Celebrity Call Center - Long Hold Times (Several Threads Merged)

[lthouseprincess]

So I did everything for this cruise online. I added the soda package to our reservation. My sister decided she did not want it. Can't cancel that online. Called and sat on hold for 43 minutes only for the guy to tell me oh I can't do that I need to transfer you. He transfered me to another line and the hold music comes on and tells me my wait time will be another 45 minutes! How can the lines always be this busy, this is crazy! I don't have 2 hours to sit on hold!

[smitty4971]

I've had a lot of problems with them this year as well. We did a 2 week with them last spring and it was a totally different experience.

 

I've had unreasonable hold times. The website never works right, the cruise line even admits that it's a mess.

 

I even had one of their people lie to me on the phone regarding our existing reservation. I called because I noticed that they dropped the 3rd person rate for our cabin from $749 to $449 and I asked for an adjustment. The girls said it was a one day sale and she could not adjust it. The last time I looked it was still $449. A blatant lie.

 

We did a 2 week med cruise with NCL in 2010. I booked a year in advance and each time the fare dropped over that year they gladly matched it.

 

Good Luck

[gimletgal]

If you purchased the beverage package on line through Celebrity, there is no reason you can't go on line and cancel it. Just go to "Manage My Reservation" and continue from there. It will give you the option to cancel whichever guest you choose.

[Shining Clem]

You say you've done everything on-line. We had this problem last year with our HAL sailing to Alaska. We made our arrangements through the same great travel agent we've used, but thought we could do things like dinner reservations, excursions, etc for ourselves and not use up her valuable time. Which we did, but then there was a mistake on the night for dinner and we couldn't cancel/reschedule it ourselves.

 

We took the problem to Joan the TA and although she was put on hold, she was able to get the changes made after 15 minutes on hold. She said as an agent for a large agency (AAA), she has dedicated reps at the cruise lines she calls. I imagine those folks are more experienced too - the TA's are too important to the cruise lines business.

 

My point being that working with an experienced travel agent has it's benefits.

 

It's not just in the travel world - many companies have cut back on the number of customer service agents and it shows a contempt for the customer. When Mr Clem started running into this stuff after retiring, he couldn't believe it, and got a taste of what things were like in the real world. In his job for a major corporation, if he called a vendor about some software or to order a box of widgets, the phone was answered -- quickly.

[riclop]

So I did everything for this cruise online. I added the soda package to our reservation. My sister decided she did not want it. Can't cancel that online. Called and sat on hold for 43 minutes only for the guy to tell me oh I can't do that I need to transfer you. He transfered me to another line and the hold music comes on and tells me my wait time will be another 45 minutes! How can the lines always be this busy, this is crazy! I don't have 2 hours to sit on hold!

So because she doesnt want it youre going to cancel it? WOW.

[gizmodog]

Over NOT answering the phone? This is really turned into a problem and loyal and new customers will be looking elsewhere. Who has 30 min to an hour to hold for someone to talk to??? Not understanding this at all.

[jgreenwo17]

This must be the new normal for X. This was going on a month ago. Folks were blaming the weather slowing everything down. Partly maybe, but I think they don't put enough resources in their customer service dept. Alot of folks on these boards recommend letting a TA go on hold for you. (I think they are right).

[hulamoon]

I have to agree. Except for needing to manage a reservation before it is transferred, I don't want to call them.

 

But their responses to TA's are pretty off the charts these days, but that's another story.

[smitty4971]

This must be the new normal for X. This was going on a month ago. Folks were blaming the weather slowing everything down. Partly maybe, but I think they don't put enough resources in their customer service dept. Alot of folks on these boards recommend letting a TA go on hold for you. (I think they are right).

 

You are absolutely correct. I posted a similar thread a few weeks ago and was attacked by several people claiming it was all weather related. People need to wake up and stop apologizing for ANY company's failure to deliver top notch customer service. When you hand over thousands of your dollars to anyone you have the right to demand great service. People who try and fabricate excuses for a company who holds their own customers in contempt are only adding to the problem.

 

Celebrity will end up reaping next year what they are sowing this year. There are way too many choices when selecting a cruise line to put up with cruddy customer service.

[granddutchess]

I agree. They have you on hold for so long. Do not seem to find that at RCCL.

[miched]

Since it is Modern Luxury it may be that you have to text them.

 

 

🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅🍸🍻

[smitty4971]

Since it is Modern Luxury it may be that you have to text them.

 

 

 

"Start early in the day...."

 

One of the best tips I've ever seen on this board!

[Casanova02]

This week-end, I call Costa for a new cruise and I had to wait 50 minutes..... then the line cut.... :mad:

 

After a few minutes ( I had to calm down...), I call again and it took almost an hour for someone to answering me....

 

Finally, Celebrity is not that bad... :D

[alcpa1]

Although I generally book with a TA I can understand everyone's frustrations. We all know how horrid the weather has been this winter and that's got to play havoc with customer service. I do know it has made calling an airline, even as a medallion flyer, agonizing too.

Don't we all cringe when we read posts about those who have booked with a TA and still call X for inquiries? That makes wait times longer too. TA's need to inform their customers that this is cruise line policy, pure and simple. It should be on the TA's docs in big bold letters and maybe it will start to sink in.

Better trained X agents, with current information, would make calls go more quickly, more efficiently, and more satisfying for everyone.

As for this being an isolated circumstance....it is not.

[sawyer_boy]

If you don't like how you are being treated then stop giving them your money

[royalcruz]

It is puzzling isn't it? They could cut down on the wait time by reducing the amount of time they spend with customers on each call. It seems that when I call RC or X they are instructed to go through and confirm a lot of details each time regarding the reservation and it's unneccessary. That is already done at the time of the booking.

Edited February 27, 2014 by royalcruz

[Hlitner]

My goodness, let us not confuse the Celebrity phone clerks with the final product (the cruise). Many of us never even bother to deal with the cruise line's customer service folks but rather deal with Cruise Agencies and TAs who often have more experience and can give better advice then the cruise line reps. And when you deal with a cruise agency you only need to be jerked around once....and then you simply find a better agency. Eventually you will find the agency or agencies that make you smile...and the rest is history.

 

Hank

[pris993]

Interesting... even though I am elite with X, don't cruise X that often. We also cruise Princess, elite with Princess too, plus HAL, Cunard, NCL... have not had to wait a long time getting through to Princess or HAL on recent calls, so don't blame folks for not being happy with long phone waits.

 

We did book our next X cruise with a TA... guess I glad we did and not with the line directly.

[teecee60]

I posted a similar thread a few weeks ago and was attacked by several people claiming it was all weather related. When you hand over thousands of your dollars to anyone you have the right to demand great service. Celebrity will end up reaping next year what they are sowing this year. There are way too many choices when selecting a cruise line to put up with cruddy customer service.

 

Those attackers were only PARTIALLY correct. :confused:

 

EVERYONE knows that the ROOT CAUSE of the recent bad weather (that USED to be called "WINTER") is bovine flatulence. :eek: :D ;)

 

SO...If everyone went out for a steak, we could easily solve the Celebrity phone problem! ;)

 

If you don't like how you are being treated then stop giving them your money

 

And THAT is the ultimate bottom line! It just takes a while for "results" to "trickle down."

 

I've only booked directly with Celebrity ONCE... and would NEVER even CONSIDER doing it again! :cool:

[smitty4971]

If you don't like how you are being treated then stop giving them your money

 

Dead on the money!!

[smitty4971]

Those attackers were only PARTIALLY correct. :confused:

 

EVERYONE knows that the ROOT CAUSE of the recent bad weather (that USED to be called "WINTER") is bovine flatulence. :eek: :D ;)

 

SO...If everyone went out for a steak, we could easily solve the Celebrity phone problem! ;)

 

 

 

And THAT is the ultimate bottom line! It just takes a while for "results" to "trickle down."

 

I've only booked directly with Celebrity ONCE... and would NEVER even CONSIDER doing it again! :cool:

 

I think Celebrity's attitude toward customer service is Bovine Excrement!

 

However, if you're buying the steaks, I'm down!

[1313steve]

The quality of customer service is almost always directly related to the price being paid by the consumer, but customers seem to often forget that. Celebrity's prices are low (or at least in line with the other mass market lines) and they are offering promotions that signifcantly affect (reduce) their bottom line. Promo's like 123GO impact revenue signifcantly.

 

Costs have to be reduced accordingly and often times customer service is where it is most noticable. Reducing or failing to add staff because of lower revenue results in worse customer service. It's simple economics.

 

Compare Walmart to Nordstroms. Walmart is cheap, has bare bones stores, and has generally poor service (long lines, little help on the sales floor). Nordstoms has beautiful stores, amazing services, great products, but is more expensive. Expecting Nordstrom like service at a Walmart price is unreasonable.

 

Expecting service levels to be high on Celebrity when they are selling at a Carnival price is also unreasonable. I'm not saying I like it, but it's economic fact. I'd much rather have the actual cruise experience be great, but have to wait forever on the phone.That's a better alternative then having my phone call answered immediately, but having worse food, lesser ships, etc. etc.

[RickT]

To start I have to say I haven't experienced the long wait times that others have mentioned. My last three calls to Celebrity had very short wait times to reach someone (under 4 mins).

 

To look at this you need to understand the possible reasons behind the problem. When a call centre (and that's basically what you are reaching) is set up it is designed to have X number of employees deal with Y number of calls per hour. Staffing is set up to deal with historical trends including calls per hour and average call time (ie, calls typically take 5 mins from start to finish). In order to create the issue many are reporting, one of the three things needs to have changed.

 

1) Staffing. Is staffing reduced either because of bad weather or a corporate decision to reduce staffing? We have read the reports about bad weather a few weeks ago but I've read nothing about Celebrity cutting back on staff.

 

2) Increase in call volume. Many things can cause call volume to increase. I'm sure the 1,2,3 Go promo is reason for more calls. All the weather related flight delays are also probably a reason as clients try to contact Celebrity regarding cruises that they weren't able to take. In addition we've all complained about how bad the website can be at times so perhaps that is another cause?

 

3) Increase in call length. Anything that causes the length of a typical call to significantly increase will create additional burden on the process. I'm again sure the 1,2,3 Go promo results in more questions as does perhaps the change in Captains Club rules.

 

As someone who used to run a medium size call centre it's difficult to deal with changes in patterns that affect call centres. You can have staff work OT to deal with it and you can hire new staff if you feel the issue will have a long term affect but ultimately you can't just snap your fingers and make changes overnight. You need to train staff before you can put them on the phone and deal with customers and as a prudent business you also need to ensure that these changes are long term before making additional investment in staff and infrastructure.

 

I'm not condoning what is going on but I can understand it. I have faith that Celebrity will figure out a way to deal with it. In the interim, to those who need to speak with Celebrity, try changing the time of day you call. Also try the feature where you leave your name/phone number and they call you back.

[happymom]

Wow!! I must be very lucky. My husband and I have put in 4 calls the past month to either upgrade or have questions answered and we were never more than ten minutes for the entire call including wait time. May the angels continue to smile doen one me.

[DrivnMike]

The call center is in Miami . How bad can the weather be ? Not bad enough for people to not get into work , that's for sure. Sounds more like chronic under staffing to me . With that said, my last two calls had wait times of 5 and 8 minutes. May be a time of day issue ?