RCI Wouldn't Reprice !!!!

[trev71]

Hi guys,

 

I called yesterday because I saw that prices for balcony rooms on our November 16th cruise on Adventure was almost $250 cheaper per person. C & A said the EXACT same thing to me, but they transferred me to Resolutions right away without me asking. Unfortunately, that agent said the exact same thing. Her reasoning was that after our final payment date, which was early last month, they "couldn't change any rates or issue on board credit". TOTAL BS!

 

Wrote a strongly worded e-mail to C&A and the web reservations desk telling them I've been "loyal to Royal" since my first cruise in 1997 and I might actually consider trying a different cruise line for my next cruise.

 

Hopefully that bursts their bubble. $500 is alot of money and it is frustrating to see people who book at the last minute get insane deals.

 

I think I'm going to try calling again today.

 

 

 

Sure it is annoying but that is the chance we all take when we book early. I have to book my vacation a year in advance so I have to book my trips a year in advance. I have never tried booking a last min trip before. I am thinking about it next November though. If i end up going on a trip then great

[marci22]

That's funny, I think life is too short to worry about which fonts other people choose to post with.

 

lol

[marci22]

I dont understand why they can't issue OBC though. Makes absolutely no sense to me.

 

That other poster got an adjustment because she was before final payment. They won't refund anything at all after final, but you can look for a possible upgrade at a lower price.

[phoenix1181]

I dont understand why they can't issue OBC though. Makes absolutely no sense to me.

 

They don't want too............. The rules have changed since your last cruise with them (if your signature is accurate) and the changes are favorable to their bottom line, not yours.

[mngolfer]

I have a job where I deal with the public all the time and we always get crackpots calling to try and pull something funny to get some kind of discount. After a while you get a little callous to that call, especially if the first reaction to "I can't do that" is wha, wha, wha!!! Take it easy and relax, use a little tact and you can get things done. The people answering the phones are not paid $100,000 to put up with the crackpots, so maybe be a little compassionate. Yes, they should be bright, cheery, wonderful people to all who call, but it gets old when you deal with the morons too often.

[jbklyn88]

They did up until May 2011. You could get OBC up until 3 days before the ship sailed. They stopped doing that to align more with all the other mass market lines policies. Now all you can do is try for an upgrade.

 

 

Carnivals early saver rate is the only one. There are other restrictions though like non refundable deposit I think.

 

I had no idea other lines did the same thing, I just thought Royal was being stubborn lol

 

That other poster got an adjustment because she was before final payment. They won't refund anything at all after final, but you can look for a possible upgrade at a lower price.

 

That what I figured, lol. Oh well, can't win all the time I guess :(

[Ashland]

I am sorry you had to make 2 calls to get the correct results. The first rep may have been having a bad day...since you say she had a bad attitude. Sorry if that was the case. Or possibly she was having IT issues. It happened at my office yesterday....someone was seeing something on their screen that I couldnt see on mine...and we were on the same network...same screen, etc.

 

Glad you got results you were happy with even if it took 2 calls. However, that then makes the title of your thread misleading. RC did "reprice"!!!!!!

So sorry you had to take the time to mention my post title...

 

I was just a bit off after getting off the phone..

 

I'll take care never to title my posts incorrectly if the need ever arise's again....as I'm not often a thread starter:o:)

[larka]

Spent 45 minutes on the phone with RCL and with C * A to get a reliable price difference for an upgrade to a Junior Suite. They kept quoting $1300 higher than the website. I finally got someone who knew how to use their own program. I was told that in the future to tell the operator to remove the Cruise Now feature from my reservation. Why don't they just instruct their operators? Frustrating.

[Paulette3028]

Has anyone else had problems with RCI recently repricing to get the lower published rate :confused:

 

I never have until today...Booked directly 3 days ago and found RCI was offering a lower rate on my cruise for March 2015...no problem I'll just call the C&A D+ desk...problem...the rep I spoke said "no the rate was the same as I booked"...even though I disputed this with the new published rate on the RCI website right in front of me...said "her system disagreed..and nothing she could do".

 

So I hung up called back asked for a price on a new booking...bingo..the lower price...the rep pulled up my booking and was transfered to Resolutions..after a few minutes I had saved a total of $537.00.

 

Very disappointed with the C&A desk rep...it was just one of the regular reps..that was able to verify the lower pricing and had no problem transferring me to someone that could make the adjustment for me...

 

Stop blaming RCI for not wanting to reprice your cruise....and employee of theirs did not want to do their job. Yes, should the employee be reprimanded/written up, I believe so....but the entire company isn't to blame for the employee not doing their job.

 

You called back, got someone who was much more responsible and it was done for you. I can't tell you why the first rep did not want to do what should have been done. Maybe it was her break or lunch....no one knows; or she did not understand what to do....I can't say, what it was.

[awhcruiser]

They won't do anything after final payment. Not hard to understand.

I dont understand why they can't issue OBC though. Makes absolutely no sense to me.

[Paulette3028]

I dont understand why they can't issue OBC though. Makes absolutely no sense to me.

 

It doesn't have to make sense to you....but it is the policy; the policy was different a few years ago, but has changed to this one now. Not any different on other cruise lines.

 

Some people feel it is unfair that people who can book cruises at the very very last minute can get some incredible cabin rates.....but they lose the ability to have a wide choice of cabins to pick from -- they get the choice of what little options are left.

 

There will be a time, when I can book at the very last minute and take advantage of outrageous rates....but not right now.

[marci22]

Stop blaming RCI for not wanting to reprice your cruise....and employee of theirs did not want to do their job. Yes, should the employee be reprimanded/written up, I believe so....but the entire company isn't to blame for the employee not doing their job.

 

Sorry, but the employee represents the company. I don't think OP wanted it to come out that way, but it's what she felt at the time. Not, "Miranda didn't want to reprice my cruise".

[Ashland]

Stop blaming RCI for not wanting to reprice your cruise....and employee of theirs did not want to do their job. Yes, should the employee be reprimanded/written up, I believe so....but the entire company isn't to blame for the employee not doing their job.

 

You called back, got someone who was much more responsible and it was done for you. I can't tell you why the first rep did not want to do what should have been done. Maybe it was her break or lunch....no one knows; or she did not understand what to do....I can't say, what it was.

Yikes :eek: Paulette3028..calm down...the reps are the face of the company :rolleyes:

[Paulette3028]

Sorry, but the employee represents the company. I don't think OP wanted it to come out that way, but it's what she felt at the time. Not, "Miranda didn't want to reprice my cruise".

 

Yes, the employee represented the company poorly. The OP has no indication that the company instructed the employee to represent them in the way she did....should she be disciplined for her handling of the situation and taught how to handle it better -- YES.

 

If the employee continues to do what isn't what the company wants...then after several disciplinary actions the employee can lose its job. It happens in all companies.

 

Royal is thousands of employees, and not all of them are 'good apples'.

 

Perhaps the OP should realize that the title of this thread, isn't accurate.

Edited October 22, 2014 by Paulette3028

[Paulette3028]

Yikes :eek: Paulette3028..calm down...the reps are the face of the company :rolleyes:

 

I would with inside representatives of a very large company. Not all of them represent the company the way the company wishes to be represented. We all get the same training, some because of how they do their job get 'retrained'; some after continually being told how to handle situations so that they 'represent the company to the client better' still don't do it....they go through disciplinary action....if it continues, they lose their job.

 

But the COMPANY was not fostering the poor behavior of the employee. I fully understand that reps are the face of the the company.....I deal with people like that each and every day.

 

The OP did get what he wanted and was due.

[icsys]

Been trying since Saturday to upgrade to a X guarantee Balcony for the Same price as our Inside, we get a different answer each time our TA cannot get anywhere price varies between £8 & 128pp and they say they would have to cancel previous booking and re-book so that MAY change our flts and that would cost more, even spoke to the Miami office who said they would sort it out, 2 days later still waiting, beginning to wonder if RCL want the Business and may go to another line with less hassle, this has only happened since they changed the UK call Centre to Guatemala.

 

The more I read, the more I think "Don't use an agent!"

(At least, not a UK one)

[marci22]

:p

 

Ya gots ta fight fer yer discounts @ Royal.

[marci22]

The more I read, the more I think "Don't use an agent!"

(At least, not a UK one)

 

I've used an agent 3 times for RC cruises. 1 local, 2 online. I prefer doing it myself.

[Ashland]

I would with inside representatives of a very large company. Not all of them represent the company the way the company wishes to be represented. We all get the same training, some because of how they do their job get 'retrained'; some after continually being told how to handle situations so that they 'represent the company to the client better' still don't do it....they go through disciplinary action....if it continues, they lose their job.

 

But the COMPANY was not fostering the poor behavior of the employee. I fully understand that reps are the face of the the company.....I deal with people like that each and every day.

 

The OP did get what he wanted and was due.

I guess my expectation of a rep working on the C&A desk who took my call and knowing that they were speaking with a D+ loyal cruiser wasn't what I expected Paulette3028.

 

Unfortunately the title of my post may not have been the best choice of words (but at the moment that honestly wasn't what I was focused on)...but really isn't the point here.

 

Perhaps you may want to ignore me and my posts...I'm sure your time and expertise on CSR's and running a call center would be better served elsewhere.

[Paulette3028]

I guess my expectation of a rep working on the C&A desk who took my call and knowing that they were speaking with a D+ loyal cruiser wasn't what I expected Paulette3028.

 

Unfortunately the title of my post may not have been the best choice of words (but at the moment that honestly wasn't what I was focused on)...but really isn't the point here.

 

Perhaps you may want to ignore me and my posts...I'm sure your time and expertise on CSR's and running a call center would be better served elsewhere.

 

The employee at Royal did not make the wisest of choices for how they did their job at the moment that they took your call....and their supervisors need to address it. By the way, I work both with people calling regarding problems and face to face...thank heavens not every interaction with a customer is a problem, otherwise I would lose my mind -- that isn't fun.

 

Sometimes tough/difficult things have to be told to customers, because companies are unwilling to do what the customer wants....and the company isn't wrong; the company representative is following company guidelines.....I know customers don't like to hear that.....the customer is NOT always right. Yet, even in those cases, customers who I have had to give disappointing news to, made comments to my superiors about how I handled the situation, even though they wanted a different outcome.

 

But in this case the employee was being a poor representative of the company.

 

I never avoid a poster, just because I disagree with their point of view....and I hope you feel the same.

[awhcruiser]

Doesn't matter. It's after final payment.

I guess my expectation of a rep working on the C&A desk who took my call and knowing that they were speaking with a D+ loyal cruiser wasn't what I expected Paulette3028.

Edited October 23, 2014 by awhcruiser

[Ashland]

Doesn't matter. It's after final payment.

Sorry not the case at all....the cruise I called about isn't until March 2015 and I had only booked it a few days before the published price reduction by RCI ;)

[lazydayz]

Don't know if it makes a difference if you use a travel agent or not. Our upcoming cruise is past final payment and I saw that a JS guaranty was less than what we paid for a balcony, with all kinds of perks from TA. I called TA and rep told me, it's past final payment and a going, going gone rate so I was out of luck. I asked her to call RC and see what they would offer. Luckily, Rc said $64 more per cabin and we could upgrade both to JS's. TA said we keep all our perks. Very happy as I know RC did not have to do this.