Bragging about being rewarded for complaining.

[cls711]

I was reading thru some Celebrity Cruise Critic member's reviews tonight and I am always so surprised that people almost seem to brag about what they are given when they complain. "I heard noise over my balcony and I got future cruise credit" "I smelled smoke and I got wine and chocolates" "I complained about bad service and got free specialty dining."

 

All I can think is just wow, really? It seems as if the goal to complaining is not to right a wrong but to see what freebies they may get. On our last Summit cruise a couple of months ago our Aqua class cabin had a mostly non flushing toilet. We had to notify guest services after our (very good) stateroom attendant could not get maintenance to fix it. It actually never flushed properly and maintenance had to work on it daily. But the hotel director kept calling, checking in and offering all sorts of freebies. We politely said "no thanks" just a flush is all we need. He seemed utterly amazed.

 

My favorite story is one from years ago when I was cruising alone with my young son, I think it was the Constellation. Well, on boarding day after an hour or so our sea passes stopped working to pay for things. We went to the desk and stood in line and then spoke to them and it was a mistake in the system, it took a while but they fixed it and said sorry. No big deal. Then it happened again. Back in line, get to desk and I smile and say "guess what?" they apologize again, it takes a while but they fix it again, I smile and said thanks, no worries, busy day, computers mess up, have a nice day. Later that night in our room we find cookies, chocolate strawberries and a model of the ship for my son, with a note that read "we rarely get happy smiling people at the "complaint desk" we appreciate you, you made our day" signed guest services staff.

 

If you're going to get a freebie, that's the way you should want to do it. :)

[c-legs]

WELL SAID !

 

Thanks for your positive post and offering such a calm and civilized way of looking at things.:)

Cheers

[deise17311]

I was reading thru some Celebrity Cruise Critic member's reviews tonight and I am always so surprised that people almost seem to brag about what they are given when they complain. "I heard noise over my balcony and I got future cruise credit" "I smelled smoke and I got wine and chocolates" "I complained about bad service and got free specialty dining."

 

All I can think is just wow, really? It seems as if the goal to complaining is not to right a wrong but to see what freebies they may get. On our last Summit cruise a couple of months ago our Aqua class cabin had a mostly non flushing toilet. We had to notify guest services after our (very good) stateroom attendant could not get maintenance to fix it. It actually never flushed properly and maintenance had to work on it daily. But the hotel director kept calling, checking in and offering all sorts of freebies. We politely said "no thanks" just a flush is all we need. He seemed utterly amazed.

 

My favorite story is one from years ago when I was cruising alone with my young son, I think it was the Constellation. Well, on boarding day after an hour or so our sea passes stopped working to pay for things. We went to the desk and stood in line and then spoke to them and it was a mistake in the system, it took a while but they fixed it and said sorry. No big deal. Then it happened again. Back in line, get to desk and I smile and say "guess what?" they apologize again, it takes a while but they fix it again, I smile and said thanks, no worries, busy day, computers mess up, have a nice day. Later that night in our room we find cookies, chocolate strawberries and a model of the ship for my son, with a note that read "we rarely get happy smiling people at the "complaint desk" we appreciate you, you made our day" signed guest services staff.

 

If you're going to get a freebie, that's the way you should want to do it. :)

 

I'm taking on your attitude! I love it!

[Gracie115]

Couldn't agree with you more. Seems like so much of our society believes they are "owed" something for any mistake or slight that happens. It's very sad and frustrating for all of us in the hospitality business. I run a resort and am always astounded when someone comes at check out to complain about something and want a discount or refund when they never bothered to report the problem and give us an opportunity to fix whatever the issue was. Should everything always be "perfect?" SURE, but we don't live in a perfect world and things happen....

 

We live in an "entitled" society and it's refreshing to read an attitude like yours...many could and SHOULD learn from it.:)

[Grandmaanne7]

You're right. A lot of us do feel entitled. Hopefully your post will actually make people think twice and at least treat the people they complain to with a little patience and respect. They definitely deserve that.

[middlehaitch]

We had a similar experience with the toilet for a couple of days and were very friendly about it, s*** happens. We found one of the 'upscale' Celebrity bags waiting for us when we got back from dinner one night.

Our second problem was a lot more serious. The cabin door, one of the new OV cabins on the Infinity, would occasionally not lock.

We reported this to the room attendant, nothing happened.

I went back to the room one day and the door had been left unlocked after it was made up ( imagine a 5 ft little woman creeping into the room shouting hello hello thinking there was someone in there). We reported to the room attendant again. We then reported to Guest Services, someone was sent to fix the door.

Still problems with locking after servicing the room, further talks with the room attendant and Guest Services, Door re-aligned.

The door now works and locks.

That evening I went to get in the shower before dinner and instead of the 2 taps being in nutural, like they should be left, they were on full blast and the highest temperature. I was close to scalded. Wet and shaking we called and asked to meet with the hotel director. He saw us right away.

We explained what had happened over the previous 3 days and the shower incident.

I did not accuse the attendant of purposely leaving the shower on a dangerous setting, but did point out that we had lost confidence in an attendant who repeatedly left our door unlocked though she was aware of the problem, did not get it serviced, and when the complaint escalated to Guest Services happened to forget to return the shower to a nutural position.

The hotel manager was very good called and checked that our door was now fully locking and offered us a couple of nights free dining in the specialty restaurants.

We told him that we didn't need that all we wanted was no further problems with the door and our room attendant replacing.

He was amazed, the attendant was replaced, by the time we got back from dinner a new one was introducing himself and a bottle of wine was waiting for us in our room.

cls711 We too value good service over bragging right to excessive perks.

Sorry to be so long winded,

Cheers, h.

[kfowinst]

Love your post!

[Chunky2219]

A nice contrast to the usual post which goes something like,

 

"We had a minor problem that I thought we should complain about, because after all I am astronaut level on the Captains Club and they should know by now not to give me the wasabi peanuts because they give me hives. But guess what, they did nothing and I even got the spicy pretzels the next night. Incompetence shouldn't be rewarded, other than by free drinks for me. So I wrote to X and even personally doorstepped the CEO at a function, but I never got a reply and his minder was rude to me as well. I'll never sail X again."

It's a cruise ship, not the Ritz. Chill, people.

 

I guess we have some minor issue on every other voyage, but it all gets sorted effortlessly and usually before we get back to the cabin. It must be the smile and being polite that gets results. I seldom seem to need any other approach.

.

Edited December 30, 2013 by Chunky2219
typo

[C 2 C]

There was at one time a person who posted about how she got upgrades by using a blue light when she checked out the room. She was eventually banned.

 

We have also sailed with people who brag about getting perks for complaining.

 

One wrote a long letter about a speciality restaurant experience, was invited back for a free meal and then did not even leave a tip… classy.

 

Celebrity records passenger complaints and resolution on the passenger's profile. They too look for patterns.

[NLH Arizona]

I think there are just those people that feel they are entitled to get something for free. You see it on here all the time. I think the cruise lines are too quick to give something for every little thing that happens, instead of just saying I'm sorry.

 

On my last cruise (another line), I had a small problem on the cruise. They have a form you fill out. I filled it out in hopes that it wouldn't happen to another passenger and dropped it in the box. The next day, I get a call and the Hotel Director asking what he could do to make it better, I said nothing that I just wanted to let them know. He asked again, what can I do for you to make it better. I had to explain that I wasn't looking for anything, just wanted to make sure it didn't happen to someone else. He seemed very surprised that I didn't want a darn thing. He then thanked me and said that most people write the forms out in hopes of getting a free dinner with wine. I told him that I wasn't most people.

[miched]

I would love to work at the complaint desk but probably wouldn't last very long.

 

Was working in maintainance and we were exchanging window AC units for service and/or repair. If the unit needed repair and we were short on units they had to do without until the unit got repaired. One really nice lady's unit needed repair but there were no extra spares to swap out. The next office we went to the lady complained to no end that she wanted a better looking unit, one that looked newer and on and on. Guess what. We took the unit that we were going to swap and gave it to the really nice lady and the complainer went without one for a few weeks and then got the worse looking one that we could find.

 

Then I like the story that the comic told. He called the desk at a hotel he was staying at and said that he had a leak in the sink and they told him to go ahead it won't hurt anything.

 

 

.🎉🎩🍸

[CaroleSS]

While i know that MOST folk aren't like the complainers, we hear about them so much, we tend to think they are the majority!

 

I like to take the opposite tact: to say "thank you" when someone does what they are supposed to.....example: at a bank when making a withdrawal, the teller is SUPPOSED to ask to see your photo ID to verify you are who you say you are.....they do that to PROTECT YOU. All too often the customer gets all irate, me, I say "thank you for asking, I understand you are doing so to protect me and I appreciate you doing that". The looks of astonishment are priceless.....

 

I also make it a point to call "corporate" to tell them when someone has done a GOOD job! Why are we so opposed to saying "thank you"??

[Cruising89143]

There was at one time a person who posted about how she got upgrades by using a blue light when she checked out the room. She was eventually banned.

 

We have also sailed with people who brag about getting perks for complaining.

 

One wrote a long letter about a speciality restaurant experience, was invited back for a free meal and then did not even leave a tip… classy.

 

Celebrity records passenger complaints and resolution on the passenger's profile. They too look for patterns.

 

I remember this poster well. It became a game to see how much compensation per cruise she could get by complaining. Finally RCI had enough and booted this couple from all RCCL owned ships. Sometimes you have to be careful in what you wish for. :)

[packedandready]

We took a ship excursion on our first Celebrity cruise (not first cruise) a few years ago. The excursion was not at all what we expected.....it "sort of" did what was advertised, but in a wide round about way.

 

Later that evening as we were going by guest services we decided to talk to them about the excursion. We very politely told them they needed to look at that excursion. While Not Horrible, it just wasn't good and the description was exaggerated. We thanked them and went on about our way.

 

The next day we received a letter thanking us for our feedback and telling us they refunded 50% of the excursion fare. We were more than surprised, even felt a little guilty. DH went to guest services and explained that we weren't after a refund just wanted to pass some information. They thanked us again and said that they use that kind of feedback and were glad to show appreciation.

[irislady]

On our recent cruise on the Reflection (our first on Celebrity) there was a water leak that soaked our carpet from the bathroom door to in front of the closet. Our room attendant noticed it when she came in to turn down the bed while we were at dinner. We returned to find our cabin full of crew suctioning out the water with a big shop-vac. Then they put a large fan on the floor to help dry it. They all apologized for the inconvenience and asked if we could find someplace else to go for a couple of hours. (No problem on a ship like the Reflection, right?). When we returned the Assistant Hotel Manager came to our cabin which was now covered with beach towels where the water had been. She sincerely apologized for the incident. We told her we understood how these things happen and used the opportunity to let her know how excellent the service of our room attendant had been since the start of our cruise.

 

We didn't get any freebies from Celebrity, nor did we expect any. Accidents happen and the crew did all they could to remedy the situation quickly and politely with sincere apologies. That was all they needed to do.

[huskerdan25]

Part of the problem is sometimes the business is too quick to reward the complainer. Just recently, we went to one of our favorite restaurants in Denver called the White Chocolate Grill for desserts with our friends, one who has to eat gluten free. We got the desserts and in the gluten free dessert, there was a tiny egg shell in it. We let the waiter know about it and was told that they would make another one which was perfectly fine with all of us. Next thing you know, the manager came over, asked us how things were and we all said that everything was great, that we just had a small issue with the gluten free dessert. Well, he pulls out a card for $25 which basically would pay for all of our desserts and they made a new one. We never asked for anything and would have been happy with the dessert being re-made which the restaurant offered. While we were happy with the way the situation was dealt with, we were never planning to ask for our desserts to be free as all of the other desserts were amazingly good.

 

People make mistakes and when they are willing to correct them, I am fine with that. I don't expect to be given something free or feel entitled to be given something to fix the situation. Good customer service is someone recognizing and fixing the situation without me complaining that I should be rewarded beyond having the situation fixed.

Edited December 30, 2013 by huskerdan25

[Karynanne]

There was at one time a person who posted about how she got upgrades by using a blue light when she checked out the room. She was eventually banned.

 

We have also sailed with people who brag about getting perks for complaining.

 

One wrote a long letter about a speciality restaurant experience, was invited back for a free meal and then did not even leave a tip… classy.

 

Celebrity records passenger complaints and resolution on the passenger's profile. They too look for patterns.

 

Arno, I remember that woman's posts very well. Boasting on CC about your complaint antics, deserves consequences

 

I have never understood the "complaint" mentallity. If an issue needs to be corrected, a simple thank you and a smile is all that should be expected in return.

 

Karyn

[jagoffee]

Thank you to everyone for posting. I believe that the attitude expressed in this thread is shared by a vast majority of the people that post on CC. I do provide feedback to Celebrity where it is warranted, but it is mostly positive feedback.

The Celebrity staff really values receiving high ratings on the surveys and it is possible that a small number of cruisers try to take advantage of the situation, but IMO most do not.

 

Makes me even more anxious for my next cruise, but the high of 10 degrees F today may also impact my feeling.

[maggie.1008]

I worked as a flight attendant for 25 years. Unfortunately the squeaky wheel gets oiled. I hate to see that as the kind people would like and deserve the same benefits. I always fill out the feedback form mid cruise. I only write about the positive crew members, unless something is truly wrong.

[Denny01]

......Makes me even more anxious for my next cruise, but the high of 10 degrees F today may also impact my feeling.

10deg?!?!? 10deg F!!! I would Demand compensation for that immediately....Maybe a cruise!!!

 

Den

[20pluscruises]

I worked as a flight attendant for 25 years. Unfortunately the squeaky wheel gets oiled. I hate to see that as the kind people would like and deserve the same benefits. I always fill out the feedback form mid cruise. I only write about the positive crew members, unless something is truly wrong.

 

I asked for a comment card mid cruise and was told I would get one the night before disembarkation. It was to give credit to the Blu dining room waiters and wine steward. (which I mention to the staff that I would do) Should I have asked for something other than a comment card?

Edited December 30, 2013 by 20pluscruises

[patty1955]

I agree. People expect to be compensated for the silliest things and companies give it. A couple of years ago we stayed at a well know chain motel while my husband was being PADI certified. On our last morning, we woke up covered in bites. We checked the bed and found evidence of bugbeds. When we talked to the desk clerk, she was very surprised and very helpful. After we got home, while doing research, I found http://www.bedbugregistry.com/ and discovered that two other people had complained of bed bugs in the previous month. Either the desk clerk had lied to us or the problem wasn’t being address. After trying to contact the corporate office of the chain, I contacted a well-known travel ombudsman. All I wanted was an acknowledgment of the problem and reassurance that it was being addressed. The response from both the ombudsman and the corporate office was “what do you want in compensation?”. Neither seemed to understand that we didn’t was compensation, we wanted reassurance.

[Ma Bell]

I asked for a comment card mid cruise and was told I would get one the night before disembarkation. It was to give credit to the Blu dining room waiters and wine steward. (which I mention to the staff that I would do) Should I have asked for something other than a comment card?

 

Yes, you should ask for an Attention to Detail Card.

[20pluscruises]

Yes, you should ask for an Attention to Detail Card.

 

Thanks! I was dissapointed as I really wanted to give rave reviews to Shilas, Oom and Nicolina in Blu. They were EXCELLENT!!! I would have also added Vicent (bartender in Ensemble lounge) to the list. He was one of the best (if not the best) bartender I've had on my many cruises.

[babyher]

I remember a thread a while back on another cruise line board where someone posted about needing the cabin next to theirs for some special reason but it was booked.

 

The poster asked if once on board could they go to the neighbor and politely ask if they would mind swapping cabins. No pressure , just asking, The poster was looking for opinions

 

 

Almost every post he got thought it tacky, if it was them they wouldn't feel safe having someone just knock on their door and ask something like that. They would fear retribution if they didn't agree to swapping cabins. How dare someone ask , we pick our cabins very carefully and shame on you for not doing the same.

 

 

Almost all those posts came with the same last line

 

 

 

Now if you went to the front desk and had a cruiseline employee ask (along with a upgrade, OBC, free dinners etc)

 

Maybe they could find it in their hearts