What's the record for being on hold

[PescadoAmarillo]

5 hours ago, JF - retired RRT said:

Did you get names/times? Maybe, a letter to the powers that be with all the details. They need to know how bad it is.

I’m convinced they know. I’m convinced they either don’t care or can’t fix the issue. At the very least set up a callback option. 

Edited January 21, 2022 by PescadoAmarillo

[loge23]

2 hours ago, geoherb said:

 

Did you get a satisfactory answer eventually? 

Not yet.

[HBCcruiser]

6 hours ago, geoherb said:

 

I thought the same thing several times as I was waiting. If the fifth rep had not messed up by canceling my original booking, I may have given up. The problem then became that she moved me into the new booking but without Princess Plus.

A brief history: I booked the cruise the night before. It leaves February 5. I booked a solo inside cabin at a great price. Yesterday, though, I noticed balcony cabins had come down overnight and were now the same price and Princess Plus was available at $40 a day. (When I booked, it was more than $90 a day.) The first rep said she could not get it to work, but that she would transfer me to customer service. She transferred me to a dead line.

 

The second rep said she saw an even better price than I did for switching over to a balcony and adding Princess Plus. She said she would be able to change it in my booking. But after she sent me confirmation of the change, she noticed that Princess Plus was not showing up. She transferred me to customer service.

 

The third rep said she was not seeing the price I saw on the website. She said that if it was a glitch, I would not be able to complete the booking. She suggested trying to complete it online and calling back. I was able to do that and place it as a courtesy hold. She said she was able to give me a goodwill credit for the problem I had on my December cruise. 

 

The fourth rep could see both my original booking and the courtesy hold. She was not able to get the new pricing to work on the original booking. She said she would transfer me back to customer service. That was the longest hold time--2 hours. I gave up because that phone was dying.

 

The fifth rep was very earnest at trying to resolve it, but she did the most damage. She canceled the original booking without telling me the consequences of doing so (getting a partial refund to my credit card and the remainder as a future cruise credit). But after doing that, she could not get the booking for the courtesy hold to work. She transferred me to customer service.

 

The sixth rep explained what the fifth rep had done and why I would have to pay in full for the new booking. I made the payment with her. She mistakenly applied two future cruise deposits to my booking, but I'll buy more next month. But when I checked the travel summary, the Princess Plus was not showing up.

 

The seventh rep commiserated with what I had been through and tried various booking codes to fix it. She couldn't. She transferred me back to customer service.

 

The eighth rep sounded great. He originally asked if I was a travel agent or the passenger. I thought I had finally broken through. But he's the one who placed me on hold, supposedly for a few minutes, and then dropped me back into waiting for someone else to pick up the line an hour later.

 

The ninth rep fixed also asked if I was a TA or the passenger. He fixed the problem. I can now see the Princess Plus perks on my travel summary. 

 

The good news is that I got my balcony and Princess Plus and I'll be leaving for Fort Lauderdale in two weeks. But if I had not sailed on Princess before, I would have been tempted to look at other cruise lines that fit my flights or ones into changing my flights to fit them.

 

 

 

You have the patience of Job! I'd be like...

[bronweis]

Been on hold 2 hours (in the US). AFter 1 hr, got someone , he said he was the travel agent only desk (? don't know how I got there), I told him i was checking that i'd gotten the best possible price -online- because i booked after i couldn't get through on the phones. He transferred me to direct sales, and she said she can only book shore excursions. rolls eyes. Now I'm waiting in the regular queue, i assume. 

[pms4104]

At the very least, John Padgett (you know, Jan Swartz's replacement at the top) should/would care how clients are being (mis)treated.

Edited January 21, 2022 by pms4104

[Level six]

1 hour ago, waterbabyfish said:

All the cruise lines are like that now, just talked to my TA he told me that.

Well, I don't know about that.  I called NCL and was on hold 4 minutes, problem fixed. 

[geoherb]

1 hour ago, HBCcruiser said:

 

You have the patience of Job! I'd be like...

 

 

Yes, I do have a lot of patience. But I'm also retired and have the time, and it was a lousy day outside--cold and rainy. 

[hllwdcruiser]

26 minutes ago, geoherb said:

 

Yes, I do have a lot of patience. But I'm also retired and have the time, and it was a lousy day outside--cold and rainy. 

I 100% empathize.

I've never kept track, but I've recently spent hours on hold, being disconnected, calling back, realizing problem wasn't solved, calling back again, being put on hold etc etc. Eventually everything worked out, but I think I have more determination than patience. 

We also got a great deal on our cabin but everything has been a struggle, first starting with the notorious app (even though we've sailed on 2 previous medallion sailings with no issues) and then having our cabin changed to an undesirable one. Like so many, our original cabin is now being used for quarantine. However, when I tried to change my cabin to a better location - they wanted to charge me more because cabins in the same category now have higher fares than when I booked!

Like I said, determination (spiced with a large amount of aggravation) fueled my willingness to keep trying. 

I have had a lot of luck with chat for the medallion issues but many times they don't fix everything or they don't really understand the issues. 

 

 

[Buckeye10640]

I was on hold for well over 2 hours last month. On my cell phone, I just carried it around the house as I made dinner, etc. and went about my work. 

[geoherb]

I've finished my letter and have it ready to mail. I'm thinking snail mail will be more effective than sending an email.

 

I took a guarantee and just found out my cabin assignment. I got a great upgrade (from BF to D4), so that's one bit of luck that worked out for me. Of course, going from an inside to any cabin with a balcony was going to be a treat for me. I have not sailed in a balcony cabin since DH stopped going with me. Our last balcony cabin together was February 2018. 

[HBCcruiser]

6 minutes ago, geoherb said:

I've finished my letter and have it ready to mail. I'm thinking snail mail will be more effective than sending an email.

 

I took a guarantee and just found out my cabin assignment. I got a great upgrade (from BF to D4), so that's one bit of luck that worked out for me. Of course, going from an inside to any cabin with a balcony was going to be a treat for me. I have not sailed in a balcony cabin since DH stopped going with me. Our last balcony cabin together was February 2018. 

This is the email (at least it was) for a VERY NICE and helpful rep at Princess cruises. She was very helpful in October when we needed customer service assistance. Her name is Kimberly Baldwin. She is very kind. kbaldwin@princesscruises.com. Good luck! 

[Steelers36]

9 hours ago, pms4104 said:

Nine hours, seriously?

 

There are very few issues that would keep me on hold that long, and cruising isn't one of them.

All my phones would be dead by then.

[Steelers36]

9 hours ago, geoherb said:

 

I thought the same thing several times as I was waiting. If the fifth rep had not messed up by canceling my original booking, I may have given up. The problem then became that she moved me into the new booking but without Princess Plus.

A brief history: I booked the cruise the night before. It leaves February 5. I booked a solo inside cabin at a great price. Yesterday, though, I noticed balcony cabins had come down overnight and were now the same price and Princess Plus was available at $40 a day. (When I booked, it was more than $90 a day.) The first rep said she could not get it to work, but that she would transfer me to customer service. She transferred me to a dead line.

 

The second rep said she saw an even better price than I did for switching over to a balcony and adding Princess Plus. She said she would be able to change it in my booking. But after she sent me confirmation of the change, she noticed that Princess Plus was not showing up. She transferred me to customer service.

 

The third rep said she was not seeing the price I saw on the website. She said that if it was a glitch, I would not be able to complete the booking. She suggested trying to complete it online and calling back. I was able to do that and place it as a courtesy hold. She said she was able to give me a goodwill credit for the problem I had on my December cruise. 

 

The fourth rep could see both my original booking and the courtesy hold. She was not able to get the new pricing to work on the original booking. She said she would transfer me back to customer service. That was the longest hold time--2 hours. I gave up because that phone was dying.

 

The fifth rep was very earnest at trying to resolve it, but she did the most damage. She canceled the original booking without telling me the consequences of doing so (getting a partial refund to my credit card and the remainder as a future cruise credit). But after doing that, she could not get the booking for the courtesy hold to work. She transferred me to customer service.

 

The sixth rep explained what the fifth rep had done and why I would have to pay in full for the new booking. I made the payment with her. She mistakenly applied two future cruise deposits to my booking, but I'll buy more next month. But when I checked the travel summary, the Princess Plus was not showing up.

 

The seventh rep commiserated with what I had been through and tried various booking codes to fix it. She couldn't. She transferred me back to customer service.

 

The eighth rep sounded great. He originally asked if I was a travel agent or the passenger. I thought I had finally broken through. But he's the one who placed me on hold, supposedly for a few minutes, and then dropped me back into waiting for someone else to pick up the line an hour later.

 

The ninth rep fixed also asked if I was a TA or the passenger. He fixed the problem. I can now see the Princess Plus perks on my travel summary. 

 

The good news is that I got my balcony and Princess Plus and I'll be leaving for Fort Lauderdale in two weeks. But if I had not sailed on Princess before, I would have been tempted to look at other cruise lines that fit my flights or ones into changing my flights to fit them.

 

 

Unbelievable.  But no doubt every word true.

[geoherb]

2 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

All my phones would be dead by then.

 

I plugged my cell phone into my laptop to charge as I was playing bridge and listening to the dreadful hold music. It's our cordless landline phone that was dying after 2 hours on hold.

[Steelers36]

6 hours ago, loge23 said:

We finally got through this AM after an approximately 1 hour wait. We tried last night and it was virtually impossible to get through.

The reason for this, at this time, is that Princess has made numerous changes to existing itineraries - including flight selections, room selections, and routes this week.

As for ourselves, we were visited upon by not the mythical "Upgrade Fairy", but by her evil sister, the "Downgrade Ogre".

We had an extended balcony mini-suite on the Caribe deck that we picked out months ago and fully paid for, turn into a regular-sized balcony mini-suite on the 14th deck. I know - first world problems - but we never have experienced anything like this before. Of course, COVID changed everything. We were told that this was due to setting aside rooms for isolating stricken passengers. What?? Is Princess anticipating that we will contagious, infected passengers onboard?!

The rep offered us a Club Class mini-suite for an approximate $600 upgrade - obviously unacceptable; for what, a dedicated dining area??!

Then, on another trip, we lost our preferred transatlantic flight. That may not be Princess's fault but the hits keep coming. Thus, jammed phone lines. It's becoming simply too much of a hassle to deal with.

 

 

You would think there would be at least ONE brain or TWO at Princess HQ and they would not take away the extended balcony cabins that guests covet so much.  Having any sort of balcony should suffice for a quarantine.  If they offered the CC Mini for free, that wouldn't seem so bad in lieu.

[Steelers36]

6 minutes ago, geoherb said:

listening to the dreadful hold music.

OMG - it is just terrible.  Okay for 30 - 60 seconds maybe.  IDK why they cannot play a variety of music.  If every PCL Sr Mgmt person was subjected to an hour of that music, surely they would change something about it.  (I am thinking of the scene in Clockwork Orange).

[hllwdcruiser]

29 minutes ago, geoherb said:

I've finished my letter and have it ready to mail. I'm thinking snail mail will be more effective than sending an email.

 

I took a guarantee and just found out my cabin assignment. I got a great upgrade (from BF to D4), so that's one bit of luck that worked out for me. Of course, going from an inside to any cabin with a balcony was going to be a treat for me. I have not sailed in a balcony cabin since DH stopped going with me. Our last balcony cabin together was February 2018. 

When I had an issue a few years ago I e-mailed all the top execs at Princess as well as customer service. I got a phone call within a week, the issue was rectified and I was offered some goodwill OBC. I'm not sure that method would work today, but you may want to e-mail and follow up with the snail mail.

Congratulations on the great cabin! 

Edited January 21, 2022 by hllwdcruiser

[Steelers36]

13 hours ago, MissP22 said:

Even my TA has to go through extreme waits to get through. She told me that she can spend up to 2 hours if she tries calling before they open & even longer during their business day.

I can't see how she can stay in business. 

My TA often has four phones going at once to various cruise lines.  

[Steelers36]

I think Princess is so overwhelmed with issues and bugs and partly why so many people are calling - not to mention the ever-changing Covid situation.  They act like they don't even care about an issue for a future-dated cruise even though it might be important to the guest.  It seems like all they care about and can focus on is the next week of voyages.  Still, after all these months, it's like they cannot get act together.  Tough all around for sure.

[Steelers36]

12 minutes ago, geoherb said:

 

I plugged my cell phone into my laptop to charge as I was playing bridge and listening to the dreadful hold music. It's our cordless landline phone that was dying after 2 hours on hold.

It was a joke..... lol.

[geoherb]

1 minute ago, Steelers36 said:

It was a joke..... lol.

 

We have a bad habit of leaving that phone off the charger, so it did not start fully charged. I called on my cell phone while the landline was still connected and hung up when I got an answer on the cell phone before someone picked up on the landline that had been on hold for 2 hours. I had been using the landline for the first 5 hours of my calls. And it was truly torture to have the hold music going on two phones at the same time and not in synch. 

[HBCcruiser]

Some of us still work. Staying on hold even for 30 min. is difficult. 

[lovemycruisetoo]

I called on Wednesday to change my room category (deluxe balcony to mini suite) expecting to be on hold for hours. Call was answered in 22 minutes. Girl was very helpful and even added the stateroom upgrade to MB from newly added ME mini suite which was part of the BSE. 

[Steelers36]

6 minutes ago, geoherb said:

 

We have a bad habit of leaving that phone off the charger, so it did not start fully charged. I called on my cell phone while the landline was still connected and hung up when I got an answer on the cell phone before someone picked up on the landline that had been on hold for 2 hours. I had been using the landline for the first 5 hours of my calls. And it was truly torture to have the hold music going on two phones at the same time and not in synch. 

Been there.

[nho9504]

3 hours ago, pms4104 said:

At the very least, John Padgett (you know, Jan Swartz's replacement at the top) should/would care how clients are being (mis)treated.

 

If he cares, Princess should fix the broken Medallion app.  Princess should make personalizer check in possible again,  HE DOES NOT CARE!

 

As long as we cruisers continue to cruise with Princess line, the management can get away with it.  The only way they would actually care is for us to vote with our wallet.  We plan to do exactly just that once our FCCs are used up.