Purchase price not being honored?

[ARTannen]

Yesterday I transferred an onboard booking number for a Sept. 2011 cruise to a May 2011 cruise. The cabin that I selected for the May cruise had a promotional price with an attractive single supplement. The RCCL agent had me on hold for over an hour, advised me that the promo fare and reduced supplement would be honored, my onboard deposit would be applied and the OBC would be transferred to the May cruise. She also confirmed that I could add a second passenger at the promo fare to my cabin. She confirmed the solo passenger price (promo fare + supplement + insurance – deposit) and took payment in full for the May cabin. I was advised that a manual adjustment would be made to my booking to adjust the system price to the amount that I paid. Today the reservation still showed a balance due and I was told that it may take a few days for the adjustment to be posted. Based upon this confirmation, I then booked Choice Air for roundtrip Rome and the airport transfers and paid in full.

 

Tonight I called RCCL to add a second person to the cabin and purchase Choice Air for the second passenger. I was advised that the cabin was being repriced at a substantially higher rate because it is not a new booking. The agent was unable to add the second passenger at the promo fare and transferred me to a Supervisor. The Supervisor advised me that RCCL was not going let me add a second passenger at the promo rate. He then told me that RCCL would not honor the promo fare & reduced supplement that was confirmed yesterday and that I now owe additional money on the solo passenger booking. I told him that I paid the full the amount that RCCL told me to pay for the cabin yesterday and that the RCCL has to honor the price that I paid. I also spent an additional $1,000 + for the air and transfers today.

 

The Supervisor said that he would have to speak with the agent who booked my cabin and took my payment. I asked if she was working tomorrow (since it was after 8 pm EST) and he said she was in the office right now and he put me on hold.

 

After holding the line for a while, my call was disconnected. I called RCCL back and asked to speak with the Supervisor because he disconnected me. I was told that he was there a few minutes ago and now they were unsure of where he was. I asked to speak with a different supervisor and was told that she was on a different call. Purportedly there are no Managers working at this time. I left a call back number with my booking number.

 

Needless to say, it has been over 50 minutes and the Supervisor still has not returned my call. It’s after 10 pm and I doubt that I will hear back from him.

 

Has anyone had a similar experience? Does anyone have a contact name and number for someone at RCCL who can help me?

 

Thanks in advance.

[Merion_Mom]

Yesterday I transferred an onboard booking number for a Sept. 2011 cruise to a May 2011 cruise. The cabin that I selected for the May cruise had a promotional price with an attractive single supplement. The RCCL agent had me on hold for over an hour, advised me that the promo fare and reduced supplement would be honored, my onboard deposit would be applied and the OBC would be transferred to the May cruise. She also confirmed that I could add a second passenger at the promo fare to my cabin. She confirmed the solo passenger price (promo fare + supplement + insurance – deposit) and took payment in full for the May cabin. I was advised that a manual adjustment would be made to my booking to adjust the system price to the amount that I paid. Today the reservation still showed a balance due and I was told that it may take a few days for the adjustment to be posted. Based upon this confirmation, I then booked Choice Air for roundtrip Rome and the airport transfers and paid in full.

 

Tonight I called RCCL to add a second person to the cabin and purchase Choice Air for the second passenger. I was advised that the cabin was being repriced at a substantially higher rate because it is not a new booking. The agent was unable to add the second passenger at the promo fare and transferred me to a Supervisor. The Supervisor advised me that RCCL was not going let me add a second passenger at the promo rate. He then told me that RCCL would not honor the promo fare & reduced supplement that was confirmed yesterday and that I now owe additional money on the solo passenger booking. I told him that I paid the full the amount that RCCL told me to pay for the cabin yesterday and that the RCCL has to honor the price that I paid. I also spent an additional $1,000 + for the air and transfers today.

 

The Supervisor said that he would have to speak with the agent who booked my cabin and took my payment. I asked if she was working tomorrow (since it was after 8 pm EST) and he said she was in the office right now and he put me on hold.

 

After holding the line for a while, my call was disconnected. I called RCCL back and asked to speak with the Supervisor because he disconnected me. I was told that he was there a few minutes ago and now they were unsure of where he was. I asked to speak with a different supervisor and was told that she was on a different call. Purportedly there are no Managers working at this time. I left a call back number with my booking number.

 

Needless to say, it has been over 50 minutes and the Supervisor still has not returned my call. It’s after 10 pm and I doubt that I will hear back from him.

 

Has anyone had a similar experience? Does anyone have a contact name and number for someone at RCCL who can help me?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Rats. Bad experience.

 

Good news: they are now open 24 hours a day, so they MAY call you back tonight.

 

Hang tough - be polite, be persistent.........make them honor your price.

 

I may have a name and number that you can call, but I really can't post it here.

 

If you want to drop me an email, I can share. Use my CC name with no underscore on aol dot com.

[Kimmie36]

I hate that your having a hard time,have you spoken to the supervisior in the resolutions dept?

[ARTannen]

Merion Mom,

 

I sent you an e-mail.

 

 

Kimmie36,

 

The supervisor was a resolution supervisor. If he couldn't help me tonight, a simple courtesy call would have been nice.

[dzcruisers]

Yesterday I transferred an onboard booking number for a Sept. 2011 cruise to a May 2011 cruise. The cabin that I selected for the May cruise had a promotional price with an attractive single supplement. The RCCL agent had me on hold for over an hour, advised me that the promo fare and reduced supplement would be honored, my onboard deposit would be applied and the OBC would be transferred to the May cruise. She also confirmed that I could add a second passenger at the promo fare to my cabin. She confirmed the solo passenger price (promo fare + supplement + insurance – deposit) and took payment in full for the May cabin. I was advised that a manual adjustment would be made to my booking to adjust the system price to the amount that I paid. Today the reservation still showed a balance due and I was told that it may take a few days for the adjustment to be posted. Based upon this confirmation, I then booked Choice Air for roundtrip Rome and the airport transfers and paid in full.

 

Tonight I called RCCL to add a second person to the cabin and purchase Choice Air for the second passenger. I was advised that the cabin was being repriced at a substantially higher rate because it is not a new booking. The agent was unable to add the second passenger at the promo fare and transferred me to a Supervisor. The Supervisor advised me that RCCL was not going let me add a second passenger at the promo rate. He then told me that RCCL would not honor the promo fare & reduced supplement that was confirmed yesterday and that I now owe additional money on the solo passenger booking. I told him that I paid the full the amount that RCCL told me to pay for the cabin yesterday and that the RCCL has to honor the price that I paid. I also spent an additional $1,000 + for the air and transfers today.

 

The Supervisor said that he would have to speak with the agent who booked my cabin and took my payment. I asked if she was working tomorrow (since it was after 8 pm EST) and he said she was in the office right now and he put me on hold.

 

After holding the line for a while, my call was disconnected. I called RCCL back and asked to speak with the Supervisor because he disconnected me. I was told that he was there a few minutes ago and now they were unsure of where he was. I asked to speak with a different supervisor and was told that she was on a different call. Purportedly there are no Managers working at this time. I left a call back number with my booking number.

 

Needless to say, it has been over 50 minutes and the Supervisor still has not returned my call. It’s after 10 pm and I doubt that I will hear back from him.

 

Has anyone had a similar experience? Does anyone have a contact name and number for someone at RCCL who can help me?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Call Crown & Anchor or the resolutions department. I had something equally as stupid happen to me. I got a CVP who put me on hold for almost an hour and while I was on hold the price changed in the computer. She told me I had to pay the higher price. I told her that I was being penalized because she did not know how to do something.

She was incompetent. I got her name and told her to write down how long she had me on hold. Finally after 48 hours resolutions called back and offered me the cruise at the sale price which was no longer posted on line. I never lost my temper, had lots of bad thoughts, but I kept talking nicely and rationally because what they were saying didn't make sense to me. She should have locked in the price as well as the cabin before she put me on hold to see how to use a passages booked on board. I talked to a couple of supervisors and they did come through. And when I talked to the last person she agreed that it shouldn't have happened. We did not book the cruise when they called back. They had promised to call back in 24 hours and when they did not my husband said to book something else.

[dizzlepop]

Hang tough - be polite, be persistent.........make them honor your price.

 

The key, precisely. You will have much greater success with any call center person, supervisor or not, with sugar vs. vinegar. I know this... I've been the supervisor on the other end (for an airline).

 

Good luck! You have "the right thing to do" on your side!

[rubrrick]

Yesterday I transferred an onboard booking number for a Sept. 2011 cruise to a May 2011 cruise. The cabin that I selected for the May cruise had a promotional price with an attractive single supplement. The RCCL agent had me on hold for over an hour, advised me that the promo fare and reduced supplement would be honored, my onboard deposit would be applied and the OBC would be transferred to the May cruise. She also confirmed that I could add a second passenger at the promo fare to my cabin. She confirmed the solo passenger price (promo fare + supplement + insurance – deposit) and took payment in full for the May cabin. I was advised that a manual adjustment would be made to my booking to adjust the system price to the amount that I paid. Today the reservation still showed a balance due and I was told that it may take a few days for the adjustment to be posted. Based upon this confirmation, I then booked Choice Air for roundtrip Rome and the airport transfers and paid in full.

 

Tonight I called RCCL to add a second person to the cabin and purchase Choice Air for the second passenger. I was advised that the cabin was being repriced at a substantially higher rate because it is not a new booking. The agent was unable to add the second passenger at the promo fare and transferred me to a Supervisor. The Supervisor advised me that RCCL was not going let me add a second passenger at the promo rate. He then told me that RCCL would not honor the promo fare & reduced supplement that was confirmed yesterday and that I now owe additional money on the solo passenger booking. I told him that I paid the full the amount that RCCL told me to pay for the cabin yesterday and that the RCCL has to honor the price that I paid. I also spent an additional $1,000 + for the air and transfers today.

 

The Supervisor said that he would have to speak with the agent who booked my cabin and took my payment. I asked if she was working tomorrow (since it was after 8 pm EST) and he said she was in the office right now and he put me on hold.

 

After holding the line for a while, my call was disconnected. I called RCCL back and asked to speak with the Supervisor because he disconnected me. I was told that he was there a few minutes ago and now they were unsure of where he was. I asked to speak with a different supervisor and was told that she was on a different call. Purportedly there are no Managers working at this time. I left a call back number with my booking number.

 

Needless to say, it has been over 50 minutes and the Supervisor still has not returned my call. It’s after 10 pm and I doubt that I will hear back from him.

 

Has anyone had a similar experience? Does anyone have a contact name and number for someone at RCCL who can help me?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

If everything that you have said in this posting is as the way it happened, you will be granted the promo price, thru the resolutions department.

 

I hope that you got the name of the person helping you at the time of the original call. I have found, that the first thing that I ask for is the spelling of the persons first name, right up front, before asking for anything or trying to make a booking. It's just to know a name, in case I need to speak to someone of a higher authority.

 

Basically, everything that is conducted from the reservation department, or C & A, for that matter, as they speak to you.....they also are making notes on a computer, that are recorded, in case of a later discussion, or problem.

 

So, give this 24 hours, use Carol's person, if needed, but my gut tells me that you will have a satisfatory conclusion. The ideas mentioned, are to keep a calm and cool head, and conversation....and if necessary, just become what is called a "broken record". That is, just continue to repeat the truth of what you know, over and over.........until they finally get it.

 

The reason that I bring this up, is that to celebrate our 100th cruise with Royal Caribbean, we wanted to enjoy the Royal Suite, and everytime that I called, I was given a different figure of the difference in cost.

 

Every time.......I continued to be calm and explain what was told to me at the time of booking..........and it actually took me one week, and finally, somone told me that the original amount was the correct amount......and we finally moved ahead and payed.

 

In your case....you have already paid.....so you actually have a much stronger case. They gave you a final number, that you paid, and now they want more. When that person gave you the dollar amount, they placed it on the booking invoice, of which, if you had asked for a guest copy, you were entitiled to it.

 

That guest copy....maybe it's change number 2 is somewhere in their system.

 

So, ask them to send you all guest copies.........from number 1 to the present one........because, when the agent gave you a figure.....it must have appeared on her/his screen.....and therefore would be a total figure.

 

Start by politely asking for the most recent guest copy, and when you receive it, not the number on the upper right hand corner. Then call back and ask for copies of Guest number X thru XX ie, copies number 1 thru 6. Every time that a change is made, a new guest copy number is created.

 

I have some that we have 12 changes made.......and I have everything from number 1 to number 12.

 

This will allow you to follow what you have done from the first day that you started working with Royal Caribbean.

 

I hope that this will help you resolve your issue!:)

 

Rick

[sidari]

It sure does look like RCI have a problem not just here in the UK with pricing but over there to! they appear to have got worse over the last 6 months and it does appear that the Left hand does not know what the Right hand is doing.

you guys cannot claim a price drop after final payment whereas we can! you can get any price drop prior to Final payment repaid as OBC whereas we cannot according to RCI UK last week, and have to have the money repaid to a CC assuming you booked with one.

 

Any changes made to the booking after the First one including any further price drops means we have to pay £35/$50 pp for the change to be made.

 

RCI also appear to tell different people within a Travel Agency different things! we were told last week we could have a price drop for our May Mariner cruise, but the week before RCI had told one of the other people in the same TA that another customer could not!

 

Good luck with getting your price honoured by RCI.

[thelion]

Did you already have Choice Air on the booking when you paid? I ask because it may explain the issue you are having with the pricing.

 

There is a system error (that for multiple reasons cannot be fixed until the final closure of all contract air) that causes federal air taxes to be double charged on bookings with Choice Air when a change is made. Most of the time, people do not notice because it is fixed "behind the scenes" before anyone catches it, but sometimes the proper department is closed or busy so it experiences a delay and thus RCCL gets angry folks. For me, it was nearly three days and the balance was about $300.

 

The other issue may be that the pricing you had was only available for a single rate and if there was a second passenger, it was not available. These prices are RARE! Resolutions may be able to help here.

 

If it was the error I suspect, however, you may run into problems with Resolutions if the record was not properly documented. Royal Caribbean has a hard and fast policy about not honoring verbal quotes. The reason actually makes sense - you can say you were told anything.Sure you have the payment on your side but to be a devil's advocate....maybe you made payment simply to justify what you wanted to pay.

 

I hope it gets taken care of for you, whatever the cause.

[ncsteeler]

Did you already have Choice Air on the booking when you paid? I ask because it may explain the issue you are having with the pricing.

 

There is a system error (that for multiple reasons cannot be fixed until the final closure of all contract air) that causes federal air taxes to be double charged on bookings with Choice Air when a change is made. Most of the time, people do not notice because it is fixed "behind the scenes" before anyone catches it, but sometimes the proper department is closed or busy so it experiences a delay and thus RCCL gets angry folks. For me, it was nearly three days and the balance was about $300.

 

The other issue may be that the pricing you had was only available for a single rate and if there was a second passenger, it was not available. These prices are RARE! Resolutions may be able to help here.

 

If it was the error I suspect, however, you may run into problems with Resolutions if the record was not properly documented. Royal Caribbean has a hard and fast policy about not honoring verbal quotes. The reason actually makes sense - you can say you were told anything.Sure you have the payment on your side but to be a devil's advocate....maybe you made payment simply to justify what you wanted to pay.

 

I hope it gets taken care of for you, whatever the cause.

 

Every other customer service in the world records their calls, I'm sure RCI has a way of seeing exactly what was said.

A direct Tv rep out and out lied to my wife just to get her off the phone, the next day things didn't look online like what she was told and she called and talked to a supervisor, who stated that no such deal existed or ever did. He put her on hold while he pulled the call. He proceeded to profusely apologize and gave her the best possible deal he could, which ended up being better than the other(because it was for a longer time period).

[firefly333]

Im surprised they would honor a lower supplement from another date and let you transfer it. That doesnt sound feasible to me either.

 

Let alone honor it for a new person booking with you.

 

Good luck trying to get them to honor what sounds like bad info from one of their agents.

[waxing witch]

She should have locked in the price as well as the cabin before she put me on hold to see how to use a passages booked on board.

 

my mother worked for a major cruise line from home and i watched her navigate the systems many times. this is exactly what is supposed to happen - once the agent finds a cabin/price that is agreeable to the client, the agent can pull this cabin from the available cabin pool and hold it at that current price while conversing with the client before finalizing the booking.

 

it's similar to any large reservations system, whether it's a large theme park dining reservation system, resort reservations, or cabin reservations - once a time slot/room/cabin is found that the client likes, it can be made unavailable to other agents/clients. i find it hard to believe that rccl's systems are unlike that.

[ARTannen]

I would like to thank everyone for their input and advice.

 

Today RCCL demonstrated excellent customer service and resolved my booking. I contacted them this morning and they honored the price that I was quoted and that I had paid in full. I was also able to add my mom to the booking and secure Choice Air for the same flights. After my unsatisfactory experience last night with the resolution supervisor I was very surprised at the different level of treatment that I received today. RCCL was professional, courteous and very cooperative.

 

Regards.

[linkerbink]

I'm glad to hear they came through for you.

[kimberley]

Good to hear it, well done Royal Caribbean

[PINEVIEW01]

I would like to thank everyone for their input and advice.

 

Today RCCL demonstrated excellent customer service and resolved my booking. I contacted them this morning and they honored the price that I was quoted and that I had paid in full. I was also able to add my mom to the booking and secure Choice Air for the same flights. After my unsatisfactory experience last night with the resolution supervisor I was very surprised at the different level of treatment that I received today. RCCL was professional, courteous and very cooperative.

 

Regards.

I would have to wonder if they pulled the orginal tape that backed you up.

[willysgrandma]

Glad it was resolved. If I were you I probably would have had a sleepless night after booking air!!

 

It is so important to always write down the name of the person you speak to when you are given information! Luckily you had the name of the booking agent because you booked, but just because agents work for the cruise line does NOT mean they always give out correct information.

[April-in-NC]

That is great that your issue was resolved to your satisfaction!

 

On the other hand, I find it so sad that there seems to be a lack of training for their call center workers (resolutions, customer service, booking agents, etc.) and how some Cruise Critic members are more informed on RCI policies than their employees. Maybe RCI should spend some time and money training their staff.

[kimberley]

That is great that your issue was resolved to your satisfaction!

 

On the other hand, I find it so sad that there seems to be a lack of training for their call center workers (resolutions, customer service, booking agents, etc.) and how some Cruise Critic members are more informed on RCI policies than their employees. Maybe RCI should spend some time and money training their staff.

 

Totally agree or perhaps they should read these boards more! Kimberley

[TEXASMUNK]

Even with a totally successful outcome, some still seek to find fault with RCI.

Situation = Problem = Resolved.

 

For once, give credit where credit is due. When they botch it, nail them, when they do the right thing praise them!

 

The customer service agents....believe it or not....are human....and on rare occasion they act just like all of us and make a mistake!

 

The key is that the mistake was fixed! Congrats on getting everything resolved.

[ARTannen]

I am so happy that it was resolved the next day and I’ll never know if they pulled the tape. I was very upset when I was told that the price was not going to be honored; especially after I paid the full amount as per their policy and bought the airfare. I was also very concerned that I would not be able to have my mom booked on the same flight and I would have sailed solo if we couldn’t fly together.

 

The treatment that I received from the night resolution supervisor was unacceptable. I do hope that he receives proper re-training so that other passengers do not have to be treated like I was. He told me that I was free to cancel my booking and forfeit the deposit.

 

The day staff was professional and extremely helpful. They did a very good job and that should be acknowledged. However, this was an unnecessary situation and I lost a number of hours at work on this booking.

 

It all worked out in the end and my mom and I are looking forward to a fantastic cruise. Once again, thank you all for the responses; the postings were really appreciated!