Frustrated by the long wait for customer service

[markf]

I find it totally unacceptable to wait more than 20 minutes for someone to pick up the phone. Therefore, I cancelled my sailing. I have other cruise lines to travel on. I am writing this hoping someone will WAKE UP at headquarters as you do deliver a good product. 

[Cruising89143]

This is probably the biggest issue that MSC has right now in the U.S but I read a recent article where MSC has admitted that they have an issue and they are hiring/training more customer service reps. They know they have an issue. 
 

I have been trying to get status match for two months with no luck. Today I called and yes I waited about forty minutes to speak with someone but when I finally got through the person was extremely nice and helpful. Next I went to a CS rep to get my discount on both of my cruises. I had to wait about ten minutes. Again she was so nice and helpful. Even after having to wait both customer service reps left a positive impact with me.

 

MSC is going to have to address the customer service wait times. It’s unacceptable and yes I think they’re shoreside service is the worst in the industry at this time (my opinion) but they will need to improve if they’re going to succeed here in the North American market. I would not have canceled but to each their own. Good luck with your future cruises.🙂

 

 

[bluejays29]

I was on hold with the Canadian office yesterday for over 45 minutes.   When I finally got through to someone he was amazing.  I had a few questions that he did not know the answers to.   He took my number and said he would call back.   I was not holding my breath that this would happen but he did call back later in the day with answers to every question and also informed me that we qualified for a discount due to being a government employee.  I had no clue about this and was amazed that he gave us the discount.  He also added a bottle of wine to our cabin since he could not help with the original problem that was out of his control.   I was very impressed with his service.  He did mention how short staffed they were.  If you can get over the long wait times the employees are very helpful.

[deliver42]

As you can see by my signature, I've sailed several lines, and depending on th time of day, hace waited more than 20 minutes on all of them. The same can be said for banks, and any other venue. To cancel because of a 20 minute wait is like cutting your nose to spite your face IMHO.

[Beardface]

12 hours ago, markf said:

I find it totally unacceptable to wait more than 20 minutes for someone to pick up the phone. Therefore, I cancelled my sailing. I have other cruise lines to travel on. I am writing this hoping someone will WAKE UP at headquarters as you do deliver a good product. 

 

You won't have many options to sail on if a 20 minute wait before speaking with someone at Customer Service is the line too far for you.

 

I've routinely had to hold 60-90 minutes when waiting to speak with someone at Royal or Norwegian, and I've heard Carnival isn't much better.

[Tapi]

Yes, it does happen on all cruise lines, but unfortunately long wait times seem to be a more frequent thing when calling MSC. 

 

Personally, I mitigate this by calling first thing in the morning. It seems like I’ve been able to get through every single time without having to wait, and agents are always pleasant early in the day.

 

Lastly, unless you can find a similar or better itinerary at a similar or better price on another cruise line, in my humble opinion your decision to cancel after holding for 20 minutes sounds like the proverbial “cutting my nose to spite my face” reaction.

Edited November 8, 2019 by Tapi

[DCGuy64]

I agree with @Beardface and @deliver42 above. To cancel an entire cruise over a 20-minute waiting time seems rather strange to me. I've only had to call MSC a couple of times and each time I waited less than 5. It might be worth considering the use of a professional travel agent. I let our guy do all of the legwork for me. Anyway, I wish the OP a great cruise, whichever cruise line that may be on.

[capriccio]

I've avoided the issue by using a travel agent who has handled everything for our first MSC cruise in January and gave us a 7% discount on our cruise fare. 

[GOLDENBONNY]

14 hours ago, markf said:

I find it totally unacceptable to wait more than 20 minutes for someone to pick up the phone. Therefore, I cancelled my sailing. I have other cruise lines to travel on. I am writing this hoping someone will WAKE UP at headquarters as you do deliver a good product. 

thank you. We really needed to know you cancelled your cruise. 

[thetaro]

20 minutes is considered Good for MSC. I think my record was 70 minutes hold time.

 

 

They could have easily implemented a call back feature on the website.

[perakcruiser]

14 hours ago, thetaro said:

They could have easily implemented a call back feature on the website.

For some markets they have this. 

[markf]

I had options , therefore I cancelled. The purpose of the email was to hopefully wake up the management of MSC .i wasn’t looking for opinions. But thanks for your point of view.  

[Cruising89143]

22 minutes ago, markf said:

I had options , therefore I cancelled. The purpose of the email was to hopefully wake up the management of MSC .i wasn’t looking for opinions. But thanks for your point of view.  

Well this is a discussion board and not an email. When people start a thread and express their thoughts others are going to chime in. That’s how it works here. Hopefully you reached out to MSC directly and let them know of your dissatisfaction with their customer service.  

[webworm]

I agree their customer service needs to step up a couple of notches for sure. I had to call them today and waited 40 minutes before someone finally answered the call.

[NMsunset]

On 11/8/2019 at 10:13 AM, thetaro said:

MSC has call back feature at top of page under the toll free number...

 

"Call Me"in bright orange font...

 

Life seems easier when your not a negative person...

Relax your on a cruise🙂 

 

 

 

 

20 minutes is considered Good for MSC. I think my record was 70 minutes hold time.

 

 

They could have easily implemented a call back feature on the website.

 

[blueslily]

Funny, same topic is on the NCL board. Actually, several postings on this wait time topic. LoL. There they say "worse in the industry" as well. I wonder how many times that is also quoted on Royal and Carnival.  🤣

[eagletwo]

I have had long wait times on a few lines.  MSC is longer than most.  Would not cancel because of long wait times, but MSC does need to do better.  Hopefully the top brass reads Cruise Critic and will address the problem.

[jkgourmet]

On 11/9/2019 at 10:02 AM, cruisingator2 said:

Well this is a discussion board and not an email. When people start a thread and express their thoughts others are going to chime in. That’s how it works here. Hopefully you reached out to MSC directly and let them know of your dissatisfaction with their customer service.  

 

To be fair to the OP, some cruise lines DO follow discussions here on CC.  I have seen occasions where a Celebrity representative actually replied to posts on that board.  (And it appears that OP changed his booking to the Celebrity Edge.)

 

That said, my experience is calling at certain times of day virtually guarantees a long wait time with all cruiseline and plenty of other businesses.  I try to avoid it by using online chat or email.  Heck, I want this stuff in writing - Phone assurances are pretty much worthless if there's problem in the future. 

 

With MSC, the unacceptable phone wait time is one of the reasons that so many TA's will not book with them anymore.  Including BIG online I've used in the past who has a customer service dept separate from the sales dept.  They respond quickly and efficiently by telephone and email.  If I use the phone, I ALWAYS ask for an email to confirm the resolution of my issue with ANY business.

[blueslily]

Just waited 20 minutes, but once a rep answered my call, he was great. I just put the phone on speaker and did what i needed to do until someone answered. No biggie. Funny thing is that a friend called me earlier tonight. He was talking to me while a call to some other customer service was on the other line. The hold music played for our entire phone call, lol. He hung up after our 30 min call. Lol. This is not just unique to the  cruise industry.