waited 45 minutes to talk to Celebity

[NovCruisin]

I emailed Celebrity Sunday, February 23 at 12:06 p.m. and on Monday, February 24 at 12:12 p.m. Thats a great response time in my opinion! 24 hrs when 12hrs was a weekend!

Edited February 26, 2014 by NovCruisin

[rbsmithpaige]

I emailed Celebrity Sunday, February 23 at 12:06 p.m. and on Monday, February 24 at 12:12 p.m. Thats a great response time in my opinion! 24 hrs when 12hrs was a weekend!

 

Wish I could say the same. We e-mailed the special needs department about the MDR's ability to accommodate our daughter's dietary restrictions (Medically necessary, she's not just fat like I am). After 6 weeks with no response, I replied to my initial e-mail asking if there was any update and immediately received an automated reply saying that additional e-mails will hamper their ability to address my question. Really? Hamper it more than 6 weeks? :rolleyes:

 

I finally ended up calling them and was told that we should speak with the maitre d'. If I wanted to leave things to chance, I would have done that in the first place. If they attempt to feed her a side salad for dinner every night, I will be supremely pissed.

[joeysmom220]

Add one more to the disgruntled! Call center I m routed to is in Hollywood FL. Know that because a call back showed the area code and city - and I asked where they were. Hlwd FL has no weather problems! Won't bore with the number of calls, trying to access my reservation on their web site, one wait time of 88 minutes, and a total of about 12 hours trying to get upgraded bev pkg and add excursion - and correct one of their typos in a name. What Celebrity needs to realize is our time is valuable too! I love their ships and on-board experience but getting there this time has been a real problem!

Sue

[Hlitner]

One definition of "insanity" is "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result." Over the years we have found that dealing with nearly any cruise line (the World Desk of HAL is an exception) does not yield the best results in terms of hold times and the lack of good answers. In fact, we have sometimes called a cruise line (including Celebrity) with a question, gotten an answer....called back again to get a different customer service rep, and gotten a completely different answer.

 

The solution is quite simple. Just book through a good cruise agency (who will generally give you a better deal then you can get from the cruise line) and let the TA handle any questions. We use several major cruise agencies to handle our bookings (we shop around for the best deal) and are never on hold more then a few seconds. Any question can be handled with a quick call to their customer service folks (or a specific TA) or with a simply e-mail. Sometimes we get an immediate answer to a question, and other times they might say they will "call back" or send us an "e mail" when they find out the answer. Most of the time we have our answer the same day without having to deal with the frustration of dealing with a cruise line customer service.

 

Hank

[hospvol]

My wait time for an answer this morning was 37 minutes. She told me that it was due to the wave promotion that they have.

[ISABELLA]

I had a question regarding the email I receive - BDAYOBC. I was on hold for 25 min - finally I hang up, loosing all my patience..:mad:

[Archer0749]

I hate to say but I have never had a long wait time on hold. The other day I booked a new cruise and might have been on hold for 5 minutes max. Then a day later I had to call and make a change, I called the agent we booked thru. He was delaing with another customer so I left a msg telling him what I wanted, he called back maybe 20 minutes later telling me that he took care of the change and has sent out the new details. Wish I knew how it works for me so I could share and maybe ease some of the pain but I sure have no clue.:mad:

[cruisetimeforme]

What's that saying, a nano second before you need it! Well I waited over two hours monday between different res agents, and this was after celebrity sending me an email wishing me a happy birthday. It was sent from the vacation planner I've never used , or so it said. Finally got my cabin change so ended up being a nice present but boy did they make me work for it

[luv2trvlnow]

I also called about the BDAYOBC. I already had a cruise booked for next year but they added the OBC to my reservation and I got to keep my 123GO offer. I am very happy. When I called they said the wait time would be 1 minute but it took a whole 2 minutes. I called the number in the email and got right through. Of course it took a lot longer to get things settled. The woman I talked to said that this is a new promotion. She kept having to put me on hold while she checked with different people to get approval.

 

Sharon

[smitty4971]

Most of the cruise industry is using third party vendors to handle their calls and emails now. Companies like ARISE employ people who work out of their homes. Call centers are very expensive to set up and run. That's why most of them operate in places like India where those expenses are much lower. Arise agents are considered independent contractors, and are responsible for all of their expenses. This is waaay cheaper for the Cruise Industry than call centers!

 

When a call or email comes into the cruise company it is directed to the next available ARISE agent. That is why, when you have them call you back, their call can originate from any area code in the country. The problem is, when these folks answering your calls encounter a problem that is above their pay grade, they have to put you on hold and call someone at the Cruise Line that can actually handle the problem. Resulting in you getting placed on perma-hold or being transferred.

 

If you really want to understand why the service is so bad when you try and speak to someone at a Cruise Line, google customer and employee complaints against companies like ARISE.

[Hlitner]

My wait time for an answer this morning was 37 minutes. She told me that it was due to the wave promotion that they have.

 

So perhaps the question should be why would anyone who has to wait 37 min on hold ever put themselves into that same situation in the future? There are plenty of other options. I any of my short list of cruise agencies ever had me on hold more then 5 min...it would be the last time they ever had my business.

 

Hank

[Germancruiser]

I have very good travel agent , who handle´s the phone calls with my numerous requests. She keeps telling me, that she always has to wait at least 20 Minutes before anyone get´s on the line! Unfortunately I had quite a few changes and alternations for my upcoming cruises! So the dear woman deserves an extra " tip of the hat" !

Michael

[NovCruisin]

Also, I do not know why people hate being on hold so much! Its not like the rep is just trying to piss you off...if you're on hold its likely because they're dealing with hundreds of other customers at the same time! What I do when I'm on hold more than a few minutes is set my phone on speaker then just resume whatever else i need to do, then when someone answers go grab the phone to start speaking. I think are just too impatient these days!

[Lsimon]

Also, I do not know why people hate being on hold so much! Its not like the rep is just trying to piss you off...if you're on hold its likely because they're dealing with hundreds of other customers at the same time! What I do when I'm on hold more than a few minutes is set my phone on speaker then just resume whatever else i need to do, then when someone answers go grab the phone to start speaking. I think are just too impatient these days!

 

I think the point is that this seems to be a relatively new phenomenon. In the past wait times have been considerably shorter and nonexistent at times. Of course long wait times mean they're dealing with lots of other customers but it also may mean that they've understaffed the phone reps or have some other sort of problem. No one minds a wait of a few minutes but when it gets to be 20, 30 minutes or longer it gets much more difficult to handle.

Edited February 27, 2014 by Lsimon

[GaryfmCol]

Also, I do not know why people hate being on hold so much! Its not like the rep is just trying to piss you off...if you're on hold its likely because they're dealing with hundreds of other customers at the same time! What I do when I'm on hold more than a few minutes is set my phone on speaker then just resume whatever else i need to do, then when someone answers go grab the phone to start speaking. I think are just too impatient these days!

 

As I experienced yesterday, I held for close to a half an hour.

That is a long time, however, I DID wait patiently.

 

When my turn came and, the call FINALLY rang through, to the "next availible agent", the call just rang and, rang and, rang for well over

5 more minutes without anyone answering.

 

THAT is what really upset me....

 

That should NEVER be allowed to happen.

 

I would assume that the agent having finished their previous call, walked away from their station for a break or someting, but, no one answered.

 

That is NOT good service.

 

If I called back, which I DID NOT, I would have to go throught the process all over again.

My time is worth more to me than doing that!

[bhughey]

Also, I do not know why people hate being on hold so much! Its not like the rep is just trying to piss you off...if you're on hold its likely because they're dealing with hundreds of other customers at the same time! What I do when I'm on hold more than a few minutes is set my phone on speaker then just resume whatever else i need to do, then when someone answers go grab the phone to start speaking. I think are just too impatient these days!

 

Lengthy hold time is indicative that X doesn't have the staff to properly handle incoming calls and that's a problem.

[Tucker in Texas]

Also, I do not know why people hate being on hold so much! Its not like the rep is just trying to piss you off...if you're on hold its likely because they're dealing with hundreds of other customers at the same time! What I do when I'm on hold more than a few minutes is set my phone on speaker then just resume whatever else i need to do, then when someone answers go grab the phone to start speaking. I think are just too impatient these days!

 

1) Not everyone has a speaker phone

 

2) Not everyone can afford to tie up their phone line for lengthy periods of time either because they are a business or expecting an important call.

 

3) Your "chore" may not be within ear shot of a phone and you can't hang around it.

 

Tucker in Texas

[bhughey]

1) Not everyone has a speaker phone

 

2) Not everyone can afford to tie up their phone line for lengthy periods of time either because they are a business or expecting an important call.

 

3) Your "chore" may not be within ear shot of a phone and you can't hang around it.

 

Tucker in Texas

 

Exactly!

[Georgie562]

As I first time Celebrity customer, I don't find this acceptable. It gives me the impression that Celebrity doesn't care.

I did my own booking on their website but what when the time arise that I have to phone them up? I sure would not like to wait 45 + minutes to speak with someone. To keep a customer you have to keep them happy and based on this thread and others, a lot of people not happy with the hold time so they should listen and fix the issue.

 

Crossing my fingers I don't have to call them for anything.

[sollan]

I have been following different treads regrding the new(?) problems with getting throuht to customer service.

 

I have earlier been involved with setting up new contact centers and one of the most important things was (at least then) to make sure the waiting time was as short as possible. A customer that has to wait to long can be a lost customer = lost money.

 

Sure enough there are all kind of problems that will happen, non working technogly, unforseen problems, ongoing offers that causes extra telephone calls and so on. This is known to happen and there have to be emergency plans how to deal with them. One of the things you as a company could do is to let the incoming callers know of the problems if any. That means active monitering of the status of incoming calls and making a decision when to put the extra information at work.

 

Modern systems are capable of continuously telling how many that are standing in line and also the estimated time you have to wait. If you feel that you can wait for that time it’s OK otherwise choose the call back function or call back later.

 

IMHO the main problem actually is the lack of information. To wait for a long time in a line, whithout or with wrong information about how long it will take to get through is frustrating. I think many could accept longer waitingtimes if they are informed why.

 

As you all probably understand it’s not funny to sit in a customer center and have to deal with persons that have gotten frusterated due to long waiting times. And on top of that – not beeing able to help the person.

[koolforkatz]

Also, I do not know why people hate being on hold so much! Its not like the rep is just trying to piss you off...if you're on hold its likely because they're dealing with hundreds of other customers at the same time! What I do when I'm on hold more than a few minutes is set my phone on speaker then just resume whatever else i need to do, then when someone answers go grab the phone to start speaking. I think are just too impatient these days!

 

Because I still work I can't do this. My work also requires me to wear headphones so it is impossible to just put the phone on speaker and carry on. Otherwise I would.

 

And as mentioned this is a fairly new phenomenon. I don't recall ever having such a problem in the past trying to get a hold of anybody. If I conducted my business like this, I wouldn't have a business.

[smitty4971]

Because I still work I can't do this. My work also requires me to wear headphones so it is impossible to just put the phone on speaker and carry on. Otherwise I would.

 

And as mentioned this is a fairly new phenomenon. I don't recall ever having such a problem in the past trying to get a hold of anybody. If I conducted my business like this, I wouldn't have a business.

 

"If I conducted my business like this, I wouldn't have a business."

 

True, True, True...

 

When will you be applying for the Celebrity CEO position? (I think there will be an opening shortly).;)

[sollan]

I would assume that the agent having finished their previous call, walked away from their station for a break or someting, but, no one answered.

 

If an operator in a contact system are about to take a break or isn't able to respond, they are supposed to switch their status to "unavalible" which means that the system connect the call to the next avalible operator. If that isn't done the system will try to connect and of course nobody will answer. It can easily be forgotten but if it's happening often... not very good...

[floridacruisers]

Had to call Celebrity this morning around 11:00am and waited maybe three minutes. Got right to an agent and my situation was resolved. Maybe they're listening or I got lucky?????

 

Phil.........floridacruisers

[d4m]

"If I conducted my business like this, I wouldn't have a business."

 

True, True, True...

 

When will you be applying for the Celebrity CEO position? (I think there will be an opening shortly).;)

 

If only. With the thrust of the Company in increasing $$$$ and profit at the expense of cutting staff, programs, certain available food (aqua spa) since this CEO has been in power, it appears that customers, wait times, appropriate answers, consistency just aren't high on his list of priorities. I think the buck stops with him and someone needs to pay attention to problems within Celebrity.

 

After waiting more than an hour twice in the last week, I have had it.

 

Hank, it isn't as easy as you think with TA's. The most recent time we used one, it was a nightmare. Closed during the weekend when prices dropped, gave wrong cabin information, nobody responded to e-mails when a worker was 1) on vacation and 2) out sick (total of 2 weeks) etc. Perhaps you have found an agency beyond these problems, but enough of us have had major problems that we are now gun-shy.

Edited February 27, 2014 by d4m