NCL agent challenges my cruise cancellation (s)

[fshagan]

On 3/14/2019 at 7:28 AM, newmexicoNita said:

I agree about the pay for agents.I started my career with a major hotel chain as an agent. I happened to enjoy what I did, but of course, as years went on I decided to move into management. My daughter started her career with a major airline as a res agent; retired as a VP and our younger daughter started as an agent. I will say,for all of us, we worked for companies that paid there agents pretty well. Now, back to the topic; I am still standing by my remarks that we were not there and we do not know if the agents actually put her question in the exact words the OP said. This is not saying she lied, it is just said, how we all repeat things, not always using the words that were said to us.

Like you, I will be interested to see what others have to say, but for now I think I will let the rest respond and I will give it a rest 

 

Yep, I'm taking the OP's comments at face value as to the exact wording. I have a similar work history in tech support, rising to a director level with 23 subordinates across the US. And any given agent on any given call can say something inelegantly, or fumble a response. Even the best people have bad days. 

 

If other frequent "cancellers" get the same kind of response we'll know it's something NCL is doing. The airline industry used to have this problem and overbooked to react to it (they still do, but not nearly at the level they used to overbook). Some cruise lines have cheaper fares if you have non-refundable deposits, so I suspect this is a cost the industry is trying to address (RCL, I think). Disney has non-refundable suites now - there is no refund period at all - and extended their cancellation policy like NCL has.

 

The days of booking multiple cruises for the same time period and then bailing before the penalty period may be coming to an end.

[newmexicoNita]

51 minutes ago, fshagan said:

 

Yep, I'm taking the OP's comments at face value as to the exact wording. I have a similar work history in tech support, rising to a director level with 23 subordinates across the US. And any given agent on any given call can say something inelegantly, or fumble a response. Even the best people have bad days. 

 

If other frequent "cancellers" get the same kind of response we'll know it's something NCL is doing. The airline industry used to have this problem and overbooked to react to it (they still do, but not nearly at the level they used to overbook). Some cruise lines have cheaper fares if you have non-refundable deposits, so I suspect this is a cost the industry is trying to address (RCL, I think). Disney has non-refundable suites now - there is no refund period at all - and extended their cancellation policy like NCL has.

 

The days of booking multiple cruises for the same time period and then bailing before the penalty period may be coming to an end.

agree anyone can have a bad day and yes, agents can get pretty testy. I am guessing the policy now is to try and find out why someone cancels . In this case the OP wasn't cancelling but her history set a light on for the agent. I am still questioning the exact wording the agent used. Like I said, we all get upset and repeat a conversation using words that may have not been really used.  I did exactly that this morning when repeating something to my husband. I did correct myself immediately and clarified the person had not said exactly what I repeated but the message was the same. 

[fshagan]

18 hours ago, newmexicoNita said:

agree anyone can have a bad day and yes, agents can get pretty testy. I am guessing the policy now is to try and find out why someone cancels . In this case the OP wasn't cancelling but her history set a light on for the agent. I am still questioning the exact wording the agent used. Like I said, we all get upset and repeat a conversation using words that may have not been really used.  I did exactly that this morning when repeating something to my husband. I did correct myself immediately and clarified the person had not said exactly what I repeated but the message was the same. 

 

It is true that people often exaggerate insults to match their perception of the exchange. Sometimes this is compensating for a tone of voice they didn't like or just how they remembered the words impacting them.

 

But my default position, without knowing the parties involved or having any other way to evaluate it, is to accept the OP's account at face value. The only way to know, of course, would be to obtain the recording of the conversation and listen to it. The support people where I now work do that (I am no longer in a support position).