Surprise! Friday 13th gremlins strike Virgin Blue e-marketing

I received the email on Friday. You assume it was thousands - I have a suspicion that it was a lot more then that. Maybe Virgin should look at making it easier to become a gold member - I for one would have no hesitation always booking them if they were to offer this as standard for a reasonable fee...

This is crap, everyone who got the email should complain it's the only way they'll learn. Also this is the 1st real mistake I've seen Virgin make, with all the Qantas "mishaps" it seems funny that the only problem virgin has is mismanaging their E-CRM.

I actually thought that it was a marketing ploy - let everyone experience the advantages for free over 6 months and then ask them to pay if they wanted to keep them. I am sure that a number of people would have done so.

i received it and called them and they let me keep it, i'm now a gold vip! call them and they'll let you keep it. i spoke to a manager called tim

I received the email as well. My wife is Platinum Qantas and I am gold Qantas. I was also happy to receive it from Virgin thinking that it was a nice way to coax someone over from another competing airline. Then the rescinding email. Frankly, after the last email, I wouldn't fly with them unless I had no other choice. They made a really bad call in the way they handled this blunder.

My husband and I rate Virgin's relationship highly and they are our airline of choice for domestic travel, due to their attitude when we have stuffed up staff bookings or need help with changes. Their own staff have always been most helpful. Yes, we have clocked up thousands of miles of bookings and use our Velocity cards - what was disappointing was the apology. We agree - there could have been an enticement or freebie. Come on Virgin - how about a free visit to the lounge to be used within 6 months? Good one!

I was initially excited too and then a little disappointed but not surprised when they retracted it. The sense of entitlement and whngeing in the above comments about a simple email error is extraordinary. For some reason many many frequent flyers seem to forget that FF schemes are marketing programs not a reflection of your importance

The other thing to note, is that not all people that received the "second" email, actually got the "first" one in the first place.

Stuff happens people. There are humans uploading the lists and I guess someone uploaded the wrong list. I received the first email and thought 'you beauty'. But I said to friends this cannot be right - there must have been a mistake. And sure enough... At least they jumped on it and sent the second email quickly. Why should I expect something for free? This mistake didn't cost me anything or any time (other than some brief false optimism that I may be sitting in the lounge rather than the food hall waiting for my flight).

Very annoying!! After all it was not April Fools day when such things could be expected. I also believe that each member should be given a lounge pass to use within the next year so they can experience what they have to offer and compare with Qantas. It would be very good business for Virgin Blue.

The primary question for me re this Virgin "Blue" is 'What was the root cause?'. This was either a) an internal error of judgement b)an internal human error c) internal abuse of their systems d)the result of a 'hacked' system. I believe Virgin owe customers an explanation and reassurance that personal details have not been compromised.