Change to Celebrity Customer Service

[ldubs]

On 8/21/2024 at 12:30 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?

 

On 8/21/2024 at 1:13 PM, Oville said:

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

 

I think the language issue is less about call center staff understanding English and more about North American's having a problem understanding heavier accents.  That aside, it is clear that training of those call center folk is seriously lacking.  I suspect the call center staff have strict guidelines to stick to the script.  Somewhat related, Mrs Ldubs once spoke to a call center person in their dialect and was advised they were not allowed to do that.    

 

As frustrating as it might be, we should not take our frustrations on those folk who are trying their very best to do their job, and we certainly shouldn't cost someone their job out of a moment of anger.  Instead, we should share our complaints with those responsible, namely the cruise line senior management.  

[zitsky]

1 hour ago, ldubs said:

 

 

I think the language issue is less about call center staff understanding English and more about North American's having a problem understanding heavier accents.  That aside, it is clear that training of those call center folk is seriously lacking.  I suspect the call center staff have strict guidelines to stick to the script.  Somewhat related, Mrs Ldubs once spoke to a call center person in their dialect and was advised they were not allowed to do that.    

 

As frustrating as it might be, we should not take our frustrations on those folk who are trying their very best to do their job, and we certainly shouldn't cost someone their job out of a moment of anger.  Instead, we should share our complaints with those responsible, namely the cruise line senior management.  

My husband is from Malaysia.  He, like many Malaysians speaks English as a second language.  His new BMW doesn’t understand him half the time when he uses voice commands.  And after 32 years I still sometimes have to correct his English.

 

My recent problem was not with accents but with the poor quality of the after hours help desk.

Edited August 24 by zitsky

[patty1955]

I just got off the phone with Bank of America. They kept declining a charge I was making with Qatar Airlines. The rep spoke with an American accent (no accent as far as I can tell) and using the same type of script. If they just said "thank you" instead of "thank you for that information" it wouldn't bother me so much. 

[NMTraveller]

5 hours ago, zitsky said:

My husband is from Malaysia.  He, like many Malaysians speaks English as a second language.  His new BMW doesn’t understand him half the time when he uses voice commands.  And after 32 years I still sometimes have to correct his English.

 

My recent problem was not with accents but with the poor quality of the after hours help desk.

What?  I can't understand your accent? 😁

[Liao]

6 hours ago, ldubs said:

 

 

I think the language issue is less about call center staff understanding English and more about North American's having a problem understanding heavier accents.  That aside, it is clear that training of those call center folk is seriously lacking.  I suspect the call center staff have strict guidelines to stick to the script.  Somewhat related, Mrs Ldubs once spoke to a call center person in their dialect and was advised they were not allowed to do that.    

 

As frustrating as it might be, we should not take our frustrations on those folk who are trying their very best to do their job, and we certainly shouldn't cost someone their job out of a moment of anger.  Instead, we should share our complaints with those responsible, namely the cruise line senior management.  

Exactly, it just takes a little patience and perhaps just telling the rep, I appreciate your help and please bear with me, talk slowly, I'll do the same, and we will both work together to solve this.  

[ldubs]

7 hours ago, zitsky said:

My husband is from Malaysia.  He, like many Malaysians speaks English as a second language.  His new BMW doesn’t understand him half the time when he uses voice commands.  And after 32 years I still sometimes have to correct his English.

 

My recent problem was not with accents but with the poor quality of the after hours help desk.

 

I am a native English speaker and yet that lady in my car's GPS can't follow what I'm saying half the time!

Edited August 25 by ldubs

[Oville]

7 hours ago, zitsky said:

My husband is from Malaysia.  He, like many Malaysians speaks English as a second language.  His new BMW doesn’t understand him half the time when he uses voice commands.  And after 32 years I still sometimes have to correct his English.

 

My recent problem was not with accents but with the poor quality of the after hours help desk.

I thought Malaysians also spoke English?
 

Like Idubs I too have issues with my cars and also Siri and Alexa.  Is it my accent, pretty neutral, or my nasal tone, who knows.

[zitsky]

5 minutes ago, Oville said:

I thought Malaysians also spoke English?
 

Like Idubs I too have issues with my cars and also Siri and Alexa.  Is it my accent, pretty neutral, or my nasal tone, who knows.

Yes Malaysians speak English.  And Cantonese, Hindi, Malaysian and some other local dialects.

 

Do not go to a shopping mall in Penang and speak Malaysian to the young Chinese sales clerks.  You will not get good service.  Not unless one of the older women has a sense of humor.

[Oville]

2 minutes ago, zitsky said:

Yes Malaysians speak English.  And Cantonese, Hindi, Malaysian and some other local dialects.

 

Do not go to a shopping mall in Penang and speak Malaysian to the young Chinese sales clerks.  You will not get good service.  Not unless one of the older women has a sense of humor.

Not sure I understand your second paragraph.

Regarding the first, I worked in an international job and we had Asian headquarters in Singapore, hence my question about English.

[zitsky]

1 hour ago, Oville said:

Not sure I understand your second paragraph.

Regarding the first, I worked in an international job and we had Asian headquarters in Singapore, hence my question about English.

Some ethnic Chinese in Malaysia prefer to speak Chinese rather than Malay even when they speak both.  I don’t speak of immigrants.  I speak of people who were born there.

[Iamcruzin]

On 8/21/2024 at 4:03 PM, 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. 

When I return something to Amazon I get a credit to my card 30minutes after UPS scans the return barcode. The package hasn't even left UPS drop off yet.  What's all this nonsense about layers of returns? It's all done electronically.  If I cancel before final payment it processes in a reasonable amount of time. This is a clear case of the cruise line hanging on to money util the interest has posted to their account. Insurance companies pull the same crap by denying a claim after it's submitted. This is the reason that the customer service reps are given a canned script to read off of.

Edited August 25 by Iamcruzin

[Iamcruzin]

On 8/21/2024 at 5:11 PM, drakes2 said:

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

I recently canceled a cruise on Princess. I booked the cruise online and I canceled it online. Within 24 hours it showed pending on the credit card APP and the credit was posted to my next billing statement. I'm sure that I wasn't the only one canceling a cruise that day.

[Iamcruzin]

On 8/24/2024 at 12:53 AM, patty1955 said:

I had a TA for my last Celebrity cruise. They're a big, box, membership store and they f---ed up our All Included package and it took months to straighten out. That's why we didn't have a TA for this cruise. 

I find that the TAs are worse to deal with than the call centers. I try to do everything online so that I don't have to deal with people who don't have a clue. It's not my job to train them.

Edited August 25 by Iamcruzin

[drakes2]

2 hours ago, Iamcruzin said:

I find that the TAs are worse to deal with than the call centers. I try to do everything online so that I don't have to deal with people who don't have a clue. It's not my job to train them.

As mentioned my cvp is great he even answers me on his day off. He was the one who tipped me off to the SV that was coming available for my Mediterranean cruise. I grabbed it when it showed up online. If it wasn't for him I'd be stuck in the deluxe inside. 

[patty1955]

7 hours ago, Iamcruzin said:

I find that the TAs are worse to deal with than the call centers. I try to do everything online so that I don't have to deal with people who don't have a clue. It's not my job to train them.

 

4 hours ago, drakes2 said:

As mentioned my cvp is great he even answers me on his day off. He was the one who tipped me off to the SV that was coming available for my Mediterranean cruise. I grabbed it when it showed up online. If it wasn't for him I'd be stuck in the deluxe inside. 

I'm sure there are good TAs who can provide great assistance. The trick is finding one.

[drakes2]

36 minutes ago, patty1955 said:

 

I'm sure there are good TAs who can provide great assistance. The trick is finding one.

Once you do hang on. Mine has been with Celebrity for over 15 years. They kept him on during covid. He said he's a workaholic.

[Gracie115]

3 hours ago, drakes2 said:

Once you do hang on. Mine has been with Celebrity for over 15 years. They kept him on during covid. He said he's a workaholic.

You're lucky.  Mine was with X for 10 years, hung on through most of Covid but left for Regent in late 2021. Had no luck finding a new one with X that would even return calls.  I now have everything with a "real" TA and that has proven much better financially than sticking with an X CVP. 

[Oceangoer2]

3 hours ago, drakes2 said:

Once you do hang on. Mine has been with Celebrity for over 15 years. They kept him on during covid. He said he's a workaholic.

You've mentioned this a few times.....I have a great guy who took on our account after our long term CVP 'retired'?  His initial are RW?  In the past we've also been helped by SR.  As you've said, ours is almost immediate answering emails, thorough, doesn't waste time so he handles a large slate of clients efficiently,  but still is very polite and helpful. 

[miched]

This reminds me of where I worked and retired from.   I was in the automotive industry.    There were over 12,000 employees.    There was a complaint department with one employee.  Her name was Mrs Back.   Her first name was Helen.    If you had a complaint you were told to go to Helen Back  😱

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

[drakes2]

6 hours ago, miched said:

This reminds me of where I worked and retired from.   I was in the automotive industry.    There were over 12,000 employees.    There was a complaint department with one employee.  Her name was Mrs Back.   Her first name was Helen.    If you had a complaint you were told to go to Helen Back  😱

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

Many years ago my hubby worked with a Richard Head. He loved calling him on the company's PA system. 'Dick Head' come to the office. 😆