Bait and Switch?

[tally10]

DH and I are booked on the Independence of the Seas transatlantic next month. We are Diamond members and did the April transatlantic on this beautiful ship. We were so impressed with our experience that we were trying to convince family and friends to join us. We had notice a great fare last tuesday on the RCI weekly "sale." We called DH's sister and she wanted to think about it for a few more days as her daughter is getting married the week before the cruise and thought it might be too soon. She then decided to go a few days later. So, last thursday DH called RCCL to book the cruise and asked the representative if maybe his sister should wait to book today (tuesday). The representative told us to go ahead and book and if the price was on sale this tuesday (today), RCCL would give her the difference in the form of an OBC. He told us we should just book online and call back today if the price went down. Well, you guess it, the price did go down and RCCL said they had no intention of honoring what their representative had told us. His sister would have just waited 4 more days to book if she had been given the correct information. It is not like she wanted a particular cabin as she would have taken any of them in her category. Lesson learned. The person we spoke to about this said she was THE supervisor and we could not speak to anyone higher than she. She is also paying a premium for being a solo traveler. This is very sad and frustrating and a bad introduction for my sister in law to RCCL.

[Gonzo70]

Tuesdays often have sales that are for new bookings only. It is unfortunate the person you spoke with on the phone did not relay that information. The telephone reps with Royal frequently seem to be misinformed.

[tally10]

My sister in law just remembered the name of the RCCL representative we spoke with who assured us that we would get the difference in an OBC. We will try again tonight. I think we are just so mad as there was no reason why she could not have waited the 4 days to book this cruise. It does not matter to her as to which cabin she picked. There were many available and she does not get seasick or have a preference. We are still ticked as you can tell.:eek:

[cruisinfanatic]

DH and I are booked on the Independence of the Seas transatlantic next month. We are Diamond members and did the April transatlantic on this beautiful ship. We were so impressed with our experience that we were trying to convince family and friends to join us. We had notice a great fare last tuesday on the RCI weekly "sale." We called DH's sister and she wanted to think about it for a few more days as her daughter is getting married the week before the cruise and thought it might be too soon. She then decided to go a few days later. So, last thursday DH called RCCL to book the cruise and asked the representative if maybe his sister should wait to book today (tuesday). The representative told us to go ahead and book and if the price was on sale this tuesday (today), RCCL would give her the difference in the form of an OBC. He told us we should just book online and call back today if the price went down. Well, you guess it, the price did go down and RCCL said they had no intention of honoring what their representative had told us. His sister would have just waited 4 more days to book if she had been given the correct information. It is not like she wanted a particular cabin as she would have taken any of them in her category. Lesson learned. The person we spoke to about this said she was THE supervisor and we could not speak to anyone higher than she. She is also paying a premium for being a solo traveler. This is very sad and frustrating and a bad introduction for my sister in law to RCCL.

The rep should not have told you what they did. The Tuesday sales are no secret. They are published several days before the sale. Didn't you see?

http://www.creative.rccl.com/sales/RCI_Sales_Event/rci_sales_event.pdf

[steponboard]

Is it too late to cancel and rebook for next Tuesdays sale?

[Morecruisesplz]

I understand you are upset but what happened is certainly not a "bait and switch" which is where you are enticed to come in and buy something advertised at a very low price or limited quantities and then it is not available at that low price but something similar offered at a higher price. You were simply mis-informed and could have know that what you had hoped to do would not be possible had you searched this forum before booking.

 

It's a shame you are disappointed.

[mamasue]

Is it too late to cancel and rebook for next Tuesdays sale?

 

 

Not possible... the cruise is so close, the cancellation penalty is now 100% of cruise price.

 

 

Tally.... we had exactly the same situation. We're on the Indy TA too.

We booked 2 weeks ago.... 11pm on Monday night... we didn't know about Tuesday sales.

The rep told us RCCL would honor any price drops.

We called the next day... and we were told the same as you!!! :mad:

 

BUT....

 

The next Tuesday, the price went down by $85 pp... we didn't bother ringing.... But.... the price stayed down for Wednesday.... I called... and got $170 OBC!! :)

We had to give up our cabin allocation because we were a GTY booking..... a few hours later, we were given back the same cabin!!!

 

So.... don't give up..... keep looking... and keep phoning!!

 

So.... if the price stays down tomorrow..... get on the phone fast..... I will!! :)

[G'ma]

C'mon, we are all adults here........

 

If it's not in writing, it doesn't exist.

 

Just because someone "says" something doesn't mean it's true.

 

There is no way to know for certain what the conversation was, who said what, who might have misinterpreted what.

 

Anytime someone promises something over the phone.....ask for it to be emailed to you with all the terms.

[reallyitsmema]

Have them call back, ask for a supervisor and ask for the tape of the call to be pulled. RCI should be able to verify what the rep said and fix the problem.

[cruisinfanatic]

Have them call back, ask for a supervisor and ask for the tape of the call to be pulled. RCI should be able to verify what the rep said and fix the problem.

Taping is random.

[djneph]

Have them call back, ask for a supervisor and ask for the tape of the call to be pulled. RCI should be able to verify what the rep said and fix the problem.

 

Yeah, that doesn't work. Taping is random and only used to "grade" the employee on phone calls. When I worked at RCI I would take 100's of calls a month and only 2 were recorded. However, if you are a really bad agent the number of calls they record goes up so they can get a better sampling of how you are doing.

 

As an agent I could initiate that the call begin recording, in the event the guest was being threatning or something like that. Anyhow, even if the call was recorded, trust me no supervisor will go looking for a recording.

[PhoenixCruiser]

It must be Tuesday...:p

 

###

[tally10]

Well, DH's sister called during the day and spoke to a representative named Paige who said she could not help her with the OBC, but she could possibly upgrade her. DH's sister called DH and he told her to go for it, but when she called right back, you guessed it: Paige was gone for the day and the representative on the phone did not know anything about an upgrade. Very frustrating for her but we will keep watching the rates, especially as suggested here for wednesday morning and will do it daily hoping that her category drops. Thanks for all of the advice.

[waterbug123]

The person we spoke to about this said she was THE supervisor and we could not speak to anyone higher than she. .

 

Just a general note here on speaking to "supervisors:"

 

When you call a company and ask for a supervisor, understand that many times, that "supervisor" has little if any additional authority that the person who initially took the call.

If you aren't getting satisfactory service and ask for a supervisor, and then you still aren't satisfied, remember that that "supervisor" still has a supervisor above him/her! They may say they don't, but they are just playing a game of semantics to make you think you are talking to the top person. They may resist passing your call on to yet another person because their performance may be evaluated based, in part, on how many calls they "resolve" versus how many they have to forward on to a "real" supervisor.

So if you are speaking to a "supervisor" and aren't getting anywhere with them (assuming you have a legitimate complaint) ask for the title of the person they report to and then ask to speak to that "manager" or "shift leader" or "head honcho" or whatever the title is. Unless you are talking to the president of the company, the supervisor does indeed report to someone.

I have had to do this on several occasions with insurance companies and mortgage companies, and have always been amazed at how quickly I end up speaking to someone with real authority once they realize I am on to their semantic games and know how to ask for a REAL supervisor.

[CruisinManiac]

We called DH's sister and she wanted to think about it for a few more days as her daughter is getting married the week before the cruise and thought it might be too soon. She then decided to go a few days later.

 

My DH and I left for a cruise 5 days after our daughter got married. Wish we had waited. We were so exhausted, that we didn't thoroughly enjoy the cruise. Now, a month later, I am now ready for a vacation and cannot go anywhere. :(