62 points went POOF! Worst IT error I've experienced

[TC1957]

Try contacting Adam G., bet he can reach IT in ways other than emails that appear to go unread.

[LuvBNatC]

Thanks for posting this. I just did a screen capture of my history with RCI, which looks accurate so far.

 

Out of curiosity, I checked my more-extensive history with NCL, which should show 24 voyages. Nine of them are missing, they've got the lengths wrong on at least 3, and they're showing a voyage on Norwegian Dream that I never took.

 

So I've just discovered a new project for myself because I'm missing at least 70 points with NCL. (Royal's pricing has been so bad lately, I'm seriously considering a defection back to NCL for my next cruise.)

 

Goes to show RCI hasn't cornered the market on IT snafus. :mad:

[Debitoo]

If you have proof of the missing cruises in terms of an old seapass or ship photograph than you can get them added back to your cruise history. Pain in the neck I know, but can be done. I took a Monarch of the Seas cruise in 1992 then didn't cruise again for almost 20 years. When I joined C&A, I sent them a picture from the ship's photographer and was able to get the 7 points.

Me too, from the cruise I took in 1988. It was a hassle but I received the points. Good luck Gina, I'm sure it will work out eventually.

[Margy23]

It's important to get your list corrected, because if you ever get unlinked, some of your points will go poof too.:eek:

Thanks for pointing that out. I printed my history and total points today after reading this thread but had not thought to check my husband's. His are also OK (at least for now), but there's no question RCI needs to do something drastic about their IT shortcomings, accomplish it soon, and certainly not hassle faithful customers who fall into their IT morass.

 

I know we're on a cruise with you later this year - I think it's Enchantment on 10/20. We look forward to meeting you.

 

Margy

[Clarea]

Thanks for pointing that out. I printed my history and total points today after reading this thread but had not thought to check my husband's. His are also OK (at least for now), but there's no question RCI needs to do something drastic about their IT shortcomings, accomplish it soon, and certainly not hassle faithful customers who fall into their IT morass.

 

I know we're on a cruise with you later this year - I think it's Enchantment on 10/20. We look forward to meeting you.

 

Margy

Yes, we're still planning on that cruise. Maybe when it gets closer to the cruise, we can talk in the roll call and set up an informal M&M before muster.

[mommabean]

Adam has responded to my email by congratulating me on my actual point total. He also said he has "asked his colleagues to get into it."

 

That's a tiny start.

 

It won't affect my level for my next cruise but it could affect my benefits and definitely affects milestone cruises.

[Jimbo]

How many points from Pinnacle are you?

 

Jimbo:)

[Familygoboston]

Yes, I checked my cruise points today after disembarking a cruise just 1 week ago. I didn't get 8 points added to my total cruise points but they subtracted 62 points and they can't figure out why. :eek: Someone is working on it but they seem to think cruises have dropped off my record. So basically...they are going to say "too bad".

 

And since we are away for a while on cruises, I have no access to my file at home with my most recent point print out.

 

I am totally frustrated with RCI and their worst ever IT department. There is nothing I can do about their errors long distance.

 

I just felt like publicly venting. And I hope RCI sees this.

 

Gina

Ugh, it's sickening how bad this is...we lost all our booked pricing on a cruise just because I added a C&A number to a 3 rd passenger :rolleyes: They described it as a glitch..no kidding, but of course the person you talk to never, never has the authority or ability to fix and rarely follows through, it's always on you to call back and hound. We lost a point when they only credited us 6 nights on Oasis (when has oasis EVER done 6 nights :rolleyes:)

I hope with your proof at home, you eventually get it sorted- at least you have the proof...that and several hours of your time should do it. :mad:

 

It's a tedious ritual that takes me about 30 minutes, but I always make the PDFs of my wife's, my daughter's, and my cruise history right after the points post. I have never trusted Royal's IT skills and unfortunately your experience has shown that it has likely not been wasted effort on my part.

Here too! I screen shot the cruise history after every cruise, every page, don't trust them, ever!

Edited May 17, 2014 by Familygoboston

[Ocean Boy]

Adam has responded to my email by congratulating me on my actual point total. He also said he has "asked his colleagues to get into it."

 

That's a tiny start.

 

It won't affect my level for my next cruise but it could affect my benefits and definitely affects milestone cruises.

 

I'm glad you got a response. But I'd feel a lot better about it if he had acknowleged that his IT department has serious issues and that one of his priorites is going to be getting it straightened out.

[mommabean]

I'm glad you got a response. But I'd feel a lot better about it if he had acknowleged that his IT department has serious issues and that one of his priorites is going to be getting it straightened out.

 

 

I was thinking I should have responded with the suggestion they hire Accenture to fix their IT issues.

 

But I said nothing.

[mommabean]

Ugh, it's sickening how bad this is...we lost all our booked pricing on a cruise just because I added a C&A number to a 3 rd passenger :rolleyes: They described it as a glitch..no kidding, but of course the person you talk to never, never has the authority or ability to fix and rarely follows through, it's always on you to call back and hound!

 

 

I understand this and have experienced it myself. Just one little change and the price code drops off. I've had it happen at least 3 times since last summer. One the price was changed simply because a new confirmation was requested. My confirmation was correct but looking at it on line suddenly showed a balance due which required the services of the resolutions dept.

 

A huge pain with long hold times and something that it's something that must be done right away.

[loubetti]

I'm glad you got a response. But I'd feel a lot better about it if he had acknowleged that his IT department has serious issues and that one of his priorites is going to be getting it straightened out.

 

No CEO or COO would ever state that, unless it was like the Target credit card security breach last year. These folks have to be very careful what they say in public (yes, that would also mean in an email to you). They are public companies. "If" they have serious IT issues, making such public could depress the stock price.

 

I can see it now....

 

Wall Street Journal:

 

"Goldstein admits to serious IT issues at RCI"

 

CNBC:

 

"Royal Caribbean International's stock took a hit today after COO Adam Goldstein admitted there were serious IT issues within the company."

 

Now, you see how this works?

 

Also do not assume that a screen capture proves anything, except to yourself and for your own record keeping. I can take a screen capture into a program like Photoshop and double your point balance in the time it takes to write this. I could do the same with an on line bank statement too!

 

However, sorry to hear about this snafu and I hope it all gets worked out for you. Yes, VERY frustrating!

[CVU]

Glad you got a response! Hopefully it is sorted out soon.......?

 

With all the RCL web problem threads on CC --I wonder if they are truly aware of how badly they are being reflected?

We don't ever use their web site to book anything! Just don't trust it.

 

I have been printing off our Points and History of Cruises page each time it changes and have all Sea Pass Cards kept too. This is not the first time I have read on CC about this happening. So, we sure need lots of back up!!

[Ocean Boy]

No CEO or COO would ever state that, unless it was like the Target credit card security breach last year. These folks have to be very careful what they say in public (yes, that would also mean in an email to you). They are public companies. "If" they have serious IT issues, making such public could depress the stock price.

 

I can see it now....

 

Wall Street Journal:

 

"Goldstein admits to serious IT issues at RCI"

 

CNBC:

 

"Royal Caribbean International's stock took a hit today after COO Adam Goldstein admitted there were serious IT issues within the company."

 

Now, you see how this works?

 

Also do not assume that a screen capture proves anything, except to yourself and for your own record keeping. I can take a screen capture into a program like Photoshop and double your point balance in the time it takes to write this. I could do the same with an on line bank statement too!

 

However, sorry to hear about this snafu and I hope it all gets worked out for you. Yes, VERY frustrating!

 

Great! I nominate you to head RCI's IT department and then we will talk about my points.;):D

[mommabean]

What a horrible experience to go through. Thats almost nine 7 night cruises worth of points gone :( Even worse than that is RCI taking the "too bad so sad" highway.

 

 

Actually, thinking about this, it's not 62 points I've lost but really it's 70. Instead of adding 8, they subtracted 62 for a net 70 point loss. I've been cheated out of 10 seven night cruises exactly.

 

I still feel bad about this.

[cello56]

If I were you, I would keep on emailing Adam Goldstein every other day until this is resolved. After a week or so, I would mention that this is fraud plain and simple and the media might have to become involved. You can't offer a program as an incentive for using a product, and then simply not follow through.

[LMaxwell]

I was thinking I should have responded with the suggestion they hire Accenture to fix their IT issues.

 

LOL. I wonder if they would have been sharp enough to get that :D

[LMaxwell]

If I were you, I would keep on emailing Adam Goldstein every other day until this is resolved. After a week or so, I would mention that this is fraud plain and simple and the media might have to become involved. You can't offer a program as an incentive for using a product, and then simply not follow through.

 

Fraud? It's poor IT management. Media involvement? The media can't report anything correctly. Your suggestions are laughable and are not conducive to a quick and accurate resolution.

[loubetti]

I would like to think RCI backs up data frequently, so a data restoration can take place once the bugs are worked out of the software. I don't think they are out to pull a scam or defraud anyone by any stretch of the imagination. Sadly, when such occurs this can take longer than you think to fix, and they may very well be working 24/7 on it. Trust me, this is costing them $$, and they know it! Right now I cannot even make a mock booking, as I cannot get past the first page. When I hit "Continue" I wait about a minute and it takes me back to the first page!

 

As for me, as of yesterday C&A had me listed as Diamond with 0 points and 0 cruises, and that was correct. Now, will I need to answer WHY it is correct? :D

Edited May 18, 2014 by loubetti

[orville99]

Not that it will help any, but had a nice conversation with C&A today, and they figured out where my points went. Seems the system changed my birthdate and year (made me 12 years younger), and on the cruises where DW was listed as the first cruiser, the system somehow "de-linked" us because she was linked with my real information, and the 12-year younger me didn't match our C&A records. The C&A rep said he had to do a "merge" of the data to get those cruises re-linked.:eek:

[mommabean]

LOL. I wonder if they would have been sharp enough to get that :D

 

 

At least you did. ;)

[emeraldcity]

I would like to think RCI backs up data frequently, so a data restoration can take place once the bugs are worked out of the software. I don't think they are out to pull a scam or defraud anyone by any stretch of the imagination. Sadly, when such occurs this can take longer than you think to fix, and they may very well be working 24/7 on it. Trust me, this is costing them $$, and they know it! Right now I cannot even make a mock booking, as I cannot get past the first page. When I hit "Continue" I wait about a minute and it takes me back to the first page!

 

As for me, as of yesterday C&A had me listed as Diamond with 0 points and 0 cruises, and that was correct. Now, will I need to answer WHY it is correct? :D

 

Restoring an old copy of the data results in loss of everything from that point forward, and in a transactional database as active as RCI's, nobody is going to offer up that possibility.

[marci22]

When they updated the website last time (a year or two ago?) there were lots of glitches, some of which remain.

 

There are still times that I choose a cruise date and when the next page loads, there is another cruise date in its place. Or I specify ship, destination, month, etc, and instead of it narrowing down my choices, I get 642 choices. It continues to this day, so I don't have high hopes for their latest website re-do.

 

The 'my cruises' page doesn't even work right for me currently. Every time I look, it shows a different cruise price, but that price is the same for every cruise. Sometimes my 10 cruises are $5,217 each. Sometimes they are $2,315. And so on. And my Anthem cruise continues to show as Enchantment.

Edited May 19, 2014 by marci22

[mommabean]

They are convincing me I'm wrong. Until I can see my print out at home the end of next month, I won't know for sure. Maybe I can't keep the high numbers straight and being away from my desk makes it impossible to verify. If I'm wrong I'm sorry for making such a fuss. I've just had such problems with the web site lately I can't keep up with it all.

 

Someone is still working on it.

[mommabean]

I am willing to admit I was totally wrong this time. I'm sure of it now.

 

I have contacted someone on board my last ship who I know I can trust and who has access to the voyage report. I obviously got the middle digit wrong and was remembering a total that will come after a few more cruises. I had done some calculations in early April figuring out how to trigger a crystal block on our Quantum cruise and apparently I was remembering that similar number.

 

I have had several pricing issues and 2 point issues in the last 9 months so I believed it was happening again.

 

For the record I have written a sincere letter of apology to Adam Goldstein.

 

Usually I keep a screen shot of my most recent "my cruises" home page on my phone but I recently deleted all the pictures on my phone and added back only my favorite pictures because I needed some space on the phone. I neglected to add a screen shot of "my cruises" due to lack of time and dealing with a major extended family crisis last month. It's no excuse, I know. What I saw on my screen just seemed very wrong but obviously I have now found out it was not.

 

If I had realized how easy it would be for me to find out point total from the ship, I never would have called C&A. The extended hold times were not fun (as usual). I contacted the ship by email and had my answer within an hour.

 

Gina