Lack of communication

[Poppy42]

Two days ago I tried calling MSC as I wanted our account numbers. We have only traveled once on MSC (11/16).  I called twice and was on hold a total of about 35 minutes.  They have "Call Me" capabilities.  Left my number - STILL WAITING!!!!! Guess my business isn't important to them!

[Epos Man]

is that 11/2016 or 16/2011

 

[thecruisers6]

28 minutes ago, Poppy42 said:

Two days ago I tried calling MSC as I wanted our account numbers. We have only traveled once on MSC (11/16).  I called twice and was on hold a total of about 35 minutes.  They have "Call Me" capabilities.  Left my number - STILL WAITING!!!!! Guess my business isn't important to them!

Have you tried logging in on the website with your user name and password or searching your emails. 

Also would be on your cruise card if you kept them. 

I’ve heard that now the truth about MSC being out there and it’s actually a great product at an excellent price, the call centre is inundated with calls and are desperately trying to recruit extra staff.  They are also not used to the volume of calls per booking with queries/questions. 

[jean87510]

The call center is absolutely ridiculous. I wanted to see if we could upgrade our standard internet which was part of our booking promotion to unlimited and waited 33 minutes. When I got through, the gentleman informed me that I would have to buy the package separately since we weren't able to upgrade. I asked to speak to someone else and he disconnected me. I tried again and was placed on hold. My husband and I are now just going to take the $198 loss and go with another line. Between the ridiculous wait times on the phone, no upgrade on internet, charging for a buffet lunch on ocean cay, waiting 3 weeks to get a reservation linked, 2 weeks to get a status match, the reviews of the non yacht club, the lines,... this cruise costs us $3300. I would rather use it on a cruise line I know is good. Really turned off by what I'm experiencing and reading. It's too much money to just make the best of it.  My husband was so frustrated he said would you rather just book a different cruise and I said absolutely. It's a shame but I think this cruise line just isn't ready to handle those other than the yacht club.

[edsareg]

23 minutes ago, jean87510 said:

The call center is absolutely ridiculous. I wanted to see if we could upgrade our standard internet which was part of our booking promotion to unlimited and waited 33 minutes. When I got through, the gentleman informed me that I would have to buy the package separately since we weren't able to upgrade. I asked to speak to someone else and he disconnected me. I tried again and was placed on hold. My husband and I are now just going to take the $198 loss and go with another line. Between the ridiculous wait times on the phone, no upgrade on internet, charging for a buffet lunch on ocean cay, waiting 3 weeks to get a reservation linked, 2 weeks to get a status match, the reviews of the non yacht club, the lines,... this cruise costs us $3300. I would rather use it on a cruise line I know is good. Really turned off by what I'm experiencing and reading. It's too much money to just make the best of it.  My husband was so frustrated he said would you rather just book a different cruise and I said absolutely. It's a shame but I think this cruise line just isn't ready to handle those other than the yacht club.

Hi, You are right, Possibly the worst CS dept of any Cruise line on the Severn Sea's. Nice ships, No back up.

 

[thecruisers6]

1 minute ago, edsareg said:

Hi, You are right, Possibly the worst CS dept of any Cruise line on the Severn Sea's. Nice ships, No back up.

 

‘Possibly’ is being generous. 

Although I’ve not personally found NCL or RC any better. But that’s in the UK. 

 

 

[thecruisers6]

Please don’t take this the wrong way but they simply didn’t expect the volume of calls, with questions like “what’s my account number” or “can I change a free internet package” that says in the terms and conditions that you can’t. 

 

You are quite right to take your $’s elsewhere, otherwise you will just be looking for faults throughout your cruise and spend time in the CS queue onboard. 

 

 

[jean87510]

33 minutes ago, thecruisers6 said:

Please don’t take this the wrong way but they simply didn’t expect the volume of calls, with questions like “what’s my account number” or “can I change a free internet package” that says in the terms and conditions that you can’t. 

 

You are quite right to take your $’s elsewhere, otherwise you will just be looking for faults throughout your cruise and spend time in the CS queue onboard. 

 

 

Actually if you read my post it was a number of factors. I usually get an inside cabin, rarely eat in the mdr, prefer the buffet, just ask my room attendant for 2 extra pillows, and never sit around the pool. I do not waste nor intend to waste any vacation at the cs queue. My concerns are the amount of time wasted on hold for a different answer or no answer, and some pretty bad reviews.  For the yacht club which wasnt available and which we could not afford anyway it appears the kinks are little to none.  I did not see anywhere in my booking that I could not change my internet package.  We were perfectly willing to pay the difference. We need the best one for our jobs. I've read more than one review on here, Google, TA and yelp about problems on board when you change or order precruise or during the cruise. I've been on celebrity, rccl, Norwegian and carnival. All have their faults but nothing like MSC. It is a shame because the seaside is a beautiful ship. My husband and I are pretty easygoing and really dont want high end treatment but we do expect in 2019 to be able to converse in a reasonable time with a competent CSR and not get a different answer. Just to link our bookings we had to after 2 weeks and 22 emails delete our accounts and then re-sign up because the IT department could not figure out the problem. These are items that should be easy. 

Edited May 10, 2019 by jean87510

[edsareg]

45 minutes ago, thecruisers6 said:

Please don’t take this the wrong way but they simply didn’t expect the volume of calls, with questions like “what’s my account number” or “can I change a free internet package” that says in the terms and conditions that you can’t. 

 

You are quite right to take your $’s elsewhere, otherwise you will just be looking for faults throughout your cruise and spend time in the CS queue onboard. 

 

 

Hi, I think you are being a little unfair with Jean, They are spending in excess of $3,000 , I think that gives them the right to ask as many questions that they want. The list of FAULTS as you put it , Is not only confined to them, Go back thru the Forum and read the many, many people who have had similar problems with CS. It took me 9 weeks just to confirm my booking?. Like I have said the ships are great, The back up , USELESS. We took a 30 night cruise with them last April, Durban to Venice. Ports of call Fantastic, 4 days out of Durban they ran out of Cider, That's 4 days after leaving Durban. 5days before getting to Venice ran out of Tonic water, That was the end of the G/T. If only they could get the left hand to no what the right hand was doing, They would be a great Cruise line.
Reg. 

[Poppy42]

2 hours ago, thecruisers6 said:

Have you tried logging in on the website with your user name and password or searching your emails. 

Also would be on your cruise card if you kept them. 

I’ve heard that now the truth about MSC being out there and it’s actually a great product at an excellent price, the call centre is inundated with calls and are desperately trying to recruit extra staff.  They are also not used to the volume of calls per booking with queries/questions. 

I booked my cruise through my timeshare.  Don't know if I ever dealt with MSC directly.  Tried logging in with my email addres and it tells me an account doesn't exist. 

[Poppy42]

1 hour ago, thecruisers6 said:

Please don’t take this the wrong way but they simply didn’t expect the volume of calls, with questions like “what’s my account number” or “can I change a free internet package” that says in the terms and conditions that you can’t. 

 

You are quite right to take your $’s elsewhere, otherwise you will just be looking for faults throughout your cruise and spend time in the CS queue onboard. 

 

 

Never got to ask them what my account number is as they never called me back!

[Poppy42]

One reason I want to book on MSC is that, by trading my timeshare, a balcony cabin for two on the Seaside is under $700 for a 7-day cruise. That's about $400 less than Carnival and significantly less than other cruise lines.

[thecruisers6]

20 minutes ago, edsareg said:

Hi, I think you are being a little unfair with Jean, They are spending in excess of $3,000 , I think that gives them the right to ask as many questions that they want. The list of FAULTS as you put it , Is not only confined to them, Go back thru the Forum and read the many, many people who have had similar problems with CS. It took me 9 weeks just to confirm my booking?. Like I have said the ships are great, The back up , USELESS. We took a 30 night cruise with them last April, Durban to Venice. Ports of call Fantastic, 4 days out of Durban they ran out of Cider, That's 4 days after leaving Durban. 5days before getting to Venice ran out of Tonic water, That was the end of the G/T. If only they could get the left hand to no what the right hand was doing, They would be a great Cruise line.
Reg. 

I agree with you. 

I was just explaining what has happened that is all, in my opinion.  

This is a quote from one of my posts earlier in the week....

 

 Staff in the UK office in some situations either guess answers (often getting it wrong) or simply say “no” possibly just to try and get rid of the email. 

 

 

[edsareg]

25 minutes ago, thecruisers6 said:

I agree with you. 

I was just explaining what has happened that is all, in my opinion.  

This is a quote from one of my posts earlier in the week....

 

 Staff in the UK office in some situations either guess answers (often getting it wrong) or simply say “no” possibly just to try and get rid of the email. 

 

 

I think maybe we should have a poll of all our members as we will have a lot of seasoned Cruisers on here, As to the worst Customer Service they have ever had to put up with, That's taking in to account all Cruise lines, Then send the result to the CEO of the Company. I will find the email for MSC CEO  for you a bit later.

[cntrydncr1]

You can't even get them to call you back when you want to book a cruise!!!

[edsareg]

4 minutes ago, cntrydncr1 said:

You can't even get them to call you back when you want to book a cruise!!!

I take it that 1 vote for MSC.

[Poppy42]

😡Still waiting for a callback.  Glad I didn't hold my breath!

[BermudaBound2014]

On 5/10/2019 at 4:23 PM, Poppy42 said:

One reason I want to book on MSC is that, by trading my timeshare, a balcony cabin for two on the Seaside is under $700 for a 7-day cruise. That's about $400 less than Carnival and significantly less than other cruise lines.

 

I always think it's wise to align expectations with price paid. It's no secret here that I consider MSC a budget line. If you are boarding the seaside at an excellent price, I think most will agree that the experience on the ship is significantly better than the shore side experience. With the right mindset, MSC is an excellent value, perhaps the best value on the sea~ but I've rarely gotten campaign on a beer budget and managing expectations is necessary even in the YC.

 

BTW: I'm still waiting for a call back from 2015. 

 

Best of luck to you and let us know how it pans out.

[rwdtgb]

I just finished my first cruise on MSC and had to deal with CS for  reasons. Both times the call was answered promptly and the issues were taking care of immediately. One was to rebook before final payment because of a better promotion going on and the next was to upgrade from easy to premium drinks. The best part was the agent noticed I didn't receive my 5% off and put it in as a ship board credit. I think I received great customer service.

[jean87510]

On 5/10/2019 at 5:02 PM, edsareg said:

I think maybe we should have a poll of all our members as we will have a lot of seasoned Cruisers on here, As to the worst Customer Service they have ever had to put up with, That's taking in to account all Cruise lines, Then send the result to the CEO of the Company. I will find the email for MSC CEO  for you a bit later.

I actually cancelled my MSC seaside cruise for next January (on hold for 11 minutes- getting better). Luckily I got my deposit back. We are headed back to celebrity summit for the 5th time and a user friendly website and CSR department. I'll still check in the future to see if things improve and maybe I'll try again with MSC some day. 

[thecruisers6]

12 minutes ago, jean87510 said:

I actually cancelled my MSC seaside cruise for next January (on hold for 11 minutes- getting better). Luckily I got my deposit back. We are headed back to celebrity summit for the 5th time and a user friendly website and CSR department. I'll still check in the future to see if things improve and maybe I'll try again with MSC some day. 

Ouch bet that hurt your credit card. 

Hope you have a great cruise. 

[thecruisers6]

3 hours ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

I always think it's wise to align expectations with price paid. It's no secret here that I consider MSC a budget line. If you are boarding the seaside at an excellent price, I think most will agree that the experience on the ship is significantly better than the shore side experience. With the right mindset, MSC is an excellent value, perhaps the best value on the sea~ but I've rarely gotten campaign on a beer budget and managing expectations is necessary even in the YC.

 

BTW: I'm still waiting for a call back from 2015. 

 

Best of luck to you and let us know how it pans out.

Now BB you can have champagne..... with the Premium Plus package 😀

Loved your Canadian scenery photo, cannot wait until October 

[jean87510]

6 minutes ago, thecruisers6 said:

Ouch bet that hurt your credit card. 

Hope you have a great cruise. 

Not really. $198 refundable deposit. So made out nicely with no money losses.

[thecruisers6]

3 minutes ago, jean87510 said:

Not really. $198 refundable deposit. So made out nicely with no money losses.

Noooooooo the increased price of Celebrity 

[jean87510]

Just now, thecruisers6 said:

Noooooooo the increased price of Celebrity 

Sorry. I didn't understand. Well I booked another inside on the summit for $2300 but nonrefundable deposit. That's ok because we like the summit and it's our 30th anniversary so we were doing a trip anyway. Leaving out of San Juan for 11 days with 8 ports. Better to us than $3300. So saving $1000 and being with a more familiar cruise line was worth it. We went back and forth with this one and Norwegian but ended up with our old friend the summit. We will try MSC again but probably not for a while and definitely for a shorter cruise.