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

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  • 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.

    Yea, good post!

    If there was indeed a queue of up to an hour then you've got to realise that the (typically minimum wage) people on the other side are probably going to be stressed out and potentially be funny !!!!!!s! Can you imagine it? They typically get X calls a day and that's what they are paid to handle. Then suddenly a "hurricane" of calls comes through and they are doing 2x, 3x or maybe more work and facing a constantly high number of calls in the queue! Add to the fact that the last 10 people on the phone have probably gave them abuse because flights have been cancelled due to an act of 'God'!

    You've got to be the bigger person in situations like that. Let any funny stuff go over your head and just be polite + get what you need out of them.

    You sound like you are fairly reasonable in that you know that acts of God are going to delay flights, and you had a contingency. But I think you handled it just as badly as the person on the other end of the phone.
  • peachyprice
    peachyprice Posts: 22,346
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    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:

    A cancelled flight doesn't result in a cancelled a ticket until the passenger has exercised that option.

    To get a refund the ticket is cancelled, to re-arrange it isn't.

    It really isn't rocket science.
    Accept your past without regret, handle your present with confidence and face your future without fear
  • 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:
    I seriously cannot believe some of the responses on here. If what the op said is true, the "advisor" had absolutely no right to speak to her like that. For all of you turning this around and saying it's her fault, she is the CUSTOMER , regardless of whether she had her booking reference or not I am sure there are not that many bookings on her postcode and surname. No wonder people are put off posting with responses like those on this thread.😣
  • kezzygirl wrote: »
    I seriously cannot believe some of the responses on here. If what the op said is true, the "advisor" had absolutely no right to speak to her like that. For all of you turning this around and saying it's her fault, she is the CUSTOMER , regardless of whether she had her booking reference or not I am sure there are not that many bookings on her postcode and surname. No wonder people are put off posting with responses like those on this thread.😣

    This is the Moneysavingexpert forums.


    The customer service rep could have gone round to their house, kicked down their front door, punched their family and spray painted a message on their wall, and people would still blame the poster.

    Why Martin or any reputable company would want to be associated with the ridiculous amount of trolls and frankly nasty people who post on these boards amazes me.
  • kezzygirl wrote: »
    I seriously cannot believe some of the responses on here. If what the op said is true, the "advisor" had absolutely no right to speak to her like that. For all of you turning this around and saying it's her fault, she is the CUSTOMER , regardless of whether she had her booking reference or not I am sure there are not that many bookings on her postcode and surname. No wonder people are put off posting with responses like those on this thread.😣

    Why did you put quotation marks around the word 'advisor'? Nobody on this thread has mentioned that word as of yet, so who the hell are you quoting??
  • hollydays
    hollydays Posts: 19,812
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    I've never worked in any job where I've felt the need to be rude to someone in the course of my employment. It's not professional.
  • kezzygirl wrote: »
    If what the op said is true

    Perhaps some of the responses you feel 'blame' the OP are because there is, of course, only one side to this story & some of it doesn't quite fit together.

    OP didn't have their booking reference (fair enough, he/she says they were at work, I wouldn't have mine there either), but they offered their PASSPORT number. They have THAT at work?

    OP has a less than pleasant discussion about what the answerphone message asking him/her to call might be about, initially acting ignorant (for how long did that go on when travel/airline call centres were under intense pressure). Than finally admits not only did he/she think it "might be the hurricane", but later also states he/she thought the flight might be cancelled & already had a backup plan.

    OP claimed not to understand why they were being invited to choose between cancellation or reschedule given that the flight was cancelled already, yes badly phrased but REALLY - you really think OP is dim enough not to have got that the operative meant refund or reschedule. Certainly bright enough to have put alternative 'just in case of cancellation' plans in place already.

    OP did not have the c/c in order to obtain a refund which led to "more drama".....more drama to & fro between themselves & operative perhaps? Not necessarily one sided with OP purely on the receiving end maybe?

    Are some people here right to perhaps suspect OP was also doing a bit of 'winding up'?

    OP spent 30 mins on hold, then a further hour on hold, followed by a long argument. Then claims to work in the emergency services! Blimey, I wouldn't mind a job in that field if there are random breaks lasting in excess of maybe 2 hours.

    The initial thread reads to me like customer service skills were very thin on the ground, but tempers short ON BOTH SIDES. There's no excuse for some of what has been claimed but this is, at the end of the day, only one side.

    Hopefully OP will have felt better after venting here, taking it all out on his keyboard, & got off safely to his/her destination. :beer:
    Seen it all, done it all, can't remember most of it.
  • "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.

    I'm trying to see both sides of the story which is why I've made sure to include any area where I can see why he may have been angry with me. I didn't take any frustration out on him whatsoever, because I wasn't frustrated. It wasn't his fault that my flight had been cancelled, and I already had a back up plan anyway. None of that was the problem. I understand it is a stressful job particularly during situations like that and made sure that I stated that I appreciated he was probably busy and apologised in case he felt that I was frustrated with him. I wasn't acting in a way that implied that I was, but I thought it made sense to just apologise anyway because I appreciated he was probably having an extremely bad day.

    As to why I didn't have the number on me, I was at work and the voicemail had asked me to call ASAP, so I did. By the time I'd have got home from work it would have been close to 11pm so didn't make sense to wait.
  • IAmWales wrote: »
    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.

    To be honest, I'd assumed that the call was to tell me that I could get a refund or rebook etc etc. I had a friend on the same flight and he'd received a call the day before letting him know he could change everything without cost and I hadn't had that call, therefore I assumed I was just receiving the same one as I thought that if the flight was cancelled it would have said so on the voicemail. Live and learn!

    As for moaning about waiting, I didn't - I complained to my co-worker because the music was very annoying, but not on the phone. I realise that the guy on the other end has absolutely zero control over how long I'm on hold and expected a long wait anyway, that wasn't the issue.
  • Nearly as pedantic as the OP, it doesnt take a rocket science degree to understand the point being made.

    If in person, perhaps yes. However as this was over the phone and it wasn't the best line, I simply thought I could have misunderstood it and thought it was much better to clarify than to have completely misunderstood and go with an option I didn't actually need to take.
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