Thursday, July 28, 2011

Delta To Bring Outsourced Calls Back To U.S. But Not Add Any New Jobs

This from The Consumerist blog

Delta Airlines recently announced that it had decided to move some of its outsourced call center operations out of South Africa and back to the U.S. But before anyone goes looking for a gig at Delta's phone operations base in Dallas, the airline says it should be just fine with the staff it already has on hand.

The transition of promotions and sales calls back to U.S.-based operations will happen during July and August, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The airline will continue to use outsourced call centers in Jamaica, but says they plan to eventually bring all North American calls back in house.

While Delta's operation in South Africa accounted for around 200 jobs, the airline says that its existing U.S.-based call center staff will be sufficient for handling the additional calls after the transition is completed.

Which either means that the U.S. call centers currently have plenty of free time during their workday, or — more likely — that Delta customers can expect longer waits and frustrated, overworked CSRs on the other end of the line. But at least they will get to hang up on Americans this time.


So now we can expect even worse customer service from the world's worst airline

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ummmmm...is that why On-line Customer Service is in Jamaica??

Anonymous said...

I called delta today for special fares as advertised on their site due to the passing of my sister. My wife and I are both "valued" sky miles members and rack up many miles.

Their staff was unhelpful, the discount offered was approximately 10%, however... they first tried to sell me on multistop flights at what appeared to be par pricing. I was very disgusted with the way my loyalty and patronage are "valued".

I went to expedia and booked a nonstop full price fare with British Airways and still saved $350 a ticket over Delta's special price.

Needless to say Delta can kiss my "elite" sky mile ass....

Have a nice day!

Anonymous said...

I too HATE Delta!

I purchased a ticket through Travelocity for a flight leaving on 12/23. I do understand the flight is non-refundable. I did however take a chance and call Delta to change the flight to leave on 12/22 so I could get home a day earlier.
I was told to fly out earlier would cost $700. Ok, it's last minute and the ticket is non refundable so I understand that.

I was able to find a flight out on another carrier leaving at the last minute for $162 WOW AMAZING that another carrier could be so much more affordable. So I planned to book that then use the 2nd half of the ticket on Delta WHICH I ALREADY PAID for to travel home. I was told by "CUSTOMER SUPPORT" Supervisor Tracey Kay that this would cause me to incur an additional charge of $200. Rather than just let me use what I already paid for and actually make a few more bucks for their pockets by reselling the outbound seat I also ALREADY PAID FOR.

I'm sure my outbound flight is overbooked so it will be quite comical to tell this story to my fellow passengers as the ticket agents are looking for VOLUNTEERS to give up their seats.

Anonymous said...

Speaking of customer service, check out my story I just blogged about re: my Delta Airlines experience.

http://babyaspirinyears.wordpress.com/2012/02/04/delta-airlines-fails-at-customer-service-or-wouldnt-it-be-great-if-zappos-flew-planes/

Anonymous said...

The failure of airplane mechanics was the start of it all with a
stuck fuel valve according to the captain that was an “easy quick fix”.
Only problem was that Delta decided that it did not need a mechanic on
site in Nassau. The captain had to leave the plane to go try and track
down someone who could fix it. The only one on the airport that he was
told that could fix it was with Bahamian Air. After an hour and half
delay waiting for this guy to come fix the airplane we were told he
could not work on the type of plane we were on. Why wasn't this asked
before we were sitting there for almost 2 hours. Then they contacted
someone on the island to come and fix it. Mean while I have a screaming
baby in my arms that is completely unhappy because he is feeling cramped
and doesn't want to just sit on a hot plane. The following times are
approximate: 4:50pm - Pre-boarded with an infant in arms 5:40pm - Push
back and wait on tarmac 5:50pm - Pilot informs us that there is a stuck
fuel starter valve and a call has been placed to BahamasAir 6:00pm -
Pilot informs us that they cannot get a hold of anyone at the other
company. 6:15pm - BahamasAir responds and sends mechanic 6:30pm - Pilot
informs us that he is hopeful mechanic arrives soon 6:45pm - Still no
mechanic 7:00pm - Mechanic shows us after 1 hour to inform us that he is
not certified to work on this Delta plane. Pilot lets us off flight
7:15pm - We board back onto flight after Delta mechanic arrives. (Not
sure why he was not called out regardless) 7:33pm - Flight departs 2
hours late Flight lands in ATL at 9:25pm arrives at gate at 9:33pm. No
food was offered and only small cup of water despite being on the plane
for 2 hours. Delta could have offered complimentary wireless so that we
could make arrangements on flight but did not. Nothing was offered at
all actually not even extra snacks or drink for the inconvenience. Not
to mention the fear added to knowing that we were flying on an engine in
an unknown state of disarray. There wasn't any real sympathy shown
during this whole ordeal. This is an over book flight with many small
children. Let them watch tv., give them internet access, give them
snacks and something to drink...make us feel like you care! Connecting
flight for my family was DL5247 Atlanta to Baton Rouge scheduled to
leave at 9:49pm. In all my previous flights I have waited as passengers
on delayed flights were given time to board. Two weeks ago I flew from
Las Vegas to MSY via Southwest and I was delayed 60 minutes at the gate
for 4 passengers to arrive that had a flight delayed. Prior to that
flying with United I waited 45 minutes while a flight was delayed and
even had the door reopened to allow passengers that were late to board.
NOT DELTA. We were told Delta doesn't hold flights and apparently
doesn't care where there missing passengers are. Even though our flight
was on the ground with 24 minutes to spare due to a Delta caused delay.
Not one of the Delta gate agents for flight 5247 bothered to check where
the 2 passengers and baby were located prior to closing the boarding
gate EARLY.

dreamer said...

And they still suck. I have never made a connection with Delta. Nice night to sit in MPS for.
4.5 hours

dreamer said...

And they still suck. I have never made a connection with Delta. Nice night to sit in MPS for.
4.5 hours

Unknown said...

Yup. Average wait time between 1 and 2 hours when calling the medallion member hotline makes their "service" a real treat...

Unknown said...

Yes, one to two hours wait time when trying to rebook a flight as a medallion member really makes you feel valued.
On the positive side, you don't have to call 10 times to get somebody on the phone who speaks english...