Celebrity's actual deceit on Move Up - bid for upgrade

[Liao]

1 hour ago, NMTraveller said:

Just curious how the UK views reneging on auctions?  Are cruise lines given a free pass on the laws because they are flagged in another country?

as long as they are within the terms & conditions, whether one likes them or not and if not, don't sign

[NMTraveller]

6 minutes ago, Liao said:

apples and oranges

Yes.

 

In the Celebrity case they would have given the car to the VIP or whomever had spent the most in the casino...

 

Except the State DA would have ruled that they must give a comparable car to HCAT for the agreed upon price.

 

The US laws are different from maritime laws.  Not that they should be.

 

Now customer service is yet another issue as are business practices.

Edited March 17 by NMTraveller

[Liao]

40 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

Yes.

 

In the Celebrity case they would have given the car to the VIP or whomever had spent the most in the casino...

 

Except the State DA would have ruled that they must give a comparable car to HCAT for the agreed upon price.

 

The US laws are different from maritime laws.  Not that they should be.

 

Now customer service is yet another issue as are business practices.

Yes, I just found out for a fact that they gave the car to the casino VIP, at least we can only guess this is what they did.  I'll let you know for sure later...

[NMTraveller]

13 minutes ago, Liao said:

Yes, I just found out for a fact that they gave the car to the casino VIP, at least we can only guess this is what they did.  I'll let you know for sure later...

They may have given it to Barbeque, the Haitian leader 🤣

 

Whomever they gave it to did not go through the auction process and place the winning bid.

Edited March 17 by NMTraveller

[JFontaine]

Here's my guess on what happened: the OP wasn't the highest bidder, another passenger was. When the company running this tried to charge the winner's card, it didn't go through (stolen and replaced, account closed, etc) and the company went to the next bidder. When the original winner somehow found out, they realized the card was declined and offered to replace it. Since the company running the move up is compensated by a percentage of the sale, they went with the higher bidder.  

 

VIPs can be anyone. I once met a VIP (traveling for free in the Penthouse) who owned a company which was a significant vendor to Celebrity.   I'd be surprised if any VIP was a last minute booking. 

 

I agree that the OP was treated poorly.   They should've been offered the perks of the suite, if not the real estate, which I have seen before. It would've cost Celebrity little. 

[NMTraveller]

26 minutes ago, JFontaine said:

Here's my guess on what happened: the OP wasn't the highest bidder, another passenger was. When the company running this tried to charge the winner's card, it didn't go through (stolen and replaced, account closed, etc) and the company went to the next bidder. When the original winner somehow found out, they realized the card was declined and offered to replace it. Since the company running the move up is compensated by a percentage of the sale, they went with the higher bidder.  

 

VIPs can be anyone. I once met a VIP (traveling for free in the Penthouse) who owned a company which was a significant vendor to Celebrity.   I'd be surprised if any VIP was a last minute booking. 

 

I agree that the OP was treated poorly.   They should've been offered the perks of the suite, if not the real estate, which I have seen before. It would've cost Celebrity little. 

Your story seems made up and does not match up with what they told the OP.

 

They were BSed saying it was a Penthouse guarantee.  Anyone seen one of these?   That would rule out your theory if you believe them. 😁

 

The auction company should have a procedure also.  

 

If it is the fault of the auction company Celebrity should take care of it or hire a better/more competent auction company.

 

Any way you spin it,  not good for Celebrity.

Edited March 17 by NMTraveller

[NMTraveller]

@george_sf what does Laura say about this massive #FAILURE?  Or did she respond?

 

She is one that could clear up this mess quickly...  Do you need her phone number?

 

Take it to the top:

 

Chief Executive
Laura Hodges Bethge
President
1050 Caribbean Way
Miami, FL 33132
(888) 751-7804
LBethge@celebrity.com

Edited March 17 by NMTraveller

[NMTraveller]

If Laura is not responding feel free to bump it up to Jason Liberty...

 

[jelayne]

10 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

If Laura is not responding feel free to bump it up to Jason Liberty...

 

Who could care less, what gets more revenue is what he cares about.

[NMTraveller]

So who is running the Celebrity ship?

 

[billc23]

8 hours ago, bEwAbG said:

Flunky is the right term for the first-level person that was assigned to break the news.  Someone with more finesse, and more importantly, knowledge to explain what happened, should have been the one to deal with the situation.  I don't see how it's a pejorative to say someone who is basically given limited information and zero ability to adequately address the situation is anything but a flunky.  It's poor customer service all around, especially when you know more about the company's operations than the person charged with kicking you out of a room.

Celebrity is the flunky on this one - total service failure on many levels.

 

A management level CSR could have deliver the news with a profuse apology, an explanation of what transpired, a gift of all the upper suite benefits, and a promise to expedite the credit card refund. In addition, they could state their desire to improve their system so this event is unlikely to occur in the future. Then follow up with an email and phone call from the shoreside team for in room alcohol, speciality dining, etc. Service failures happen in all industries. The key is how the company addresses the issue and Celebrity failed the OP on this one. Why wouldn't Celebrity want a post on social media to say that a passenger was upset with an event but Celebrity went over the top to make them happy. 

 

 

[hcat]

I only used the car purchase as an example.. apples to oranges I can accept as long as no lemons!.

 

I am aware that NY  law would be on my side...Truth is we have dealt with this car dealership as long as we have patronized X and would never expect a reneg..

 

There's a well known  car sales co in Fl that has trouble delivering  post purchase clear titles .... maybe they trained with X..

 

Incredible OP has not heard from X higher up in mgmnt!  Hope to hear a happy update but not sure we will..

 

(The poor cruiser whose toilet spewed excrement on him was denied a diff stateroom..so not much concern with treating all their guests like Celebrities.....a former PR tag line!

[Oceangoer2]

11 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

Yes.

 

In the Celebrity case they would have given the car to the VIP or whomever had spent the most in the casino...

 

Except the State DA would have ruled that they must give a comparable car to HCAT for the agreed upon price.

 

The US laws are different from maritime laws.  Not that they should be.

 

Now customer service is yet another issue as are business practices.

I've grown accustomed to the 'law' being stretched to accommodate those with the $$s to delay the outcome and now a 'deal' isn't a 'deal' if one has clout with the corporation so that they cancel the 'deal'.  Some posters think we should just accept and move on. This 'deal' should have been sweetened at the get go...none of this reporting should have been necessary.  The original cancellation call should have been placed by one in authority with an offer which included the amenities they lost as well as being made whole and perhaps some OBC.  The cost to X is minimal and would drop into the Customer Service slush fund.  I now wonder how many times this happens.  Not all 'move up' bidders are on CC.

Edited March 17 by Oceangoer2

[Mark_K]

55 minutes ago, Oceangoer2 said:

I've grown accustomed to the 'law' being stretched to accommodate those with the $$s to delay the outcome and now a 'deal' isn't a 'deal' if one has clout with the corporation so that they cancel the 'deal'.  Some posters think we should just accept and move on. This 'deal' should have been sweetened at the get go...none of this reporting should have been necessary.  The original cancellation call should have been placed by one in authority with an offer which included the amenities they lost as well as being made whole and perhaps some OBC.  The cost to X is minimal and would drop into the Customer Service slush fund.  I now wonder how many times this happens.  Not all 'move up' bidders are on CC.

It was terrible customer service, but I’m not sure how far the law was actually stretched. Generally speaking, Celebrity does have the right to change your cabin, and The MoveUp terms and conditions do state that all terms and conditions of your original booking remain in effect.

[PH2]

I'm still trying to understand the algorithm for the Move Up bids where they offered me, as a minimum bid amount, a price that would basically equal (or possibly exceed, on any given day's pricing fluctuations) the price of the suite if I just booked it outright and received the full allotment of benefits from booking versus Move Up. It's a headscratcher to me, for sure.

[george_sf]

11 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

@george_sf what does Laura say about this massive #FAILURE?  Or did she respond?

 

She is one that could clear up this mess quickly...  Do you need her phone number?

 

Take it to the top:

 

Chief Executive
Laura Hodges Bethge
President
1050 Caribbean Way
Miami, FL 33132
(888) 751-7804
LBethge@celebrity.com

 

That emails bounces. For the record, Laura's actual email is still: lhodges@rccl.com. 

 

She had someone from the CEC call us. The description in the call was in the report. The CEC Exec (I'll call her "D") was on the phone with us for like 3 minutes. She "hears us." And the "error wasn't intentional." Again, never an actual apology. Her goal was to say she called (and then we got a survey on how D did!) 

 

We've decided not to follow up until after the cruise. If we find out who is in the room, and we've been lied to by the manager who provided us the most details, we'll re-open the conversation. Otherwise, we fly out a week from today and will focus on having a good time. 

 

 

 

 

[george_sf]

16 hours ago, bEwAbG said:

Re: the timing of refunds, taking money is always a lot faster than giving it back but what the customer never sees is that it actually takes a few days for the money to get to the business.  The authorization is instantaneous, and that's what you see on your card, but the settlement where cash goes into the bank happens a few days after that. 

 

When it's going back out the door, you have to have various approvals to even send the money, then the accounts payable office would do the actual refund transactions, and then there are banks involved in those transactions that each need time to settle up with the other.  Add in that any given company is likely not doing check runs every day and it does add up.  One company I worked for (as a flunky) had a lot of this automated, but if I processed your refund today, it wouldn't go to the next step immediately but in a batch overnight.  And if I was processing it after a certain time, it would go in a batch two days later.  And then those batches all got slotted into various check runs so it could take four or five business days even with everything working exactly right and assuming that the necessary approvals are done immediately.  And that's been my experience at places that are run much better than Celebrity. 

 

The refund posted on my credit card overnight. So it was 3 days after they said it was being processed. (10 days after they took it.) At least it was an AMEX so we don't have to front the money on March's statement. 

 

 

 

 

[hcat]

32 minutes ago, george_sf said:

 

That emails bounces. For the record, Laura's actual email is still: lhodges@rccl.com. 

 

She had someone from the CEC call us. The description in the call was in the report. The CEC Exec (I'll call her "D") was on the phone with us for like 3 minutes. She "hears us." And the "error wasn't intentional." Again, never an actual apology. Her goal was to say she called (and then we got a survey on how D did!) 

 

We've decided not to follow up until after the cruise. If we find out who is in the room, and we've been lied to by the manager who provided us the most details, we'll re-open the conversation. Otherwise, we fly out a week from today and will focus on having a good time. 

 

 

 

 

smart to wait..enjoy the cruise..

 

find out  carefully who actually got that room if possible, ...and also quietly see if anyone on board had their hands in this ..

 

Meanwhile this "bad for X "  PR thread..will probably stay prominent on Cruise Critic.  Not sure if it has reached other Soc media as I only read and post here abt cruises!

 

They lose lots of  goodwill by doing things like this..although it seems like a very unique " reneg"

[JFontaine]

If corporate doesn't do anything before the cruise, I don't see them doing anything after. 

I'd write a short note to the hotel director before you leave home together with a printout of your confirmation, or even those bag tags. I'd tell him what you would like (let me know if there are any no-shows in higher suites, suite perks that you lost, etc ) and drop it off day 1.  Then forget it and just have a great cruise. 

[NMTraveller]

1 hour ago, george_sf said:

 

That emails bounces. For the record, Laura's actual email is still: lhodges@rccl.com. 

 

She had someone from the CEC call us. The description in the call was in the report. The CEC Exec (I'll call her "D") was on the phone with us for like 3 minutes. She "hears us." And the "error wasn't intentional." Again, never an actual apology. Her goal was to say she called (and then we got a survey on how D did!) 

 

We've decided not to follow up until after the cruise. If we find out who is in the room, and we've been lied to by the manager who provided us the most details, we'll re-open the conversation. Otherwise, we fly out a week from today and will focus on having a good time. 

 

 

 

 

Enjoy your cruise.

 

Celebrity used to be a customer focused business.  Boy have they changed post pandemic.  Unfortunately your dealings with CEC match up with others...

 

 

[kirtihk]

On 3/16/2024 at 1:51 PM, jelayne said:

You asked a good question.  Why do you continue to sail Celebrity?

What are options?  All cruise lines do the same approach.Running like a herd to the next one, and again, and again, and again?

[NMTraveller]

12 minutes ago, kirtihk said:

What are options?  All cruise lines do the same approach.Running like a herd to the next one, and again, and again, and again?

I have an AMA Waterways river cruise coming up.  Afterwards I will do a comparison with Celebrity.

[kirtihk]

20 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

I have an AMA Waterways river cruise coming up.  Afterwards I will do a comparison with Celebrity.

We have the Seabourn Pursuit in 4 weeks, Tahiti to Solomon Islands (been on Venture exactly 1 year ago - March 17, 2023 Brazil coast and Amazon river).  The Seabourn is definitely better than Celebrity, but Celebrity is actually very good, too (we had 11 Celebrity cruises, and the next one is in March 2025, Millennium from Singapore to Tokyo).  Seabourn is simply a 2-level up.

Edited March 17 by kirtihk

[kirtihk]

17 hours ago, Liao said:

apples and oranges

“In the end, they are all fruit”.

[Liao]

34 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

I have an AMA Waterways river cruise coming up.  Afterwards I will do a comparison with Celebrity.

River cruise?