Air France --- Is Terrible Customer Service Really Worth Dealing With This Company?
Written: Nov 06 '06
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Product Rating:
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Pros: that I actually got the tickets in the end
Cons: they overcharge intentionally, horrible customer service, don't try to please customer, have dishonest employees
The Bottom Line: If you are going through or leaving France, avoid dealing with this airline if at all possible. They don't care about their customers time.
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| three_ster's Full Review: Air France |
This is a review of the point of purchase with Air France, and the ensuing customer relations experiences.
Air France flies to and from many destinations, primarily serving those passengers trying to visit France, or to head from France to somewhere else in the World. With many flights daily, they are one of the larger airlines dealing with French air travel, and as a result they have a huge customer base. Seeking to book plane tickets out of France to the United States, and then a return trip back to Paris, I sought out their web-site. The object was to find a trip that started in Toulouse, France, and ended up in Spokane, Washington. It seemed easy enough, and knowing that a few extra stops would be interlaid in the trip didn’t dissuade the attempt. There was a quick problem that arose though, and that was that Air France wasn’t servicing any flights out of the country on Sundays. That put a small crimp in the reservations, because I was looking for something that would get someone to the U.S. with as few layovers as possible.
The Air France web-site was a little difficult to discern at first, but soon enough I had figured out how to set up multiple-destination flights using their search engine. It allowed me to view several different options, with different layovers, and varying times at each one of those stops. Some of the stops had 10 hour layovers on some of the flights, so it became clear that there were only a few realistic choices being relayed back to me. After a lot of looking through the site, we did come up with a flight that worked for everyone involved, and were able to print out a set of flight information and reservations that could be taken care of using their 1-800 phone line. Everything had seemed to work out quite smoothly, and I had high praise for the site itself, but as soon as I got on the phone the customer service from Air France dipped from decent to deplorable.
Calling the 1-800 line for United States customers, you are sent through a phone tree that doesn’t let you move past the message until the operator has finished speaking. There is a short phone tree that is also difficult to navigate, but by going through some of the more general selections, I was able to finally get into the phone tree that would put me in touch with a representative. First though, you get put on hold automatically by the system, and it tells you an estimate of how much time you have left before the next representative is going to be available. It only took about 2 minutes the first time, and I was put into contact with a nice-enough gentleman who accepted my reservation code (6 character code given from the web-site). I gave him the code, which allows the reservation to come up on his screen. We confirmed all of the details, and proceeded to exchange credit card information so that we could purchase the flight as listed. It seemed to go very smoothly, and the gentleman told me that the tickets would be sent through Fed Ex overnight to my billing address.
It seemed like everything was going smoothly, but when the tickets had not arrived by the following week, I decided to give them another call to see what the hold up might have been. This time the phone tree kept me on hold for more than 10 minutes, as it played the same 1 minute song over and over again. That got annoying very quickly, but hey, they could be pretty busy at times right? Well I was finally connected to a lady that asked for the same reservation number, and I explained my situation to her. I had thought it would be a quick fix, but I was about to get a shock to the system. She let me know that no tickets had been ordered, and that there was nothing in the mail to us at this point. I was understandably confused, as the last guy I had talked with had taken my information, and run the card through the system. Loading up her information screen, she told me that it said the man had not been able to send it to our address because it was a P.O. Box instead of a physical address and that he had told me this. It then went on to say that he had placed a phone call back to my office, had talked with me, and had confirmed with me that he could not send it to the P.O. Box. Now I am not going to call this guy a liar, but he never told me any of this, and no phone call was ever placed. As I am the only one who answers this phone, there is no mistaking that I was being fed incorrect information.
I was placed on hold for about 15 more minutes as this lady went to get a supervisor, and came back with the response that I could go to an airport in my area to pick up the tickets in person. All I had to do was drive 280 miles to Sea-Tac airport, and I would have the tickets in hand. This was not an acceptable answer to me at all, because I had been told that they would be sent via Federal Express to me overnight before, and now I was being told they had to be picked up in person. After trying to explain things to her for about 15 more minutes, I was once again put on hold for an extensive period of time as she talked with her supervisor again. The result of that conversation was that they couldn’t mail it at all to me, and that I wasn’t going to be able to receive the tickets through Fed-Ex at all. She went on to tell me that they could not use any other companies to ship out tickets, and if Fed Ex wouldn’t do it, then I was basically out of luck. After re-explaining everything to her, she went back to supervisor (I really don’t understand why the supervisor couldn’t just jump on the phone) and chatted more while I sat on hold to the annoying music. She returned one final time to tell me that they would indeed ship it out using Priority Mail instead, and it would be another 2-3 days before I got the tickets. Seeing no alternative, I agreed to it, and expected the tickets in a few days.
When another week went by and I still had no tickets I started getting antsy. I figured I would give it one more day, thinking that the weekend may have messed with the mail. Calling them back on the 1-800 once again, I was put on hold for what seemed like 20 minutes before I was connected with yet another new customer representative. Notifying her that I still didn’t have any tickets, I was put on hold (what a surprise) and she came back to tell me that they were “lost in the mail”. Odd that someone actually knows that something got lost in the mail. Normally when I lose something, I don’t know it right away, but apparently Air France knows exactly when they lose things. It would have been nice if they had called to let me know they had lost it, but I digress. This lady then went into the same speech about only being able to use Federal Express, and that they couldn’t mail something to a P.O. Box, and had to have a physical address. More than happy to present them with a physical address, they didn’t like that either, because it wasn’t the billing address of the credit card I had used. Frustrated to say the least, I asked to speak to another supervisor once again, and was put on hold for about 20 more minutes as they chatted (and probably went to lunch) about my situation.
Coming back to me, she let me know that they might be able to send me the tickets through Federal Express after all, and asked me for a physical address that they could send it to. Taking my information they set it up to send everything and guaranteed that it would be there the next day. Content that I finally had everything in order, I got off the phone and planned on receiving the tickets that next morning. The next morning came, and the tickets did come through the mail. They were sent through overnight Federal Express (just like I always knew they could be), and were enclosed with itinerary. What was NOT in the envelope was the promised secondary invoice for my records. The only record of transaction was printed on the ticket, to the tune of $400 more than the original conversation with the first gentleman when I first called. Not only that, but there was a $25.00 fee tacked on top of everything else for the “free shipping” they had told me about.
I am still in the process of trying to get a refund for the over-charging and for the surprise charge as a result of their “free shipping.” The customer service of this company has been nothing short of obscene, and if I can help it, for the rest of my life I will be avoiding this company. From giving false information, to making up stories about calling me, and even overcharging me from the contract we had already agreed, Air France was simply horrendous. I cannot believe that this company can stay in business with practices like this, and when it takes more than three weeks to send an overnight package. If you can help it, I would urge any traveler to look somewhere else if you are planning to fly out of, or in to France.
Recommended:
No
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