Saturday, May 26, 2012

My Ongoing Nightmare With Airphil Express

To Whoever It Is From Air Philippines:

I am writing because I am very frustrated and upset at how you handle customers. I have been in circles with your agents and even your supervisors since May 24, 2012 because they have not provided me with a feasible solution to my problem.

We are supposed to leave Cebu with Booking Reference –HZXHAR on June 2 for Hong Kong and since this booking was made in April, I subsequently made reservations and paid for our domestic flights, hotels, etc. Likewise, we arranged to meet somebody in Macau on June 2 as we have already made arrangements for our transfer from the Hong Kong International Airport.

The big problem regarding this schedule change is that our flight was moved a day earlier thereby making it impossible for us to make it in Cebu on time. And what made this matter terribly worse is that I have been blatantly lied at and led on by the people I spoke to from your contact centers.

When I first spoke to LJ, she offered that if I am not amenable to the flight schedule change, I can always file for a refund! To begin with, this was not my fault that you continuously cancel flights due to this practice that has robbed off so many paying customers of their rights. To appease me temporarily, I was told to email online support, which I did right away considering that our flight is already days away. I was also given the assurance that since this issue was expedited; I was supposed to receive the email the next day, May 25, 2012.

However, May 25, 2012 came and went and I did not receive any email as promised. So I called again at 3 PM hoping to get a response before the online support group closes at 7 PM but to my dismay, I was told that the day is not yet done and I am guaranteed to get an email within the day from the online support group since there were two or three people who expedited my concern.

At this point, I have already heard of so many inaccuracies from Airphil Express. One agent, claimed that she has no direct connection with online support and the only way she can help me out is by giving me their email. But when the day went by without hearing from them, I have become very alarmed at how the company is handling flight cancellations. With no sense of accountability, I am sure the other passengers with the same predicament as mine, are on their wits end in trying to resolve this mess that Airphil Express has created for us.

So the evening passed and nothing happened, and I called yet again long distance and demanded a supervisor as I hate to be lied at and obviously I don’t want to play your games anymore because it has taken a big toll on my health. This incident has already robbed me of a stress- free vacation and I have already gotten the impression that you are training your people to intentionally lie just so you can uphold the one-sided interests of this company.

But the lies did not stop there and to my utter disbelief, I was told that it may take 2 to 3 days before I can get a reply from online support. To make a long story short, I have been led on my two or three different people that I was supposed to get an email the next day. I don’t know how I can put into words the disappointment and anger that I felt after realizing that this company is obviously playing games with me.

I spoke to Mark, one of your supervisors and I was told that he personally made an email to online support so that I can get the response that I need the next day, May 26, 2012. This is the second time that I have been asked to wait another day for a response but foolishly, I trusted the supervisor to give me results.

Today, May 26, 2012, I received nothing in my email. So I called again at 3 PM and I was told by another person that I should just wait for the day to finish as I was guaranteed to get an email today. She said that she already checked with Mark’s notes (the supervisor) and she said that surely I was going to get an email today as they have elevated my concern to the Head Office. She further said that Mark was not on duty and there was no way I could talk to him. This was a crap, I knew it from how poorly constructed her reasoning was, but I was willing to wait it out for the remainder of the day as I desperately want this issue to be resolved ASAP! To my horror and disgust, nothing came for the second time!

Now, I’m confused whether you resolve your issues at the head office, or is it solely the online support group that handles concerns such as mine? Whatever the truth is, this has gotten me NOWHERE!

I called again and the lady who was not speaking coherently conveniently cut the line off. I was not throwing insults and I was not even berating your agent but then I got cut off. Is my issue too complex that none of your agents are able to help me out? Or is this just your scheming and convenient way of treating customers who are left with very little options? Again, I was merely explaining my concern and the line went dead. This speaks a lot as to how you have been dealing with your customers, the very customers who have helped you become a competitive budget airline in this country!

I spoke to Nathan tonight, and when he blurted that my email never made it to online support, I blew up! At this point, I could not count the number of times that I have been lied at for the past 48 hours. With very little sleep from the stress that this cancellation has caused me, I am very concerned that my BP may have already shoot up because I could not actually believe that this is happening. I never imagined that Airphil Express, supposedly a reputable company, can promote and uphold such an unacceptable and shady practice.

I told Nathan that I spoke to three or four different people and they told me that they followed up on my email so for him to declare that I never sent one is a complete C-R-A-P. I explained to him that it’s absolutely impossible considering that a number of people told me that they followed up on that email. I demanded to speak to a supervisor. He was clearly a liar and he merely wanted to put me off by telling me that I never sent an email in the first place!

I spoke to Ms. Cherry another supervisor, and she heard me out. But then again, she has no solution to my problem and told me flat out that the reason is that there are no managers who are working on the weekend, hence nobody can attend to my concern. She further said that I may be getting a response from them on Monday. Although I appreciate her effort in assuring me that they have all the documents on hand for this complaint, I am still very upset that this is the same delaying technique that this company is conveniently using for passengers like me who are due to travel very soon.

After making 7 to 8 calls and two sleepless nights, this issue remains unresolved and I have a terrible throbbing headache to nurse. I also don’t know how this email can make a difference. I am resigned to think that Airphil Express treat their customers badly and they have the poorest customer service in the country.

With this cancellation, we are losing our domestic flights, as well as the hotel that we booked on Cebu for our stay on the 1st of June. To add to that, we also made arrangements for our transfer to Macau on the afternoon of our scheduled flight. And what they can offer me is a refund! How convenient! If only it were that easy, so I am sharing this in the hope of finding the other passengers on that flight, who surely made reservations for their vacation way ahead of time. Airphil Express has robbed us off a stress free vacation, we need to be heard.

3 comments:

Ishmael F. Ahab said...

Hello Izzy.

Thank you for visiting my blog.

What happened to you is indeed disappointing. I believe that many people experienced the same problems that you experienced. I have seen reports of flight cancellation in the news. I guess it is a system-wide problem.

The wrong thing that Air Philippines did is that they didn't have the initiative to help their clients. They just wait for your so as to attend to your problems. How about the other passengers who don't have the time or the courage to speak up with Air Philippines. I guess that they have no choice but to say "good bye" to their hard-earned money.

You can lodge a complaint at CAAP but I think that Air Philippines has good lawyers to defeat you in court.

The best thing that we passengers can do is to band together and tell Air Philippines and other inefficient airlines that we had ENOUGH of their lies. We demand QUALITY service.

Izzy Bizzy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Izzy Bizzy said...

Yes, it's been really a pain in the neck. I have had enough of them. I am very concerned that if I continue to argue with them, I may end up being sick.

If we base on their TOS or terms of services each time we purchase our tickets from them, it is very one sided and passengers are definitely not in a win-win scenario.

But even so, I am not expecting much but then I am just sharing my experience so that others will also learn that they should be held accountable. I could have easily booked another flight elsewhere but doing so will just make things really easy for them. And it's just not fair.

I am looking forward to the time when we get our passengers bill of rights so that cancellations would no longer be their easy option.

Thank you so much for your time.

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