Rude Princess Phone Consultants

[RDC1]

Thankfully I can rest easy there as there is a recording of the phone call that the team leader listened to. The phone call started with "this call is being recorded for coaching and quality control purposes''.

 

My tone was very friendly and I said I am really sorry but I want to decline the upgrade I was just given and want my original cabin back.

 

The rude woman was probably thinking I was trying out for a better cabin when in fact all I wanted was my own cabin back.

 

Keep in mind that everything you indicated she said is probably valid:

 

1. most people are probably grateful when they get a call saying that they have been upgraded.

 

2. She can fill out the paperwork requesting the room back, which she did, but does not have the authority to guarentee that you will get it back, which she indicated.

 

Now please explain exactly what a rude tone sounds like? Especially consider how what separates a rude tone, from a frustrated or exasperated tone. Now you are saying that your tone was all sweetness and light. However, it does come across in your e-mail that you were fairly upset with the situation and not willing to not accept that she has submitted the request for an answer. You might consider that she found your "tone" just as rude as you found hers.

 

From what you listed everything she said was actually factual. If the department responsible (which is not the customer service rep) did not give you your room back and you did cancel then you would in fact lose your money, unless you had cancel for any reason insurance.

 

Now you indicated that you did not care for her not showing empathy with your situation. You apparently did not show any for hers. Someone who has a job communicating company policy and executing the appropriate actions to request getting the room back. Would be very interesting to actually hear the tape.

 

I had subordinates that ran customer service and several times had customers elevate issues above customer service to my level. Some were correct. However, some were clearly not. A couple of times I had the tape replayed for them. They did not realize how, in the heat of the discussion, how they sounded.

 

Now the one thing that the rep should have done, if in fact they didn't, was to make it clear that another department had to process and approve the return of the room and how you could find out when the action was complete. You did not indicate if they in fact had done that or not. Another action might have been to elevate it to a supervisor once she had completed all of the actions she could. Customer reps can only execute a limited set of actions, within pretty tight limits.

Edited August 27, 2014 by RDC1

[RickEk]

Quick question for the OP... did you call the Princess call center in the US or AUS? Just curious...

[xdudex]

I can't resist the urge to reply as a former call centre worker for princess. I have seen this situation countless times.

 

If the opening poster booked directly the consultant (as part of the booking recap) will ask if the customer would like to opt in for a complimentary upgrade, at this point it is normally explained what that entails.

 

You can have your booking marked as 'yes to upgrade' meaning you'll be automatically (key word) upgraded to any grade of cabin better than what's booked. This is irrelevant if you think it's better or worse because princess determine the grading system, not you. If there is even a 1% chance you aren't happy with this fact then you should mark as no to upgrade.

 

The second upgrade (one not many know about) is a meta category upgrade. This means if you book inside you will not be considered for superior insides but the next category up for example obstructed oceanview assuming this isn't royal or regal princess. The same terms apply, any position, and deck, not happy don't opt in.

 

If he booked through a travel agent then this is either explained to the agent over the phone or clearly labelled on their booking system in store, it's an option they must decide on in order to process a booking. So either way, the opening poster has agreed to something he obviously shouldn't have or the agent has chosen for him and he's a victim of their assumption. Reservations or the birthing team would never know what a passengers particularly opinion of an upgrade is because of course everyone opinion differs, if you opt in they assume you've agreed. There is little argument over the upgrade option is I'm brutally honest (sorry) the best you can do is say to the consultant, please add a booking remark to try get me upgrade port side for example.

 

However in his defence it doesn't excuse rude behaviour towards a passenger and the consultant should not have been provocative. All I would normally advise is something along the lines of "unfortunately I see your booking was marked as yes to all upgrade options which was detailed in the booking recap process, however if you're unhappy with the room we can request with the birthing team to move you back to your original room, this is not guaranteed as it's likely someone in turn has been moved to your cabin, if this is the case I will request a selection of room numbers similiar to what you had and call you back to see if they are acceptable to you, which these cabins are still on general sale hence subject to live availability"

 

Normally res were allowed to just move you back to your room if it was available, however the US office stopped this and asked us to use a form to send to them requesting the cabin switch, a process that failed spectacularly. Normally we would just email the ship birther and explain the situation, 95% of the time they moved heaven and earth to get your room back (including begging the new occupants of your original room) to move into the cabin you were upgraded to.

 

So yes it is a hassle and you shouldn't agree to something that you didn't ask enough question about or took a gamble on and now aren't happy you hit black instead of red. Though the service displayed quite rightly is unacceptable but won't (in my opinion amount to anything more than an informal chit chat with their team leader at best) even if it was worse you won't be given details on internal disciplinary proceedings. In my nearly 4 years at princess I saw some pretty terrible service but never saw anyone fired, it's very hard to get the sack, I saw managers laugh at customers on the phone who got into mild bother at best. It's hard to recruit in a call centre when the wage is low. The hours are long and they need experience. It takes over a year to become competent at the software they use and 2 or 3 more to be an expert.

 

Just to put things in perspective in my office a princess cruise specialist 75%of the time I'd guess would be recruited from a generic sales role with no travel experience let alone princess specific experiences or booking skills and they're the rank above 'reservations consultant' . They'd even put customers on hold to ask reservations what to do, it was that ridiculous but it does demonstrate how they struggle to retain staff and how they don't seem to push people from res I into other departments. Though this may be different in other princess offices around the world.

 

If they can't move you back, ask them to call the people in your room and offer them your upgrade, but focus less on attacking the consultant, your holiday is the priority and to be honest your efforts probably won't yield much reprimand which I agree is unfortunate.

 

Also in addition to the travel agent over direct bookings, I can categorically say that princess do more for direct bookings that agent ones in my experience. You may get it cheaper but ultimately if your agent messes they will rightfully point the finger at the agent. We also did special promotions and upgrade offers, and price reductions for direct bookings and the vast majority of major issues that had potential to disrupt a passengers cruise enjoyment, were done with agents messing up the booking because they don't have princess specific knowledge.

[KarateMan]

Keep in mind that everything you indicated she said is probably valid:

 

1. most people are probably grateful when they get a call saying that they have been upgraded.

 

2. She can fill out the paperwork requesting the room back, which she did, but does not have the authority to guarentee that you will get it back, which she indicated.

 

Now please explain exactly what a rude tone sounds like? Especially consider how what separates a rude tone, from a frustrated or exasperated tone. Now you are saying that your tone was all sweetness and light. However, it does come across in your e-mail that you were fairly upset with the situation and not willing to not accept that she has submitted the request for an answer. You might consider that she found your "tone" just as rude as you found hers.

 

From what you listed everything she said was actually factual. If the department responsible (which is not the customer service rep) did not give you your room back and you did cancel then you would in fact lose your money, unless you had cancel for any reason insurance.

 

Now you indicated that you did not care for her not showing empathy with your situation. You apparently did not show any for hers. Someone who has a job communicating company policy and executing the appropriate actions to request getting the room back. Would be very interesting to actually hear the tape.

 

She did not want to do the paperwork, immediately raised her voice and said it was a good upgrade to be moved from an inside to an obstructed outside. She said it was unacceptable that I decline an upgrade and that in most cases the cabin has been sold on to someone else.

 

I told her that I considered it a downgrade because I was moving from a prime location on Lido deck to an isolated location on Emerald deck, I said if they saw fit to move me without asking then they can see fit to put me back.

 

She then took an aggressive tone and told me it was unacceptable that I dare decline the upgrade and she said her daughter would appreciate such an upgrade and not behave in such a manner as to decline it.

 

I said I am sorry but I don't care for your tone and the way you are speaking to me can you please put me through to your supervisor and she hung up the phone.

 

There were a lot of things she said to me but the statement above sums up the direction of the conversation.

 

All I wanted was my cabin back. I did not want a lecture on why I should keep the upgrade.

 

I said look I have done over 20 cruises and I know ships well, I know where I like to be on ships and I consider it a downgrade. I have 2 future cruises with Princess booked and have just done 31 nights on Princess around South America, I know what I like and am just asking for my originally booked cabin and my profile would indicate I always go for the exact same location on the ship.

 

Unfortunately there is a sense of urgency here because the cruise starts in 3 days time.

[bplazo]

Why would you want to get someone fired? Be a bigger person and take a deep breath and let it go.

Edited August 27, 2014 by bplazo

[RDC1]

The consultants don't have the power to "undo" your upgrade. They have to fill out the form for the department that handles those, and tell you that you will hear back. That's the procedure for an unwanted upgrade.

 

I disagree with this statement. I called recently about an "upgrade" and the person on the phone switched me back and I watched it change on My Princess while I was on the phone with a very friendly Princess representative.

 

The customer service rep can probably change it back if the room had not yet been reassigned, if it was sitting in a pool waiting for assignment. I doubt that they have the authority to remove a customer from a room and give it to someone else, without authority from another department.

 

I recently had booked two 10 days back to back in the same room. The fares changed and it became cheaper to switch it to one 20 day booking. I called in and the agent very helpfully processed everything, but indicated that another department had to actually execute the room assignment to the new booking (even though the room was the same one I had for the 2 10 days). Because the room was assigned to another booking (even though it was my booking and those bookings were being canceled) she could not assign it. She sent in the request. About 12 hours later I got the updated booking e-mail with the room assignment.

[RDC1]

She did not want to do the paperwork, immediately raised her voice and said it was a good upgrade to be moved from an inside to an obstructed outside. She said it was unacceptable that I decline an upgrade and that in most cases the cabin has been sold on to someone else.

 

I told her that I considered it a downgrade because I was moving from a prime location on Lido deck to an isolated location on Emerald deck, I said if they saw fit to move me without asking then they can see fit to put me back.

 

She then took an aggressive tone and told me it was unacceptable that I dare decline the upgrade and she said her daughter would appreciate such an upgrade and not behave in such a manner as to decline it.

 

I said I am sorry but I don't care for your tone and the way you are speaking to me can you please put me through to your supervisor and she hung up the phone.

 

There were a lot of things she said to me but the statement above sums up the direction of the conversation.

 

All I wanted was my cabin back. I did not want a lecture on why I should keep the upgrade.

 

I said look I have done over 20 cruises and I know ships well, I know where I like to be on ships and I consider it a downgrade. I have 2 future cruises with Princess booked and have just done 31 nights on Princess around South America, I know what I like and am just asking for my originally booked cabin and my profile would indicate I always go for the exact same location on the ship.

 

Unfortunately there is a sense of urgency here because the cruise starts in 3 days time.

 

I also always select my room location. If you book online there is not anyway to request do not upgrade. The only way to do that, if you book directly with Princess, is to call and have a customer service rep mark it on the system. If you had not done that, then the the reservation would not have been marked do not upgrade. Your cruise history and profile would not matter.

 

Princess does a good job of sending out e-mails with upgraded information whenever a change occurs with a booking. If it has been 24 hours and you have not gotten one changing the room back you should probably call again and see what the status is, following the course of action detailed by xdudex.

[Ethel5]

Some people figure that attacking the agent as being rude etc will get them what they want. I've seen it happen time and again. They call the center and ask for the impossible. The agent says the impossible isn't available. The caller asks for a supervisor and then says the agent was rude etc, hoping he will get what he wants. It usually doesn't work. Keep in mind, the tape has both sides of the conversation on it-not just the agent. Will getting the agent fired really make you happy?

[kruisey]

This just strikes me as another example of why people should use a good travel agent who is cruise savvy to book. Why anyone would book directly with a nameless, faceless person in a call center who only has the companies interest at heart....well is completely beyond me.

 

Please do not tar all Princess representatives with the same brush.

They like your TA are there to earn a living .It is not worth the risk of losing their positions to be rude to customers .How unkind of your remarks 'nameless and faceless .Who do you think a TA has first position in his /Her heart?...Heather

[pablo222]

You can have your booking marked as 'yes to upgrade' meaning you'll be automatically (key word) upgraded to any grade of cabin better than what's booked.

 

It is my understanding that this is a request, not a guarantee.

 

For instance, checking 'no' means I prefer not be upgraded,

but princess may, for 'operational reasons' upgrade you.

 

If you read the passenger contract, they can pretty much do

whatever they would like, including substituting a different

ship...

[SwissDave]

It seems the team lead is fully aware of what happened. It is now his responsibility to take appropriate action with the consultant, to investigate why they were rude, and put measures in place to fix it.

It is not for you to determine or demand what happens.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone. Please excuse tryping orrers.

[waltd]

Why they were rude of IF they were rude.

[AKman2495]

This just strikes me as another example of why people should use a good travel agent who is cruise savvy to book. Why anyone would book directly with a nameless, faceless person in a call center who only has the companies interest at heart....well is completely beyond me.

 

Well...because the person in the call center has always been very nice to me. Also, as others have noted, the upgrade she got - for most people-would be a great upgrade.

 

Now, I sympathize with the OP, but upgrades happen-sayig you don't want an upgrade when you book won't really get you anywhere. I have also read a few threads on here from people who have checked no upgrades and were upgraded.

 

I think the way to avoid an upgrade is to book a cabin with every hope of getting an upgrade. Keep thinking upgrade..and it will never come.;)

 

That said, a rude customer service agent is not a good thing. Only a little worse than a rude customer.....

[Viesczy]

It seems the team lead is fully aware of what happened. It is now his responsibility to take appropriate action with the consultant, to investigate why they were rude, and put measures in place to fix it.

It is not for you to determine or demand what happens.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone. Please excuse tryping orrers.

 

^quoting for truth.

 

I hope the OP has a great time in the room that they have wanted.

 

In the grand scheme of things, is moving down 3 or 4 floors from a cave (interior) to a window really all that bad? The pizza really isn't that great and it isn't like you're traveling miles to take pictures.

 

As an ordained Dudeist priest... take it easy, man. There are far worse things that could've happened, like your eggshell paint could've actually turned out to be pearl! :eek:

 

Derek

[Northender]

The consultants don't have the power to "undo" your upgrade. They have to fill out the form for the department that handles those, and tell you that you will hear back. That's the procedure for an unwanted upgrade.

 

I disagree with this statement. I called recently about an "upgrade" and the person on the phone switched me back and I watched it change on My Princess while I was on the phone with a very friendly Princess representative.

 

Yes, I disagree also. Same thing happened to me a couple of weeks ago. No email, TA not notified. I called Princess and, bingo, I got my original cabin back. No muss, no fuss.:):)

[billco]

This just strikes me as another example of why people should use a good travel agent who is cruise savvy to book. Why anyone would book directly with a nameless, faceless person in a call center who only has the companies interest at heart....well is completely beyond me.

The same thing happens with travel agents. I recently cancelled five bookings with a large well known travel agency. My reasons were poor service, rudeness, and delayed response to inquiries from one of their TAs. I had been working with this TA for several years with what had started out as a pretty good relationship. But, it started taking several calls and e-mails to get a response to questions or changes to bookings. The final straw was when he rudely and incorrectly told me my booking was not eligible for a Princess sale. After cancelling all my bookings I got an e-mail from the agencies CEO apologizing and offering the services of their top TA who was known for timely responses. Too Late. I asked someone who posts frequently on CC for a recommendation and I am now very happy with my new TA.

[Loonbeam]

Whether YOU would take the upgrade is irrelevant. The OP for their own reasons did not want it. And the rep apparently could have handled it better.

 

Without hearing the actual call, we have no way of knowing what actually happened (no offense to the OP, it's just that rude, among other things is subjective - something that might annoy someone else I might not even notice).

 

At this point, the proper procedure is being followed. A team lead is reviewing the call (and its quite proper to request a review - that's why they are recording) and can take whatever corrective action is necessary with the rep about whom we know nothing, not the least of which is past history. And a request has been filed to reverse the upgrade.

 

If the upgrade can be reversed, great. If not, I encourage the OP to either request another cabin that comes closer to meeting their needs or to make the best of it (or if airfare is not an issue and/or vacation time, request a switch to another sailing where the cabin they want is avail).

[TERESAh]

I too would not consider this an upgrade. We usually book the Aloha deck as we like being on the upper decks. One time we were upgraded to an obstructed view on deck 8 and did not like it at all. It seems the majority of obstructed view cabins are on deck 8 with the lifeboats. We could not see anything from our cabin and wish we could have had our original inside cabin back.

[geoherb]

That said, a rude customer service agent is not a good thing. Only a little worse than a rude customer.....

I can understand how the OP felt. I had a 30-minute conversation with my DSL provider that went nowhere. She probably thought I was rude, even though I tried to keep my frustration to a polite level.

 

On the other hand, I would love to get this upgrade. I like the lower decks better than the upper ones. The Emerald Deck is great because you're just one deck above the Promenade Deck.

[Mom33]

IMHO, I don't believe that Princess should ever change a cabin a cruiser purchased without consulting the cruiser first.

[cpj]

That's not the point and the issue is not over. I still don't know what cabin I will be on now. I am going to be worried sick about this all week now until I get to the ship. Wondering what cabin I will be in. I specifically chose a cabin on Lido deck for a wide variety of reasons. I was upset enough when I got the upgrade email. It did not help one bit to have a rude phone consultant.

 

And for the record YES I do believe she should be fired. The way she spoke to me on the phone I would not wish upon anybody. No Passenger of Princess deserves to be spoken to the way she spoke to me.

 

 

 

That's exactly my thoughts too. They said on the phone "you might not get your cabin back as it may have been sold to someone else" Well if those rules exist that they cant sell someone else's cabin then why did they see fit to break their rules and do it to me.

More then likely the agent you spoke to probably does not care if she gets fired. We're talking about a minimum wage job here. Also they have a lot of turnover and most don't last long anyway.

[shredie]

Whether YOU would take the upgrade is irrelevant. The OP for their own reasons did not want it.

 

Exactly. I have noticed that attitude a few times. "What's wrong with you? That's a great upgrade. I would never want the original cabin you booked. I don't like *fill in the blank* cabins. If you don't want the upgrade, give it to me." And so on. I once had a problem with an unwanted upgrade from an aft to a midship, and I got all kinds of "advice" from people who don't like, never sail in, wouldn't book, don't know anyone who would book, etc., an aft. I wanted my aft. I got it back. If someone likes the cabin with the obstructed view of a the side of a tender or the cabin directly over the Princess theater, leave him/her alone. It sounds a little like the OP ran into one of these types with the rep who thought he should want the cabin she would want.

[dickinson]

Sorry for what happened. Cust Reps should never be rude to their customers.

 

Did I miss something? What did the Team Lead tell you about your cabin ? Did they try to do something for you or just listen to the recorded call and tell you that yes the rep was rude.

[M4dC0w]

IMHO, I don't believe that Princess should ever change a cabin a cruiser purchased without consulting the cruiser first.

 

I know on my last few upgrades, I got an email that stated I had 48 hours to noy accept the email, and after 48hours thevupgradecwould be applied.

[Putterdude]

Please do not tar all Princess representatives with the same brush.

They like your TA are there to earn a living .It is not worth the risk of losing their positions to be rude to customers .How unkind of your remarks 'nameless and faceless .Who do you think a TA has first position in his /Her heart?...Heather

 

Now really what is unkind about the words "nameless and faceless. At least with a good TA they look after this kind of an issue for you without being rude and if they don't then you find a new TA. It occurs to me that the CSR gets paid regardless. But if you like dealing with a nameless, faceless CSR then and paying Princess rack rates then that's your prerogative.:rolleyes: