes back home. She took the money and booked her own travel for that reason. But that's a moot point. Customer service shouldn't be linked to how you book/who books

The Raven: The flight was still a go and it did go in the end. We didn't call because we feared the plane wouldn't leave. We called to re-book (yes because of the TS, however nothing related to AC's flight. Just a normal, routine, change), because the website didn't work properly.

[Jaques Strappe]

Auxbat

I am very sorry about your experience. As an employee, I sometimes feel that airlines should be world leaders when it comes to dealing with IROPS but sadly, the current regime of capitalist thinkers, prevents that.

I would suggest you forward your rant to Calin. Even though the company was faced with a shutdown of both of it's largest hubs, I think they still need to hear this stuff.

[ILSfan07]

I called WJ at 6 this morning and they answered on the first ring...

Just sayin.

and how many pax did they move through YYZ, YOW, ann YUL that day? Just sayin!

So why isn't Air Canada's call centre appropriately sized for their customer base, when WJ's clearly is?

(I'm not basing this only on the example above, I too have waited hours at off-peak times for AC, but mere minutes for WJ. several times.)



Edit: to acknowledge a better rebuttle from Realitychex, I got excited before reading all the posts

[tonysoprano]

I guess I joined to pissed off customer group. Air Canada: You suck.

P.S. You could be original with your damn stupid music on the phone. 2 hours of that will make you go nuts

I think Dr. Phil is running an anger management course for disgruntled passengers. He says he truly believes there is always an underlying issue which typically has nothing to do with airline flying.

[Redwine]

I called WJ at 6 this morning and they answered on the first ring...

Just sayin.

and how many pax did they move through YYZ, YOW, ann YUL that day? Just sayin!

So why isn't Air Canada's call centre appropriately sized for their customer base, when WJ's clearly is?


How else are they going to pay for their massive pension funds?

[dream_big]

Your estimated wait time is 11 minutes.........which somehow turned into 45 minutes on a normal day with no thunderstorms at westjet. So don't tell me westjet doesn't have issues when it comes to call ins because it's bull#$%^. Sure it might not be as bad as AC, but unless you OVER STAFF your call centers you will EVENTUALLY run into a situations where the number of incoming calls exceeds the number of employees there to receive them.

Just like last Christmas westjet was given praise of how well they handled the winter storms. (first off I am NOT bashing WJ since I am a fan of both airlines, and I am NOT saying AC did better. Merely giving ex's). I'm just saying that AC wasn't the only airline that had stranded passengers waiting at their alternate airports IN A LINE for 14 hours for another flight or even guidance as to what is happening to them now.

Which brings me to my next point. Everyone that posts on here and complains, makes it seem as if they had SO many other options for their travel and decided to do AC a favor and give them a chance. If you knew AC didn't have the best customer service, then why didn't you fly with that "better" airline right from the start!

So maybe people should just STOP complaining. If I would go online and post a useless comment every time I received bad service from AC, JAZZ, WJ, Transat, and threaten to not fly with them again........well then I don't think there would be airlines left for me to travel with!

[deflux]

We may be pilots but we are also consumers. Consumers complain about crappy service, even if we don't have the option to take our business elsewhere. That's just how it goes...

AC/Jazz is the only option on many routes. That's not an excuse for their customer service to suck.

[KAG]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXStPqhLmIk


Not saying this thread is not valid (sounds like it was) but when I hear of people whine about customer service and delays, this is what comes to mind. This should be played at the customer service desk on repeat during all IROPS.