Emailing the ceo? Really?

[wolfganghowell]

There seems to be a common theme here that if ANYTHING goes hinky with a cruise, the knee jerk reaction is to "email Bayley". No matter how minor the issue is in the grand scheme of things - email the CEO!

 

Don't get me wrong. Emailing a CEO has its time and place. I'll give an example. Several years ago, we bought some furniture from a national chain. We changed our minds a day later and cancelled - well within the 3 day time frame. We had paperwork proving the cancellation. Lo and behold, a few weeks later we started getting phone calls to set up our delivery. We called back every time and said it was cancelled. Then the truck showed up. I refused delivery and once again called. I spoke to the salesman first, then the store manager. I wrote a letter to customer service. Then the invoice arrived!! At that point, then I escalated and wrote to the CEO. Problem resolved. I'm not saying we shouldn't approach the CEO with legitimate issues and I'm also not naive enough to think that he actually has the time to read all of them. If he does then Royal has a LOT bigger problems to solve. As a shareholder, I want him running the company and hopefully employing capable people to troubleshoot. I think we can all agree he can start with a better IT team and more educated CS reps. ;)

 

It makes sense that many crew members have negative reactions to CC people - we may have an inflated sense of our own importance.

 

So I guess I'm curious. Instead of starting with the CEO who I certainly hope has better things to do with his time than sift through 1000's of gripey emails about food quality, drink prices and deck chairs - why don't we start with the RIGHT people and escalate from there. Give them a chance to make it right through the proper channels.

 

Now I shall sit back and wait for the flamethrowers and pop corn makers. Actually, it would be nice to hear opinions and if you had a problem with Royal, was it resolved without the CEO getting an email? I know many issues seem to get pushed to Resolutions and hopefully they do their job.

[ryano]

I actually agree 100% with you.

 

The ONLY time I have ever emailed the CEO was three years ago (Adam Goldstein) about a very positive experience onboard. I titled it "something positive for a change" and I have no reason to believe it wasnt him that emailed me back at 930 pm that night. :)

 

That email address gets tossed around here WAY too much IMO.

[nolesrule]

I would assume that like the President of the United States public email address, there is a person or team of people reviewing the emails and only a very small number ever actually get forwarded to the CEO. The rest either go off to the circular file or are handed off to the appropriate department.

[mark290]

I would assume that like the President of the United States public email address, there is a person or team of people reviewing the emails and only a very small number ever actually get forwarded to the CEO. The rest either go off to the circular file or are handed off to the appropriate department.

 

Exactly. If sending a complaint to the CEO's email address gets you faster

or better results then I am all for it. The CEO won't be taken away from

important corporate business to correct your dining time.

[papaflamingo]

20 Royal Caribbean cruises... zero emails to the CEO. The only problems we have ever had have been resolved appropriately and quickly. We had damaged luggage one cruise. Our cabin steward took it to see about repair. It was unrepairable. We filled out the appropriate form and we were reasonably reimbursed for the luggage very quickly.

On one cruise my wife slipped on the pool deck and dislocated her collarbone. She was immediately taken care of by medical. They offered to have a doctor in Miami look at it. We opted to go to our home doctor. Our insurance covered almost all of the bills, and when we contacted Royal Caribbean, they simply told us to submit any out of pocket expenses. No fuss, no muss, no hassle.

So as you said, go through the appropriate channels. If that doesn't work, go up the chain of command.

My guess is that people who have their issues resolved don't write about them as there is no reason to. So what we hear are either people who were unable to get their legitimate issue resolved, or want "the moon" for a stale piece of bread, and will whine to anyone who will listen.

Edited April 22, 2015 by papaflamingo

[WhenIsLobsterNight]

There seems to be a common theme here that if ANYTHING goes hinky with a cruise, the knee jerk reaction is to "email Bayley". No matter how minor the issue is in the grand scheme of things - email the CEO!

 

Don't get me wrong. Emailing a CEO has its time and place. I'll give an example. Several years ago, we bought some furniture from a national chain. We changed our minds a day later and cancelled - well within the 3 day time frame. We had paperwork proving the cancellation. Lo and behold, a few weeks later we started getting phone calls to set up our delivery. We called back every time and said it was cancelled. Then the truck showed up. I refused delivery and once again called. I spoke to the salesman first, then the store manager. I wrote a letter to customer service. Then the invoice arrived!! At that point, then I escalated and wrote to the CEO. Problem resolved. I'm not saying we shouldn't approach the CEO with legitimate issues and I'm also not naive enough to think that he actually has the time to read all of them. If he does then Royal has a LOT bigger problems to solve. As a shareholder, I want him running the company and hopefully employing capable people to troubleshoot. I think we can all agree he can start with a better IT team and more educated CS reps. ;)

 

It makes sense that many crew members have negative reactions to CC people - we may have an inflated sense of our own importance.

 

So I guess I'm curious. Instead of starting with the CEO who I certainly hope has better things to do with his time than sift through 1000's of gripey emails about food quality, drink prices and deck chairs - why don't we start with the RIGHT people and escalate from there. Give them a chance to make it right through the proper channels.

 

Now I shall sit back and wait for the flamethrowers and pop corn makers. Actually, it would be nice to hear opinions and if you had a problem with Royal, was it resolved without the CEO getting an email? I know many issues seem to get pushed to Resolutions and hopefully they do their job.

 

 

I completely agree with you. However, I think the reason we are seeing "email the CEO" more and more is that RCCL customer service is choosing not to handle problems that arise. This board is littered with stories of people getting moved from one room to another, cancelled dinners, cancelled excursions and even cancelled cruises just to name a few. When you call up the RCCL phone reps (who reside in places like Wicihta, KS) they are unwilling or unable to help. People then go to the resolutions department and are offered $100 if they are lucky. So they then have to keep going up the ladder. I empathize with those that have had issues. Do I think the CEO gets emailed on small little petty problems? Absolutely and that is unfortunate. I also think there is a good portion of people that use that as a last resort after getting a series of poor customer service responses from the lower levels.

Edited April 22, 2015 by WhenIsLobsterNight

[Paulette3028]

There seems to be a common theme here that if ANYTHING goes hinky with a cruise, the knee jerk reaction is to "email Bayley". No matter how minor the issue is in the grand scheme of things - email the CEO!

 

Don't get me wrong. Emailing a CEO has its time and place. I'll give an example. Several years ago, we bought some furniture from a national chain. We changed our minds a day later and cancelled - well within the 3 day time frame. We had paperwork proving the cancellation. Lo and behold, a few weeks later we started getting phone calls to set up our delivery. We called back every time and said it was cancelled. Then the truck showed up. I refused delivery and once again called. I spoke to the salesman first, then the store manager. I wrote a letter to customer service. Then the invoice arrived!! At that point, then I escalated and wrote to the CEO. Problem resolved. I'm not saying we shouldn't approach the CEO with legitimate issues and I'm also not naive enough to think that he actually has the time to read all of them. If he does then Royal has a LOT bigger problems to solve. As a shareholder, I want him running the company and hopefully employing capable people to troubleshoot. I think we can all agree he can start with a better IT team and more educated CS reps. ;)

 

It makes sense that many crew members have negative reactions to CC people - we may have an inflated sense of our own importance.

 

So I guess I'm curious. Instead of starting with the CEO who I certainly hope has better things to do with his time than sift through 1000's of gripey emails about food quality, drink prices and deck chairs - why don't we start with the RIGHT people and escalate from there. Give them a chance to make it right through the proper channels.

 

Now I shall sit back and wait for the flamethrowers and pop corn makers. Actually, it would be nice to hear opinions and if you had a problem with Royal, was it resolved without the CEO getting an email? I know many issues seem to get pushed to Resolutions and hopefully they do their job.

 

I wholeheartedly believe in taking issues to the right people and it is not necessarily in the beginning the President or CEO. So depending upon the issue, you might have to do some research to find out who the head of the department is that handles such issues and take it there.

 

People always make derogatory remarks about the IT Team and CS reps -- those people take their direction from several levels above them....so what needs really to be the focus is more top down, that just "Oh let's start with the ______ team or more educated CS reps".

 

The IT Team for the website takes its direction from the sales and marketing department and just implements HOW S/M wants the website to flow and function and usually not as much budget/time/resources is set aside to actually accomplish what they want.

 

More educated CS reps would also mean allocating funds/time/effort and the sales and marketing department has to believe that is important to do.....so it does START higher up in the corporate chain. But that is just my opinion.

 

Just like you are a shareholder, so am I -- and I have had some interesting exchanges with senior executives on these issues.

[orville99]

every problem we have ever had on a cruise (and there have been very few overall) was quickly and professionally handled by either frontline or senior staff on board - sometimes escalated to the Hotel Director or F&B manager or the Purser, but never had to take an onboard issue home with us.

[lmares1968]

Well said!

[Mary1951]

After every cruise I send an e-mail , telling him what was great about my cruise and if something was very wrong I will state that as well . I know that he does not read every

one and that the e-mail we have is not the one he gives to everybody , but I know also that he has people that are paid to do this and if there is something big it will get to his ears. I

have gotten an answer every time and have gotten several calls thanking me for my input .

[Paulette3028]

every problem we have ever had on a cruise (and there have been very few overall) was quickly and professionally handled by either frontline or senior staff on board - sometimes escalated to the Hotel Director or F&B manager or the Purser, but never had to take an onboard issue home with us.

 

As I read more and more, I truly believe most problems on board CAN get resolved onboard satisfactorily.

 

I know that every issue we have ever had on board was resolved....I did have suggestions that would make the problem we had occur, occur less and after a cruise took it up with the department that it should be brought to.

[wolfganghowell]

Lobster - yes I agree with your statements. I also believe that Bayley/Fain/Goldstein etc have "Animal House style email addresses - you know double secret probation! I'm dating myself there aren't I? Their "real" emails regarding corporate matters are probably a well kept secret.

 

People always make derogatory remarks about the IT Team and CS reps -- those people take their direction from several levels above them

Paulette, agreed. Mr Wolf is an IT exec and the buck stops with him. It is surprising how weak Royal's IT department is - it seems they just don't place a high priority on it and we all pay the price. Poorly trained CS Reps is certainly not unique to Royal either.

 

It is frustrating to see all the foul ups related here. But perspective is everything. I wouldn't dream of emailing the CEO of a multimillion dollar company to complain about a deck chair. Strange cancellations - must be either an IT issue or human error by either a TA or the cruise line. Start with the right department - that's what they are paid to do. And if it's not resolved let management know. That's how companies learn - by the right people knowing the right information.

 

HI LAURA!!!!! MISS YOU GUYS!

Edited April 22, 2015 by wolfganghowell

[dinkydee718]

every problem we have ever had on a cruise (and there have been very few overall) was quickly and professionally handled by either frontline or senior staff on board - sometimes escalated to the Hotel Director or F&B manager or the Purser, but never had to take an onboard issue home with us.

 

Unfortunately, that was not the case with my Quantum cruise. I made 3 or 4 trips to GS while onboard and was told I'd get a call in my stateroom to resolve things. Never happened.

 

I had issues/inconveniences almost every day of the cruise and I did write a letter (the first of my life) outlining the bigger issues I encountered. I did not send it to the CEO, I sent it to Guest Relations and received a response from Guest Relations. Done deal.

 

The CEO will never even know about it, unless he reads this post on CC.

Edited April 22, 2015 by dinkydee718
clarification

[ltjn]

If the CEO does not want my email there is a delete button.

 

The few times I have email the CEO is was to complement outstanding actions by an employee. The negative email had comments about a situation that was not handled on the ship. The next step up was to the person in charge of the hotel services. When that went unanswered for 4 weeks I wrote a letter to Michael Bayley. Within 4 days of mailing the letter I was contacted by Corporate Customer Services and the situation was handled appropriately and to my satisfaction.

 

I give all of you a little insight. When I was completing my MBA several years ago one of my research projects involved assessing a particular problem within an electronics manufactor. For giggles I wrote to the CEO of that company, never expecting to hear from anyone. After about 2 weeks I received a call from the company's corporate office. I actually interviewed the CEO. One of the main topics I took away from him was he was proud of the company, and he enjoyed talking to people about his company, both positive and negative.

 

So don't be to quick to think that an intelligent CEO is to busy to speak to a customer. If he can not, most likely he will forward it to customer service rep to handle.

 

Let us look at this another way, you live in mid-size city, and you are having problems with some city service. Would you be afraid to write the mayor because he is to busy to read your email. How about, you are having a crime problem in your neighborhood. Would you rationalize not to write the chief of police looking for help because he is to busy. Both of those positions are the true definition of a CEO.

 

If any one cares I was a Chief of Police! (30 years of service in New York State).

[papcx]

The CEO will never even know about it, unless he reads this post on CC.

 

 

I'm sure there's a crack team of IT professionals that reads it for him!

[wolfganghowell]

So don't be to quick to think that an intelligent CEO is to busy to speak to a customer. If he can not, most likely he will forward it to customer service rep to handle.

 

While I agree with you, I am talking about the petty complaints and how entitled people abuse the system by "going straight to the top."

 

ps - thank you for your service.

[Slopoke15]

Mr Wolf is an IT exec and the buck stops with him. It is surprising how weak Royal's IT department is - it seems they just don't place a high priority on it and we all pay the price. Poorly trained CS Reps is certainly not unique to Royal either.

 

This highlights one of the biggest causes of customer dissatisfaction. In today's day and age a big corporations public "face" is it's web page. When you are RCI and roll out new, creative and innovative things and base some of them on customer on line booking through your web site, then you better make sure it functions well. There is a well established process for developing and implementing major enterprise applications that helps companies smooth out the inevitable bugs both before and after implementation.

 

I also agree that it is too common for companies to under budget major IT projects, and then wonder why they don't work as well as they hoped.

 

The unfortunate thing is that RCI are boasting about their technology and their "smart" ships ... and they have certainly spent huge amounts of money on some aspects, but they come up short on one of the most important pieces, and that is the one that millions of people see regularly ... their web site.

Edited April 22, 2015 by Slopoke15

[wolfganghowell]

Slopoke - well said. I keep telling Mr Wolf to get the IT job at Royal so we can get discounted cruises. :D It's astonishing to me how bad their website is. Come on - it's NOT that hard!

[cruisingsince94]

We have not had many issues during our 20 RCI cruises but when we have they were taken care of onboard or by resolutions once home.

[BekkaW]

I completely agree with you. However, I think the reason we are seeing "email the CEO" more and more is that RCCL customer service is choosing not to handle problems that arise. This board is littered with stories of people getting moved from one room to another, cancelled dinners, cancelled excursions and even cancelled cruises just to name a few. When you call up the RCCL phone reps (who reside in places like Wicihta, KS) they are unwilling or unable to help. People then go to the resolutions department and are offered $100 if they are lucky. So they then have to keep going up the ladder. I empathize with those that have had issues. Do I think the CEO gets emailed on small little petty problems? Absolutely and that is unfortunate. I also think there is a good portion of people that use that as a last resort after getting a series of poor customer service responses from the lower levels.

 

For me, this is the heart of the issue. I'll start by saying I have loved every RCI cruise I have been on. We have been fortunate to never encounter any ki d of serious problem, and the minor problems we have had were easily resolved by speaking to a supervisor.

 

I recommend RCI loudly and often :) but when I read things on this board like what I have highlighted above I think "what the heck is Royal doing?!" I would be livid and what is more the complete inability of customer service reps and even the resolutions dept to solve these problems and restore customer satisfaction is infuriating. The one that stands out for me is the fellow who booked a guarantee and was given a lower category room, then told (I paraphrase) to like it or lump it.

 

This is the kind of situation that I see people start to suggest emailing the CEO and I think that's appropriate. YMMV but I have never seen it suggested for what was a truly minor issue.

[critterchick]

It is frustrating to see all the foul ups related here. But perspective is everything. I wouldn't dream of emailing the CEO of a multimillion dollar company to complain about a deck chair. Strange cancellations - must be either an IT issue or human error by either a TA or the cruise line. Start with the right department - that's what they are paid to do. And if it's not resolved let management know. That's how companies learn - by the right people knowing the right information.

 

The problem with many corporations is that the "right department" is hidden - "email us" or "contact us" often leads to a webpage with no real contact information - one types the complaint/compliment/suggestion into a box and hits "submit." Followup is nearly impossible because you don't know where the message went in the first place.

 

Adam Goldstein once wrote a blog in which he commented rather snarkily about people who think that only the CEO of a company can solve their problems. It's not so much that as that oftentimes the only way to get a result is to email the CEO because the "right" department isn't responding. I had it happen years ago with a non-functioning HP computer (purchased at a going out of business sale, so the retailer was not taking any responsibility for it). After three service calls to Idaho and Atlanta without resolution, I fired up my Toshiba and faxed (it was a LONG time ago;)) my letter to the CEO. I had a call from a marketing rep within an hour. His voice was actually quavering. And I had a replacement within a day.

 

So if I have a serious issue that isn't resolved onboard or, if it involved something shoreside, by a lower corporate department, you can be sure I'll fire up the Toshiba and write to the CEO again. And if I have a serious problem that IS resolved, I might just write to him and let him know how well the crew/rep handled it.

[bigque]

I work for one of the big national banks. When I first started with the bank I worked in telephone banking and there was a office in the department that people were trained to answer email, regular mail and take phone calls of complaints that came to the office of the CEO. I was trained and worked that job for about a half a year. We answered the calls that came in from the switchboard concerning complaints by saying this is the office of (CEO Name) how may I help you today? The truth is that we're across town in another building and not in the CEO's office. We never met the CEO and never even talk to him. We we were trained to investigate and handle all complaints and and come to a resolution on his behalf but all correspondence to the customers were as if they came from. We even had the banks letterhead with his signature to send. Most major corporations have this same type of setup. CEO's of major corporations are quite busy people and is always traveling and do not have the time to go through the hundreds of various forms of communication that complaints come in.

[woehwdy]

If the CEO does not want my email there is a delete button.

 

The few times I have email the CEO is was to complement outstanding actions by an employee. The negative email had comments about a situation that was not handled on the ship. The next step up was to the person in charge of the hotel services. When that went unanswered for 4 weeks I wrote a letter to Michael Bayley. Within 4 days of mailing the letter I was contacted by Corporate Customer Services and the situation was handled appropriately and to my satisfaction.

 

I give all of you a little insight. When I was completing my MBA several years ago one of my research projects involved assessing a particular problem within an electronics manufactor. For giggles I wrote to the CEO of that company, never expecting to hear from anyone. After about 2 weeks I received a call from the company's corporate office. I actually interviewed the CEO. One of the main topics I took away from him was he was proud of the company, and he enjoyed talking to people about his company, both positive and negative.

 

So don't be to quick to think that an intelligent CEO is to busy to speak to a customer. If he can not, most likely he will forward it to customer service rep to handle.

 

Let us look at this another way, you live in mid-size city, and you are having problems with some city service. Would you be afraid to write the mayor because he is to busy to read your email. How about, you are having a crime problem in your neighborhood. Would you rationalize not to write the chief of police looking for help because he is to busy. Both of those positions are the true definition of a CEO.

 

If any one cares I was a Chief of Police! (30 years of service in New York State).

You might have received a faster response if you emailed corporate customer service first.

[ehfl]

Some people just have a sense of entitlement. Perhaps it's bad parenting?

[TM38Rob]

Back when email was new and the World Wide Web was in its infancy, I worked for a privately owned cinema chain. My location was a complex of several buildings. Each building had a sign mounted on the wall of the lobby with the name of the manager on duty, and below it was the name and corporate address for the Director of Operations for anyone to send in comments or questions. On very few occasions would we see someone actual writing down the info, otherwise, most people would ask to speak with a manager.

 

Most of the issues could be resolved by the local theater management. Of course, there was no pleasing some customers or they were clearly looking to get free passes. Some of the managers and I would point to the sign in lobby and encourage them to write to our corporate home office if they unhappy about the resolution (if any). When they would ask us to write down the contact info for them, we would find them a pen and a napkin and have them write it down themselves.

 

Although I have not gone looking for one, I do not remember seeing such a sign at Guest Relations on any ship about who to contact at corporate.

 

I do recall the blog Adam Goldstein had and his post about contacting the CEO that another poster mentioned. He mentioned that they have an Escalations department that handles many of the complaint emails he received.

 

I don't think people feel the need to directly contact the CEO to get issues resolved. The problem is people don't know who they should contact when going up the chain of command is not working for them. People come here to Cruise Critic asking who can help them (not specifically asking for the CEO). Most people respond with the CEO's email address as that is the only contact info they have that works.

 

If Royal Caribbean offered a better way to contact the corporate offices (with an email like operations@royalcaribbean.com as an example) or who's office to contact (such as Director of Operations), then people wouldn't be contacting the CEO as much.