Change to Celebrity Customer Service

[patty1955]

I called Celebrity last week to cancel a cruise because of a major itinerary change. I called The Captain's Club because that was the phone number I had. She transferred me to reservations. After explaining the situation and forwarding the email that promised I would get my deposit back, the representative said that it was canceled and I would get a refund in about a week. Fast forward a week. I haven't even received an email acknowledging my cancellation so I called Celebrity again. I called  the Captain's Club number and was transferred to another customer service representative. Both Captain's Club and the other customer service rep were clearly foreign call centers working off of a script. I don't mind foreign call centers, I just hate  people working off script. Imagine "Thank you for that information". Very annoying and they still didn't resolve the problem. I was placed on hold at least 10 times over 38 minutes. I was promised I would get an email and that my refund would come in 2 to 3 weeks. Still no email and I'll wait 2 or 3 weeks to see about the refund.

Does anyone know when this change was made? I'm sure they weren't a call center last week. Has anyone else had this happen?

[hcat]

after 3 wks. you might file a cred card dispute..hate to do it, but it seems to hurry things along!

[patty1955]

9 minutes ago, hcat said:

after 3 wks. you might file a cred card dispute..hate to do it, but it seems to hurry things along!

That's one of the reasons I wanted an email acknowledgement of the cancellation.

[Oceangoer2]

1 hour ago, patty1955 said:

I called Celebrity last week to cancel a cruise because of a major itinerary change. I called The Captain's Club because that was the phone number I had. She transferred me to reservations. After explaining the situation and forwarding the email that promised I would get my deposit back, the representative said that it was canceled and I would get a refund in about a week. Fast forward a week. I haven't even received an email acknowledging my cancellation so I called Celebrity again. I called  the Captain's Club number and was transferred to another customer service representative. Both Captain's Club and the other customer service rep were clearly foreign call centers working off of a script. I don't mind foreign call centers, I just hate  people working off script. Imagine "Thank you for that information". Very annoying and they still didn't resolve the problem. I was placed on hold at least 10 times over 38 minutes. I was promised I would get an email and that my refund would come in 2 to 3 weeks. Still no email and I'll wait 2 or 3 weeks to see about the refund.

Does anyone know when this change was made? I'm sure they weren't a call center last week. Has anyone else had this happen?

We cancelled a cruise just short of 2 months ago....no refund yet.  After 4 weeks I sent weekly emails to our CVP who 'investigated'.  Keep hearing it'll be another few days.  Don't blame the call centre, but do blame Accounting or whomever it is that has the 'refund' responsibility.  Guess it's time to use the 'executive' email again...which has responded quickly in the past.  FYI....the call centre has existed for a year or more but has changed locations a few times.

Edited August 21 by Oceangoer2

[drakes2]

23 minutes ago, Oceangoer2 said:

We cancelled a cruise just short of 2 months ago....no refund yet.  After 4 weeks I sent weekly emails to our CVP who 'investigated'.  Keep hearing it'll be another few days.  Don't blame the call centre, but do blame Accounting or whomever it is that has the 'refund' responsibility.  Guess it's time to use the 'executive' email again...which has responded quickly in the past.  FYI....the call centre has existed for a year or more but has changed locations a few times.

I never seem to reach a call centre but instead get someone with a heavy foreign  accent working out of their home .. .. kids screaming, dogs barking... you name it they got it. 😆 

[Gracie115]

1 hour ago, patty1955 said:

I called Celebrity last week to cancel a cruise because of a major itinerary change. I called The Captain's Club because that was the phone number I had. She transferred me to reservations. After explaining the situation and forwarding the email that promised I would get my deposit back, the representative said that it was canceled and I would get a refund in about a week. Fast forward a week. I haven't even received an email acknowledging my cancellation so I called Celebrity again. I called  the Captain's Club number and was transferred to another customer service representative. Both Captain's Club and the other customer service rep were clearly foreign call centers working off of a script. I don't mind foreign call centers, I just hate  people working off script. Imagine "Thank you for that information". Very annoying and they still didn't resolve the problem. I was placed on hold at least 10 times over 38 minutes. I was promised I would get an email and that my refund would come in 2 to 3 weeks. Still no email and I'll wait 2 or 3 weeks to see about the refund.

Does anyone know when this change was made? I'm sure they weren't a call center last week. Has anyone else had this happen?

 

31 minutes ago, Oceangoer2 said:

We cancelled a cruise just short of 2 months ago....no refund yet.  After 4 weeks I sent weekly emails to our CVP who 'investigated'.  Keep hearing it'll be another few days.  Don't blame the call centre, but do blame Accounting or whomever it is that has the 'refund' responsibility.  Guess it's time to use the 'executive' email again...which has responded quickly in the past.  FYI....the call centre has existed for a year or more but has changed locations a few times.

 

2 months is ridiculous to wait for a refund.  Even 3 weeks is.  This is NOT COVID times anymore.  I run a business refunds should be out within a few days. 

 

It's time for both of you to begin a credit card chargeback.  You should get an immediate credit to your card while the card company investigates.   I wouldn't wait another day.

[patty1955]

30 minutes ago, drakes2 said:

I never seem to reach a call centre but instead get someone with a heavy foreign  accent working out of their home .. .. kids screaming, dogs barking... you name it they got it. 😆 

That's what I got during covid. 

Like I said, I don't mind the foreign call center, I just hate the script. Why can't they just talk to us?

[horseymike]

You may need to get your credit card company involved.

These corporations lately take payment with lightning speed and issue refunds like a tortoise 🐢. 
 

[paulh84]

21 minutes ago, horseymike said:

You may need to get your credit card company involved.

These corporations lately take payment with lightning speed and issue refunds like a tortoise 🐢. 
 

 

When COVID refunds were rampant it became apparent most people have no idea how credit card payments and refunds work. And still don't. There are 5-6-7 layers to go through before a refund is issued back to the cardholder. In the OP's situation not even 5 business days have passed. That's not even enough time for a refund to process back to their credit card. It could already be in process. If a bank gets a request to dispute this they will acknowledge the request within 30 days, because they have to, then sit on it while they give the merchant to time refund. 

[Oville]

40 minutes ago, patty1955 said:

That's what I got during covid. 

Like I said, I don't mind the foreign call center, I just hate the script. Why can't they just talk to us?

Maybe it’s because English is a second language and the script is easier to understand.  Just a guess, I have no idea.

[jelayne]

OP did you have any purchases like excursions. Specialty dining, beverage or wi-fi upgrades that you had paid?  If so did you cancel those before notifying Celebrity you wanted to cancel?  If not those will be cancelled first and refunds processed  to the credit card.  After those are cancelled they then can process the cancellation of the cruise and refund your deposit.

At least that has been our experience.  

 

[patty1955]

2 minutes ago, jelayne said:

OP did you have any purchases like excursions. Specialty dining, beverage or wi-fi upgrades that you had paid?  If so did you cancel those before notifying Celebrity you wanted to cancel?  If not those will be cancelled first and refunds processed  to the credit card.  After those are cancelled they then can process the cancellation of the cruise and refund your deposit.

At least that has been our experience.  

 

I had drink packages and wifi upgrades. I know from experience that the refunds will come separately and trickle it.

[horseymike]

49 minutes ago, paulh84 said:

 

When COVID refunds were rampant it became apparent most people have no idea how credit card payments and refunds work. And still don't. There are 5-6-7 layers to go through before a refund is issued back to the cardholder. In the OP's situation not even 5 business days have passed. That's not even enough time for a refund to process back to their credit card. It could already be in process. If a bank gets a request to dispute this they will acknowledge the request within 30 days, because they have to, then sit on it while they give the merchant to time refund. 

At Costco when I return something the refund is on my card by the time I get to the parking lot. So much for all this time nonsense. I totally disagree with you.

[paulh84]

4 minutes ago, horseymike said:

At Costco when I return something the refund is on my card by the time I get to the parking lot. So much for all this time nonsense. I totally disagree with you.

 

There's nothing to disagree on. I understand how it works. You do not. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/credit-cards/how-credit-card-refunds-work/

[drakes2]

16 minutes ago, horseymike said:

At Costco when I return something the refund is on my card by the time I get to the parking lot. So much for all this time nonsense. I totally disagree with you.

Refunds at the retail level are quite different from a refund from cruiselines. 

[drakes2]

1 hour ago, paulh84 said:

If a bank gets a request to dispute this they will acknowledge the request within 30 days, because they have to, then sit on it while they give the merchant to time refund. 

The good thing about the CC dispute is the charge is removed from the card until the merchant responds and a decision is made. Sometimes the charges are hundreds or thousands of dollars which is beneficial to card holder if there's a large balance to pay. During covid my refunds took up to 2 months.  

[Gracie115]

1 hour ago, paulh84 said:

 

When COVID refunds were rampant it became apparent most people have no idea how credit card payments and refunds work. And still don't. There are 5-6-7 layers to go through before a refund is issued back to the cardholder. In the OP's situation not even 5 business days have passed. That's not even enough time for a refund to process back to their credit card. It could already be in process. If a bank gets a request to dispute this they will acknowledge the request within 30 days, because they have to, then sit on it while they give the merchant to time refund. 

 

May be true that 5-6-7 days is too soon, but weeks and in @Oceangoer2 case 2-3 months..... certainly is NOT.

 

During Covid we had a refund coming from Princess and after numerous calls and no results in 3 months, we began a chargeback through our credit card.  We were IMMEDIATELY given a provisional credit, which became a permanent one within 2 weeks.   I wouldn't wait another day if I were @Oceangoer2  they have waited an unreasonable amount of time for X to issue the refund.    As I said I run a business, I know how to issue a credit to a credit card.  It is processed in the same timeline as a charge....it's just "some" businesses choose to drag their feet to actually process one.  

[mrgabriel]

2 hours ago, patty1955 said:

That's what I got during covid. 

Like I said, I don't mind the foreign call center, I just hate the script. Why can't they just talk to us?

 

An acquaintance runs a call centre for an airline. I saw her on the weekend and she told me that it's an absolute nightmare to get people to fill positions. If they hire a good person, they may ghost them and not show up. Then they invest weeks in training and the person quits if they have to deal with angry customers. People aren't knowledgeable enough to go off-script because they don't have the experience,  I think any business that has call centres is having the same problem. 

 

I would be just as frustrated as you are if I was waiting for a refund and agree that it's completely unacceptable to wait more than a week. But I have a feeling that this is the way it's going to be. Either call centres where English is not the first language, or AI. And having dealt with AI call-centre bots, they're equally a nightmare. 

[mahasamatman]

1 hour ago, drakes2 said:

The good thing about the CC dispute is the charge is removed from the card until the merchant responds and a decision is made.

And the bad thing is that if you made the charge more than 90 days ago (sometimes a little longer depending on the card, but not much), you're SOL.

[patty1955]

23 minutes ago, mahasamatman said:

And the bad thing is that if you made the charge more than 90 days ago (sometimes a little longer depending on the card, but not much), you're SOL.

They will usually reject it if it's over 90 days but will grant it on appeal.

[drakes2]

52 minutes ago, mahasamatman said:

And the bad thing is that if you made the charge more than 90 days ago (sometimes a little longer depending on the card, but not much), you're SOL.

That's why everything goes on my credit card. If you use debit or cash out of luck. Cash isn’t always King.  Recently hubby purchased a sublimation printer stopped working after a few times back and forth with company to no avail. Did dispute and won.

[Oceangoer2]

5 hours ago, Oceangoer2 said:

We cancelled a cruise just short of 2 months ago....no refund yet.  After 4 weeks I sent weekly emails to our CVP who 'investigated'.  Keep hearing it'll be another few days.  Don't blame the call centre, but do blame Accounting or whomever it is that has the 'refund' responsibility.  Guess it's time to use the 'executive' email again...which has responded quickly in the past.  FYI....the call centre has existed for a year or more but has changed locations a few times.

Follow up......my CVP just told me 'it's in the mail'..LOL.    The refund was cleared and applied to my credit card yesterday, so it should show up tomorrow.  Took a while as there were accounting 'complications'.  Thought I should let the thread know.

[patty1955]

Follow up . . . the refunds are now pending on my credit card.

[canderson]

On 8/21/2024 at 1:30 PM, patty1955 said:

That's what I got during covid. 

Like I said, I don't mind the foreign call center, I just hate the script. Why can't they just talk to us?

Because these folks start out with no knowledge of the product beyond that imparted by the script.  Better they work from that alone rather than making up answers, and instead pass you along if you get beyond their knowledge base.

 

The scripts, IF well prepared to anticipate questions, will cover a large percentage of the incoming calls.  The quality of the script is important.

[patty1955]

15 minutes ago, canderson said:

 

The scripts, IF well prepared to anticipate questions, will cover a large percentage of the incoming calls.  The quality of the script is important.

If I can tell it's a script, it's not a good script. Repeatedly saying "Thank you for that information" is not a good script.