Thomas Cook is launching a new dedicated travel trade number next week as it comes under increasing fire from agents.
It is not yet known if the new number will be an 0871 number, which can cost agents around 10p a minute to call, even when the caller is waiting in a queue.
Agents will be told the number in the next few days.
Thomas Cook has faced a barrage of criticism from independent agents in recent weeks for its poor trade support and for using the 08 number.
Agents have complained of waiting for hours and hours to speak to Thomas Cook staff on the telephone or via its Live Chat service.
Announcing the plans for a new number this week, the operator apologised for the delays and thanked agents for their patience.
It said it has already made some changes in a bid to improve its response times. These include:
– extending opening hours to 08:00 – 22:00, 7 days a week and highlighting the best times to call (08:00 – 09:00 and 18:00 – 22:00).
– adding hundreds of new questions to the FAQ section on Thomas Cook World and updating them daily
– launching a new Live Chat tool to use as an alternative to calling
– enabling a new 24-hour cancellation process, online form for Special Assistance requests, email address for non-urgent queries
– recruiting more staff to help on the telephones and increasing the Live Chat team over the next few days.
The operator says the new number will have a ‘single level menu’ which means one level of choices where agents can select the right department when they phone in.
Thomas Cook CEO Harriet Green has personally apologised to some agents who ended up tweeting her directly because they were so incensed by the poor customer service.
"We are changing – some change takes time unfortunately," she told one frustrated agent.
by Bev Fearis
