X Phone and Reservations "Service"-Flame warning!

[kruznkanuk]

Is it just me???

I just got off the phone with X customer service. We have loved X and their ships, staff, and wonderful service on board, but something is seriously awry in the reservations/telephone call center. I was so pleased with the new Elite CC benefits and looking forward to enjoying them on our upcoming Century TA, and I am sure I will enjoy once I calm down....maybe a few martinis will help?

Our reservation was made Dec 07 on board and then changed to this sailing in June 08 direct with X, which is how I usually book. In the past, we have received numerous emails before payment date welcoming us, reminding of payments due, enticing us to follow through and take the cruise. We received absolutely nothing on this one. Not one email, no reminders. Are they hoping we'd forget the final payment date and forfeit our deposit? The lack of interest and service seems inconsistent with strategies like the enhanced CC benefits.

At the same time as I was hearing absolutely nothing from Celebrity I was getting numerous emails and solicitations from travel agencies, offering the same cabin class at, first, $1,000 and then $2,000, then $2,600 reduction. I called X and after some discussion and attempts to get me to accept an onboard credit instead, they reduced the fare to nearly match, but the travel agency offered $200 OBC and a slightly better cabin location was now available, so we decided to rebook through the agency and cancel the X direct reservation. In this process I was on hold for very long waits, and spoke to several people who couldn't care less about the lack of reminders from X. One person even suggested it is up to me to use a calendar and keep track of payments due as X may or may not send email reminders. The relucantance to match the current fare on their website for an existing booking was insulting.

The final steam-arising-from-my-ears event was when I tried to get the $900 deposit which had been paid 21 months ago on a credit card which is no longer in existance refunded to a different credit card or by check. After another long hold, a person in their 'resolutions' department absolutely refused to refund the money in any other way than to the original non-existent card, and said if the bank returns the credit they will then issue a check. I would like the $900 back sooner, and after the rude staff person interrupted me mid-sentence for the 4th time in a row I gave up.

I know the economy is tight. I know RCI is suffering. I know they probably have staff cutbacks. I ran a customer service business for years and am generally extra-polite with call centre people, though it is a struggle when you have been transferred 3 or 4 times and on hold for 1/2 hour. Have others given up trying to deal with X directly or was I just really unlucky this round?

[bbappel]

Maybe a little of both. We called to check on the location of our cabin - it is on the mislabeled Vista deck and since X convinced my dh to switch cabins, we wanted them to issue us a written guarantee with some pre-approved consolation if it wasn't where they said it was, when we were saying it was wrong. The CS agent at first was really insistent that the deck plans were correct and that they couldn't give me a guarantee. After a long time, she finally agreed to e-mail the ship to check and called me the next day to profusely apologize for her treatment of us and for their error because, guess what?, she admitted the Vista deck is mislabeled and that our room is where we were saying, not where X was saying. She couldn't do much for us, but at least we know for sure. So I don't give them a complete thumbs down for service. She made the effort to return our call the next day with this information and she was very apologetic.

[Hypo]

kruznkanuck,

It would have been much easier to just have your new TA initiate a transfer of the booking from Celebrity to them. We do this all the time whenever our TA is offering a good OBC or other incentive offer.

[micruiser2002]

I don't understand why you didn't just transfer the reservation to the TA. I do this all the time, my deposit stays on the account, the TA will get the new reduced rates and still give the OBC. Also you don't have to have the ta initiate the transfer, on Celebrity website there is a form that all you have to do is fill out and email or fax to them. Or you can send to the new ta and they will handle it.

 

Also, have you checked to make sure your email carrier isn't sending the celebrity emails to junk folder? I find the same company will sometimes be in my normal inbox and other times junk.

[dkjretired]

I had the same thing happen with the credit card on my deposit for a cruise which we had to cancel. The credit card no longer exsisted however I was told by the travel agent that the bank was required under federal law to take the transaction even though the account was closed. I was very sceptical as you are but the TA I was dealing with was absolutely correct. It took a couple of months but I did receive my refund in exactly the way the TA told me. Hang in there it will work out...

[land lover]

I had the same thing happen with the credit card on my deposit for a cruise which we had to cancel. The credit card no longer exsisted however I was told by the travel agent that the bank was required under federal law to take the transaction even though the account was closed. I was very sceptical as you are but the TA I was dealing with was absolutely correct. It took a couple of months but I did receive my refund in exactly the way the TA told me. Hang in there it will work out...

 

Off topic......

I wonder if this is a federal law?

 

Wouldn't the bank want a credit to come back to them incase you defaulted on your account?

 

I recently received 2 credits from 2 different cruise lines on 2 different cards that I had closed.

 

I had checks back in my hand one within 10 days another 2 weeks.

I was told by both banks that they will sit on a credit for a few months until their automated system will send a check...but once they show a credit on your closed account they will generate a check at your request, as long as you pass their audit.

[dkjretired]

Off topic......

I wonder if this is a federal law?

 

Wouldn't the bank want a credit to come back to them incase you defaulted on your account?

 

I recently received 2 credits from 2 different cruise lines on 2 different cards that I had closed.

 

I had checks back in my hand one within 10 days another 2 weeks.

I was told by both banks that they will sit on a credit for a few months until their automated system will send a check...but once they show a credit on your closed account they will generate a check at your request, as long as you pass their audit.

 

I don't think the time limit was required by law but the fact that they have to handle the transaction on a closed account...

[disneyfolks]

I was a business owner a while ago, and yes, if refunding monies, you must do it for the credit card issued. The primary reason, as I understand it, is due to the 'perks' cards offer now. If you had a card with some perks, you would have received $900 worth of them, and now wanting your money back the card company is stuck with supplying them. From a business perspective, it was always our policy that we must do everything to apply a credit to the same card that the charges were applied. If that failed, and we had paperwork to prove it, then and only then would we issue a check to our customers.

 

It truly is a shame for the customer, but it does make lots of sense from both a business and credit card company perspective.

[bplazo]

This is a little off subject but I hate having to call companies and I get the press 1, or press 2, or press 3 etc. and then I have to start over to figure out which number I should have pressed.

 

Anyway, I would think that they could just send you a check since you paid months and months ago. I would have been very aggravated.

[Phxazzcruisers]

I work for a bank and I have to say that X is correct. They have no choice but to refund the credit to the same card that the original debit was used.

[Gatrcruzer]

So sorry for your bad experience! It sounds as though it will all work out in the end, but a very frustrating experience nonetheless. I guess even with a good line like X there are bound to be snags in customer service from time to time. However, based on the replies you received I have learned a thing or two - first of all, had no idea you could transfer to a TA so easily once you had put down deposit with a cruise line. That is great info. Also had no idea about the rule of needing to first try to refund on the credit card used. That's definitely good to know...

[hajekfam]

I had the same thing happen with the credit card on my deposit for a cruise which we had to cancel. The credit card no longer exsisted however I was told by the travel agent that the bank was required under federal law to take the transaction even though the account was closed. I was very sceptical as you are but the TA I was dealing with was absolutely correct. It took a couple of months but I did receive my refund in exactly the way the TA told me. Hang in there it will work out...

 

The US IRS works the same way - we accidentally copied the automatic deposit info for our income tax refund from our last tax return to this year's (through a computer tax program that auto copies the info forward). We completely forgot that was the account that we closed shortly after we got our refund last year. So we had to wait for the bank to refuse the deposit and the IRS to issue and mail a check.

[willie2845]

I work for a bank and I have to say that X is correct. They have no choice but to refund the credit to the same card that the original debit was used.

How can a bank refund a closed credit card that has already been paid off?

[sasset]

We had a reservation, made in February. Final payment date was yesterday. Never had one e-mail other that the confirmation e-mail from February.

 

Maybe that's the way it is now.

 

Regards

[kruznkanuk]

Thank everyone for the helpful comments... too bad the X accounting lady did not know more about the banking rules/issues to explain it instead of interrupting me rudely--- but great to get more info from expert CC folks!

I suspect the rules may be different in the US and Canada. In my Canadian business, once the deadline for dispute by a customer of a credit card transaction had passed (30 to 60 days, depending on the company/bank) the credit was viewed as belonging to the customer and refunded in whatever way they chose--cash, cheque, credit. In this case, the original $900 deposit was paid onboard in December 2007.

 

In spite of my making my idea of re-booking with a travel agent very clear, the first X service person did not tell me that I could transfer the booking to a TA. After making a new booking with the TA and paying in full, the X service person the next day, when I called to cancel, did tell me I could have transferred. Now I know better!

Interesting that others did not get follow-up emails either. Seems an odd and extremely low-cost feature to drop from your customer service arsenal if you are trying to get people to go on cruises!

Guess I better get busy and join the roll call for this cruise now, too.I didn't want to do that when we weren't sure we could go and now there's only 6 weeks to get acquainted with all the other lucky folks doing the TransAtlantic.

thanks again for the comment & info.

[lazygal]

I get regular emails that I am on a mailing list for, but not once, from any cruise I pre purchased on board have I ever gotten an email from any cruisline reminding me to use them. I really think you hit the nail on the head when you said they hope we forget about these deposits - because I am sure many people do forget about them or die before they ever use them.

 

The same goes for gift cards - retailers make out like bandits on those because people toss them in a drawer and completely forget about them.

 

Brenda - about those pesky recordings for "dial one for..............dial 2 for............."

 

Here is a tip to solve that. Start hitting every button on your phone, then put your ear to the reciever and you WILL get an immediate answer................the system is set up to either think you are crazy or you are having a medical emergency. It works every time.

[dkjretired]

How can a bank refund a closed credit card that has already been paid off?

 

 

I said the same thing but apparently they are required to reopen the account as per federal law. This was done in my case and is apparently standard procedure in the Travel Industry and I would assume other industries...