Princess Phone Problems

[geoherb]

I just booked a cruise that's less than four weeks away. I had problems with the MedallionClass app, as have many others. I was on the phone for over an hour yesterday afternoon. The rep I finally spoke with after 25 minutes on hold couldn't help. She put me on hold for around 10 minutes before coming back with some additional suggestions. They didn't work either. She then put me on hold again to transfer me to someone who could enter my info manually into the app. 

 

By the time I talked with that person, I had finally managed to get into the app and could see some info had carried over from previous cruises--my passport, personal info, and photos. But I couldn't get into the passenger contract and Covid-19 acceptance form to accept them. I couldn't get into Dine My Way or choose an arrival group either. That person made suggestions for me to try. I did, but they did not work. So I called again last night and waited on hold for 26 minutes before a rep finally answered the line. He said he couldn't help me at all because the department I needed had closed at 5 p.m. Pacific time. My phone call was just a couple of minutes after that. I told him it would be helpful to let customers know this instead of keeping them on hold for nearly half an hour. He agreed.

 

When I called back this morning, it was around a 20-minute wait on hold before the surliest rep I've ever spoken to answered. She thanked me for my Elite status, but then chastised me when I did not want to accept a 1:00 boarding time. My flight, booked through Princess, gets in a little after 10. Even with delays for retrieving my luggage, meeting a Princess rep at the airport, and waiting for the shuttle bus to fill shouldn't cause me to get to the port that late. She said I would just have to wait outside. So much for priority boarding, I thought (but did not say out loud). As she put it, not everyone can get on the ship all at once. I told her that the earlier time showed up on my app but wouldn't let me book it. After putting me on hold for a few minutes, she came back with me booked for the noon group. That's a lot better. My overall impression, though, would be wondering if I wanted to take this cruise if I had not cruised on Princess before. 

[cr8tiv1]

@geoherb, I feel your. pain.  I experienced all of those same incidents at various times when contacting Princess.  I, too, was after the magical 5 PM hour.  Today, I was on hold then connected to the same surly OCEAN Navigator you had (they must taint the coffee in the morning).  At least you were fortunate to get an arrival time.  They could do nothing for me (cruise is less than 100 days out).  Told the same story.  Priority boarding is non-existent.  I will be assigned a time (by deck).  These are not satisfactory resolutions.  Princess needs to fix this ASAP.  Tomorrow is a new APP update.  It seems like a new update happens every week.  

 

The only saving grace is that your cruise is within reach and you will enjoy the time on a ship.  I am envious of your cruising.  Happy Days (will be) are here again.

[pms4104]

Sadly, Princess seems to count on past passengers being loyal and returning to Princess no matter how badly they treat us or talk to us.

 

One thing Princess could do is to randomly listen in on calls ... and take corrective action on their phone reps as necessary.  Lotsa people looking for jobs nowadays.

 

That's just the tip of their customer service iceberg.

[geoherb]

1 hour ago, cr8tiv1 said:

@geoherb, I feel your. pain.  I experienced all of those same incidents at various times when contacting Princess.  I, too, was after the magical 5 PM hour.  Today, I was on hold then connected to the same surly OCEAN Navigator you had (they must taint the coffee in the morning). 

 

The one I spoke with sounded like she had a bad cold. 

[Steelers36]

30 minutes ago, geoherb said:

 

The one I spoke with sounded like she had a bad cold. 

Thanks much for sharing your experience above.

[caribill]

5 hours ago, pms4104 said:

 

 

One thing Princess could do is to randomly listen in on calls ... and take corrective action on their phone reps as necessary.

 

That's just the tip of their customer service iceberg.

 

And one thing Princess customers can do is e-mail Princess to describe such poor experiences.

 

If they do not hear the complaints, then automatically everything is assumed to be perfect.

[ontheweb]

9 hours ago, pms4104 said:

Sadly, Princess seems to count on past passengers being loyal and returning to Princess no matter how badly they treat us or talk to us.

 

One thing Princess could do is to randomly listen in on calls ... and take corrective action on their phone reps as necessary.  Lotsa people looking for jobs nowadays.

 

That's just the tip of their customer service iceberg.

Do they say at the beginning as most places do that the phone call will be recorded for training purposes?

[manunia]

41 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Do they say at the beginning as most places do that the phone call will be recorded for training purposes?

calls are recorded but not every call will be auditing (usually, it's 3 to 4 random calls per month for every associate).

if you planning to discuss quality of service with rep supervisor/to write to customer relations department, please document date/time of the conversation and name of the person you talked to (if you were lucky to remember it). this will make it much easier to find that recorded conversation. sometimes, providing phone # you called from may help if you do not remember time when conversation started - it really depends on how recording system set up.

[geoherb]

One of the ironic things is that I did not hear the message about that phone call possibly being recorded. I did hear the message on my previous calls.

 

I'm hoping the rep was just having a bad day (since she sounded like she had a cold). I was taken aback by her surliness, but in the end, she was able to help me resolve my problems. I'm not planning to follow up with Princess to complain about her. 

[billco]

Being devils advocate here.

 

I suspect you called the general Princess number. you might have cut out the middle man by calling the medallion support number or e-mailing them.

 

I imagine the long holds are due to the volume of calls over the Medallion App. So, I can understand the customer service reps being testy trying to answer questions about a technology they know nothing about.

 

Wouldn't hurt to imagine what it must be like to be a Princess customer service rep these days. Following months of angry calls about refunds they have transitioned to fielding angry calls about Personalizer and Medallion. Most of which they can do nothing about.

 

Also, you booked a cruise that is less than four weeks away, so it is understandable that you would get a late arrival time. I don't think there is priority boarding anymore.

 

 

Edited July 30, 2021 by billco

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, geoherb said:

One of the ironic things is that I did not hear the message about that phone call possibly being recorded. I did hear the message on my previous calls.

 

I'm hoping the rep was just having a bad day (since she sounded like she had a cold). I was taken aback by her surliness, but in the end, she was able to help me resolve my problems. I'm not planning to follow up with Princess to complain about her. 

That is strange that you always hear that message except that time.

[geoherb]

2 hours ago, billco said:

Being devils advocate here.

 

I suspect you called the general Princess number. you might have cut out the middle man by calling the medallion support number or e-mailing them.

 

I imagine the long holds are due to the volume of calls over the Medallion App. So, I can understand the customer service reps being testy trying to answer questions about a technology they know nothing about.

 

Wouldn't hurt to imagine what it must be like to be a Princess customer service rep these days. Following months of angry calls about refunds they have transitioned to fielding angry calls about Personalizer and Medallion. Most of which they can do nothing about.

 

Also, you booked a cruise that is less than four weeks away, so it is understandable that you would get a late arrival time. I don't think there is priority boarding anymore.

 

 

 

No. I called the number for MedallionClass app help: 844-525-0942. 

Princess still lists priority boarding as a benefit for Platinum and Elite passengers. But even if it were not a benefit, it doesn't seem right to keep someone waiting outside the terminal for over an hour when that passenger is arriving on a flight purchased through Princess and on a transfer from the airport to the port purchased through Princess. Let's hope someone has enough sense to make sure that really doesn't happen when people can't get the corresponding boarding group time for whatever reason.

 

Customer service reps have 101 reasons to be testy. The good ones never show it. And I would not characterize my tone as angry. I was exasperated by my experiences with the app so far, but I was pleasant on the phone. I did not even mention the priority boarding benefit to the rep.

[pms4104]

8 hours ago, caribill said:

 

And one thing Princess customers can do is e-mail Princess to describe such poor experiences.

 

If they do not hear the complaints, then automatically everything is assumed to be perfect.

Indeed, if no one shares their customer non-service issues up the food chain, life at Princess goes on uninterrupted.

[cr8tiv1]

4 hours ago, billco said:

Being devils advocate here.

 

I suspect you called the general Princess number. you might have cut out the middle man by calling the medallion support number or e-mailing them.

 

I imagine the long holds are due to the volume of calls over the Medallion App. So, I can understand the customer service reps being testy trying to answer questions about a technology they know nothing about.

 

Wouldn't hurt to imagine what it must be like to be a Princess customer service rep these days. Following months of angry calls about refunds they have transitioned to fielding angry calls about Personalizer and Medallion. Most of which they can do nothing about.

 

Also, you booked a cruise that is less than four weeks away, so it is understandable that you would get a late arrival time. I don't think there is priority boarding anymore.

 

 

 

I called the 844 number (Ocean Navigator) and still reached a customer service rep who had to internally chat/text/talk with an Ocean Navigator.  The public does not have direct contact with person.  I eventually was connected directly to a live person, who couldn't solve my issues.  I did ask for an email address for OCEAN Navigator and they said there is no such email address.    

 

Everything is working as it should be except my ability to get a boarding time.  I keep checking.  3 or more times a day.  I wish I had started a time log to see just how much of my time has been wasted with this App.  

 

I give up for now. I will be one less caller in hopes that something will change.  All I need is a few days notice that the boarding app is going to open up.  I have not heard from anyone that they have been able to get a boarding time for an October cruise.  Please keep posting dates of openings.  Thank you.

[caribill]

1 hour ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

Everything is working as it should be except my ability to get a boarding time.  I keep checking.  3 or more times a day.

 

I give up for now. I will be one less caller in hopes that something will change.  All I need is a few days notice that the boarding app is going to open up. 

 

Good luck with getting that notice as Princess does not (so far) send one out.

 

Most people find out about it like you had been doing, checking multiple times per day.

 

Next best way to learn about it is when someone posts that it is available on your Cruise Critic Roll Call.

[geoherb]

7 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

I called the 844 number (Ocean Navigator) and still reached a customer service rep who had to internally chat/text/talk with an Ocean Navigator.  The public does not have direct contact with person.  I eventually was connected directly to a live person, who couldn't solve my issues.  I did ask for an email address for OCEAN Navigator and they said there is no such email address.    

 

 

I noticed an email (asko­cean­medal­lion@car­ni­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­val.­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­com) responding to some bad reviews of the app on Google Play Store. Thankfully, I did not have to try it. My surly rep was able to resolve my issues.

[hpeabody]

1 hour ago, geoherb said:

 

I noticed an email (asko­cean­medal­lion@car­ni­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­val.­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­com) responding to some bad reviews of the app on Google Play Store

 

I saw it there too and I did send an email looking for help.  That was more than 2 weeks ago, NO REPLY, no auto-response, no nothing.  I do not think they are interested in our little issues, they have a huge mess to fix.

[cr8tiv1]

36 minutes ago, hpeabody said:

 

I saw it there too and I did send an email looking for help.  That was more than 2 weeks ago, NO REPLY, no auto-response, no nothing.  I do not think they are interested in our little issues, they have a huge mess to fix.

 

Thanks for saving me some time.  I sent a "test" email asking if this email address was still valid since it was over a year ago that the response was posted.  Correct, no auto generate to say we got it or bounced back as invalid.  I will wait to hear from them before investing any more time.  

 

Oh, how I wish at least one person from Princess was assigned to read all of these posts.

[hpeabody]

OK, I will share a bit of my Princess phone experiences.

 

Called "navigator" number. Fairly long hold time.  I got someone who seemed to possibly be a veteran Princess person and actually had access to my profile, etc and helped get things in that the app would not let me do on my up-to-date iPad.

 

Called "navigator" number  Again, fairly long hold time.  I got a young man.  I was unable to make a change to DMW.  He was just a relay person (they started doing this fairly recently, I think)  He could not do anything in DMW as he had no app access.  All he could do was "Message" a colleague who has access.  The wonderful app was uncooperative and the colleague was only able to accomplish my simple same dining room same time request by going day by day through the cruise.

 

Called "navigator" number  Again, very long hold time.  I got a young woman who did seem fairly new, likely never cruised before, but was nice enough.  This time I needed to replace my passport with renewed passport.  Again, this person had no access even to the app, my profile nothing!  She said she works from print outs they provide her for the expected range of questions. If they are unable to answer the question or resolve the issue they are to "Message" a colleague who has access.   We gave it a try and finally after 2 hours got my passport replaced. With the help of 2 colleagues she had on "message"

 

This gets better .... Called "navigator" number.  1 1/2 hour long hold time.  A woman answers.  She does not say anything like "Navigator" so I asked, Am I in the "Navigator" department?  No this is reservations.  It turns out that after a certain time limit on hold the call is routed to reservations just to "have the call answered" as she said.  I called back "navigator" number.  Another 1 1/2 hour long hold time.  A youngish sounding young man answers. Same thing, he does not say anything like "Navigator" so I asked, Am I in the "Navigator" department. No this is reservations.   He asked me if I dialed a certain extension 3XXXXX.  I said no.  He said he would transfer me to that extension, it might work better.  After about a 45 min hold, I get a "Navigator"  person that actually had access to the app and my profile. He said everything looks good.   I am unable to get the wonderful new Medallionclass app on my Samsung S6 phone and wanted to ask a specific question.  I got an answer, but not what I wanted to be told.  I can't have the app on my phone, get a new phone, or be satisfied using iPad or the stations around the ship.  That day I was on the phone from 9AM to 1PM.

 

UGH!  They should never have "rolled out" this app in the shape it is in.  Princess should be embarrassed.  There is good news to report, although I made no new changes, I am now in the green lane.  Sorry for the very long post.

 

 

Edited July 31, 2021 by hpeabody

[hpeabody]

10 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

Thanks for saving me some time.  I sent a "test" email asking if this email address was still valid since it was over a year ago that the response was posted.  Correct, no auto generate to say we got it or bounced back as invalid.  I will wait to hear from them before investing any more time.  

 

Oh, how I wish at least one person from Princess was assigned to read all of these posts.

 

You're welcome.  I don't see how Princess can NOT know how bad this thing is.  It seems they just proceed on with no real acknowledgement or apology.

[caribill]

3 hours ago, hpeabody said:

He asked me if I dialed a certain extension 3XXXXX.

 

Please, please, let us know the magic extension number.

[pms4104]

8 hours ago, hpeabody said:

 

You're welcome.  I don't see how Princess can NOT know how bad this thing is.  It seems they just proceed on with no real acknowledgement or apology.

As long as people continue to book, everything at Princess mgmt hums along nicely, and they see no urgency to fix anything.

[ontheweb]

8 hours ago, hpeabody said:

OK, I will share a bit of my Princess phone experiences.

 

Called "navigator" number. Fairly long hold time.  I got someone who seemed to possibly be a veteran Princess person and actually had access to my profile, etc and helped get things in that the app would not let me do on my up-to-date iPad.

 

Called "navigator" number  Again, fairly long hold time.  I got a young man.  I was unable to make a change to DMW.  He was just a relay person (they started doing this fairly recently, I think)  He could not do anything in DMW as he had no app access.  All he could do was "Message" a colleague who has access.  The wonderful app was uncooperative and the colleague was only able to accomplish my simple same dining room same time request by going day by day through the cruise.

 

Called "navigator" number  Again, very long hold time.  I got a young woman who did seem fairly new, likely never cruised before, but was nice enough.  This time I needed to replace my passport with renewed passport.  Again, this person had no access even to the app, my profile nothing!  She said she works from print outs they provide her for the expected range of questions. If they are unable to answer the question or resolve the issue they are to "Message" a colleague who has access.   We gave it a try and finally after 2 hours got my passport replaced. With the help of 2 colleagues she had on "message"

 

This gets better .... Called "navigator" number.  1 1/2 hour long hold time.  A woman answers.  She does not say anything like "Navigator" so I asked, Am I in the "Navigator" department?  No this is reservations.  It turns out that after a certain time limit on hold the call is routed to reservations just to "have the call answered" as she said.  I called back "navigator" number.  Another 1 1/2 hour long hold time.  A youngish sounding young man answers. Same thing, he does not say anything like "Navigator" so I asked, Am I in the "Navigator" department. No this is reservations.   He asked me if I dialed a certain extension 3XXXXX.  I said no.  He said he would transfer me to that extension, it might work better.  After about a 45 min hold, I get a "Navigator"  person that actually had access to the app and my profile. He said everything looks good.   I am unable to get the wonderful new Medallionclass app on my Samsung S6 phone and wanted to ask a specific question.  I got an answer, but not what I wanted to be told.  I can't have the app on my phone, get a new phone, or be satisfied using iPad or the stations around the ship.  That day I was on the phone from 9AM to 1PM.

 

UGH!  They should never have "rolled out" this app in the shape it is in.  Princess should be embarrassed.  There is good news to report, although I made no new changes, I am now in the green lane.  Sorry for the very long post.

 

 

You should not be sorry for the long post; it mirrors the long time you spent on the phone with Princess. They should be ashamed of themselves putting customers through this because of their incompetent roll out of their app. I have said several times on the Princess board, "if it ain't broken, don't fix it.". I have no problem writing that again.

 

And you have the patience of Job to deal with them through multiple calls. I hope your cruise will be worth the hoops they made you jump through to register properly.

[AF-1]

I think like other companies Princess is still ramping up their customer support areas.  With Delta and all the major airlines, people call to switch flights and are on hold for up to four hours.  Delta CEO says they are hiring or re-hiring staff and will back to 100% by September.  Maybe Princess is having the same issues; not enough phone staff to answer your questions or complaints.  One way to get satisfaction is to post your complaints on Princess Facebook Page or their Twitter Account.  They do not want bad press; and if you post on their public Facebook page, they will Instant Message you to discuss your issue.  I have done this with other companies and have gotten 100% satisfaction and issues resolved.  You don't have to do this but it's an option.

[JF - retired RRT]

10 hours ago, hpeabody said:

This gets better .... Called "navigator" number.  1 1/2 hour long hold time.  A woman answers.  She does not say anything like "Navigator" so I asked, Am I in the "Navigator" department?  No this is reservations.  It turns out that after a certain time limit on hold the call is routed to reservations just to "have the call answered" as she said.  I called back "navigator" number.  Another 1 1/2 hour long hold time.  A youngish sounding young man answers. Same thing, he does not say anything like "Navigator" so I asked, Am I in the "Navigator" department. No this is reservations.   He asked me if I dialed a certain extension 3XXXXX.  I said no.  He said he would transfer me to that extension, it might work better.  After about a 45 min hold, I get a "Navigator"  person that actually had access to the app and my profile. He said everything looks good.   I am unable to get the wonderful new Medallionclass app on my Samsung S6 phone and wanted to ask a specific question.  I got an answer, but not what I wanted to be told.  I can't have the app on my phone, get a new phone, or be satisfied using iPad or the stations around the ship.  That day I was on the phone from 9AM to 1PM.

 

Would you happen to remember what that extension number is?? Maybe, some of us could cut out the "middle" man.