NCL - Worst Customer Service Ever !!!

[RJake1]

I called NCL to inquire about a refund necessitated due to a medical emergency. I was entitled to a 50% refund per the contract but the amount credited to my Mastercard was several hundred dollars less. I simply wanted to understand how the amount was arrived at.

 

My first call to a NCL rep was somewhat helpful. She pulled up the info and recognized the discrepancy but was unable to explain it. She referred me to NCL Customer Relations Department. That's where the fun began!

 

I spoke to a Customer Relations Rep who first pulled up my account. She then told me her screen would not allow her to access my payment information. I couldn't believe that, so I inquired as to what details she could see. She then changed her story and said that since I had booked through a travel agent I had to speak with the travel agent.

 

I advised her I had done that and they couldn't explain the discrepancy. They advised me to call NCL Customer Relations directly as had the earlier NCL rep. She insisted she could not give me any details. I tried to explain that the refund was an issue between NCL and me (not the travel agent) but she was inflexible.

 

I then asked to speak to a supervisor. This is the really good part. She told me there was only one supervisor and SHE WAS ON VACATION!!! I asked if anyone was in charge. She said NO!!! LOL!!! Are you kidding me??

 

She advised me that if I wanted to elevate the issue that I could leave a message and the supervisor would call me NEXT WEEK when she returned from vacation!!! NEXT WEEK??!!?? Today is only Monday! I'd have to wait at least seven days to get an answer???

 

IMHO, this was very poorly handled. If the "story" about the supervisor is true then this doesn't speak well of NCL's management practices. OTOH, if Reps are instructed to tell that story whenever a supervisor's intervention is requested that's even worse.

 

In any event, if you choose to cruise NCL my advice is that you should hope everything goes well, because if you have to deal with the Customer Relations Department you might as well give up now.

[SpecialPurpose]

Did you consider calling NCL corporate at 305.436.4000 during regular business hours?

[cliffd64]

Sorry you are having a difficult time with NCL.

 

Typically, as the initial Customer Service reps tried to explain, when you book with a Travel Agent, this is your point of contact with the cruiseline for all matters.

 

I believe your Travel Agent should be handling all matters with NCL regarding your cancellation and the resolution of any discrepancies. Your travel agent should not be passing you off to Customer Relations. They should be following up with the cruise line as this is what you hired them for. Since they are supposed to be your contact with the cruise line, then let them do their job for you.

 

That being said, I do sympathize with you over your frustration.

 

One point though... I do not believe that Customer Relations people are trained to inform people that their supervisor is on vacation when people try to escalate a call, as you infer below...

 

OTOH, if Reps are instructed to tell that story whenever a supervisor's intervention is requested that's even worse.

 

[RJake1]

All of what you say regarding my travel agent might be correct. However, my biggest disappointment with NCL is the issue with the supervisor. Do you honestly believe that NCL is going to allow their entire Customer Relations Department to go unsupervised for a week (maybe more)?

 

Either somebody was in charge and the Rep was trained to prevent calls from being elevated, or the Rep was incompetent, or NCL's management practices are suspect. Who's going to make sure people even show up for work if nobody is in charge??

[sadiecat]

I just contacted my TA and asked what we would do in this type of situation (we have used her for years) and she told me that she would handle contact NCL period and that is how it would be taken care of. So, at least I know now what I would do should I find myself in this situation.

[RJake1]

I agree with all the suggestions about the travel agent.

 

However, I am not aware of any Customer Relations Department (except maybe for debt collection agencies) that prevents a consumer from speaking with a supervisor when requested. That's unforgivable from a business perspective. After all, somebody had to be in charge.

[newmexicoNita]

I called NCL to inquire about a refund necessitated due to a medical emergency. I was entitled to a 50% refund per the contract but the amount credited to my Mastercard was several hundred dollars less. I simply wanted to understand how the amount was arrived at.

 

My first call to a NCL rep was somewhat helpful. She pulled up the info and recognized the discrepancy but was unable to explain it. She referred me to NCL Customer Relations Department. That's where the fun began!

 

I spoke to a Customer Relations Rep who first pulled up my account. She then told me her screen would not allow her to access my payment information. I couldn't believe that, so I inquired as to what details she could see. She then changed her story and said that since I had booked through a travel agent I had to speak with the travel agent.

 

I advised her I had done that and they couldn't explain the discrepancy. They advised me to call NCL Customer Relations directly as had the earlier NCL rep. She insisted she could not give me any details. I tried to explain that the refund was an issue between NCL and me (not the travel agent) but she was inflexible.

 

I then asked to speak to a supervisor. This is the really good part. She told me there was only one supervisor and SHE WAS ON VACATION!!! I asked if anyone was in charge. She said NO!!! LOL!!! Are you kidding me??

 

She advised me that if I wanted to elevate the issue that I could leave a message and the supervisor would call me NEXT WEEK when she returned from vacation!!! NEXT WEEK??!!?? Today is only Monday! I'd have to wait at least seven days to get an answer???

 

IMHO, this was very poorly handled. If the "story" about the supervisor is true then this doesn't speak well of NCL's management practices. OTOH, if Reps are instructed to tell that story whenever a supervisor's intervention is requested that's even worse.

 

In any event, if you choose to cruise NCL my advice is that you should hope everything goes well, because if you have to deal with the Customer Relations Department you might as well give up now.

 

I am totally shocked. I just had a similar experience with them. I had clients (5 cabins) it was a family celebrating a 50th wedding anniversary. About 2 weeks prior to sailing one of them was diagnosed with cancer. All had to cancel, one simple phone call to the reservations dept, nothing more and the 50% refund showed up on the credit card about 24 hours later. I have had this happen in case of a death a few years ago, same thing.

 

I will add, the person who told you, there was no sup available was either mistaken or down right lieing. No dep ever has no sup available..

Nita

[newmexicoNita]

Sorry you are having a difficult time with NCL.

 

Typically, as the initial Customer Service reps tried to explain, when you book with a Travel Agent, this is your point of contact with the cruiseline for all matters.

 

I believe your Travel Agent should be handling all matters with NCL regarding your cancellation and the resolution of any discrepancies. Your travel agent should not be passing you off to Customer Relations. They should be following up with the cruise line as this is what you hired them for. Since they are supposed to be your contact with the cruise line, then let them do their job for you.

 

That being said, I do sympathize with you over your frustration.

 

One point though... I do not believe that Customer Relations people are trained to inform people that their supervisor is on vacation when people try to escalate a call, as you infer below...

 

Cliff, I posted before I read your response, Yes, of course it has to go throught the TA.

[wg6530]

All of what you say regarding my travel agent might be correct. However, my biggest disappointment with NCL is the issue with the supervisor. Do you honestly believe that NCL is going to allow their entire Customer Relations Department to go unsupervised for a week (maybe more)?

 

Either somebody was in charge and the Rep was trained to prevent calls from being elevated, or the Rep was incompetent, or NCL's management practices are suspect. Who's going to make sure people even show up for work if nobody is in charge??

I am not impressed with your agent asking you to do the agent's job. Your travel agent should have called right away and needs to call now. The rep said they would discuss the matter with your agent. Therefore, if your agent calls and resolves the situation, there is no need for you to speak to a supervisor.

 

If your agent does not appologize and call for you, fire him/her.

 

If your agent calls and is unable to resolve the issue, have the agent escalate the issue; I bet a supervisor will be available when proper channels are followed.

 

I assume you canceled through your agent (pretty much have to do so). Were you close to the cut-off time for 50% refund? If so, you sure your agent contacted the cruiseline to cancel in a timely matter?

 

At least some of your problems are due to your agent. There is a chance the whole issue is your agent.

[sottovoce]

One more time where NCL is blamed for a travel agent's lack of enterprise.

 

"Worst customer service ever?" Please. Another over-the-top posting when all that was needed was a simple question along the lines of: "Here's my situation...what would you suggest I do?"

[newmexicoNita]

One more time where NCL is blamed for a travel agent's lack of enterprise.

 

"Worst customer service ever?" Please. Another over-the-top posting when all that was needed was a simple question along the lines of: "Here's my situation...what would you suggest I do?"

 

As I mentioned and I agree with you of course: I made one phone call for my clients: problem solved, then one more to the insurance company and again, after providing proof of the claim the money was refunded. In all, it took the client about 2 weeks total to get the entire $10,000 back. Am I a perfect agent? Of course not, so any agent who didn't take charge might be a little subject or just didn't know how to handle the situation. Now, let's hope the OP gets back all he should. That is the most important thing.

 

Nita

[jwoap]

I spoke to a Customer Relations Rep who first pulled up my account. She then told me her screen would not allow her to access my payment information. I couldn't believe that, so I inquired as to what details she could see. She then changed her story and said that since I had booked through a travel agent I had to speak with the travel agent.

 

I advised her I had done that and they couldn't explain the discrepancy. They advised me to call NCL Customer Relations directly as had the earlier NCL rep. She insisted she could not give me any details. I tried to explain that the refund was an issue between NCL and me (not the travel agent) but she was inflexible.

 

I then asked to speak to a supervisor. This is the really good part. She told me there was only one supervisor and SHE WAS ON VACATION!!! I asked if anyone was in charge. She said NO!!! LOL!!! Are you kidding me??

 

.

 

Hi there - I am really really sorry that you are having to go through this. this is the pits. However, NCL is correct, as stinky as it is because you booked through a Travel Agent you have to go through them. And it's your TA who should be making all these calls and getting to the bottom of this and making it right for you. Not you.

 

So I would call my TA back and just say - "Look there's a descrepancy, this is what I am entitled to. Please either remedy it, or your company write me a check for the difference and we will call it a day."

 

Good luck!

[SnootieTootie]

This post is very relevant to me. We had to cancel an upcoming cruise on the Epic.

 

Late last week my credit came through on my charge card, and was correct, but my parents received an incorrect refund.

 

After calling NCL this morning, they said that I needed to talk to accounting, and gave me a number to call at 9:00 a.m. When I called the number, it wasn't accounting, it was customer relations.

 

After a lot of holding, and then a return call, we straightened out the problem.

 

My parents had used a $250 future cruise certificate, so it was reinstated as "unsued" and is now available for future bookings. This accounted for the discrepancy.

 

The confusion comes with their lack of explanation with how the refund amount is arrrived at.

[Starrgazer50]

Sorry you are having a difficult time with NCL.

 

Typically, as the initial Customer Service reps tried to explain, when you book with a Travel Agent, this is your point of contact with the cruiseline for all matters.

 

I believe your Travel Agent should be handling all matters with NCL regarding your cancellation and the resolution of any discrepancies. Your travel agent should not be passing you off to Customer Relations. They should be following up with the cruise line as this is what you hired them for. Since they are supposed to be your contact with the cruise line, then let them do their job for you.

 

That being said, I do sympathize with you over your frustration.

 

One point though... I do not believe that Customer Relations people are trained to inform people that their supervisor is on vacation when people try to escalate a call, as you infer below...

 

Maybe the TA passed her off to NCL Rep. because since the customer had to cancel her cruise, the TA doesnt get the commission and she feels that she's no longer obligated to her?:confused: Does the TA still get some commission? Or, does the TA charge a cancelation fee?

[cliffd64]

I agree with all the suggestions about the travel agent.

 

However, I am not aware of any Customer Relations Department (except maybe for debt collection agencies) that prevents a consumer from speaking with a supervisor when requested. That's unforgivable from a business perspective. After all, somebody had to be in charge.

 

Oddly enough my manager is away this week, and we all showed up for work...

[cliffd64]

Maybe the TA passed her off to NCL Rep. because since the customer had to cancel her cruise, the TA doesnt get the commission and she feels that she's no longer obligated to her?:confused: Does the TA still get some commission? Or, does the TA charge a cancelation fee?

 

Some travel agents have a cancellation fee for this purpose. Others try to gain advantage over their competition by not having any fees. It depends on who you book with.

[erdoran]

OP, if you can't get any satisfaction you can file a dispute with your credit card company! Be sure to have some written notice of cancellation you sent, or at least notes indicating when you called and if possible who you spoke with, and also a copy of NCL's cancellation policy & the amount ou believe you are entitled to for a refund.

[sjbdtz]

All of what you say regarding my travel agent might be correct. However, my biggest disappointment with NCL is the issue with the supervisor. Do you honestly believe that NCL is going to allow their entire Customer Relations Department to go unsupervised for a week (maybe more)?

 

Either somebody was in charge and the Rep was trained to prevent calls from being elevated, or the Rep was incompetent, or NCL's management practices are suspect. Who's going to make sure people even show up for work if nobody is in charge??

 

Oddly enough my manager is away this week, and we all showed up for work...

 

 

 

Ding ding ding. My manager is also away this week, yet I'm here working.

 

They have one manager in Customer Relations, her name is Mary Alice.... she's entitled (I believe) to vacation time just as anyone else.

 

I'm not sure why the panic over waiting 7 days, it doesn't seem like a horribly long time.... I waited 4 weeks for them to respond to a letter I'd sent.

[spacewoman]

One more time where NCL is blamed for a travel agent's lack of enterprise.

 

"Worst customer service ever?" Please. Another over-the-top posting when all that was needed was a simple question along the lines of: "Here's my situation...what would you suggest I do?"

 

That's because so many of us make the mistake of posting BEFORE we calm down:eek:

 

TA not doing their job on behalf of the client made it worse.

[ParrothdJH]

All of what you say regarding my travel agent might be correct. However, my biggest disappointment with NCL is the issue with the supervisor. Do you honestly believe that NCL is going to allow their entire Customer Relations Department to go unsupervised for a week (maybe more)?

 

Either somebody was in charge and the Rep was trained to prevent calls from being elevated, or the Rep was incompetent, or NCL's management practices are suspect. Who's going to make sure people even show up for work if nobody is in charge??

You should never have had to contact NCL. Your TA, whom you made your payments through should be handling ALL of this. "worst custmer service ever" should be directed at your TA, not NCL

[newmexicoNita]

Maybe the TA passed her off to NCL Rep. because since the customer had to cancel her cruise, the TA doesnt get the commission and she feels that she's no longer obligated to her?:confused: Does the TA still get some commission? Or, does the TA charge a cancelation fee?

 

If the cruiser didn't have insurance, probably the agent does not get the commission, but that is no excuse. Things happen, a good agent will do everything he/she can to work with their clients. I hope that had nothing to do with the situation. OP did say, he had worked with the agent before I think.

 

Nita

[newmexicoNita]

That's because so many of us make the mistake of posting BEFORE we calm down:eek:

 

TA not doing their job on behalf of the client made it worse.

 

good point. This is why I hate to see people post until the take a deep breath. This holds true with reviews, especially negative ones as well. We took a cruise a few years ago, several things were not as positive as we would have liked, I waited to post, didn't sugar coat the cruise but did realize many of the little objections we had were just that, little and the more I thought about it, the better the cruise became to me.

 

Nita

[MissRabbit]

I think there are 2 issues here and 1 issue can't absolve the other issue of responsibility.

 

Issue #1: The Travel Agent. I think everyone here agrees that it is the TA's responsibility to be the OPs representative in all NCL correspondence. Suggesting the OP call NCL directly was not proper practice and subsequently caused all sorts of issues and frustration for the OP. I think everyone also agrees that he OP should go back to the TA and insist they continue their job and solve the problem directly with NCL.

 

Issue #2: NCL customer service. Despite the fact the OP went directly to NCL instead of through his TA (on the advice of the TA), the customer service given to the OP appears to be subpar. First, the inability for a customer service rep to access the customer's account details seems odd as how are they supposed to provide customer service if they can't access anything? What if the OP hadn't used a TA and booked with NCL directly? Inability to access the customer's account certainly poses a problem in being able to resolve the issue, correct? Then, when challenged, the rep says he needs to go through his TA. Ok, that is what should have been given as an answer right from the get go with his first call to the NCL rep (who should have sent him to his TA and not to Customer Service). The other issue is supervision. With call centres, there is *always* someone available to supervise the floor. If it's not the usual supervisor, then someone else is filling in. I ran a call centre for a few years and a floor supervisor was crucial to have to deal with any elevated phone call issues.

 

 

In the end, the original blame needs to be placed on the TA for telling the OP to contact NCL directly. However once the OP did contact NCL, they should not have been given the run around/service they did. Blaming the TA for it all, does not make what NCL did *okay*.

[RNPJN]

I think there are 2 issues here and 1 issue can't absolve the other issue of responsibility.

 

Issue #1: The Travel Agent. I think everyone here agrees that it is the TA's responsibility to be the OPs representative in all NCL correspondence. Suggesting the OP call NCL directly was not proper practice and subsequently caused all sorts of issues and frustration for the OP. I think everyone also agrees that he OP should go back to the TA and insist they continue their job and solve the problem directly with NCL.

 

Issue #2: NCL customer service. Despite the fact the OP went directly to NCL instead of through his TA (on the advice of the TA), the customer service given to the OP appears to be subpar. First, the inability for a customer service rep to access the customer's account details seems odd as how are they supposed to provide customer service if they can't access anything? What if the OP hadn't used a TA and booked with NCL directly? Inability to access the customer's account certainly poses a problem in being able to resolve the issue, correct? Then, when challenged, the rep says he needs to go through his TA. Ok, that is what should have been given as an answer right from the get go with his first call to the NCL rep (who should have sent him to his TA and not to Customer Service). The other issue is supervision. With call centres, there is *always* someone available to supervise the floor. If it's not the usual supervisor, then someone else is filling in. I ran a call centre for a few years and a floor supervisor was crucial to have to deal with any elevated phone call issues.

 

 

In the end, the original blame needs to be placed on the TA for telling the OP to contact NCL directly. However once the OP did contact NCL, they should not have been given the run around/service they did. Blaming the TA for it all, does not make what NCL did *okay*.

The inability for a customer service rep to access the customer's account details doesn't seem odd as when you book with a TA all communication must be done with the TA the contract is with that agency not NCL :cool:

[sjbdtz]

The other issue is supervision. With call centres, there is *always* someone available to supervise the floor. If it's not the usual supervisor, then someone else is filling in. I ran a call centre for a few years and a floor supervisor was crucial to have to deal with any elevated phone call issues.

 

 

In the end, the original blame needs to be placed on the TA for telling the OP to contact NCL directly. However once the OP did contact NCL, they should not have been given the run around/service they did. Blaming the TA for it all, does not make what NCL did *okay*.

 

 

I worked in call centres on the night shift when I was much younger, and we did not have any supervisors. In fact there were only 2 of us on duty and we were peers.

 

We had some 'shoulder' supervision (the supervisor left at 11pm, and the next one came in at 6a.m.) but most of the evening we were alone.

 

 

 

 

The reason that the agent couldn't pull up the OPs payment information...is because the OP didn't pay NCL anything.

 

The OP paid their TA, who then deducted their commission and paid NCL.

 

So NCL knows what/when the TA paid, but doesn't have those details for the customer.

 

If you call General Motors, they will not be able to pull-up how much you paid the dealer for your car. (NB: this is especially true if you drive an Audi! (GM has NO idea what you paid!) ;) ) Your contract & financial agreements are with the dealer. It's not that they don't want to...heck, having access to the actual 'street price' of their vehicles might be helpful when pricing new models....but a dealer can always sell for less / add-in extras, etc. as part of the negotiating process.

 

Same with a TA.