Customer service? Hah!

[Jsipes]

Actually, although I prefer HAL, you are exactly correct. HAL is similar to AOL....they have a lot of ways to avoid personally speaking to a customer. It's their corporate frame of mind (like many American companies) to avoid answering questions, simply eliminate communication.

It is possible to speak to a HAL employee....on occasion.....but you have to be lucky, and really dig, and have unbelievable tenacity to get through the maze. This is no accident.... Having said that , HAL is still the best "cheap" cruiseline in my opinion.:) Jer the Bear

[kryos]

And an outside cabin is selling for about 80 % less than it did 30 years ago. Does anyone see a connection ?

But I'll bet onboard revenue is up by close to 80% these days too ... because lots of things that came included with that outside cabin 30 years ago are now extra charge items ... an extra charge at a steep price too. That's the revenue model for the cruise lines today.

 

The problem with poor customer service is simply due to more and more companies going "lean and mean" in the interest of better profits. Investors demand a certain return on their dollar, and to provide it ... or to even come close ... companies have to either increase sales or reduce expenses ... preferably both. Most companies, while certainly trying to increase sales (see the thread about HAL's advertising blitz), they also have to do some cost-cutting in the meantime. This often means staff reductions ... and where do you think the hardest hit departments will be? Non-revenue generating ones, of course. Customer service, sadly, is considered overhead ... an expense line item on the income statement. So companies will staff these types of departments as thinly as possible, preferring to rely instead on automated systems and other technology-driven methods. They justify doing this by using the logic that by having a smaller staff in these overhead-type departments, they can save money and past that cost-saving along to their customers in the form of reduced product prices.

 

Yeah, right.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[hammybee]

But I'll bet onboard revenue is up by close to 80% these days too ... because lots of things that came included with that outside cabin 30 years ago are now extra charge items ... an extra charge at a steep price too. --rita

 

I do not think cruise lines are charging for once was included in the base fare. In fact, I think passengers are getting more than they used to and still paying 80% less for it.

 

Cocktails are priced about the same as they are at a resort hotel.

Shore excursions have always sold at a premium to what we can arrange on our own. Gaming has always favored the house and it always will.

 

What has changed the most in the past 30 years is:

 

Balcony Cabins, sold at a premium to outside cabins

Deluxe Suites/Perks sold at a substantial premium to balcony cabins

Art Auctions <sigh> If people did not buy/the stuff would not be sold

Internet Access

Cell Phone Access

Better Coffee for a premium

Better food in a premium specialty restaurants

Higher end shore excursions

[hammybee]

Agree!!! So many towns are becoming ghost towns due to loss of business. We do need to support our towns, states and country.

 

We do need to but most people will not pay a premium for service. Most of us can name at least a dozen upscale stores that used to be and were known for their quality merchandise, incredible service, flexible return/exchange policies and if you go back far enough, complimentary home delivery. And one by one, most folded or had to be sold and retransformed into something else.

[mamaofami]

We do need to but most people will not pay a premium for service. Most of us can name at least a dozen upscale stores that used to be and were known for their quality merchandise, incredible service, flexible return/exchange policies and if you go back far enough, complimentary home delivery. And one by one, most folded or had to be sold and retransformed into something else.

 

And, even if those upscale stores do still exist, as some do near where I live, they now charge for delivery to my house or to anyone if I order and send out a present.

 

The few that do exist near me, still have very liberal exchange, return policies. I am thinking of Bloomingdales, Lord and Taylor, Norsdstrum's. But sadly, gone are Bonwit Tellers, Saks Fifth Avenue, B. Altman's...all from a large suburban town and sourrounding area which could have supported them.

[cccole]

We had our first HAL cruise in February and I have to say that whenever I called I was always able to talk to a HAL rep, and when I emailed I always received a reply. One time when I called the individual talking to me was a bit rude and I asked if I had said something that was rude or inconsiderate to have him behave the way he did. The person laughed and said absolutely not and we continued on. The individuals at Shore Excursions were always incredibly nice. I did have trouble finding the telephone number for weekends but everyone was always nice. I had been led to believe from these boards that customer service is one thing that sets HAL above the rest and that was our experience, from beginning to end. Cherie

[bepsf]

Not a lot better, but I probably won't start breaking things. Or kick the dog.

 

Dak--

 

Don't kick the dog.

Kick Stein Kruse instead.

[dakrewser]

Dak--

 

Don't kick the dog.

Kick Stein Kruse instead.

 

OK, Brian, since you asked nicely..... ;)

 

Where ya been?

[bulletsmom]

I agree about cutsomer service GENERALLY. We have this discussion in my family all the time and one of our favorite sayings these days is "you get what you pay for". I had difficulty booking that same floatplane trip online, then had to go to the phone and wait too. Then HAL tried to tell me there was no credit card approval, even tho I had alerted the cc company of my upcoming "unusual" charges. Talking to the cc company, there was no record of attempts for approval. But they were all pleasant on the phone. Now the person working the airline website problems wasn't!

 

Kay

[m steve]

Try United Airlines and you get some Indian who never can get things corrected but constantly appologizes. HAL people won't even talk to you if you book thru a travel agent. Luckily I don't book any land tours with the ships but rather search here to get better ideas and deals. Outsourcing is killing American business' and we are just willing to accept it. Stand up for your rights and tell them what you think. I do regularly.

[hammybee]

Try United Airlines and you get some Indian who never can get things corrected but constantly appologizes. HAL people won't even talk to you if you book thru a travel agent. Luckily I don't book any land tours with the ships but rather search here to get better ideas and deals. Outsourcing is killing American business' and we are just willing to accept it. Stand up for your rights and tell them what you think. I do regularly.

 

Cruise lines pay a minimum of 10% commission to travel agencies to, in part, take on the responsibility of customer care in addition to promoting their cruises. In theory, travel agents hear many of the same questions over and over and should be able to respond to most inquiries, without calling the cruise line. Reality is sometimes different because many travel agents are clueless about the product they sell.

[hammybee]

Try United Airlines and you get some Indian who never can get things corrected but constantly appologizes. HAL people won't even talk to you if you book thru a travel agent. Luckily I don't book any land tours with the ships but rather search here to get better ideas and deals. Outsourcing is killing American business' and we are just willing to accept it. Stand up for your rights and tell them what you think. I do regularly.

 

Most U.S. consumers buy product for price, not service.

 

Most U.S. consumers are not willing to pay a premium for good domestic service.

 

Most U.S. consumers get what they pay for.

 

Most U.S. consumers complain about not getting what they did not pay for.

[Jade13]

Try United Airlines and you get some Indian who never can get things corrected but constantly appologizes. HAL people won't even talk to you if you book thru a travel agent. .

 

Sorry, but my brother in law is Indian (from India), and cousins Native American, so not sure what you mean by that comment:confused:

 

Most in India are a lot more patient than in the US.

 

Regarding booking through a TA, even so you can deal direct with HAL on Shore Excursions. I have in the past but recently did so on-line without any problems. I too normally do our own port tours but the dollar is killing me in Europe and for half days (where you would need a taxi anyway) using HAL is at least the same price and less euros to carry around.

[hammybee]

Sorry, but my brother in law is Indian (from India), and cousins Native American, so not sure what you mean by that comment:confused:

 

Most in India are a lot more patient than in the US.

 

Good for you, Jade. The comment was offensive.

[sail7seas]

Agree!!! So many towns are becoming ghost towns due to loss of business. We do need to support our towns, states and country.

 

 

I dealt with a local, in town TA for years until I finally sensed things were changing in this small brick and mortar. I left there during the last year as my unease continued. Sure enough, they are out of business now.

 

Fewer and fewer brick and mortar TA's exist anymore. I can't think of 2 or 3 in our area where there used to be dozens.

[vbmom87]

HAL people won't even talk to you if you book thru a travel agent.

 

I beg to differ. Although they may not be able to help you change things, I found them most helpful and reassuring. I received an email that my cruise and excursions had been cancelled. It was a Sunday and needless to say I was a bit concerned. He was able to explain that when I got a price drop a few days earlier I received a new booking number and my excursions were cancelled. He was able to confirm that I was still on the ship. I did need to call my agent on Monday and get my new booking number. She was upset with HAL because they did not inform her that my excursions would be cancelled. All is good and worked out.

[Jade13]

I beg to differ. Although they may not be able to help you change things, I found them most helpful and reassuring. I received an email that my cruise and excursions had been cancelled. It was a Sunday and needless to say I was a bit concerned. He was able to explain that when I got a price drop a few days earlier I received a new booking number and my excursions were cancelled. He was able to confirm that I was still on the ship. I did need to call my agent on Monday and get my new booking number. She was upset with HAL because they did not inform her that my excursions would be cancelled. All is good and worked out.

 

This happened to me too! I transfered to a TA and they could not get in touch with me as I was traveling for the day on business. They "rebooked" (new number) to save me $1,600.00 (3 day sale) and did not know I had booked excursions which got automatically cancelled. So, I just re-booked the excursions. My TA did the right thing as they did not know if they could get me that price the next day. I also e-mailed the Excursions department who told me what happened. Long story but they couldn't fix it because I also lost my wallet that same day and canceled my credit card (taxi driver returned it and BofA overnighted me a new credit card and I re-booked my exursions....).

 

And a plus plus to the department that TA's use because they worked this out to save me money (and helped TA) when special was for new bookings only they transfered my HAL insurance and I still have my small OBC from booking onboard (had a fiasco last year with a price drop, wrote a letter, and glad it appears they have worked through these issues in Seattle - mainly an issue concerning HAL insurance use)

[hammybee]

I beg to differ. Although they may not be able to help you change things, I found them most helpful and reassuring. I received an email that my cruise and excursions had been cancelled. It was a Sunday and needless to say I was a bit concerned. He was able to explain that when I got a price drop a few days earlier I received a new booking number and my excursions were cancelled. He was able to confirm that I was still on the ship. I did need to call my agent on Monday and get my new booking number. She was upset with HAL because they did not inform her that my excursions would be cancelled. All is good and worked out.

 

It's great when it works out.

 

The established protocol and contract between cruise lines and travel agencies is that the cruise line does not make direct contact with the consumer unless it's an emergency, like a delayed sailing.

 

It's nice to see that someone at HAL was paying attention in your case and called you to inform you of the consequences of your rebooking. Your Travel Agency could have warned you of this in advance too, had they thought to ask if you had booked any excursions.

 

Since shore excursions are booked directly with the cruise line and do not result in a commission being paid to the travel agency, stuff like this is often not on a travel agent's radar. Those agencies that pride themselves on customer service are not the least costly resellers of cruises, but they do take care of their passengers. It all depends on what's important to the consumer, price or service.

[vbmom87]

Those agencies that pride themselves on customer service are not the least costly resellers of cruises, but they do take care of their passengers. It all depends on what's important to the consumer, price or service.

 

I will say our agent through AAA got us great prices and we have been satisfied with her service. I searched and searched many, online discounters. Since this was my first cruise I was a little uneasy about booking online. However, I would have possibly considered it, IF I found a true bargain. However, I never did. Most online agencies were identical in pricing to what our agent got us. A few were more and I just found two that had a lower price, and it was only a little less. My sister is traveling with us as a single, and her AAA price was several hundred dollars cheaper than the online agencies. I feel we did well with AAA. For our first cruise experience, working with a local agency has worked out very well for us. I would definitely use her again. However, I have learned, that you still need to do all of your own homework. No one agent can be an expert on cruises and tours throughout the world.

[Philip217]

Service costs money.

 

Great service costs more money.

 

People willing to pay what it costs for great service usually get it.

 

People unwilling to pay for great service usually don't get it and then complain.

 

The mass market is most concerned with low prices.

Low prices = minimal service.

Welcome to America.

[HeatherInFlorida]

Dave, I feel your frustration. Clearly there is a problems with HAL's telephone service system. Getting caught up in a web of recordings only to be told to call back or never being able to reach a live person is just bad business and horribly annoying.

 

I do know that when booking a HAL tour online there is a final step in the process that is easy to miss. I missed the step a few months ago even though I used the system many times before. Even after clicking something like "Book this tour", another page came up that I thought was a confirmation of the booking, but in actuality I was supposed to click on something further down the page saying that I was POSITIVE I wanted to charge my CC for the tour. When I didn't get the usual confirmation, I realized something was wrong, went back and saw the final step.

 

About Customer Service in general, I don't think "service" has anything to do with how much we pay. I find that as long as I can get through to a real person, I get amazing service from AOL, phone companies, cable companies, CC companies, just about anyone I call for service. People are just people, like you and me, and generally I've found they want to help.

 

And if it's technical expertise I require, nine times out of ten I'm happier to reach an Indian rep than an American one because they really seem to zero in on the problem and know how to fix it. The ONLY time it's a problem is one of communication or a bad phone connection.

 

Dave, hope you end up getting that tour for both you and Ma. I have a feeling that you will.:)

[jhannah]

Most U.S. consumers buy product for price, not service. (snip) Most U.S. consumers complain about not getting what they did not pay for.

Bingo!

[Crusing Bob]

I spent at least 15 minutes being bounced back and forth to toll numbers and computer menus which never are what they say they are. I simply wanted to have a 2008-2009 Caribbean brochure sent to me so I can spend more money. I finally gave up in frustration and sent another e-mail back to the person that had told me to call 800.... and then that sent me around the Horn only to tell me to call a 877..... and back and forth. Needless to say, I never got to request the brochure which seems would have been easy enough for the person who sent me the e-mail in the first place to handle my simple request. As everyone else has commented, you are lucky if you can talk to a live person these days.

[Mr. T & Amelie]

Dave,

Why would you even think of kicking the dog?

Did it bite the first time it saw you in that hat?

[dakrewser]

This afternoon I had a few moments, so I thought I'd call the Shorex folks again (they still hadn't returned my call from Monday). I actually got through (after navigating the menus and spending about 2 minutes on hold) to a polite young lady who spoke very good English. Surprise, surprise!

 

<aside> If she could take my call now, why wasn't anyone able to return my two-day old call?</aside>

 

She evidently has access to lots of information, since she told me (as Heather mentioned above) that I'd not clicked the final "are you, really, really, sure?" button which is "below the fold" on the page - you need to scroll down to find it. I didn't wish to argue the point, so graciously allowed as how, yes, perhaps that was the case. So now what should we do? I didn't want to bump anyone from the excursion, I told her, but would like to a) be placed at the top of the waiting list; and b) get notified when it did open up again.

 

"Sorry, sir" she said, "I can't do that. I can't see the wait list to know where you are on it nor can I change the notification to you. You'll have to either keep checking back to see if it opens up, or cancel the waitlist and re-book. This would put you on the bottom of the list, but you would be notified if something opened up for you."

 

Well, I can either spend most of my waking moments checking to see if there's a spot opened up on the tour, or drop to the bottom of the list which most likely means never getting off the waitlist. Neither option sounds good, and I tell her that.

 

"Who do I need to speak to in order to get this changed," I ask. "I'm sorry, sir" she replies, "but we can't change it."

 

Well, I've written enough software to know exactly how to change it but there's no sense telling this young lady as she'll not likely understand what I'm saying. So, instead, I say "Well, if I should ask Stein Kruse to change this, I'm sure he'd tell someone to handle it and get it done. But he's a busy man so I'm sure there's someone between you and him who could make the change. And I'd like to speak to that person."

 

"I'm sorry, sir" she replies, "but no one can change it."

 

Alright, I think, let's not waste anymore time here. "Let me speak to your supervisor, please. You've been a joy to speak to, but I'd like to escalate my situation."

 

"I'm sorry, sir" she replies, "but she's not available right now."

 

"Thank you," I say, rather curtly, and hang up. No sense berating this girl who is, obviously, only doing what she's been told to do.

 

Still, the choices she gave me don't appeal. What shall I do?

 

I went out to run some errands, and returned to a ringing telephone about 90 minutes later.

 

It was a gentleman in Seattle returning my call from Monday.

 

"I'm calling about your shore excursion situation, sir" he says. I start to reply that I'm sure he can't be much help either, when he continues: "that excursion isn't full, I'm not sure why you show as waitlisted. Just cancel that, then rebook it and you should be fine."

 

What?

 

So I ask him to hold on while I do just that. Of course, I rush it and - rather than cancel my waitlisted excursion I cancel my wife's confirmed one! Oh sugerbeets! Am I going to be in trouble?

 

With some trepidation, I attempt to rebook her. It works! So I cancel mine and rebook. It works! I go through all the screens and confirm everything and - it works!

 

I thank the gentleman profusely (but forgot to get his name). I also forgot to ask why the pleasant but, essentially, clueless young lady couldn't have given me that information. Or why there weren't any people working on Monday afternoon. Or why it took 48 hours to return my call. I didn't ask any of those questions. And you know why?

 

Because I'm going to land on a glacier. And walk about. And throw iceballs. And behave like a teenager. That's why!

 

Thanks for listening.