Who to Write To?

[ekerr19]

Can you imagine the number of things people probably write to him about?

 

I see what is posted here sometimes and shake my head.

 

I can't imagine a letter of complaint about something absurd going anywhere but into the "circular" file... sorry.

 

HAL must get thousands of letters a week. I'd be curious to know if they track any of that... some mail rooms do.

[magictam]

This is not a ma/pa shop operation. HAL has about 1 million passengers a year and employs tens of thousands of people, any and all of whom are free to write/email or call the CEO, about anything.

 

Hammybee

Maybe I'm misinterpreting you, but I'm getting the impression that you think the President of Holland America is not in touch with his consumers, their feelings or opinions. That the CEO of a multi million dollar company doesn't have any personal involvement in his company?

 

I beg to differ. I work for a multi million dollar company and the president of this company does a hands on approach. Granted it's limited, but he is kept informed of every aspect of the day to day operation of this company. We serve well above millions of individuals over the course of a year. I think I can safely say we are all thankful not all of those individuals feel the need to contact the company. I'm sure not every letter or email is foreword to the president, but I can safely say that if it's an import issue or if numerous people have responded, he is made aware of it.

 

I hope Mr. Kruse works the same way.

[sail7seas]

I think an interesting number (%) would be......

 

On any given 7 day Caribbean cruise, how many pax letters to Headquarters are generated each week?

 

On an "S" class ship is it the same percentage as from a Vista?

 

I'm sure that number has to vary according to good weather, bad weather. Isn't it HAL's fault if it rains two days out of seven?

 

It would vary if there was a major toilet back up on a deck; more than one deck. For an hour; for five hours. HAL's fault some of us can't figure out we can't flush hand cloths and every other darn thing you can think of into the vacuum system.

 

I love numbers and would really enjoy knowing are more letters generated on an average 10 day European cruise vs a Caribbean cruise vs Canada/New England?

 

Does one particular ship often generate more letters to Headquarters than another? Are there more positive ones from that ship? Or more negative? Does that trigger any sort of action?

 

All things I am very sure are None of My Business. :D

 

 

[ekerr19]

I'm curious now too, Sail. I'd love to know more. :)

[jhannah]

Okay, here's my take from my years of corporate experience. The CEO does not open his/her mail. An administrative assistant does this. Letters from customers (not suppliers, government agencies, etc.) are forwarded to appropriate departments, as noted.

 

For the small sampling of letters that the assistant does send to the boss so he/she can feel the pulse, he/she will read those then note on the letter the way to respond. If it is to be by letter, then the CEO will specify paragraphs from a reply template.

 

"Reply with paragraphs 1, 4, 7, 8, and 14."

 

For other letters, either the assistant or some other designated person assigns paragraphs from the template and sends the response.

 

The CEO is made aware of what's coming down the pipeline ... but the responses are far from a buddy-buddy personal reply.

[hammybee]

Hammybee

Maybe I'm misinterpreting you, but I'm getting the impression that you think the President of Holland America is not in touch with his consumers, their feelings or opinions. That the CEO of a multi million dollar company doesn't have any personal involvement in his company?

 

Oh magictam, I am probably not being clear, here.

 

I strongly believe the CEO of HAL has the pulse of his organization and consumers.

 

Personal involvement, at this level, does not involve opening the mail or crafting form responses.

[hammybee]

Can you imagine the number of things people probably write to him about?

 

I see what is posted here sometimes and shake my head.

 

I can't imagine a letter of complaint about something absurd going anywhere but into the "circular" file... sorry.

 

HAL must get thousands of letters a week. I'd be curious to know if they track any of that... some mail rooms do.

 

Oh to be the fly on the wall at HAL headquarters.:D

[ekerr19]

Oh to be the fly on the wall at HAL headquarters.:D

 

No kidding Hammy! I wish Stein Kruse was my boss! :D

[cruise_4_me]

I could be wrong but if they start selling out the cruises from FL, I don't care how much people complain, they won't come back.

[hammybee]

No kidding Hammy! I wish Stein Kruse was my boss! :D

 

I wish I was Stein Kruse.:D

[ekerr19]

I wish I was Stein Kruse.:D

 

HAAAA HAAAA!! You're good Hammy! ;)

[hammybee]

I could be wrong but if they start selling out the cruises from FL, I don't care how much people complain, they won't come back.

 

Agreed.

 

Thinking they are not as dependent upon SRO status, cause they are not expending the same fuel, as they did sailing from NYC.

[magictam]

Well I did write my letter to Mr. Kruse. It'll be interesting to see what if any response I get.

 

No, I don't expect him to open it or see it personally. I do hope that if HAL recieves alot of letters, Mr. Kruse will be made aware of them and that maybe he or they (is there a board of directors at HAL?) will rethink this decision.

 

I throughly enjoyed my cruise and I will still cruise with them. In any case I live in rural America and have to fly to every disembarkation.:D

[Jade13]

Just wondering........

 

With a very large corporation, such as HAL, we know there are many departments with many Vice Presidents/Directors/Managers of these Departments.

 

When one wishes to write to headquarters in Seattle, why do most of us instinctively say......I'm writing to Stein Kruse? He has many very able people who are in charge of various departments. Why don't we write directly to the department which would be pertinent to the subject about which we are writing?

 

Do we think we'll get faster/better action by loading up Mr. Kruse's (and his assistants') mailboxes?

 

Why not write to Customer Service?

or Customer Relations?

or Mariners Society?

or Marketing?

or Public Relations?

or or or or or or?

 

Just wondering........ :)

 

The Key is to have a specfic name. If some of us had the name of the VP of Customer Relations, perhaps a letter would go there.

 

I was told Mr Kuse reads all of his mail. I actually would not be surprised if he did but of course has others send out the responses.

[sail7seas]

Call and ask. ;)

 

[seaair100]

I wrote a letter today.HA, even with all its changes,(as all cruiselines are changing),is still my line of choice.

AYWD ,not going to go there.But when you take my money, do not inform me, my TA, or let your guest relation people know, so that when they reply to email, they are not reassuring you that you have wrong info, and on and on. And will see what I hear in the next week or so. Dee

[NHBob]

The Key is to have a specfic name. If some of us had the name of the VP of Customer Relations, perhaps a letter would go there.

 

HAL officer from whom I got results is:

 

Mr. Richard D. Meadows, CTC

Executive Vice President

Marketing, Sales and Guest Programs

Holland America Line

P.O. Box 34985

Seattle, WA 98124

 

I wrote to Mr. Meadows, with cc to Mr. Kruse, about concern with AYW dining - both my TA and I were being stone-walled by guest services. Within 10 days I received both e-mail and phone call from one of Mr. Meadows' staff resolving my concern.

 

I do not know if Mr. Kruse reads all his mail, but I can assure you, after years of working for small-to-large companies, that an effective chief executive insists that his or her staff keep him informed of problem areas. This is often called "management by exception". Senior executives do not like surprises and are particularly upset by middle managers' hiding problems from them.

You can bet that regardless of our feelings about some HAL/Carnival decisions, the company could not enjoy the financial success it does if senior executives weren't very much aware of the day-in and day-out operations of the company.

[mamaofami]

Well I did write my letter to Mr. Kruse. It'll be interesting to see what if any response I get.

 

No, I don't expect him to open it or see it personally. I do hope that if HAL recieves alot of letters, Mr. Kruse will be made aware of them and that maybe he or they (is there a board of directors at HAL?) will rethink this decision.

 

I throughly enjoyed my cruise and I will still cruise with them. In any case I live in rural America and have to fly to every disembarkation.:D

 

 

 

I also wrote my letter. Do I expect them to make a change based on some letters? No, not at all. But, I do think if something really upsets me, then it behoves me to take some action rather than just whine about it. So, I for one, wrote of my disappointment and at least feel as though I have done what I could to make my voice count.

[innlady1]

I also wrote my letter. Do I expect them to make a change based on some letters? No, not at all. But, I do think if something really upsets me, then it behoves me to take some action rather than just whine about it. So, I for one, wrote of my disappointment and at least feel as though I have done what I could to make my voice count.

 

Ditto here, too, Carol. Will my opinion matter? Probably not, but at least I voiced it.

[hammybee]

 

 

You can bet that regardless of our feelings about some HAL/Carnival decisions, the company could not enjoy the financial success it does if senior executives weren't very much aware of the day-in and day-out operations of the company.

 

Well said, Bob.

[JimVrhovac]

Every time we have written to HAL (good comments and problems) we have always received a letter back with the CO signature block and signature on it.

 

Jim & Ruth