Princess Customer Service Needs Drastic Improvement

[Ereggae]

In light of the current problems, it is impossible to reach Princess by phone.  Wait times on hold are well over an hour.  They should focus on answering the phones in a timely manner and should be giving full refunds for all cancellations.  This decision is not good for future business.

[PrincessLuver]

28 minutes ago, Ereggae said:

In light of the current problems, it is impossible to reach Princess by phone.  Wait times on hold are well over an hour.  They should focus on answering the phones in a timely manner and should be giving full refunds for all cancellations.  This decision is not good for future business.

 

We have been able to get through several times and have always gotten friendly CSR even though they must be under incredible stress dealing with all these situations that are not of their making.....this to shall pass!!!

[rdsqrl]

32 minutes ago, Ereggae said:

In light of the current problems, it is impossible to reach Princess by phone.  Wait times on hold are well over an hour.  They should focus on answering the phones in a timely manner and should be giving full refunds for all cancellations.  This decision is not good for future business.

When thousands of passengers are calling, how exactly do you suggest Princess answer the phone any faster?  It's not like they have 50,000 temps they can suddenly mobilize.  Patience, my child. 

[satxdiver]

Princess has just so many phone lines into their call center and more cannot be installed all that quickly.  Each call position must be set up with telephone, computer and other information to be able to answer questions.  Right now they are being bombarded with anxious people who want to cancel, reschedule or ask questions.  Be patient as it will take time to work through this.

[AnyMajorCruiseDude]

We were able to get thru in less than 2 minutes this am.  Two days ago it took me an hour.  Are you surprised that there is an increased amount of activity given the situation?

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, Ereggae said:

In light of the current problems, it is impossible to reach Princess by phone.  Wait times on hold are well over an hour.  They should focus on answering the phones in a timely manner and should be giving full refunds for all cancellations.  This decision is not good for future business.

I got thru not long ago and was pleasantly surprised at how quickly an agent came on the line.  I wanted to her to get with EZ-Air because our res had been flagged with a flight change whereby the AA flight for a BA-operated trip was gone.  I was looking to get switched to the BA flight, but agent came back and said EZ-Air fixed my res and it was just an AA flight change number.  I will have to get after that one tomorrow and check online bookings to see if flight shows up again.  The flight was not showing as existing on AA.com.

 

AA lines are so busy they won't even leave me in a queue and hour or two ago.  Meanwhile, I had a very nice Princess agent who looked after me and even came back on the line to check in while she was waiting for EZ-Air agent to do their thing.

 

Edited March 9, 2020 by Steelers36

[BballinQT24]

Obviously there is going to be longer wait times right now. Hiring and training people takes time so it’s not like they could suddenly add people to deal with this.

 

I was on hold for super long the other night but when someone answered they were friendly and efficient even after what I assume was a long day dealing with upset customers.

[Astro Flyer]

1 hour ago, rdsqrl said:

When thousands of passengers are calling, how exactly do you suggest Princess answer the phone any faster?  It's not like they have 50,000 temps they can suddenly mobilize.  Patience, my child. 

Based on the questions on my roll calls, too many people are tying up phone lines to ask questions that are clearly answered by clicking the Travel & Health Advisories at the top of their homepage.

[Doug R.]

I used to work in a call center. People need to realize that there are limits to capacity  . The were quite a few times that I had to resort to sending incoming calls to the “Please try again later, or email us at ******” recording.

[JoRoy218]

I’ve also experienced the above and frustrated. BUT, I chatted with a Princess rep on their site today and asked for suggestions on when to call. She recommended calling today, about an hour before they closed, which was 6pm Pacific time. I called about 5pm PCT and immediately got someone. Was amazed. I did cancel our Pacific Coast Cruise, reluctantly, but feel it’s in our best interests. We’re both healthy but know we’d be basket cases if we were kept on board, circling out in the Pacific. An earlier post mentioned about quarantined passengers getting free booze...all I could do was shake my head. 🙄

Now I see the State Dept. recommendation to not cruise. Hoping somehow they can get a handle on all this.  Anyone want to buy some Carnival stock? (Bad joke) 

[kaerofan]

I gave up after 2 hours and 45 minutes this afternoon but completely understand  - will try again tomorrow.

[caribill]

8 hours ago, satxdiver said:

Princess has just so many phone lines into their call center and more cannot be installed all that quickly.  Each call position must be set up with telephone, computer and other information to be able to answer questions.  Right now they are being bombarded with anxious people who want to cancel, reschedule or ask questions.  Be patient as it will take time to work through this.

 

Many of the phone reps work from home.

[Negril60]

I called Friday and got right through. The Zrep I received was a man. He was beyond helpful and nice. I called Delta Sat and was put in a 4 hr. Que . I was called back 4 hours later. My return flight from Vancouver had been completely dropped. Delta was great. 

[Potstech]

20 hours ago, Ereggae said:

In light of the current problems, it is impossible to reach Princess by phone.  Wait times on hold are well over an hour.  They should focus on answering the phones in a timely manner and should be giving full refunds for all cancellations.  This decision is not good for future business.

I can see that you have never worked a large agency CSR area, around multiple phone operations, disaster recovery or training people for phone bank operations.  You might want to try it sometime.

[Ereggae]

I don’t need a lecture.  Was just making a statement.

[BballinQT24]

1 hour ago, Ereggae said:

I don’t need a lecture.  Was just making a statement.

 

People responding to your statement with different experiences or opinions does not equal a lecture. If you’d prefer no one respond perhaps a message board isn’t the ideal place for a statement.

[Ereggae]

10 minutes ago, BballinQT24 said:

 

People responding to your statement with different experiences or opinions does not equal a lecture. If you’d prefer no one respond perhaps a message board isn’t the ideal place for a statement.

Talk is cheap.  You are not the one cruising in a couple weeks with several thousand dollars on the line.

[Cruising89143]

1 minute ago, Ereggae said:

Talk is cheap.  You are not the one cruising in a couple weeks with several thousand dollars on the line.

Why don’t you cut these people some slack? Cruise lines are overwhelmed right now and I’m sure they’re doing the best that they can and are trying to take care of everyone. A cruise line cannot magically additional help overnight. I am also cruising soon and yes I spent time on hold. It’s life. 

[BballinQT24]

1 minute ago, Ereggae said:

Talk is cheap.  You are not the one cruising in a couple weeks with several thousand dollars on the line.

 

That’s an odd response without actually having a clue about someone’s situation and really isn’t relevant at all to saying a different opinion isn’t a lecture. For the record, until I cancelled a couple nights ago my family was scheduled to sail on March 22. I will be losing a large amount of money by not going.

 

But to bring this back on topic, I did have a couple hour wait time, but once answered the lady who helped me cancel had good customer service while being efficient.

 

 

[BballinQT24]

Long waits during a time of increased volume like this isn’t poor customer service. Bad customer service would be an employee and them being rude or not helping.

 

What options are there for decreasing wait times? Decreasing call volume, hiring and training more personnel (which wouldn’t help the current situation since that takes time), or hanging up on their other calls before finished. None of those are feasible  options so do you have another suggestion?

Edited March 9, 2020 by BballinQT24

[PescadoAmarillo]

39 minutes ago, BballinQT24 said:

What options are there for decreasing wait times? Decreasing call volume, hiring and training more personnel (which wouldn’t help the current situation since that takes time), or hanging up on their other calls before finished. None of those are feasible  options so do you have another suggestion?

I do. They can set up an automatic call back in the order calls are received. I did this just last week with Bissell on a warranty issue. It took a couple of hours, during which I went about my day, and then I received the call. 

[AnyMajorCruiseDude]

This would be a good option.  Have used it a few times

[BballinQT24]

Automatic call backs would be a great option. I’m always worried places will call back when I’m unavailable, but it beats waiting on hold for hours! 

Edited March 9, 2020 by BballinQT24

[Potstech]

4 hours ago, Ereggae said:

I don’t need a lecture.  Was just making a statement.

Was not a lecture but a statement.

[Potstech]

3 hours ago, Ereggae said:

Talk is cheap.  You are not the one cruising in a couple weeks with several thousand dollars on the line.

But my DW and 5 female relatives are.