Many a time of flying with Jetstar I have heard the words, 'Thankyou for flying jetstar, we recognise you do have a choice'. Well after my latest experience with Jetstar, I have learnt that this can mean 2 things. Either they appreciate my business or I can exercise my choice to longer fly with them. I will be exercising my choice by no longer flying with them
Jetstar would have to be one of the most customer unfriendly companies I have come across in recent times. The management must be comprised of accountants who are more focussed on their bottom line profit than customer retention. They have no understanding of the term customer satisfaction. My flight was cancelled due to Jetstar's problems. The reason given was "Due to engineering requirements your flight ******** has been cancelled". Given the rhetoric of Jetstar, one has to wonder if this translated should have read "Due to our inability to make a profit this flight, your flight has been cancelled". Conjecture my part I realise and I will leave the reader to formulate their own opinion. Upon contacting the Jetstar Call Centre I was advised that company policy states that Jetstar will get the customer on the next available flight. The next available flight for me is about 8 hours later in the day and getting me to my destination when the workday is closing. The cancellation makes me miss my meeting and is so late in day that the offer of rebooking my flight is useless to me. I contact the people I am meeting and the earliest I can reschedule my appointment is the following week. I try to change my booking through the Jetstar customer call centre to get the response I can only change my flights by paying an additional rebooking fee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I debate with call centre person regarding Jetstars customer unfriendliness and ultimately have to request to talk to the supervisor whereupon I get the same run around. Again I am told that I can't change my flight without paying a fee. It was not possible for her to do so as the system wouldn't allow it. This results in my getting agitated and expressing extreme dissatisfaction with Jetstar where upon the supervisor ultimately relents and makes the changes with no fees to be charged. Remember this is after being told she is unable to rebook me without a fee!!!!! To add insult to injury, the only other option I was given was to be given a refund. That is nice given that contract law requires this as Jetstar are the ones breaking the contract between the customer and supplier. However, when making my original booking, I had already made a change to my booking due to my fault resulting in my paying an additional $100 for my fare. Well guess what, the refund was not a refund in whole only in part. I was supposedly eligible to get a refund for the flights paid for but the booking change fee of $100 I was required to kiss goodbye!!!! Really if you analyse it, what does it cost Jetstar to put me in another seat on a plane less than a week later, nothing. The whole Jetstar policy from my experience smells of a disconnected management trying to squeeze as much money out of its customers as they can. Who cares about the customer? They haven't learnt yet that the customer pays their salary.
If someone from Jetstar is reading this, remember its not my fault the flight was cancelled. Its Jetstar's problem. I was okay altering my arrangements to accommodate Jetstars problem. Its my time I am wasting as the cancellation results in me consuming over an hour of my personal time to make alternate arrangements which I was prepared to give to Jetstar for nothing without complaint. Stuff happens which is beyond everyones control. Jetstar's response in return is that we are going to penalise you and make you pay for a problem they created.
Well as a customer I have a choice. The cost ultimately will be on Jetstar because Jetstar has just lost my business. Can't be bothered to deal with such arrogance and customer unfriendliness. Air NZ lost my business years ago because of their arrogance and poor level of service resulting in the alternate companies being the winners. Guess its time to try Air NZ again by the looks of it. If I have to change a flight booking because of my problem then I am okay with having to pay a penalty. Don't like it but suck it up because I agreed to the terms when I bought the ticket. If my flight gets changed because of Jetstars fault then I am not prepared to accept having to pay a penalty, waste my time to accommodate their problems and having to go through the experience of getting angry with Jetstar staff. In summary and to put it in plain terms, I have a choice and I will like all good customers exercise my choice. Remember the 80/20 rule. 20% of all customers generate 80% of a companies business. Customer satisfaction pays the bottom line profit.