03 March 2009

Thomson and First Choice agents to handle customer complaints

Travel agency managers in the TUI Travel UK group are to be trained and empowered to resolve customer complaints directly.

The 880 Thomson and First Choice shops could start to handle customer complaints later this year as a result of a full customer services review launched last December.

Currently, all complaints are dealt with through a central customer service centre and this is likely to still continue with more complex enquiries.

But the travel giant aims to help Ã¢â¬Åâœnip complaints in the budÃ¢â¬~ where possible and improve customer relations.

Customers will no longer have to go through the process of putting all their complaints in writing as they can return to the agent through which they booked their holiday to resolve any issues that may have occurred, according to TUI UK.

Agency managers will undergo training so that they are empowered to resolve problems as soon as they are informed of an issue by the customer.

They will be able to make on the spot decisions regarding compensation, when appropriate, and solve straight-forward complaints immediately.

Managers will be backed by a dedicated customer services empowerment team who can provide advice and guidance.

Distribution director Nick Longman said: Ã¢â¬ÅâœOur agents have a strong relationship with their customers and we underplay that ability to resolve issues in the shop.

Ã¢â¬ÅâœCustomers ultimately want to get a resolution as swiftly as possible and this change will encourage that to happen Ã¢â¬' fairly and quickly. We hope that by providing excellent customer service and quicker resolution of issues that these customers will come back and book in store with us again.Ã¢â¬~

by Phil Davies

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Your Comments (5)

I don't see the problem.

Why should The UK be exempt from wishing to protect itself from illegal immigration, after all we have some of the most open border policies in the world at the moment when you compare us with The USA and yes I do think that in common with almost everything our friends from across the pond do they are being a bit OTT on this issue. However if I want to go to China (£91.00 for a visa) or Russia (£75),Kenya (£60), or India (£39) I have to suffer the 'humiliation' and inconvenience of getting a visa in order to go there. Why then would I choose to go to Canada instead of America just because I need to fill out an online application? Please tell me also what is humiliating about applying for a visa. In an ideal world we will all be able to travel around the world visa and passport free but not in my lifetime so we'd just better get used to it or not travel at all.

By Richard English, Monday, March 9, 2009
Squirrels in Melbourne

There aren't any.

By andy brewer, Monday, March 9, 2009
No direct Bodrum flights available until...when?

This is news that has been begged for, but when it comes it is very disappointing to find that booking on the website yields nothing but Stansted to Bodrum VIA Istanbul- SAW.

By Brian Hawe, Thursday, March 5, 2009
I can't see what is revolutionary

about that. When I first started in this business we were always taught that complaint resolution was a part of the service we offered to our clients. I cannot understand how an organisation that sells an item cannot be empowered let alone capable of handling any subsequent complaints. It is only by listening to complaints face to face can we determine if it is genuine or just a rant about a whole raft of perceived problems cooked up in the hope of getting the magical compensation to which so many of the public feel they are entitled. Palming it off to a 'Customer Services Department' is the least efficient way of handling such complaints as they lose the contact with the customer and thus the opportunity to change a complainant into a regular client who appreciates your after sales service.

By Peter Cansick, Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Wow! They must have been on my training course!

The person to whom a complainant first speaks, be it someone on the counter or at the end of the telephone, IS the company. Customers want rapid solutions to their problems, and they want them there and then from the first person they speak to. They are not interested in your company's rules and procedures; they are interested in their problems. Empowering staff who work at the point of initial customer contact is a vital part of complaint handling - and that is a message I have been trying to impart for at least the past quarter of a century.

By Richard English, Tuesday, March 3, 2009