HAL - Seriously, your customer service needs improvement

[brentp]

First, for those making assumptions this might have been for a can or two of soda/water, the quantity or amount does not matter, but this is not the case. We requested that ALL items be removed from our room on Day 1. For the Zaandam, in our cabin at least as there was no frig, all items were on the counter using up space we wanted for other needs. This said, as I pointed out in my original post, I am making an assumption it might be for the mini-bar items we had removed given others have had similar issues with HAL.

 

What really matters, to us at least, is that we left the ship with a final bill that we were in agreement with, and then were charged a higher amount by them and without any follow up communication that a higher amount needed to be processed or why. Adding to the frustrations, there was zero response on HAL's part after repeated attempts. Up through yesterday, the only communication received was a single canned EMAIL response that they would look into it and it might take up to 2 weeks (which was 4 weeks ago).

 

I know many here are very loyal to HAL. However, I am concerned and to me, what they are doing is not a good business practice - period. Can issues be resolved, sure, . . . but a good business relationship should start with trust and when that is lost, things tend to go south very quickly.

 

And now for the update, . . .

I finally got a new EMAIL from HAL today. Whether this was the result of this post, disputing the charge through our bank (yesterday), or finally responding to the last voice message I left for them, I don't know. What I received from them stated that they would provide a credit for the difference between our final bill and what we were charged. No updated room statement was provided as originally requested, nor was their any indication on what this issue was or what they are doing to fix it. At least, I have now been informed that a credit will be processed (another "2" weeks according to the EMAIL).

 

Thanks to those that have shared your stories and experiences and for those still working issues, I wish you the best.

[cruz chic]

Thanks for the update.

[cruz chic]

It could well be that HAL relies on that attitude.:rolleyes: I'm not sure that it is ever OK to allow a corporation to dip into my pocket, so I would always question a charge, no matter how much and no one should be made to feel it is not worth the bother. In my experience, everything has to be reconciled and balanced exactly. If it doesn't, then it is a symptom of a larger problem which HAL needs to fix.

 

There have been cases when I've let small charges go. It depends on my mood. One time I had someone's coffee purchases charged to my account. It was fancy coffee but iirc it was less than $5. I tried three times to get this removed from my account to no avail. Finally I decided to let it go. Sometimes it's just not worth the aggravation and time involved.

[kazu]

First, for those making assumptions this might have been for a can or two of soda/water, the quantity or amount does not matter, but this is not the case. We requested that ALL items be removed from our room on Day 1. For the Zaandam, in our cabin at least as there was no frig, all items were on the counter using up space we wanted for other needs. This said, as I pointed out in my original post, I am making an assumption it might be for the mini-bar items we had removed given others have had similar issues with HAL.

 

What really matters, to us at least, is that we left the ship with a final bill that we were in agreement with, and then were charged a higher amount by them and without any follow up communication that a higher amount needed to be processed or why. Adding to the frustrations, there was zero response on HAL's part after repeated attempts. Up through yesterday, the only communication received was a single canned EMAIL response that they would look into it and it might take up to 2 weeks (which was 4 weeks ago).

 

I know many here are very loyal to HAL. However, I am concerned and to me, what they are doing is not a good business practice - period. Can issues be resolved, sure, . . . but a good business relationship should start with trust and when that is lost, things tend to go south very quickly.

 

And now for the update, . . .

I finally got a new EMAIL from HAL today. Whether this was the result of this post, disputing the charge through our bank (yesterday), or finally responding to the last voice message I left for them, I don't know. What I received from them stated that they would provide a credit for the difference between our final bill and what we were charged. No updated room statement was provided as originally requested, nor was their any indication on what this issue was or what they are doing to fix it. At least, I have now been informed that a credit will be processed (another "2" weeks according to the EMAIL).

 

Thanks to those that have shared your stories and experiences and for those still working issues, I wish you the best.

 

Somehow I suspect the credit card got more attention than your post here ;)

 

No matter what, I am really happy to hear that you had this rectified.

 

That is really good news :)

[Lizzie68]

There have been cases when I've let small charges go. It depends on my mood. One time I had someone's coffee purchases charged to my account. It was fancy coffee but iirc it was less than $5. I tried three times to get this removed from my account to no avail. Finally I decided to let it go. Sometimes it's just not worth the aggravation and time involved.

 

Proof positive that there is something seriously wrong with their system when you say you tried three times to get it rectified to no avail. Like I said before, perhaps their accounting staff is relying on people giving up or not bothering. I wouldn't walk out of any store accepting an overcharge of any amount, and a phone call shouldn't be too much trouble. If it doesn't get done with that simple step, I'd be taking it further.

[ithaca gal]

An open note to HAL, . . .

 

As of right now, we will no longer sail with HAL again for a very simply error on your part that you appear you can neither respond to or get fixed.

 

We would like to tell people we had a great sailing with you to Alaska, . . . but unfortunately, we need to tell them the truth on how poor a company HAL is and why we would choose not to cruise with you again. Your loss.

 

I, too, would be frustrated at the delays but I do not think I would cut off my nose to spite my face -- not sail with HAL -- IF I had a great time on my cruise. You even say you would like to tell people you had a "great sailing" with HAL to Alaska but need to tell them how poor a company HAL is. It seems a bit HARSH to deem a company "poor" for one small billing problem (AND DELAYS IN ADDRESSING IT) when it appears you had a "GREAT" sailing.

[Tante Amalie]

We've had the minibar overcharging problem occur several times, but it has always been resolved quickly. It's still annoying.

 

There's no point in arguing about the term "fraud", but it does seem to go beyond the standard of a simple mistake. It creates the impression that HAL (and other cruise lines) are making the same error over and over and not taking any steps to avoid making the same mistake. Perhaps they know from experience that many pax will not notice or simply let it slide? If it's just a few dollars, we don't bother with it either. This is a "mistake" that always works in their favor. I suspect that if the mistake always led to a loss of revenue, they would be more careful.

[cruz chic]

Proof positive that there is something seriously wrong with their system when you say you tried three times to get it rectified to no avail. Like I said before, perhaps their accounting staff is relying on people giving up or not bothering. I wouldn't walk out of any store accepting an overcharge of any amount, and a phone call shouldn't be too much trouble. If it doesn't get done with that simple step, I'd be taking it further.

 

The problem is they pay you lip service pretty much like any complaint at the front desk. They say it will be fixed but it doesn't. At the time I was working and I had precious little free time. I couldn't sit on the phone for $5 for an hour. Others may have more free time to waste getting it resolved.

[kazu]

I am wondering if this mini bar problem stems from the shorter cruises?

 

The stewards and bar service are rushed for turn around day and I'm pretty sure mistakes are going to happen whether they didn't restock properly the first day of the cruise (and then thought it was drank and charged for) or in the rush to count?

 

Reason I post this is just our own experience. The one time we had a shorter cruise, we did have the extra charges. I emailed HAL and got a prompt reply with the break down and it turned out DH had given some drinks to guests and I didn't realize it.

 

Now to the point, on the longer cruises, we get slips most times and the charges appear on the bill after a few days at regular intervals. On the Prinsendam, they even restocked and asked how many or what we would like :) If you have any questions, they can show you exactly what it is. That means on the last day, there is very little accounting left to be done. So far on my longer cruises (20, 30 or 31 days) I have never had a reason to contest the final bill submitted by HAL. And yes, we do use the mini bar - quite often for guests. It's handy and we do get 50% off so it works out well for us.

[ETinCA]

What's bad is how a nice vacation can be ruined by something as simple as this. If HAL responds timely no ill feelings happen and all is fine

[sheba2008]

An open note to HAL, . . .

 

As of right now, we will no longer sail with HAL again for a very simply error on your part that you appear you can neither respond to or get fixed.

 

We sailed the Zaandam on May 31st. Our final bill was checked the day before debarkation - no issues. The final bill on our door was verified to be the same amount as the day before departure. We left the ship thinking all was good.

 

To our surprise, our credit card was billed a higher amount with no follow up communications. Also, there has been no communications from you or any attempt to resolve this even after repeated requests over the last 4 weeks via both EMAIL and phone to do so.

 

We can not even obtain an updated statement to verify what the error might be. We are guessing, but not 100% sure, that we were incorrectly (fraudulently is a stronger word that should be used) charge to restock the "mini-bar" items on the room counter removed from our room at our request on Day 1 of the sailing.

 

Shame, losing future customers because 1) your on-board accounting dept can't keep simply books and 2) your on-shore customer service dept. can't investigate and respond to inquiries in a timely manor (4 weeks is way way too much time for this).

 

So, the charge has now been disputed and you can deal with the bank directly. From us, there will be no further communications with HAL including any future bookings.

 

We would like to tell people we had a great sailing with you to Alaska, . . . but unfortunately, we need to tell them the truth on how poor a company HAL is and why we would choose not to cruise with you again. Your loss.

 

 

Happend to us 2 times, living in Belgium it is hard to resolved this, can't phone so e-mailed, took a few months to get the money back.

Next time it will also my last cruise with HAL, 2 times out of 3 cruises is my limit.

[Stratheden]

Could easily be a mistake by the crew. We have our mini bar removed when we embark as we never use it.

 

On the 2nd last day of the cruise a staff member knocked and came in to check our mini bar. We explained that it had been emptied on day one.

 

Next morning another staff member came to check the mini bar - we asked why when it was done yesterday. She said isn't this room xxxx, we said no, it is room yyyy, oh sorry. Wrong room.

[Fouremco]

While we use the fridge for cooling our own drinks, we otherwise never use a ship's mini bar and I wonder how many other passengers are the same. It's too bad that the option isn't included on the booking site. After selecting bed configuration and dining preference, we could check off filled or empty mini bar.

 

 

We have emailed Ship Services prior to our cruises & requested that our mini-bar be emptied before we embark & it always has been. On debarkation day, the Wine Steward comes into the cabin to check it out & we have never been charged for the contents.

I meant to ask earlier if you or someone else could provide the email address.

 

TIA

[susiesan]

I will be on the Veendam in 2 months, from Quebec, in an outside cabin. Is there a minibar set up in all cabins? Since it appears HAL bills for minibar losses on a regular basis to make extra money I want to be prepared to either have it not there before boarding or removed on day 1.

 

Sneaking in extra charges on credit card bills in small amounts and hoping no one will notice or dispute is standard business practice for many large corporations. As a business owner, I have to pour over every invoice/bill I get with a magnifier. I spend hours every week disputing charges. After returning from a vacation cruise that has been paid for I do not want to have to spend time hassling with HAL bogus charges to my credit card.

[RuthC]

I will be on the Veendam in 2 months, from Quebec, in an outside cabin. Is there a minibar set up in all cabins?

No, you will not have a mini-bar in your cabin. The S- & R-class ships (Veendam is an S-class) do not have mini-bars in the inside and outside cabins.

 

What you will have is an ice bucket on a tray, two water bottles, and about 6 cans of soda, on the desk.

I usually just stack the soda double height in front of the water off to the far side of the desk (unless you are in a lanai cabin, you will have a large desk). I put the ice bucket on the tray in front of that. It is out of the way, I can reach the ice when I need it, and there's room for the clicker on the tray, too. ;)

[susiesan]

No, you will not have a mini-bar in your cabin. The S- & R-class ships (Veendam is an S-class) do not have mini-bars in the inside and outside cabins.

 

What you will have is an ice bucket on a tray, two water bottles, and about 6 cans of soda, on the desk.

 

Should I have the cans of soda and bottled water removed? I won't be drinking them and I don't want to be charged for them. On other cruise ships where these items are on the desk for purchase I usually put them on the floor under the desk.

[momatibm]

Should I have the cans of soda and bottled water removed? I won't be drinking them and I don't want to be charged for them. On other cruise ships where these items are on the desk for purchase I usually put them on the floor under the desk.

 

Having been on HAL enough times to hit 4 star -- I've never had a problem with a minibar overcharge...AS a matter of fact, until this last cruise-Zaandam SA

&Antarctica where they ran out of Diet Coke, I v'e never used the minibar. One of my travelling companions is a Diet Coke addict, so I gave him the two from our minibar.

e

When the attendant came by to check -- I told him we had used the Diet Cokes. They never turned up on my bill. I guess it works both ways.

 

You should be safe leaving them either in the cooler(fridge) on on the desk.

Edited July 11, 2015 by momatibm

[HokiePoq]

I agree with what you say, but I think that it's worth pointing out that the root of the problem sometimes lies with passengers, not the stewards or those restocking the mini-bar.

 

DW and I prefer a late disembarkation time, allowing us to enjoy a leisurely last few hours on board. As a result, we have on several occasions still been in our cabin when they came to check the mini-bar and restock as necessary. The final accounting has now been made, but there's nothing stopping us from helping ourselves to an item or two before heading off. The incoming passengers probably wouldn't know they were missing and would eventually be charged for the items.

 

I like the idea of emailing ahead of your embarkation date to have the min-bar emptied to avoid any issues, a practise I'll adopt for all future cruises.

 

 

Doesn't the mini-bar lock? I don't think I've ever had one on HAL but on other lines, they lock it the last night, removing anything that belongs to the passenger. This also helps with the bad charge problem as your bill arrives overnight. One time I had to tell the steward on another line that there was a bottle of wine opened in the mini-bar. Seems a preceding passenger tried one out and didn't like it and put it back. Yuk.

[Fouremco]

Doesn't the mini-bar lock? I don't think I've ever had one on HAL but on other lines, they lock it the last night, removing anything that belongs to the passenger. This also helps with the bad charge problem as your bill arrives overnight. One time I had to tell the steward on another line that there was a bottle of wine opened in the mini-bar. Seems a preceding passenger tried one out and didn't like it and put it back. Yuk.

I don't recall ever having had our fridge locked on the last night, as we generally keep a bottle or two of water cooling for the next morning. Besides, I doubt that they'd want to deprive customers of access to the mini-bar and potentially reduce their sales. I'm not even sure if all of the fridges have locks. :confused:

Edited July 11, 2015 by Fouremco

[kazu]

I don't recall ever having had our fridge locked on the last night, as we generally keep a bottle or two of water cooling for the next morning. Besides, I doubt that they's want to deprive customers of access to the mini-bar and potentially reduce their sales. I'm not even sure if all of the fridges have locks. :confused:

 

I remember years ago the mini bar being locked on the last night. I think it was on the old Rotterdam but my memory is short. We are talking over a decade ago. Since then, I've never seen it locked and like you, we put water in there for the morning.

 

We have even been known to use it on the last night depending upon what we are doing ;) and yes, I know that my bill won't match if we do that ;):p

[POA1]

Doesn't the mini-bar lock? I don't think I've ever had one on HAL but on other lines, they lock it the last night, removing anything that belongs to the passenger. This also helps with the bad charge problem as your bill arrives overnight. One time I had to tell the steward on another line that there was a bottle of wine opened in the mini-bar. Seems a preceding passenger tried one out and didn't like it and put it back. Yuk.

No locks. We've never had a problem with a minibar charge, but if you are worried, take a picture of the full minibar the morning you leave. Put the Cruise Digest in the photo.

[Fouremco]

No locks. We've never had a problem with a minibar charge, but if you are worried, take a picture of the full minibar the morning you leave. Put the Cruise Digest in the photo.

I'm not sure that would help much. It just proves that it was full before you dumped the contents in your carry on bag before you disembarked. :)

[ithaca gal]

I'm not sure that would help much. It just proves that it was full before you dumped the contents in your carry on bag before you disembarked. :)

 

Yikes! To catch a thief, you have to THINK like a thief! Good point!

[Okie1946]

I was reading another cruise line thread regarding the mini-bar issue. One poster stated that "they removed the mini-fridge contents and put it in the footstool that was in the cabin. Included in the "footstool stash" was an inventory of everything that was in it. When they were getting ready to disembark they put everything back in the fridge".

 

They also stated that they have NEVER been charged for items that were removed from it in the 20 years that they have been cruising.

 

Sounded like a pretty good idea. That way the passenger knew what and where everything is. May give it a try. ;)

 

Okie1946

[RuthC]

Should I have the cans of soda and bottled water removed? I won't be drinking them and I don't want to be charged for them. On other cruise ships where these items are on the desk for purchase I usually put them on the floor under the desk.

Whether or not you have the bottles removed is totally your choice. I don't bother.

The Veendam desk is plenty wide enough, since there are two columns of three drawers each, under it. As I said, I do stack the cans, so there is a row of three pushed alongside the closet side. Push the tray & ice bucket up to it, and there is still a lot of room on that desk to put things.

 

Another place you could put them, if you really want them out of the way, is in a drawer. Or, check if there's an end table next to the couch (there is in the inside cabins). There's plenty of room in there, too. Just remember to put the things back on the desk before they check that last morning.