MSC hold times to reach a CSR- too long

[RMLERL]

It is increasingly frustrating to get a live agent on the phone with MSC.  I have been on hold for over an hour.  My DH has been on hold for 30 minutes.  We are only trying to pay off our cruise. Their website won't accept the Discover CC,(comes back as an error in account #)  so you must call in to pay with Discover. 

 

Does anyone have a special number to call? ( i.e. the direct C & A number that RCCL has)

 

This is our 1st cruise with MSC and I really want it to go well but I'm getting frustrated with the lack of customer service.

[Skoobdo]

I was in hold for over an hour.  Hung up and called back thinking that I might be connected sooner.  Not.  I ended up on hold again for about an hour and a half and in the meantime that background music got so stuck in my head, when the representative answered I forgot why I called about for a second.  But, the representative was very professional and took care of my request immediately.

[RMLERL]

21 minutes ago, Skoobdo said:

I was in hold for over an hour.  Hung up and called back thinking that I might be connected sooner.  Not.  I ended up on hold again for about an hour and a half and in the meantime that background music got so stuck in my head, when the representative answered I forgot why I called about for a second.  But, the representative was very professional and took care of my request immediately.

We are still on hold. Waiting patiently through the drudge of their music. I know it is Friday night but the website clearly states that they are open until 9:00pm.  UGH.

[Skoobdo]

Don't worry.  They'll answer when you least expect it.  It was about this same time when I called, but it wasn't a Friday.  Hang in there.

[Touringmom]

Always choose the option to make a new booking and you will get through ASAP! 

[Hlitner]

The easiest way to deal with MSC is to book through a decent cruise agency.  And if you carefully choose your cruise agency you will be rewarded with a very generous On Board Credit!  In a sense the cruise agency is paying you not to be on hold :).

 

Hank

[Epos Man]

it always seems to be the USA side I have never had to hold for more than 10 minutes for the UK customer service

[RMLERL]

8 hours ago, Hlitner said:

The easiest way to deal with MSC is to book through a decent cruise agency.  And if you carefully choose your cruise agency you will be rewarded with a very generous On Board Credit!  In a sense the cruise agency is paying you not to be on hold :).

 

Hank

Hank-

I agree- I have used several agencies with great success.  However, this is our 1st MSC cruise and I wanted to deal directly with them for questions and concerns. We have 5 cabins booked. Lots of people-some newbies too- and I don't have all the answers as I would normally have when  dealing with NCL, RCCL or CCL. 

 

UPDATE:  I called again this afternoon at 3:00-  55 minutes on hold and then the agent put me on hold to check something and never came back. Another 1 hour and  15 minutes wasted.  

I called back at 4:00- shorter wait time of 30 minutes, was put on hold again for the CSR to have a supervisor to check something.  Thankfully, she came back but only to tell me that my question has to be pushed up the chain. The question was about their loyalty discount. 

I did make the final payment for the cabin in question. 

So in total about 4 hours between yesterday and today. 

My advice to MSC would to have a dedicated loyalty phone number like RCCL and to hire  more people to man their obvious call center back log. 

 

[RMLERL]

20 hours ago, Touringmom said:

Always choose the option to make a new booking and you will get through ASAP! 

Touringmom-

We tried every which way.  I'm more of rule player but my DH will push any button to get to someone. No luck on his part yesterday either. 

Today we had success but it took time. 

[Hlitner]

6 minutes ago, RMLERL said:

Hank-

I agree- I have used several agencies with great success.  However, this is our 1st MSC cruise and I wanted to deal directly with them for questions and concerns. We have 5 cabins booked. Lots of people-some newbies too- and I don't have all the answers as I would normally have when  dealing with NCL, RCCL or CCL. 

 

UPDATE:  I called again this afternoon at 3:00-  55 minutes on hold and then the agent put me on hold to check something and never came back. Another 1 hour and  15 minutes wasted.  

I called back at 4:00- shorter wait time of 30 minutes, was put on hold again for the CSR to have a supervisor to check something.  Thankfully, she came back but only to tell me that my question has to be pushed up the chain. The question was about their loyalty discount. 

I did make the final payment for the cabin in question. 

So in total about 4 hours between yesterday and today. 

My advice to MSC would to have a dedicated loyalty phone number like RCCL and to hire  more people to man their obvious call center back log. 

 

That is awful!  As to their loyalty program you might want to consider that a large number of their "loyal" customers have high status but no cruises!  Their status match program has corrupted the system.  I myself am guilty of taking advantage since DW and I got Black Card status (their highest level) before we ever set foot on a MSC vessel.  So if they did have a dedicated loyalty desk,  the hold times would likely be worse then what you have suffered.  I do have a friend who works on a MSC ship (he is a senior officer) and he also expressed some frustration by their USA Customer service folks.  The staff onboard constantly has to field the complaints from cruisers who cannot find anyone to complain to on land.   You are right, they need to hire more people and take the time to train them so they can answer basic questions.

 

Hank

[DeRon]

11 hours ago, Hlitner said:

The easiest way to deal with MSC is to book through a decent cruise agency.  And if you carefully choose your cruise agency you will be rewarded with a very generous On Board Credit!  In a sense the cruise agency is paying you not to be on hold :).

 

Hank

Any suggestions?  I don’t have a travel agent. 

[Hlitner]

15 minutes ago, DeRon said:

Any suggestions?  I don’t have a travel agent. 

We are not permitted to recommend specific cruise/travel agencies.  And some major agencies still refuse to deal with MSC (perhaps they were also on hold too darn long).  But you might want to simply shop around among a few high volume major cruise agencies and see what kind of deals they offer on MSC.  Ideally you should be able to find an agency that will give you 7-10% of the cruise price in On Board Credits.

 

Hank

[capriccio]

13 hours ago, Hlitner said:

The easiest way to deal with MSC is to book through a decent cruise agency.  And if you carefully choose your cruise agency you will be rewarded with a very generous On Board Credit!

 

Hank

Or a straight discount off the cost of the cruise (ours was 7% from our TA after MSC had deducted the 10% current and retired civil servants' discount).