Am I wrong here?

[benkon]

We have a scheduled cruise in December.  I was looking through available cabins and decided to call to change our stateroom (and pay the applicable upgrade fee, if any).  After spending 45 minutes on hold, I finally got a quote for the upgrade to a cabin we liked better than the one we had.  It was $402 total for both passengers.  I was about to give my CC number and seal the deal, but decided I should double check with hubby to make sure that's the cabin he wanted.  I told the CSR I'd call right back and she assured me "no problem"!

 

I called immediately back and waited another hour on hold to be told the cost for the same stateroom would be $796!  I gave them the previous quote and they said they'd put me on hold again to check.  After another 45 minutes, they came back and said it would be $746!  This whole time, I kept a mock booking open on my computer and refreshed it occasionally.  The advertised price never changed.  I hung up and still felt as if I had been wronged.

 

I placed a third call to try to get it sorted out.  The rep assured me they could check the "recording" of the first call.  Then, a resolutions rep came on the line and told  me they would not do that.  She said that the first agent had misquoted and would be reprimanded.  I told her that didn't help me much and said that RCCL should honor the quote they gave me.  I told her that, if I had given my CC info in the first call, the transaction would have been complete.  She said that even if they did that, their auditors would put the balance on my cruise bill once they realized the error. 

 

*****???  Does this sound like ethical business practice to anyone?  Has this happened to others?

 

Thanks for listening.  I'm getting a glass of wine, now.

[twangster]

You're not wrong.  Getting a glass of wine is always the right thing to do.  

[fenton04]

We need a lawyer to explain validities of a written contract and a verbal agreement.  Anyone?  OBTW the way that customer service rep got lucky he just got a reprimand.  The Rep might have been banished to the buffet!

[loman]

Sounds like you got the run around . Keep calling back , you might get a sympathetic agent .

[smokeybandit]

One good reason to have a good TA.

[OCSC Mike]

16 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

One good reason to have a good TA.

 

This.

[not-enough-cruising]

45 minutes ago, fenton04 said:

We need a lawyer to explain validities of a written contract and a verbal agreement.  Anyone?  OBTW the way that customer service rep got lucky he just got a reprimand.  The Rep might have been banished to the buffet!

I believe in this instance there would be nothing considered a verbal agreement; as the CSR is not authorized to enter into such an agreement 

[firefly333]

2 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

I believe in this instance there would be nothing considered a verbal agreement; as the CSR is not authorized to enter into such an agreement 

Unless money changed hands, even $1, it's not legally binding. 

[not-enough-cruising]

3 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

Unless money changed hands, even $1, it's not legally binding. 

Even then, look at the errantly advertised packages that have been cancelled and refunded in the recent past

[Ourusualbeach]

2 hours ago, benkon said:

This whole time, I kept a mock booking open on my computer and refreshed it occasionally.  The advertised price never changed

If the price never changed then they should have honored it.  Otherwise it was an error or the price changed by the time you called back and it's time o move on.

[bundtkate]

2 hours ago, fenton04 said:

We need a lawyer to explain validities of a written contract and a verbal agreement.  Anyone?

I am no longer a lawyer and in no way qualified to give legal advice, but by my memory of law school a verbal contract is generally valid so long as it's for < $500. That said, you'd run into trouble with the acceptance portion of forming a contract here. OP expressly stated they needed to check with another party before accepting the offer so RCI would probably be legally in the clear. If I were RCI, I'd argue the contract was never formed because the offer wasn't accepted and I'd bank on winning that argument. Jerk move? Yes. Illegal? Probably not.

[benkon]

Interesting replies.  We've got over 25 cruises under our belt with 5 cruise lines.  I see a sharp decline in customer service and integrity among all of them.  The "nickel and diming" on cruises has always been ridiculous.  Now, it's also buried in the fine print and embedded in "great offers" sound too good to be true because they are.  To me, this is less a legal argument and more a moral one.  They've lost a good customer over $400.  A faithful customer who "donates" regularly to the ship casinos (LOL).  I'm not naive enough to think they care, though.

 

 

[Husky1987]

51 minutes ago, benkon said:

They've lost a good customer over $400.  A faithful customer who "donates" regularly to the ship casinos (LOL).  I'm not naive enough to think they care, though.

 

I'm sure they'll fill that same cabin with the +$796 fare...they may have lost one customer but they gained another.  Life goes on.

[ShillyShally]

19 hours ago, benkon said:

  This whole time, I kept a mock booking open on my computer and refreshed it occasionally.  The advertised price never changed.  I hung up and still felt as if I had been wronged.

 

Did you screen shot it and reference it on the call?  When I saw a suite guarantee for my cruise next week I kept the screen up and pushed until they also verified they could see what I could see and I got the upgrade for the price I expected.  They will work hard not to give you pricing but patience and pointed suggestions help!

[gerif]

As I see it (although I totally agree that it was a shoddy thing to do), while an offer was made the OP did not accept that offer and, therefore, no contract oral or otherwise was made. As the saying goes, ya snooze ya lose. 

[bundtkate]

10 hours ago, Ret MP said:

I like to pride myself as a very good due diligence consumer.  I try to have the answers to my questions before I ask them, or at least some information. 

I'm the same, but I still love my TA because he does all the stuff I don't want to. Can't make the cruise line's dodgy website work to book an excursion? Email my TA and he sits on hold to get it booked for me. Price drop? TA gets to fight with the cruise line about it while I have a beer. Cruise line moved me into a regular balcony and out of the aft-facing one I chose for no reason? TA gets to make them fix it while I take a nap. I almost always email him with exactly what I want to book and no questions at all, but all of these are real examples of things I didn't have to do because my TA did them for me. It all comes down to what you value most, but time and frustration saved is huge for me so for me personally hunting down a good independent TA was super worth it. Maybe he wouldn't have been able to get OP the original price, but he'd put a lot more effort into it than I would and that's a W in my mind for sure.

[time4u2go]

On 10/3/2023 at 4:16 PM, smokeybandit said:

One good reason to have a good TA.

Agreed! 

[bundtkate]

58 minutes ago, Ret MP said:

I have the extension number of the big box TA that we have been booking with for years.

That's an uncommon benefit from what I've heard! Sounds like you've got yourself the best of both worlds. Then again, if you're booking Star Class with any regularity, I'd hope they'd take extra good care of you. 😜

[Ret MP]

Just now, bundtkate said:

That's an uncommon benefit from what I've heard! Sounds like you've got yourself the best of both worlds. Then again, if you're booking Star Class with any regularity, I'd hope they'd take extra good care of you. 😜

I hope so.  But, I've never booked anything but Star Class with that TA and agency so I don't know what it would be like otherwise.  Her title is "Senior Account Administrator" or something like that.  

[amby6063]

Try calling back but press the option for booking a new cruise. Customer service is always much better on that line!

[benkon]

Update:  Just got off the phone with a rep from the executive offices, whom I had emailed.  She listened to the recordings, verified that my complaint was justified, and 100% resolved the situation.  I give them many props for following up and doing the right thing.

 

Now, a second glass of wine.

 

 

[voyager70]

So happy you had a positive outcome.

[SRF]

On 10/4/2023 at 11:09 AM, ShillyShally said:

Did you screen shot it and reference it on the call?  When I saw a suite guarantee for my cruise next week I kept the screen up and pushed until they also verified they could see what I could see and I got the upgrade for the price I expected.  They will work hard not to give you pricing but patience and pointed suggestions help!

 

This is why I use a TA.  I let them know the deal, do a snip and sent it, and SHE gets to deal with them on the phone. 😄