NCL does not honor its fares!!

[Newlyweds28]

I want to warn everyone about my recent experience with NCL. They are not honoring the fare that they posted on their website - NOR are they doing anything to compensate me.

 

After previously booking a cruise and placing a deposit, I found an EXTREMELY low fare on NCL's website ($891 including airfare and the cruise). I called to book this fare and NCL tried to convince me that the fare I was telling them was only for the cruise - no airfare. However, I had been smart and took a screen shot of this fare. After speaking to some customer service reps, I emailed Ivelisse Hernandez in Automated Support the screen shots.

 

I then received an email from Ivelisse Hernandez: "There is an error with the initial shopping process for certain pseudo categories concerning the Pride of America. Our e-commerce department is aware of the issue and is working towards finding a solution. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused"

 

I called her to see what could be done to make this right. She did not call back so I sent this email: "Could you please tell me what the status is for the reservation ########. Is this reservation going to be given the price of $890.80? If not, can you give on-board credit for the difference? Please let me know a.s.a.p. what NCL can do to make this right."

Ivelisse called back about a day later and told me that they could not give me on-board credit but that they WOULD give me an upgrade. She said she would call RIGHT back. I still did not hear from her, so TODAY I emailed her asking about my upgrade.

 

I received this email back: "I received an e-mail from our revenue department this morning stating that in fact you are getting the lowest rate for the category selected. They advised that an upgrade is not feasible for this instance. They are the ones that would make the call. I apologize for any inconvenience." - Ivelisse Hernandez

 

I called NCL AGAIN to ask for a manager. The sales department told me there were no notes in my history regarding this issue. They gave me to Harmony, a manager in Automated Support. Harmony told me there was NOTHING they could do for me - no on-board credit, no upgrade, nothing. I asked to speak to her manager and she said that nobody above her would take a phone call. I asked for the name of a person I could write to - again, she would not tell me anyone's name.

 

So at this point, NCL's website lied to me (about the rate) and Ivelisse Hernandez lied to me about getting an upgrade.

 

I have never sailed with NCL before (twice with Princess, 3 times with Carnival)...but this is not a good first impression. Has anyone else had POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE with NCL?

 

Thanks for reading!

[Newlyweds28]

I want to warn everyone about my recent experience with NCL. They are not honoring the fare that they posted on their website - NOR are they doing anything to compensate me.

 

After previously booking a cruise and placing a deposit, I found an EXTREMELY low fare on NCL's website ($891 including airfare and the cruise). I called to book this fare and NCL tried to convince me that the fare I was telling them was only for the cruise - no airfare. However, I had been smart and took a screen shot of this fare. After speaking to some customer service reps, I emailed Ivelisse Hernandez in Automated Support the screen shots.

 

I then received an email from Ivelisse Hernandez: "There is an error with the initial shopping process for certain pseudo categories concerning the Pride of America. Our e-commerce department is aware of the issue and is working towards finding a solution. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused"

 

I called her to see what could be done to make this right. She did not call back so I sent this email: "Could you please tell me what the status is for the reservation ########. Is this reservation going to be given the price of $890.80? If not, can you give on-board credit for the difference? Please let me know a.s.a.p. what NCL can do to make this right."

Ivelisse called back about a day later and told me that they could not give me on-board credit but that they WOULD give me an upgrade. She said she would call RIGHT back. I still did not hear from her, so TODAY I emailed her asking about my upgrade.

 

I received this email back: "I received an e-mail from our revenue department this morning stating that in fact you are getting the lowest rate for the category selected. They advised that an upgrade is not feasible for this instance. They are the ones that would make the call. I apologize for any inconvenience." - Ivelisse Hernandez

 

I called NCL AGAIN to ask for a manager. The sales department told me there were no notes in my history regarding this issue. They gave me to Harmony, a manager in Automated Support. Harmony told me there was NOTHING they could do for me - no on-board credit, no upgrade, nothing. I asked to speak to her manager and she said that nobody above her would take a phone call. I asked for the name of a person I could write to - again, she would not tell me anyone's name.

 

So at this point, NCL's website lied to me (about the rate) and Ivelisse Hernandez lied to me about getting an upgrade.

 

I have never sailed with NCL before (twice with Princess, 3 times with Carnival)...but this is not a good first impression. Has anyone else had POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE with NCL?

 

Thanks for reading!

[lvtotrvl1]

Had you put a deposit online? If so, and if NCL charged your card, that is where the contract would begin. If not, unfortunately, not much can be done. This is not only NCL but the majority of online companies treat instances like this the same. Too much room for human error, but if your card is charged, they accepted the reservation and at that point they would have to honor it.

[shoreguy]

I guess they could have lied and told you that fare was capacity controlled as it says on the site and not available for your cruise. Instead they told you the truth it was the result of a system error.

 

The real question did you think for a minute that 891 with air to HI was possible. That would put you cruise fare at less then 300 all in.

 

Good luck - I hope you find someone to honor the the system error.

 

Funny you go to the booking engine and 891 is the exact lowest fare without air $280 of that is TAX, Ins, NCF so your expectation is a cruise fare of something less then $40 or another way to look at it is free air - sorry all the :mad: in the world will most likely make that happen.

[garycarla]

So,I guess the question is, was this an error?

 

Or were they playing games?

 

People do make mistakes.

[shoreguy]

One other data point. Many times I have gone to NCL website, requested air as part of the price, prices show up on the first page without air and It will not error out until I try to actually book it

[Newlyweds28]

so your expectation is a cruise fare of something less then $40 or another way to look at it is free air - sorry all the :mad: in the world will most likely make that happen.

 

I realized that that rate was incredibly - almost impossibly - low. However, my post is regarding the customer service I received. I was treated poorly and expected them to compensate - even if it was just an upgrade.

[Planer's Edge]

So, they stated there was a problem with the computer system and apologized for it. Now you are demanding some compensation for a computer error that happened to show a lower (albeit incorrect) price for a cruise. In your mind don't you think $891.00 for a Hawaiian cruise including airfare is just little too good to be true.

 

I personally would not call this POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE. You were told something that you refuse to take as an answer and are just driving yourself nuts for no good reason. Were you OK with the original price? If not why did you book it?

 

PE

[davidvc04]

Yes, I have had poor customer service with NCL. It remains to be seen how they will handle our complaints after the cruise. We meet with the travel agent tomorrow and are drafting separate letters.

 

Don't expect people here to be too sympathetic. I'm starting to think they're all industry insiders planted to counter complaints! :p j/k

[Efisio]

Sorry Michelle but I am not with you on this one. You paid a deposit, so must have been happy with the price at the time. Now you see they have discounted the fare and feel hard done by. Well harsh though that may seem, but that's life.

In the 90's my late wife was on Dialysis, we booked through P&O and paid full brochure price to ensure we got the cabin we needed. Almost everybody else got 40% discount. We never complained, because we were happy with the price when we booked.

Don't worry, it will be worth whatever you have paid.

[kep1980]

I had seen a HI cruise (w/air) for something similar...the cruise was listed at something like $700 and then when you added air it was only about $900. I became VERY excited. However, once you went to the booking stage, the price jumped incredibly....making it seem like there was $700 in taxes, etc. Checked the whole thing out - seemed there was some kind of a computer problem. I don't know if you experienced the same thing, but it seems to me it was not necessarily an NCL problem, but something messed up with the flights. I don't know who's fault it is, but I don't think it is entirely reasonable to expect NCL to eat the cost of an obvious computer glitch.

[Planer's Edge]

 

Don't expect people here to be too sympathetic. I'm starting to think they're all industry insiders planted to counter complaints! :p j/k

 

 

Please do not start with the industry insiders crap. We are not employed, compensated, or otherwise endeared to NCL for anything. We ask questions to clarify where someone is coming from and get tagged with NCL Cheerleader title. The typical liberal mind cannot have a discussion without name calling.

[garycarla]

Let me/us understand. You want them to honor the low price? Anything less would be considered poor customer service,right?

 

PS - An oboard credit is the same as a lower price. Cash out of their pocket.

[hotspur]

Don't expect people here to be too sympathetic. I'm starting to think they're all industry insiders planted to counter complaints!

Nonsense. Some of us just believe some try to assign blame irresponsibly. You know...like when you get sick on a trip.

[ialacruiser]

It's very odd to me this whole idea that a company should pay cash money for poor customer service. I've gotten incredibly terrible customer service from several large companies, most recently Lending Tree and Budget Rentals that has cost me money and time, and I figure the only way to really "punish" them is to never give them my business again. It never crossed my mind to ask them to send me some cash. I can't think of any company I've ever heard of that will send you a check if one of their customer service people are rude to you. Most of them feel like an apology is the most they can do, and usually that's acceptable to me. Maybe I'm going about this all wrong! :rolleyes: Next time I will be sure to demand money.

[Newlyweds28]

After a week of being on hold regarding this issue, and being strung around by Automated Support, I expected that they would at least give me an upgrade. If they had upgraded me, I would have felt my price was more fair.

 

The reason I checked the fares after booking was because THIS WEBSITE has a section called "Money Saving Tips". In that section, people were talking about finding lower fares, which the company honored.

[Casshew]

I

After previously booking a cruise and placing a deposit, I found an EXTREMELY low fare on NCL's website ($891 including airfare and the cruise). I called to book this fare and NCL tried to convince me that the fare I was telling them was only for the cruise - no airfare. However, I had been smart and took a screen shot of this fare. After speaking to some customer service reps, I emailed Ivelisse Hernandez in Automated Support the screen shots.

!

 

This part confuses me. If I had booked a cruise and saw a much lower price online, I would have booked it online - received my emailed confirmation, then called an cancelled the other reservation.

 

Screen shots mean nothing, screen shots can be morphed and doctored, by calling them and bringing their attention to the matter you outwitted yourself.

[smeyer418]

Please do not start with the industry insiders crap. We are not employed' date=' compensated, or otherwise endeared to NCL for anything. We ask questions to clarify where someone is coming from and get tagged with NCL Cheerleader title. The typical liberal mind cannot have a discussion without name calling.[/quote']

 

watch it I am a liberal---:) and an NCL Cheerleader don't you remember :)...LOL

[Planer's Edge]

Sorry....am I the moon without the "r" this time?? :rolleyes:

 

Besides Sid you are not typical in any sense of the word. :cool:

 

PE

[Planer's Edge]

If they had upgraded me, I would have felt my price was more fair.

 

 

You still expect something for free because of a computer error. An upgrade is still money out of pocket.

 

PE

[98Charlie]

If DH & I had been compensated by cruiselines and/or internet TA's who have posted wrong cruise prices in the past few years we'd be on a cruise every day and not still working for a living.:)

 

You complain about the customer service you received at NCL, however you never mention the attitude you had when you called NCL customer service.

 

From your initial post here I can only guess your attitude when you approached NCL about your problem. I have personally contaced NCL several times over the past 4 years and had no problems getting employees to answer my questions within a few hours or days. But then I've offered my questions with a positive attitude. Always received a positive response, even though the answer to my question was not the answer I hoped to hear.

 

Hope you look back to your original post and rethink the words you posted regarding your problem. ``Lied to'' are very strong words that need to be backed up with evidence. I've seen many prices on many cruises advertised cheap over the years but when I call to book the price is different -- with taxes, port charges and room designation taken into account.

 

Nowhere did I assume the cruiseline or internet agency ``lied'' to me about the price. Price for the cruise was what it was when I booked, not always what the price was professed over the internet or the lowest price offered by the cruiseline.

 

Not sure when the light bulb should have exploded in your head that $891 for cruise and air to Hawaii might be a missprint - but then some people are always looking for a bargain that just isn't there.

 

Dianne

[smeyer418]

I was going to say we have a new moon friend...since I knew you knew what that meant....I think we can all agree that we can say moon from now on....

You know I do think they should honor their fares the airlines do. You can occassionally get a $1.00 fare because of a mistake...

[Newlyweds28]

But then I've approached my quetions with a positive attitude. Always received a positive response, even though the answer to my question was not the answer I hoped to hear.

 

I was positive the first several times I called. And overall, EVERY representative I talked to was great - very helpful and friendly. I did not experience the rudeness until I dealt with Harmony.

[98Charlie]

I realized that that rate was incredibly - almost impossibly - low. However, my post is regarding the customer service I received. I was treated poorly and expected them to compensate - even if it was just an upgrade.

 

Last time I got compensated for ``customer service'' was shortly after I married a GI in 1967. Government upgraded me from ``civilian'' to ``military spouse'' and found myself with half the money I had before I married.

 

Now THAT's poor customer service.;)

 

Dianne

[Host CMLA]

I realized that that rate was incredibly - almost impossibly - low. However, my post is regarding the customer service I received. I was treated poorly and expected them to compensate - even if it was just an upgrade.

I'm sorry but I don't see how NCL owes you something for nothing. They made a mistake and apologized over something you knew had to be too good to be true and when they admit their error, you ask for something free even though you're not out ANYTHING. I don't think the situation is deserving of an OBC or an upgrade. You weren't LIED to. An error was made on the web site. Ivelisse tried to get you something for nothing and her efforts got her name splashed all over this board and you calling her a liar. Not sure but I may have to check libel law for how you're defaming her.

 

David...people here are plenty sympathetic when it's warranted. I don't think even you can say this person is right and NCL is wrong. As for industry insiders being planted here to refute negative claims...better be careful...I'm going to start thinking you're an industry insider for another line just causing trouble for NCL by spreading false stories. :p j/k of course. ;)