Wednesday 31 October 2012

Malaysia Airlines' irritating answering machine

Much had been said about Malaysia Airlines being in financial dire straits. However, I'm not writing this as an expert to suggest a wide range of solutions. If the extremely clever people who were paid so much can't find a solution, who am I then to try such an impossible task. Well, at least I'm not going to be a burden later on after failing to solve the problem, that the government has to set-up some not-so-useful thing such as Pemandu to accommodate my existence.

Ok, this was what happened to me.

I already bought a ticket on line to fly off somewhere, and wanted to confirm it with Malaysia Airlines. Called them up, and what I got was an answering machine which told me to push these and that buttons. After being much irritated, the machine then told me that I have been placed on a "queue" and that they will call me back in 40 minutes. So I waited. After an hour, I gave up. Half an hour later the people of Malaysia Airlines called me. The problem was that, I was in the toilet and I'm not in the habit of bringing my phone when I'm doing my toilet business. The Malaysia Airlines people never call me back. I called them back only to find the irritating answering machine again at the other end. So, tomorrow I'm going to the airport with fingers crossed. Hopefully my ticket is ok. If I can't get on that plane, I think I'm going to throw such a tantrum that all hell going to break lose.

The way the airline treated me as a customer, in this instance was quite unfortunate. It was as if they don't care for my well being. The fact that they made me followed the stupid instructions of an answering machine indicated that they don't care how their clients feel. If that's the attitude of the Malaysia Airlines as a whole, then I don't think it will get out of its current predicaments anytime soon.

I hope the management of the national carrier can do something about this. I think they need to at least get the basics right first. Take good care of your clients, ok? Improve the attitude. How to turn around the airline if you all can't even properly take care of your paying passengers first?

18 comments:

  1. That is why it is fantastic to live in JB. You can choose which airline to fly and from where you want to fly. SIN has a lot of airlines to choose from, although you will find a lot of fares are cheaper if you take-off from KUL.

    Screw nationalism. KLIA and MAS cannot expect Malaysians to be loyal to them simply because we have to be nationalistic. If the service is crap, I'll take other airlines ex-SIN. Afterall, the underground premier taxi service only costs RM 130 between any point in JB to Changi, which is not that different from premier taxi service from Ampang to KLIA.

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  2. You should try Air Asia. Their call centre push this, push that, push this and all our operators are busy and your call is important to us is enough to drive you crazy to rip off your testicles.

    On Sunday, I took flight AK6125 from Penang to KL which was delayed by one hour. Well, even more damning was one Air Asia staff by the name Yee who was checking boarding pass. A group of Midfle Eastern ( I am not telling if yhey were guys or women) who were fully clothed in the all enveloping burwa sampai kepala pun tutup penuh macam pocong, were allowed to board by Ms Yee, by merely checking flight ticket with passport withoyt ever asking them to reveal face. We the other passengers could have travelled with terrorist all we know.

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    Replies
    1. Not only terrorist, but someone can take over their tickets.
      Worst are Dumno's mata2 and immigration. Did the Dumn's immigration also check their passport and their faces when they enter into this country. I have seen Dumno's immigration, just chop, chop and never bother to look up. Go to PRC, they look at your face and passport when one enter and exit the counrty.
      So Malaysia is like everybody's country. They can come in and out as they want w/o proper check.

      Delete
  3. Sorry! The right word is sampai muka pun tutup fully.

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  4. Oh dear, we wouldn't want to see BigCat throw another tantrum. Hope another handphone won't go smashing against the wall. Wherever you're heading may you have a safe and pleasant journey :)

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  5. Anonymous 31 October 2012 09:10 is right. Lousy customer service experience is not MAS alone. All the airlines are like that now. I had a terrible experience with Air Asia. My friend was cursing Emirates customer service. Nobody pick up the phone at all!

    With the advancement of technology and the outsourcing of customer service to god forsaken places, please expect the quality to be worse in the future. We will be dealing with machines and clueless humans more n more in the future. Welcome to 21st century ;p


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    Replies
    1. Yes, you are right Anon 17:58. It's always the machine, machine, machine.... just like talking to the hand.

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    2. But you pay 50 pct or less for equivalent flights on Airasia. Better timing choices too. Don't believe ? Go check online.

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  6. Welcome to the information and services economy, where to cut costs, companies rely on interactive voice response systems to handle customers' enquiries.

    You see, people are expensive, so get a machine to do most of the work.

    Now you know why I sign off as IT.Sheiss

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  7. Very sorry to read about your experience, thanks for sharing.

    Since my experience of losing so much money/credit waiting in vain for my call to be picked up by the customer service of Air Asia 3 years ago, I don't bother to call them anymore. Better drive straight to their nearest office. But I would expect a higher standard for Malaysia Airlines though their website can also be very disappointing.

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  8. This is typical problem is those big corporation. I once was in Australia and subscribed to Optus phone service. Whenever I want to call their customer service, I will call, turn on the loud speaker and let it roll. After some 30 mins of adv and your call is important to us, then some operator will pick up. That is how it worked. Lucky that it is a toll free line.

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  9. Mas only What about other Government offices? Dumno has been running the this place for 50 years and always talk about Ketuanan. It is ketuanan this and that. If we think we pay money to Mas for plane ticket, how about Dumno Government? They think ke RAJA an like king but in english is GOVERN ment ie to serve and not like behaving like a king.

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    Replies
    1. Your beloving pakatan leaders are even worst. If you dont believe, please ask Pak Sheikh.

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    2. ;
      .
      .


      if u arrange the word in another way , u may end up
      with-


      kera- ja - [k]an mat mat di gomen opis

      [ translation: only monkeys in government]


      maybe this is 1 Transformasi one malaysia can share

      with gomen mat najib and his partner chua chiba* .....

      .
      .

      Delete
  10. All you need to do is to go on the websites of MAS and AirAsia, and check out the fares for comparable destinations like KK or Singapore or Langkawi. Generally, AirAsia is about 50 pct lower than MAS. Recently, MAS issued some sukuk bonds with the Malaysian government guarantee. Still they can't make money. This is what happens when there is no accountability.

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  11. Airasia is like riding a kapchai motor. Jatuh kena sini dan sana. You enter Airasia plane is like kerbau2. You pay peanuts, you get monkeys. Cattle class. Mas is like riding DUMNO's potong saga.

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  12. Try ASTRO and TM

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  13. its a normal thing already.ever try calling HP?world-class infrastructure company..also use answering machine,and outsource their IT phone support to india.really terrible,with slumdog's english fluency.bear in mind, we're calling as a paying customer too.IT equipment worth millions in our DC.

    astro and tm are no better.try to get their support at around 7pm.once i had to listen (loudspeaker) to the stupid song over and aover again for about 1hour,before someone actually pickup the line.

    sigh..such crap customer services..

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