WestJet: FAIL
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As most of you know, J and I are flying to Calgary in January. Well, when we booked our flights J hadn't heard from his job opportunity yet. So because of such a great seat sale, we decided to take a chance and book our flights (because even with the $61.95/per person penalty, the flight was still much cheaper than we expected it to be). And as it turned out, J needs to attend a meeting the night we had our flights booked for (should have known). So we needed to reschedule our departure date. Which would be easy with any other airline EXCEPT FOR WESTJET.
I checked online, and another seat sale was on (with limited availability). The sale ended in a few hours, and we didn't want to risk any chance of the ticket prices going up again, so we knew we had to book ASAP. I tried to log into my online profile to change my flight info there, but apparently they've switched to a new reservation system and all old profile data has been lost. F!
So I had to call in. The first time I called, the wait time was "in excess of 60 minutes." WTF. A quick peruse online told me that because they had recently "upgraded" their reservation system, they've been having ridiculously long wait times, and people were PISSED. Some people were holding for up to 2 hours! I lasted 11 minutes on hold before I had to leave my desk to do something.
When I tried to call back again, I couldn't even wait on hold because their hold quene was too long. This happened 7 times. SEVEN TIMES. IN A ROW!
Finally I called again and I was put on hold. FOR 71 MINUTES. 71 straight minutes listening to the same hold music loop around and around and around. There wasn't even a recorded voice cutting in, to thank me for holding, and to tell me that they appreciated my business. Or even better, there could have been an option for a call-back. But no. So annoying.
After my 71 minutes on hold, I finally got to talk to a real, live person! Then they put me on hold when they couldn't figure out their computer system. After another 8 painful minutes on hold, I finally got what I wanted.
So thanks for wasting 79 minutes of my life, Westjet. Get your act together!
7 comments:
So you had to spend some time to get what you wanted...isn't that the moral of your blog? That to get places in life, you sometimes have to put things on hold and wait? I kind of think that this phonecall was symbolic.
But we are the instamatic generation.
And I love WestJet...they have never treated me anything, but great!
That is totally unlike Westjet - and I have heard similiar stories due to their new reso system.
I'd really recommend writing them an email. There is a contact us/give feedback option on their site and I am sure your feedback would be well recieved!
They pride themselves on their customer support so feedback is imperative!
I saw your tweets about this yesterday...brutal! So weird, since WestJet is all about the customer service.
Ugh.
Annoying.
I can understanding waiting on hold, but 71 minutes?? That's a little ridiculous!!!!!!
Wow, that's a loooooong time to be on hold. I would have been so frustrated!
That being said, WestJet is usually way better than that on the customer service front, it really is just growing pains from the switch to the new system. Even at their worst they're still way more committed to their customers than Air Canada...
You are really patient. I don't know if I could have hung on the phone for 71 minutes! I've never flown WestJet, I'm not even sure they fly out of Southern CA, but I will make it a point to avoid them now.
OMG. Did you say 71 minutes? That is beyond ridiculous. I would asked for a manager and complained very loudly. You sure have a lot of patience.