Poor service no interest in building ongoing relationships

[Able Seaman H]

what?Its 100 percent legal.Read your binding contract.Royal doesnt make things up as they go along.

 

You have to understand the situation here.

 

The OP called Royal Caribbean so quickly that they hadn't returned her money. They still had the entire amount. In that instance I'm not sure if it is legal. They had said they were going to refund the required amount but crucially hadn't. For that reason I'm not sure their actions are legal.

 

The fact remains Royal Caribbean have acted like loan sharks here. Any company with morals would have reinstated the cruise (remember there didn't even need to be a money exchange to do so). If Adam Goldstein was on the other end of the phone that's what he would have done.

 

In terms of future effect Royal Caribbean need to be careful. They are striving to have people book ever further into the future and even plan their meals, entertainment and other activities way in advance. It wasn't so long ago that we all used to book a few months or even weeks in advance, now we are being asked to decide what we want to eat in January 2016!

 

The cruise companies like this because it helps them forward plan but if they play silly beggars like this many people will be hesitant to hand over that money. All it takes is a few TV programmes and the masses associate Royal Caribben with financial loss.

 

If you want your money back just before a sailing fair enough but this thread is about someone who wanted to reverse their decision to cancel the next morning.

 

Henry :)

[tomatosauce]

I have been following this since the start and wanted to make a comment.

 

For those who aren't aware of it the rules (i.e. Terms and Conditions) in Australia are very different to the US. There are certain benefits, such as the fact that they must advertise prices including taxes and there are certain consumer protections. But there are also areas where the rules are what many would say is not as good such as being able to get price drops credited and loss of deposit if you cancel within 150 days of the cruise.

 

Interestingly enough it also says in the Australian T&C that "All guests MUST obtain personal travel insurance at the time that you book your cruise" (which I presume is so that RCI doesn't have trouble trying to get money from an individual for something that costs them a lot of money). This means that if you follow the T&C and you end up needing to cancel your cruise for negative reasons then you get almost all your money back.

 

I would hope that the OP (and in fact everyone who makes a booking) has travel insurance at which point they should be able to claim back their loss minus the excess and book a different cruise with minimal out of pocket expenses.

[Thetrail]

You have to understand the situation here.

 

The OP called Royal Caribbean so quickly that they hadn't returned her money. They still had the entire amount. In that instance I'm not sure if it is legal. They had said they were going to refund the required amount but crucially hadn't. For that reason I'm not sure their actions are legal.

 

The fact remains Royal Caribbean have acted like loan sharks here. Any company with morals would have reinstated the cruise (remember there didn't even need to be a money exchange to do so). If Adam Goldstein was on the other end of the phone that's what he would have done.

 

In terms of future effect Royal Caribbean need to be careful. They are striving to have people book ever further into the future and even plan their meals, entertainment and other activities way in advance. It wasn't so long ago that we all used to book a few months or even weeks in advance, now we are being asked to decide what we want to eat in January 2016!

 

The cruise companies like this because it helps them forward plan but if they play silly beggars like this many people will be hesitant to hand over that money. All it takes is a few TV programmes and the masses associate Royal Caribben with financial loss.

 

If you want your money back just before a sailing fair enough but this thread is about someone who wanted to reverse their decision to cancel the next morning.

 

Henry :)

Again read your cruise contract and unless you are Adams biological twin, how would you honestly have any clue whatsoever how AG would react???.....:rolleyes::rolleyes:

[Able Seaman H]

Again read your cruise contract and unless you are Adams biological twin, how would you honestly have any clue whatsoever how AG would react???.....:rolleyes::rolleyes:

 

Because having communicated with him directly he seems a decent chap and as a business principal myself I know how he will think. It isn't as difficult or marginal a situation as some on here would like to think.

 

Henry :)

[Thetrail]

Because having communicated with him directly he seems a decent chap and as a business principal myself I know how he will think. It isn't as difficult or marginal a situation as some on here would like to think.

 

Henry :)

You keep thinking that....:)

[The_Big_M]

The OP called Royal Caribbean so quickly that they hadn't returned her money. They still had the entire amount.

 

I don't believe that is true.

 

Just because the customer had not received her money back, does not mean that RCL had also not sent it back yet.

 

The booking had been cancelled, which triggers the refund of excess moneys if any (which there were some in this case). Just because the customer didn't have the refund doesn't mean the company had it either. They issue a refund through the credit card company and also don't have the money either, even though the customer hasn't received it yet.

[Paulette3028]

The OP called Royal Caribbean so quickly that they hadn't returned her money. They still had the entire amount. In that instance I'm not sure if it is legal. They had said they were going to refund the required amount but crucially hadn't. For that reason I'm not sure their actions are legal.

 

 

The fast paced way we interact today, which so many of us LOVE.....is also at play here. Back in the old days, pre-internet, when you had to have a conversation with someone to cancel, you might have had the luxury of calling back 'almost immediately' and the paperwork they had to process, had NOT even left their desk....so it would be simple to just 'rip it up' as if it never existed.

 

The minute you hit that 'CLICK' button to submit a cancelation....it is processed, and it doesn't sit in some 'holding pen' to give you some time to rethink your decision. It doesn't matter how long the money takes to be refunded to your credit card or the amount of deposit you will lose, because of when you cancelled (depending upon how close to sail date you were).

 

People want the luxury of instant gratification for the purchase, when they hit the submit button. They grab that perfect cabin that they want or get the magical sale price they see.....Keep in mind that when you want to cancel via on line, it is just as instantly. Calling Royal instead of just cancelling on line, might have gotten the person on line to say, "Are you sure you want to cancel, it can't be reversed? Let me explain the cancelation penalties to you. If you wait a few more days to see what develops, your cancellation costs will be the same, so does it make sense to wait a couple of days to make sure you want to do this?" That doesn't happen when you go on line and submit that cancelation.

[Able Seaman H]

The fast paced way we interact today, which so many of us LOVE.....is also at play here. Back in the old days, pre-internet, when you had to have a conversation with someone to cancel, you might have had the luxury of calling back 'almost immediately' and the paperwork they had to process, had NOT even left their desk....so it would be simple to just 'rip it up' as if it never existed.

 

The minute you hit that 'CLICK' button to submit a cancelation....it is processed, and it doesn't sit in some 'holding pen' to give you some time to rethink your decision. It doesn't matter how long the money takes to be refunded to your credit card or the amount of deposit you will lose, because of when you cancelled (depending upon how close to sail date you were).

 

 

Royal Caribbean state that it might take up to 2 billing cycles before you see your money. That doesn't sound instant to me. I could have you cleared funds in your account today or at very worst depending on where you are in the world tomorrow.

 

Large organisations don't always operate at the speed you describe. Many take 60 days or even longer to pay up.

 

Anyway, we aren't Royal Caribbean and they will choose to react to any further communication the OP makes as they see fit.

 

I do see a worrying trend towards bulk herding of customers rather than treating them as individuals. There are lots of stories here of people having to fight for a normally expected outcome, be it checking a security camera, help from customer services or delivery of service as per contract.

 

As a consumer it's always good to remember you have a choice where your money goes. I know the Royal fan boys & girls will say "right into Royal Caribbeans coffers!"

 

 

Henry :)

[Paulette3028]

Royal Caribbean state that it might take up to 2 billing cycles before you see your money. That doesn't sound instant to me. I could have you cleared funds in your account today or at very worst depending on where you are in the world tomorrow.

 

Large organisations don't always operate at the speed you describe. Many take 60 days or even longer to pay up.

 

Anyway, we aren't Royal Caribbean and they will choose to react to any further communication the OP makes as they see fit.

 

I do see a worrying trend towards bulk herding of customers rather than treating them as individuals. There are lots of stories here of people having to fight for a normally expected outcome, be it checking a security camera, help from customer services or delivery of service as per contract.

 

As a consumer it's always good to remember you have a choice where your money goes. I know the Royal fan boys & girls will say "right into Royal Caribbeans coffers!"

 

 

Henry :)

 

In my post I did not say you would instantly see your refund on your credit card....perhaps it could take up to 2 billing cycles to go through the full banking system back to you; some people have said in other threads refunds have come very quickly, so I guess it depends on the banks. What I said is the minute you click the button that cancelation is processed (by Royal); it gets deleted from their system and put into whatever system handles the rest of the monetary transaction.

 

But to Royal it is cancelled.

[blackshirt]

Interestingly enough it also says in the Australian T&C that "All guests MUST obtain personal travel insurance at the time that you book your cruise" (which I presume is so that RCI doesn't have trouble trying to get money from an individual for something that costs them a lot of money). This means that if you follow the T&C and you end up needing to cancel your cruise for negative reasons then you get almost all your money back.

 

I think you are misinterpreting this clause. I don't believe it is not saying that personal travel insurance is mandatory but rather it is saying that IF you want to purchase personal travel insurance, it must be purchased at the time of the booking.

[meaclasact2]

What a mess....so sorry to hear about your troubles. A bit of compassion would be nice to see. Rules are there for reasons - I think as adults we would all agree on that. However there are extraordinary circumstances where the rules can be bent...and there is no harm done.

 

I am on my first RCI cruise in a few days and I have been extremely impressed with the superb customer service I have received. No matter who answers my call the response has always been the same - professional, friendly, informative.

 

I hope that eventually this can all be sorted out.

[cruisinfanatic]

To the op. You are not the only person to cancel in a knee- jerk reaction. My husband and I did the same thing on a cruise last year due to a family matter. However; they were able to reinstate our reservation with the same cabin and also add our granddaughter to the reservation. If I remember correctly it was about 4 or 5 days in between. We are in the US.

Maybe it is different in Australia.

 

I sincerely hope you can get this straightened out and go on your cruise.

Likely you didn't cancel after final payment

[hellsop]

IIRC, the "up to two billing cycles" includes time getting the money extracted from your credit card account to bank (to be able to, for example, take out in cash or write a check against -- it became YOUR money again), not simply releasing it as a credit to your card account, to apply against other purchases.

[nelblu]

You think RCL is tardy with refunds, let me tell you a story regarding my overpayment of my Verizon phone and cable bill. About 2 years ago, rushing to bill pay my bills, I accidentally paid Verizon $2k+ instead of my real estate taxes. To make it worse, I was in Las Vegas and while in one of the casinos D lounge I noticed (PC are available to use) the overpayment. I was stuck because it was the weekend and I couldn't do anything about it. When I got home I called Verizon with the expectation that they would see the overpayment of over $2K and issue a refund ASAP. Wrong.

 

In summary, I had to wait some 2+ months for the check to be received. At the same time, I had to dig into my savings to pay not only the real estate installment, but also the interest.

 

Now, I double check and sometime triple check before entering "submit." Valuable Lesson learned.

 

Ps. My subsequent bill(s) from Verizon showed credit of $2K+.

[tomatosauce]

I think you are misinterpreting this clause. I don't believe it is not saying that personal travel insurance is mandatory but rather it is saying that IF you want to purchase personal travel insurance, it must be purchased at the time of the booking.

 

This is again one of those areas in which RCI works differently in Australia. In Australia they do not offer or sell insurance so it cannot mean what you think it does. There is no option to purchase insurance during booking and it must be booked through a third party.

[BND]

What a mess....so sorry to hear about your troubles. A bit of compassion would be nice to see. Rules are there for reasons - I think as adults we would all agree on that. However there are extraordinary circumstances where the rules can be bent...and there is no harm done.

 

I am on my first RCI cruise in a few days and I have been extremely impressed with the superb customer service I have received. No matter who answers my call the response has always been the same - professional, friendly, informative.

 

I hope that eventually this can all be sorted out.

 

I'm sure everyone is compassionate about the situation, but RCI has rules so everyone is treated the same (per country). How fair would it be if you cancelled as the OP did and got your money back and your friend/family member did the same and didn't get theirs? People need to be realistic. The health issue and cancelling are two different things. You can have compassion for the individual, but that doesn't mean they get the rules bent. Someone's knee jerk reaction is not RCI's responsibility.

Edited October 5, 2014 by BND

[Viv0828]

Many companies bend the rules. Oftentimes it gets them good PR and repeat customers at little or no cost to them.

 

 

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[The_Big_M]

You think RCL is tardy with refunds

 

I don't. I think they're fast with refunds.

[lucymorgan]

I'm sure everyone is compassionate about the situation, but RCI has rules so everyone is treated the same (per country). How fair would it be if you cancelled as the OP did and got your money back and your friend/family member did the same and didn't get theirs? People need to be realistic. The health issue and cancelling are two different things. You can have compassion for the individual, but that doesn't mean they get the rules bent. Someone's knee jerk reaction is not RCI's responsibility.

 

No not RCI's responsibility. However, the OP didn't want their money back. They wanted to go on the cruise, to become frequent cruisers with RCI and to enjoy a wonderful cruise at a stressful time in their lives.

Edited October 6, 2014 by jenibor

[bplazo]

I'm sure everyone is compassionate about the situation, but RCI has rules so everyone is treated the same (per country). How fair would it be if you cancelled as the OP did and got your money back and your friend/family member did the same and didn't get theirs? People need to be realistic. The health issue and cancelling are two different things. You can have compassion for the individual, but that doesn't mean they get the rules bent. Someone's knee jerk reaction is not RCI's responsibility.

 

Sorry, however, they do not treat every one equally because I have read several time where they have made exemptions.

[Lonedreamer]

I'm a little bit shocked by some of the reactions to this post....not least to the repeated mentioning of T&Cs relating to a 'refund' if cancelled etc.

 

I currently have 2 RCI cruises booked and for 1 of them I have needed to have repeated contact with the call centre in order to book entertainment etc because of issues with their online system. To be honest, contacting them has been a nightmare, I have repeatedly been put on hold and then literally forgotten, on one occasion for more than 30 minutes before the phone simply disconnected. I can see from the forums that there are others who have experienced the same.

 

Now, there are probably no 'rules' or 'T&Cs' that relate to the experience of a customer over the phone, yet we also all accept that there is 'good' and there is 'bad' and that bad service should not be applauded whereas good service either in the absence of or beyond the 'T&Cs' is evidence of a customer focussed business.

 

This customer wanted to re-instate a holiday they had cancelled literally less than 48 hours before.

The other day I replaced an electronic item for a customer that they had clearly broken despite it absolutely not being part of our T&Cs. And I did it as a 'goodwill' gesture which any decent company will absolutely do in some circumstances in order to demonstrate exceptional customer service.

 

Its absolutely irrelevant what the T&Cs state, they are there to protect the company from customers taking the P*ss - they should not be there to allow a company to avoid providing exceptional customer service and worse, they should not lower customers expectations so far that we actually applaud their total unwillingness to be flexible or reasonable in an exceptional case.

Edited October 6, 2014 by Lonedreamer
Spellings!

[lady_cruiser]

I think the OP was asking for advice actually.

 

And "what you did is 100% your fault" and "look in the mirror" is not what I call constructive advice for someone seeking help in difficult circumstances.

 

Where's the "thumbs up" icon when you need one? Very well put, thank you jenibor!

[Paulette3028]

Its absolutely irrelevant what the T&Cs state, they are there to protect the company from customers taking the P*ss - they should not be there to allow a company to avoid providing exceptional customer service and worse, they should not lower customers expectations so far that we actually applaud their total unwillingness to be flexible or reasonable in an exceptional case.

 

What are you referring to when you write "P*ss"?

[cruzfitter]

I'm a little bit shocked by some of the reactions to this post....not least to the repeated mentioning of T&Cs relating to a 'refund' if cancelled etc.

 

I currently have 2 RCI cruises booked and for 1 of them I have needed to have repeated contact with the call centre in order to book entertainment etc because of issues with their online system. To be honest, contacting them has been a nightmare, I have repeatedly been put on hold and then literally forgotten, on one occasion for more than 30 minutes before the phone simply disconnected. I can see from the forums that there are others who have experienced the same.

 

Now, there are probably no 'rules' or 'T&Cs' that relate to the experience of a customer over the phone, yet we also all accept that there is 'good' and there is 'bad' and that bad service should not be applauded whereas good service either in the absence of or beyond the 'T&Cs' is evidence of a customer focussed business.

 

This customer wanted to re-instate a holiday they had cancelled literally less than 48 hours before.

The other day I replaced an electronic item for a customer that they had clearly broken despite it absolutely not being part of our T&Cs. And I did it as a 'goodwill' gesture which any decent company will absolutely do in some circumstances in order to demonstrate exceptional customer service.

 

Its absolutely irrelevant what the T&Cs state, they are there to protect the company from customers taking the P*ss - they should not be there to allow a company to avoid providing exceptional customer service and worse, they should not lower customers expectations so far that we actually applaud their total unwillingness to be flexible or reasonable in an exceptional case.

 

Just curious does the company you work for give every employee the authority to give away hundreds of dollars with out any oversight? If so, let me know what company you work for.

 

I'm not saying that RCL shouldn't look into re-instating the OP's cruise. But, it shouldn't be automatic just because some customer calls with a sob story.

[Viv0828]

All I can say is that I am very glad that a majority of the posters here don't work for RCI or any cruise line

 

 

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