Minor fail by Princess in response to no water or toilet issue

[Stockjock]

I suspect that I will open myself up to some form of criticism since I am griping a bit, but that's par for the course, I suppose.

 

Did a short cruise out of Los Angeles on Golden Princess in November. Generally, we had a nice time and enjoyed the cruise and the service by Princess.

 

Unfortunately, there were plumbing issues that resulted in no shower, toilet or water the final evening and next morning. So I wrote a polite e-mail discussing the issue and also generally praising Princess otherwise.

 

Received a letter maybe 10 days ago, which referenced the wrong cabin number, the wrong ship (Diamond Princess), misspelled my name, and offering a $50 credit per passenger that expires in a few weeks, at the end of the current month.

 

I sent a quick note back mentioning these issues and wondering if they had confused me with an entirely different passenger. I also mentioned that I wouldn't mind a slightly higher credit, as not being able to use the toilet or shower was inconvenient.

 

Received in reply a copy of the same error-filled letter with a cover letter telling me that they were sending a new copy for my "puresul" (should be persual).

 

Not a huge deal, and again I did have fun, but I thought the response was a bit of a fail. Don't ya think so?

Edited January 17, 2015 by Stockjock

[Daisyloo]

Yup. I would be upset if I didn't have a functioning bathroom for the last night/morning. The lack of interest in getting your info correct and a credit that is due to expire so soon is a fail in my eyes.

[LovetheSea]

You totally have MY sympathy. I was in the same boat ( no pun intended) years ago on the Sea Princess. We had plumbing issues the whole cruise. NOT fun. We didn't get anything for our inconvenience. Hope you get what you want.

Edited January 17, 2015 by LovetheSea

[Stockjock]

P.S. I realize that I misspelled "perusal", but it was too late to edit. Besides, I'm not representing the company.

[dickinson]

I agree too it is a fail. Maybe a phone call to customer service is in order?

[Stockjock]

I agree too it is a fail. Maybe a phone call to customer service is in order?

 

At this point, I'm not going to put forth any more effort. I did generally have a nice time and it was an inexpensive cruise. The plumbing problems were unacceptable and the response was a poor one time two.

 

But if that's all they're going to do, then so be it.

[land lover]

It is disappointing and inexcusable to receive an error filled email. I bet the wrong year was put in the letter for your credit.

Did u look in your princess account to see what date it shows? Credit is usually is given for a year.

 

Some of those cruises were dirt cheap in November, with OBC, if your cruise was one of those, do you really think $50. was that out of line? If you do, then tell them what you think would be fair.

Edited January 17, 2015 by land lover

[Pixelate]

It is disappointing and inexcusable to receive an error filled email. I bet the wrong year was put in the letter for your credit.

Did u look in your princess account to see what date it shows? Credit is usually is given for a year.

 

Some of those cruises were dirt cheap in November, with OBC, if your cruise was one of those, do you really think $50. was that out of line? If you do, then tell them what you think would be fair.

 

Does it really matter what onboard credit was reimbursed? The OP still paid the cruise fare, which is where the per diem rate would be based off of; not net costs. For all we know, the OP could have booked a year in advance before Princess was scrambling to fill staterooms by deeply discounting the rates in addition to generous onboard credits to simply ensure their crew gets paid through automatic gratuities. If the crew doesn't get paid, they won't be happy. Morale would drop, courtesy would disappear and there wouldn't be any efficiency. If you had to work for $10 the entire week, I don't think you'd put a whole lot of effort in.

[Stockjock]

It is disappointing and inexcusable to receive an error filled email. I bet the wrong year was put in the letter for your credit.

Did u look in your princess account to see what date it shows? Credit is usually is given for a year.

 

Some of those cruises were dirt cheap in November, with OBC, if your cruise was one of those, do you really think $50. was that out of line? If you do, then tell them what you think would be fair.

 

The credit date was another error and it does expire in Jan 2016. I'd think $75-$100 pp for no shower, toilet or running water (plus a botched reply x 2) was fair, but again I'm not going to quibble about it. I've addressed the situation and they've responded. Just thought the response wasn't too good on several fronts.

[dforeigner]

The credit date was another error and it does expire in Jan 2016. I'd think $75-$100 pp for no shower, toilet or running water (plus a botched reply x 2) was fair, but again I'm not going to quibble about it. I've addressed the situation and they've responded. Just thought the response wasn't too good on several fronts.

 

It is bad enough that you had to go for no running water for the last day/night on board. That by itself is an issue. Then to add insult to injury, the reply with all the incorrect personal and information is beyond comprehension. The personal touch is definitely not there.

[GradUT]

Just thought the response wasn't too good on several fronts.

 

I totally agree with you there, Stockjock.

 

I know you are done with this issue, but if it were me, I'd send a copy of the error filled letter to the President of Princess Cruise Lines, Jan Swartz, at their corporate address and just say, "Do you really want Princess Customer Service to be exemplified by letters full of factual and spelling errors?"

Edited January 18, 2015 by GradUT

[cruisequeen4ever]

You are not out of line at all for expecting a functioning stateroom and bathroom, a professionally written letter from Princess, and better compensation!! Keep pursuing it!

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[SoCal Cruiser78]

Yup. I would be upset if I didn't have a functioning bathroom for the last night/morning. The lack of interest in getting your info correct and a credit that is due to expire so soon is a fail in my eyes.

 

I suppose a $50pp credit is not out of line (I'm thinking dinner and a glass of wine in one of the upcharge venues), but $100pp would be more appropriate, IMO. Better than nothing, though. I had a toilet out of order for a day or so on X once, and all I got was an apology.

 

The misspelling and incorrect ship/cabin # is probably just sloppy work. All too common these days :(.

Edited January 18, 2015 by Ryndam2002

[Casey12]

They should have done better.

[dickinson]

I totally agree with you there, Stockjock.

 

I know you are done with this issue, but if it were me, I'd send a copy of the error filled letter to the President of Princess Cruise Lines, Jan Swartz, at their corporate address and just say, "Do you really want Princess Customer Service to be exemplified by letters full of factual and spelling errors?"

 

I know the OP says they are not going to do anything more about this but the above quote is why I WOULD! Companies do not know what they are doing right NOR what they are doing wrong unless it is brought to their attention. Their email went to a person who appears to need a bit more training so another email would be useless. Either a phone call requesting to speak with Jan Swartz or a hand written letter to her office with all the info including the horrible email would be in order.

Edited January 18, 2015 by dickinson

[rhblake]

I must ask if OP reported the problem to customer service on board. Were the ships plumbers unable to resolve your problem? I have always had problems like that taken care of immediately no matter what time they were reported.

[san diego sue]

Recently on the Grand, toilet wouldn't flush. I made a call to Pursers desk. I got a call back telling me the problem was on the whole line, and was being worked on. Shortly after, it worked, and another call from Pursers to check all was okay. My feeling that it really depends on the staff working there how quick they respond and report your problem. We have been on ships before and had to call several times

and no one seem to know it was even reported when we called each time.Toilet flushing thing is so common. Passengers don't listen to what they can't flush in those toilets. Sometime it is a vacuum problem.

In any case , no excuse for Customer Relations to write such a letter with all those mistakes. I know how upsetting it can be when you have the problem and you are running around the ship looking for a public restroom to use.

[Stockjock]

I must ask if OP reported the problem to customer service on board. Were the ships plumbers unable to resolve your problem? I have always had problems like that taken care of immediately no matter what time they were reported.

 

 

Yes I did report the problem, they did have plumbers working on it but were unable to fix it.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jollyjones]

I know this is hardly helpful, but a thought just snuck up on me - I wonder what happened to the people just embarking into that cabin after you left ...

[Pixelate]

I know this is hardly helpful, but a thought just snuck up on me - I wonder what happened to the people just embarking into that cabin after you left ...

 

They'll probably hear something along these lines:

 

"Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We will work to fix this as soon as possible."

 

"This is the first we are hearing of this. We are sorry for what you are experiencing."

 

"Unfortunately we are sailing full."

[CU64]

I suspect that I will open myself up to some form of criticism since I am griping a bit, but that's par for the course, I suppose.

 

Did a short cruise out of Los Angeles on Golden Princess in November. Generally, we had a nice time and enjoyed the cruise and the service by Princess.

 

Unfortunately, there were plumbing issues that resulted in no shower, toilet or water the final evening and next morning. So I wrote a polite e-mail discussing the issue and also generally praising Princess otherwise.

 

Received a letter maybe 10 days ago, which referenced the wrong cabin number, the wrong ship (Diamond Princess), misspelled my name, and offering a $50 credit per passenger that expires in a few weeks, at the end of the current month.

 

I sent a quick note back mentioning these issues and wondering if they had confused me with an entirely different passenger. I also mentioned that I wouldn't mind a slightly higher credit, as not being able to use the toilet or shower was inconvenient.

 

Received in reply a copy of the same error-filled letter with a cover letter telling me that they were sending a new copy for my "puresul" (should be persual).

 

Not a huge deal, and again I did have fun, but I thought the response was a bit of a fail. Don't ya think so?

 

I find snailmail letter on white good quality paper gets a better response.

Emails just don't have the same impact.