India Call Center: Feedback and Experience

[CGK]

Dear All:
We know now that many calls from different countries had been diverted to call centres in India. I know when I call the US and Canadian 800 number, the call will go there.
Please share your experiences dealing with them here, and feedbacks for improvements. Hopefully this thread will help SQ Lurker.

Let's start.

I called last week while in the US. I needed to add SQ FFP numbers. The answer from the agent at the India Call Center was: "Sir, we can not add your PPS number. It has to be done by your travel agent."

[DeltaFlyingProf]

I called last week while in the US. I needed to add SQ FFP numbers. The answer from the agent at the India Call Center was: "Sir, we can not add your PPS number. It has to be done by your travel agent."

I had exactly the same experience! I could not believe my ears. So I told the lady that it was a KF number, i.e. SQ controls this and this is on an SQ flight. She said: "You have to call the KrisFlyer center in Singapore and ask them to do it".

[zvezda]

I don't think I've reached SQ's India call centre yet, though I have phoned this month. I hope things improve as quickly as they did when BD outsourced their call centre to India.

[HUGE AL]

Would dialing other countries' CS numbers route us to better call centers (i.e. calling Singapore from the US)? After all the UA problems (and Dell and Priority Club) it would be nice to know the numbers to avoid.

[lee_apromise]

1. Wanted to change date with B fare, it's common sense that SQ won't charge any returning date changes, but they always say "Just give me a moment sir, I will check whether it is allowed or not". Same goes to W fare, I said "how much do you charge?", same answer "I will check whether it is allowed or not sir".

2. I told them my PNR "XXXXPX", I said blah blah papa blah blah, "sorry sir, we cannot find any reservationw with that PNR", I repeat again, he says "blah blah alpha blah blah", I say again "PAPA PAPA PAPA", finally he gets it. Very unfriendly as well. But most of them are nice people but I think SQ should train them with more CRS training.

[KeithMEL]

I was routed to the ICC when I rang the Australian number. My call was answered much more quickly than before we got hooked up with the ICC. I am pleased that my one and only interaction with the ICC was pleasant - then again I only needed to change my passport number. The guy on the phone spoke with a clear accent and was rather efficient.

Thankfully I've yet to deal with the UA ICC as the UA number here routes to Manila who are pretty competent.

IndiAA (the Aussie call centre has been outsourced to Delhi) OTOH is a hit or miss. It's a lot cheaper to call the Aussie number than to ring them up in the US so I do the more straightforward bookings with IndiAA. I've noted the name of a competent AAgent and now ask for her each time i call - perhaps you could do the same for the SQ ICC? Also helps to get your Alphas, Bravos and Charlies straight prior to ringing up.

Wanted to change date with B fare, it's common sense that SQ won't charge any returning date changes, but they always say "Just give me a moment sir, I will check whether it is allowed or not". Same goes to W fare, I said "how much do you charge?", same answer "I will check whether it is allowed or not sir".

I'd have thought that they'd need time to look through the fare rules as they'd be liable for any mistakes.

[lee_apromise]

I'd have thought that they'd need time to look through the fare rules as they'd be liable for any mistakes.

I can understand your point but it never happened when it was under australian management. Australians took less than 10 seconds but India takes more than 1 minute to confirm. Well....haha...

[zvezda]

Australians took less than 10 seconds but India takes more than 1 minute to confirm.

I'm sure the Indians will be just as fast as the Australians once they have similar experience.

[MAN Flyer]

Rather than start a new thread....

I must say, having had reason to use the UK (India) reservations/call centre many times over the last few months, I've got to admit to being very impressed by the speed and quality of the service so far. I think the longest I have waited was today, and that was under 2 minutes, and rare. Most of the time it's answered in seconds.

The difference from previously calling the UK number is staggering. Hardly surprising as before you either got an engaged tone or a message saying bugger off and ring back later. I know I wasn't the only one who gave up and just started calling Singapore.

I'd be interested to hear what experience's others have had, but mine have all been very impressive.

[SQ LPP]

So far so good as well here from up north.
The call center guy/gal can call you back if he/she needs to inform you with something. I learned this when I ordered my Japanese Meal from BKK, and it is no longer available or possible. She was asked to call me back to relay the information, but she did not.

[Savage25]

Called the US reservation line for SQ seat assignments on a DL award. Agent got 3 out of 4 seat assignments right. For the 4th, I asked for 17K, she said it was available, confirmed that she assigned me 17K. When I checked my booking online, it showed 14K for that segment.

Where's the "thumbs down" smiley?

[yvrcnx]

I have been dealing with the India call center quite a bit over the last few month. Mostly change of travel dates in C and have to say that I too have been very impressed.
Call was answered within 5 minutes, that being the longest wait.
Whomever I have talked to, about 8 different calls and different people, always very helpful and very polite.

I had a little bit of a challenging situation yesterday as I have a ticket issued on SQ stock and one of the sectors is on OZ.
A few weeks ago I was told that OZ needs to make that change of date, I called OZ and they changed the date, however on the e-ticket it still showed the original date. Received a call from SQ yesterday that OZ needs to change the date on the e-ticket and was told to call OZ, called OZ and was met by a very unfriendly CSR. She told me that there is nothing she could do and told me to call SQ again. I called SQ again and the very friendly gentleman told me to ask OZ to call them and gave me a number to call so they could do it together. Called OZ back and was met again by a different very unfriendly CSR. I asked her if she could call this number so they can work it out as I am in between and I am no travel agent.
Her answer was:"Sir, we shouldn't have to and we won't"
I was shocked and surprised by her attitude and thanked her for her service and hung up.
Called SQ again, explained the difficulty of changing this and asked if they can just re-book me.
She did and everything is fine now.
Obviously SQ could have done this from the beginning without me having to go back and forth but there seems to have been some inability to do so, however their attitude was always to help and courtious.
OZ on the other side was straight out rude on both calls I have made to them (Call center in the U.S.) and left a very bitter after taste of OZ, eventhough I regard them as a wonderful airline.

[kras]

I, too, have had several dealings with many of the Indian-based call centres for KF in the past weeks (to try and clarify waiting lists, seat requests, and changes to bookings and upgrades) - and overall, I haven't been all that impressed with their level of service.

To start off, I must say that the people working at the service centres seem to have a "genuinely want to help you" attitude, and will try and assist in any way possible. Thumbs up on that part...

However, when it comes to slightly-more complicated procedures, such as conducting upgrades on flights that are waitlisted (specifically those of which that require an EY confirmation also prior to the issuance of the upgrade), it is in such instances that they start losing their wit and have no idea what is being done or being said to the customer.

I was attempting to get a SINSYD flight for my friend back in late JAN (as most of us would know, that period is the worst for travel - as most families with kids were returning from holidays). Because virtually all EY seats were full until the beginning of FEB, I suggested my friend to go for an upgrade, which should increase his chances of getting on a flight.

In short, he managed to get an EY waitlist confirmed for 24JAN, and a few days later a J upgrade came through as well. At the time of making the waitlists, the KF person said that as long as the waitlists are on the same day, the upgrade can be issued.

(but from previous experiences, I remember that it was necessary that both flights need to be the same for this to happen - but he reassured me that it'll be fine, so I left it)

And guess what? Yep, when I tried to issue the upgrade, I was told that I couldn't - and resulting me having to be on the phone with another service agent to clean up the idiot's mess for a whole hour.

Fortunately, I had a brighter operator speaking to me, and she managed to do a few wonders and issued the upgrade for my friend. While I was very grateful for her help and determination, I was still very upset with that previous individual with his lack of knowledge of proper procedures!

There are other stories that I could share here about the pros and cons of dealing with an Indian-based call centre. As one previous post pointed out, proper training is KEY!

And from my experiences with dealing with such call centres with different organisations, I must say that time does polish off the bad and improve overall service in the medium- to long-term. Those who reside in AU, and have dealt with 3 (much better now) and Optus (idiots) customer service operators would know what I'm talking about.

Finally, for those fed up with having to deal with them, you can try calling the SIN KF centre direct. I, personally, call the HK reservations - who are also able to deal with KF-based enquiries (that is, after the issuance of a redemption).

[TerryK]

I got some new lines from ICC today:

Me: "Please enter my BD number for this PNR."
ICC: "Your ticket is an upgraded ticket, you will not earn any miles even if I enter a frequent flyer number. Once a ticket is upgrade, it will not earn miles."

ICC: "Would you like to Book-The-Cook?"
Me: "No, thanks!"
ICC: "Do you mean you don't want to Book-The-CooK?"
Me: "Yes. No. Thanks!"
ICC: "So, you don't want Book-The-Cook."
Me: "Yes"

Oh! Yes, she was very polite. A polite idiot.

[MAN Flyer]

They do seem keen on Book the Cook. I get asked every time I call with a seat request.