Bewildering Customer Servuce

[SoCalTraveler]

In 2013 we got a $300 future cruise credit, offered without prompting by RCCL to resolve three problems from our 2013 Transatlantic. (Untruthful Grand Bazaar pricing, lying about a broken steam room, and a crew member who insulted DW in a room with 100 cruisers as witnesses.) No written confirmation, because RCCL refused. We could see the $300 FCC on line. And I wrote it down as a FCC as did out agent, who picked it entirely on her own as an FCC just by monitoring our account.

 

In 2014 we booked a Celebrity cruise and land tour to the Galapagos and Machu Picchu. I called and asked if the FCC could be moved to Celebrity and I was told it could not. (I was just checking. I had no expectation.) That RCCL rep confirmed it was an FCC.

 

In 2015 we booked a 7 day out of Galveston on RCCL. Our agent called RCCL and received instruction on how to post the FCC. She submitted the contract.

RCCL called our agent. According to RCCL management as high as our agent could go, the credit is not an FCC, but an OBC. And RCCL management was uncertain about how combinable it was with other OBCs, such as the shareholder credit or other credits offered as part of the deal.

 

We cancelled. No penalty.

 

RCCL called the next day. RCCL can’t decide whether it was an FCC (which their rep who is still employed was not authorized to hand out) or an OBC, and still doesn’t know how combinable it is with anything. I asked for a call back from management who the rep insisted were fully aware of my reservation. I suggested they have an answer to the combinability issue.

 

No call.

 

I sent an e-mail.

 

No response other than the form promising a response.

 

I sent another e-mail.

 

No response other than the form promising a response.

 

I sent a letter by e-mail to Adam Goldstein.

 

The next day I got a call. (This was my 3rd letter to Mr. Goldstein. The form is saved in Word.) I spoke with the new rep that day and the next. Let’s see what we learned.

 

The failure to respond to my January 2013 letter (which is noted in our reservation but can’t be found) was contrary to RCCL policy. (I have a PDF of the letter. No one at RCCL wants to see it. No one at RCCL has ever wanted to see it. No one at RCCL cares.)

 

The failure to contact us following comment cards on the cruise and following receipt of our survey was contrary to RCCL policy. No one has gone looking to see if RCCL still has these. We don’t. No one knows why RCCL did not contact us before our file is noted that we were to be contacted.

 

No one could ever find our June 2013 letter, but it is logged in and assigned to an RCCL rep. (I have a PDF of the letter. No one at RCCL wants to see it. No one at RCCL has ever wanted to see it. No one at RCCL cares. When I spoke to the rep in June 2013 I offered to send him the PDF right then and he declined. The decision by RCCL that RCCL does not want to actually read my letter is, thus, quite deliberate. So when I say RCCL doe not care, they don't. That's the RCCL company culture. )

 

The credit, which they think was always an OBC (but recognize that RCCL file notes show was called by RCCL reps an FCC at times) was fully transferable to the Celebrity Xpedition (although the opportunity to use on OBC on the Xpedition is limited and our actual bill on board was zero.) RCCL’s records show we asked to transfer the credit and were turned down. RCCL has no idea why.

 

The agent who gave instructions to our agent about how to book the FCC for the Galveston cruise was confused by the “bewildering” number and type of credits RCCL offers. (The word is in quotes because, well, it’s a quote. That’s the word she used. “Bewildering.”) However, RCCL’s records show she thought it was an FCC and approved how our agent was going to submit the contract.

 

RCCL management who turned down our agent going up the chain knew this whole history and still could not bring themselves to say $300 OBC plus whatever other credits you have. We would have booked the cruise. We would have been annoyed with RCCL but we would have booked.

 

No one called after I asked for a call and sent two e-mails because the rep who called after we cancelled the Galveston cruise erroneously marked our file as closed. (According to the last rep, the prior rep readily admitted her error upon review of the file.) However, marking it as closed meant no one would actually read the brief e-mails I sent or open the file no matter how often I wrote. RCCL is exploring fixing this glitch.

 

So the last agent in this drama offered a $300 FCC to be used in a year. I noted that DW might never let me book an RCCL cruise again. We compromised on an immediate $300 credit to my credit card. But that required her to get approval from management, which she obtained. On that last call, I was doing a breathtaking 5 mph on the 405 so I had nothing but time.

 

As you can see from my profile below, we’ve booked two more cruises. Neither are with RCCL. And RCCL and Mr. Goldstein could have avoided all of this just be responding to our letters, comment cards and surveys, which they think is their policy anyway. Or avoided the problem by keeping their word. Or avoided the problem by knowing whether an OBC RCCL issued was combinable or not. “Bewildering” customer service.

[LMaxwell]

You turned a $300 windfall "credit" or some type into an actual refund onto a credit card. You worked magic.

 

I don't know what to say. Quit while you are ahead? Do my taxes?

 

Although I would have been frustrated as well. Goldstein isn't in charge anymore either.

[SoCalTraveler]

You turned a $300 windfall "credit" or some type into an actual refund onto a credit card. You worked magic.

 

I don't know what to say. Quit while you are ahead? Do my taxes?

 

Although I would have been frustrated as well. Goldstein isn't in charge anymore either.

 

I appreciate that I should quit while I'm ahead. The $300 credit was not as much as we spent on alcohol on the cruise, and the "Grand Bazaar" pricing issue was that after our contract was paid in full, RCCL offered free liquor packages to all new bookings balcony or better. Then, RCCL gave out free liquor packages to some old bookings, and literally until a few days before sailing was handing out free liquor packages to anyone who hesitated to book any type of cabin. One single guy we met got an interior for $470, free liquor, and no single supplement for 15 days to Europe. That's what my letters addressed, as RCCL told us to "book early for the best cabin and price." While we had a great cabin, we got little or no benefit to booking early.

[Hotel CA]

I do so miss the 405 and the inordinate opportunities to have extended phone conversations-- when we lived in Orange county and I worked up by LAX you never knew what your commute would be 45 mins or 5 hours-- ahh those were the days!!!