Saved $140 on a misquote.

[SJChaput]

My wife and I are going on the Dream this Saturday and decided that we had to upgrade from our interior to a balcony. So I called customer care and the man there quoted me $440 to upgrade from the old room to the aft balcony.

 

I agreed enthusiastically then was put on hold for 5 minutes.

 

He came back and said that the balance wasn't working out right and he doesn't know why, then said "Oooh I see I forgot to add the gratuity, its actually $580.)

 

So I agreed assuming based on what he said that it was $440 + $140 gratuity = $580. Then I found out my wife had already paid gratuities.

 

So my new invoice before adding in gratuity and tax was $580 more than it was before, then added in tax and tips and came out $580 more than what it used to be.

 

So I contacted customer care and after being told for an hour by two different people that I was apparently failing at simple math and I was only charged $440 (even though tax and tip were the SAME on both my old and new invoice and the price difference was $580) and that I didn't understand how their billing worked.

 

I finally got someone who understood what I was trying to explain, though by this time I had gotten much better at explaining it.

 

They offered us $40 off our upgrade after being told there wasn't a supervisor available to review the call (I assume to see if I was lying and bluffing and would decline having the call listened to) so I asked when someone COULD review it and they told me by Tuesday.

 

Well I got a call today and I am getting $140 in onboard credit.

 

Wooooo!!!

 

Persistence pays off I guess!

[going to see the world]

My wife and I are going on the Dream this Saturday and decided that we had to upgrade from our interior to a balcony. So I called customer care and the man there quoted me $440 to upgrade from the old room to the aft balcony.

 

I agreed enthusiastically then was put on hold for 5 minutes.

 

He came back and said that the balance wasn't working out right and he doesn't know why, then said "Oooh I see I forgot to add the gratuity, its actually $580.)

 

So I agreed assuming based on what he said that it was $440 + $140 gratuity = $580. Then I found out my wife had already paid gratuities.

 

So my new invoice before adding in gratuity and tax was $580 more than it was before, then added in tax and tips and came out $580 more than what it used to be.

 

So I contacted customer care and after being told for an hour by two different people that I was apparently failing at simple math and I was only charged $440 (even though tax and tip were the SAME on both my old and new invoice and the price difference was $580) and that I didn't understand how their billing worked.

 

I finally got someone who understood what I was trying to explain, though by this time I had gotten much better at explaining it.

 

They offered us $40 off our upgrade after being told there wasn't a supervisor available to review the call (I assume to see if I was lying and bluffing and would decline having the call listened to) so I asked when someone COULD review it and they told me by Tuesday.

 

Well I got a call today and I am getting $140 in onboard credit.

 

Wooooo!!!

 

Persistence pays off I guess!

 

Good thing you are bad at math :p Have a great cruise! :)

[SJChaput]

Don't get me wrong though... I am not an avid cruiser and I don't know what normal rates are for upgrades and whatnot. I just thought he messed up and charged me too much.

 

After HOURS I found out the cheapest these rooms have been is $20 less pp. By the time I figured out the guy had misquoted me I had already agreed to a lower price and spent a ton of time arguing with people.

 

I'm not looking for a way to scam the system but at that point I was ready to pull the "bait and switch" card.

 

Its also a funny thing, in the heat of the moment when I was going through this I was ready to argue with anyone in the chain of command over there... Then when I got the call today the fight was out of me. I didn't want to get into a confrontation with anyone.

 

Luckily I didn't have to.

[Two-Step]

Congrats, way to stay on top of it!