Very Bad Customer Service
i purchased a 45 minute flight with Tiger Flights on 12th April, something i had been contemplating for two years due to a fear of flying. i decided to take the plunge after my aunt and uncle passed away, with the realisation i should push past my fears, while doing it in the memory of my aunt and uncle.
When confirming a flight date it took Tiger Flights 7 days to respond to my email, which i find unacceptable, however after an apology i got over this. My flight was booked for Friday 9th May 1pm.
Friday 9th May in the vacant reception area of Tiger Flights (no notice on reception explaining no one may be in attendance or to ring a bell for attention) an man appeared after 10 minutes. He did not say hello or introduce himself, after i stated i had a flight experience booked i was told to have a seat with no further explanation, he walked off.
When someone attended reception i was told the flight was cancelled. Tiger Flights only attempted a phone call on the morning, and unable to leave a voice message as my voice messaging service was off, they left it at that. No email was sent to explain the cancellation so i drove 35 minutes and 27 miles (a round trip of 90 minutes and 54 miles) to Eshott airfield to be told the flight was cancelled due to pilot sickness. i can appreciate sickness however i can not appreciate a lack of communication skills by not contacting to me through all means necessary.
i sent an email of complaint. One issue on its own i can forgive, however when there are a number of incidents it takes the shine off the experience. In my email of complaint i stated i was now unsure if i wanted to go ahead with the flight and ask for a refund. Three days later after sending the email of complaint and no response, i emailed requesting a refund of £399.
Upon this request i received what i believed was a sincere apology from Darren (pilot/owner) via phone conversation, so i moved forward and rebooked the flight for Thursday 5th June at 1pm.
i was called at 11.15am on Thursday 5th June stating the flight is cancelled due to manmade error by placing the wrong fuel in the plane and the engine would need to be flushed. i accepted this as i was given good notice. i rebooked the flight for Sunday 8th June at 3pm.
Sunday 8th June while i driving to Eshott Airfield for the booked 3pm flight, i received a phone call at 2.16pm advising the flight was cancelled due to the weather being too windy, 44 minutes before the flight, and while i had already driven half way to Eshott Airfield. i am not a weather forecaster, but 44 minutes notice for windy weather, surely the business would have an operating system which allows to foresee weather an hour or two before hand.?
After the original apology i had moved forward. However when we add in these further issues, it reignites the previous stress. i booked this flight to take away stress in my personal life and it is doing nothing but adding stress. i am deeply disappointed with what has been a failure in customer service, and for this reason i requested a full refund on my purchase which i have received.
i find the whole customer service setup of Tiger Flights completely unprofessional and unacceptable especially when paying a large amount of money for the service. Running my own business has me place my customers as my number one priority, though it is clear Tiger Flights does not function in that way.
It has gone beyond wanting to fly now, thank you to Tiger Flights for ruining what had meant to be a magical experience and a way of remembering the loss of my aunt and uncle. i have found the whole experience upsetting to be treated this way.
The final apology from Tiger Flights was that they were sorry i did not get to fly with them, not for all the distress caused by them. My advice from my experience is for people to avoid Tiger Flights and stay clear of this business by a country mile.