Complaint about Thomas Cook - worst customer service I've ever received

wordsearch

I have wanted to vent all day about how appalling the customer service I received from the Thomas Cook call centre today was the whole day :mad:

We have had frequent problems with our Thomas Cook flight booking since first making it, however to be fair these issues have always been solved relatively quickly and the customer services team have been friendly. Until today!

I had a voicemail from them asking to call them about my flight tomorrow. So, I did. The first time I was on hold for about thirty minutes and was hung up on quite quickly as they said they couldn't hear me properly. Annoying, but fair enough, perhaps they couldn't actually hear me at all. I went back on hold for a second hour, and ended up in a long argument with who was definitely the rudest customer service representative I've ever had the misfortune of speaking with.

He took an instant dislike to me anyway, to which I did try and apologise. I stated that I understood that they were probably busy because of the hurricane and that I realise that that isn't their fault, and apologised if I sounded fed up but that I'd been on hold for a long time and I had quite a bad cold which always made me sound worse than I actually was. We immediately had a problem as he asked for my booking reference, and I asked if he was able to obtain it from my passport number, date of birth, phone number or anything else. "No, so I'm going to hang up now and you can call back again later when you've got it." We argued about this for a few minutes, but luckily somewhere in that time I managed to get hold of it. He immediately replied with, "Well if you've been on hold for so long, why didn't you go and get it, what were you doing during all that time?" I was at work, and the voicemail said to call immediately, so I did...

Once that was settled, he didn't seem to want to tell me what the call was actually about. He kept saying "Well, I don't know, I didn't call you, why would I know what it's about?" Well, SOMEONE at Thomas Cook called me, and SOMEONE asked me to call this number. I'm now calling this number, can you not check the system to find out what it is because I have no idea, probably the hurricane? "Fine, but I'll put you on hold for another thirty minutes, that's alright isn't it?" ....

As expected, the flight was cancelled. (I sort of wish they'd said that in the voicemail as it would have saved a lot of stress, but there you go) However, this wasn't that simple either. The man used some odd phrasing so I thought I misunderstood. His words were, "Your flight tomorrow is cancelled. You have two choices. You can cancel the flight and get a refund, or you can move it." I clarified this as I thought I must have misheard, as how could I cancel the flight if it was already cancelled? To this he began talking to me like I was very stupid, saying, "Okay, let me break this down really simply so that you can understand it," then repeated what he'd already said extremely slowly and patronisingly. This lead to more drama as I didn't have the credit card I'd used on me to get a refund - sure, perhaps annoying, but I didn't know the flight was cancelled, I was just returning the call. I also don't work in an office, I work for the emergency services and so don't happen to have all of my posessions lying around near me.

By the end of the conversation this guy was being such a douche and talking down to me as much as it was possible to do so. I asked for his name, and he absolutely refused to provide it and we ended up in an argument about it. I asked to speak to a manager and he said, "Why, just because you don't like that I've not told you what you want to hear?" No, that wasn't the problem at all - I half expected the flight to be cancelled and had a backup plan waiting to be put into action, but I DO have a problem with someone being so completely rude and unprofessional to me when it's already an upsetting situation. At one point he even said, "Okay, would you like me to put you through to my direct supervisor?" Yes please. "Well, I'm not going to." More going in circles trying to get his name and eventually he just hung up on me.

I have never spoken to someone so rude and patronising and had someone talk down to me so much over what should have been a fairly simple transaction. I was never able to get his name or get put through to anyone (and of course got to spend a fortune on their phoneline just to be repeatedly insulted) and don't think I can recall a time a phone conversation has left me so angry! I want to complain to Thomas Cook but their complaints number appears to be the exact same one that this delightful man works for, so what would the point be in that...

Anyway, just wanted to get that out I suppose :beer:

photome

If it was that bad, and of course we only have one side of the story, you could possibly get a transcript of the call and take it further

AylesburyDuck

"He took an instant dislike to me anyway, to which I did try and apologise." = I took my frustration out on some poor customer service rep before he even had a chance to help me and surprisingly he didnt respond well to that.

And yes, if you were on hold all that time why on Earth wouldnt you have ALL your correct information to hand so you didnt end up on hold even longer.
You sound petulant and your story doesnt ring true to me.

peachyprice

wordsearch wrote: »

The man used some odd phrasing so I thought I misunderstood. His words were, "Your flight tomorrow is cancelled. You have two choices. You can cancel the flight and get a refund, or you can move it." I clarified this as I thought I must have misheard, as how could I cancel the flight if it was already cancelled?

You found that confusing? Really? The flight is cancelled, you had the option of cancelling your ticket for a full refund or moving your booking to an alternative date. There is nothing 'odd' about his phrasing.

IAmWales

If you're going to an affected area you surely knew your flight would be cancelled? Common sense would be that the call was to advise of your options, and common sense would be to make sure you had the relevant information to hand.

It sounds like he was having a crappy day (and I would be too if I was taking constant calls where people didn't have the right information), and you were grumpy because of your cold and because your holiday has been cancelled (understandable). If that's the worst customer service you've ever received, especially under difficult circumstances, you're very lucky.

As for the call wait time, people like you OP make the problem so much worse. How much time did you spend moaning about waiting, finding information you should have had to hand? That time is x minutes longer for the next person waiting in the queue. Multiply that by the hundreds of callers, and now you might understand why you were waiting so long.

Twopints

peachyprice wrote: »

You found that confusing? Really? The flight is cancelled, you had the option of cancelling your ticket for a full refund or moving your booking to an alternative date. There is nothing 'odd' about his phrasing.

Of course it is confusing - it's gibberish. If the flight is cancelled, then you do not have "the option" of cancelling it.

If he had said "you have 2 options, a refund or re-arrange" that would have made sense.

:beer:

AylesburyDuck

Twopints wrote: »

Of course it is confusing - it's gibberish. If the flight is cancelled, then you do not have "the option" of cancelling it.

If he had said "you have 2 options, a refund or re-arrange" that would have made sense.

:beer:

Nearly as pedantic as the OP, it doesnt take a rocket science degree to understand the point being made.

giraffe69

However this is an upsetting position for a traveller to be in even if they might suspect cancellation. Thomas Cook should employ people who have some customer skills and should know if one of their operators does not have any.

takman

wordsearch wrote: »

I have wanted to vent all day about how appalling the customer service I received from the Thomas Cook call centre today was the whole day :mad:

We have had frequent problems with our Thomas Cook flight booking since first making it, however to be fair these issues have always been solved relatively quickly and the customer services team have been friendly. Until today!

I had a voicemail from them asking to call them about my flight tomorrow. So, I did. The first time I was on hold for about thirty minutes and was hung up on quite quickly as they said they couldn't hear me properly. Annoying, but fair enough, perhaps they couldn't actually hear me at all. I went back on hold for a second hour, and ended up in a long argument with who was definitely the rudest customer service representative I've ever had the misfortune of speaking with.

He took an instant dislike to me anyway, to which I did try and apologise. I stated that I understood that they were probably busy because of the hurricane and that I realise that that isn't their fault, and apologised if I sounded fed up but that I'd been on hold for a long time and I had quite a bad cold which always made me sound worse than I actually was. We immediately had a problem as he asked for my booking reference, and I asked if he was able to obtain it from my passport number, date of birth, phone number or anything else. "No, so I'm going to hang up now and you can call back again later when you've got it." We argued about this for a few minutes, but luckily somewhere in that time I managed to get hold of it. He immediately replied with, "Well if you've been on hold for so long, why didn't you go and get it, what were you doing during all that time?" I was at work, and the voicemail said to call immediately, so I did...

Once that was settled, he didn't seem to want to tell me what the call was actually about. He kept saying "Well, I don't know, I didn't call you, why would I know what it's about?" Well, SOMEONE at Thomas Cook called me, and SOMEONE asked me to call this number. I'm now calling this number, can you not check the system to find out what it is because I have no idea, probably the hurricane? "Fine, but I'll put you on hold for another thirty minutes, that's alright isn't it?" ....

As expected, the flight was cancelled. (I sort of wish they'd said that in the voicemail as it would have saved a lot of stress, but there you go) However, this wasn't that simple either. The man used some odd phrasing so I thought I misunderstood. His words were, "Your flight tomorrow is cancelled. You have two choices. You can cancel the flight and get a refund, or you can move it." I clarified this as I thought I must have misheard, as how could I cancel the flight if it was already cancelled? To this he began talking to me like I was very stupid, saying, "Okay, let me break this down really simply so that you can understand it," then repeated what he'd already said extremely slowly and patronisingly. This lead to more drama as I didn't have the credit card I'd used on me to get a refund - sure, perhaps annoying, but I didn't know the flight was cancelled, I was just returning the call. I also don't work in an office, I work for the emergency services and so don't happen to have all of my posessions lying around near me.

By the end of the conversation this guy was being such a douche and talking down to me as much as it was possible to do so. I asked for his name, and he absolutely refused to provide it and we ended up in an argument about it. I asked to speak to a manager and he said, "Why, just because you don't like that I've not told you what you want to hear?" No, that wasn't the problem at all - I half expected the flight to be cancelled and had a backup plan waiting to be put into action, but I DO have a problem with someone being so completely rude and unprofessional to me when it's already an upsetting situation. At one point he even said, "Okay, would you like me to put you through to my direct supervisor?" Yes please. "Well, I'm not going to." More going in circles trying to get his name and eventually he just hung up on me.

I have never spoken to someone so rude and patronising and had someone talk down to me so much over what should have been a fairly simple transaction. I was never able to get his name or get put through to anyone (and of course got to spend a fortune on their phoneline just to be repeatedly insulted) and don't think I can recall a time a phone conversation has left me so angry! I want to complain to Thomas Cook but their complaints number appears to be the exact same one that this delightful man works for, so what would the point be in that...

Anyway, just wanted to get that out I suppose :beer:

So you were at work and you you managed to not only have an extended conversation with this guy but stayed on hold for a total of 2 hours!. It must have been a pretty quiet day at work, i'm surprised you managed to get away with that considering you work for the emergency services.

You also paid for the call?. You really need to look at https://www.saynoto0870.com because you should never ring a premium rate/chargeable number.

I also think you should have really tried to get your booking reference number. If i was making a call like that i would put it on loudspeaker while on hold and look in my emails on my phone to find the reference number.

It also sounds like you got a bit annoyed at him for how long you were on hold, which isn't fair on him considering he is only doing his job. So that's why he probably acted like he did (although he shouldn't really when representing the company). I also think you were a bit silly to not understand when he said about cancelling and getting a refund or moving the booking.

Although i do think that they should have mentioned the cancellation in the original voicemail or sent an additional email/text saying that.

SevenOfNine

While you were 'on hold' all that time, didn't the message on the loop tell you to "have your booking reference number ready"? Even if it didn't, sorry, but foolish thing to do & your own fault, though if calling from work I can understand why you wouldn't have it about your person, after all, who does?

I have in the past also rung a call centre extremely angry, & started my conversation by explaining that although I am furious it is not with them personally & I won't take my temper out on them, but I would like their help to sort 'it' out.

I find it best to ask who I'm speaking to right after that, & I note their name & use it often during the subsequent conversation, also noting date & time - for pretty much any call to any call centre, otherwise it's all far too anonymous for my liking. Though I go out of my way to stay friendly & polite because being difficult & rude get you nowhere (except disconnected).

It does sound like you got more than your fair share of sarcasm & rudeness, but TBH it also sounds as if you were doggedly determined to be somewhat awkward.

You clearly knew the message left for you would more than likely be about a flight cancellation, yet pretended not to have any idea, finally suggesting "probably the hurricane".

I agree that the operative could have phrased the cancellation choices better, but frankly, you don't sound so dim as to not have understood exactly what he meant.

Only reading one side it's difficult to judge, but I wouldn't be surprised if you weren't giving as good as you got.

Sorry your plans went awry though & hope you could rearrange your trip. Put this down to an annoying experience & a good amusing 'read' for us.

pmduk

People who call call centres without knowing account nombers/resfsrences etc are the bane of a call-centre agent's life. No, telling us you're Mrs Smith doesn't magically solve the issue soecially when you don't know your postcode