Phoning Ships Services - Hold Times??

[6Arabianhorses]

I'm just wondering if it is typical to be on hold for a REALLY long time when calling Ships Services. By REALLY long.......I'm still holding and it's been 53 minutes! :eek: I don't want to hang up now because at this point I've got so much time invested in it. Just wondering if this is the norm or if Tuesday afternoons are especially busy for them??:(

[Tonklily]

I would keep holding. Hopefully, they will get to you very soon! Good luck.:)

[6Arabianhorses]

Someone finally came on the line after holding for 1 hour 11 minutes! Seems excessive and doesn't do anything to make me feel good about their "customer service". I wonder if they have you hold forever and ever in the hopes that most people will just give up. urrrrrrrrrrrr

[elmorejj]

And think of all the money they could potentially be losing from customers who do hang up. .........jean:cool:

[bookworm0911]

Just wondering if this is the norm or if Tuesday afternoons are especially busy for them??:(
According to all reports it's not because it's Tuesday, it's not because it's you, and it's not unusual. In fact it seems to be the norm. Unfortunately it also seems that you might think of calling again and seeing if you even get the same answer to your question as you got this time.

[bepsf]

An Hour???
Without anyone coming back and checking in on you?

I'd have hung up and called back (just me)

[KalenaD]

I've called ship's services twice, and both times I haven't had a wait. Since I live near Seattle, I call the local number for HAL, then they transfer me to ships services, maybe that helps, they know if they don't answer, I can come down there myself and harass them:D

[twinkletoes4445]

I was on hold for 45 minutes, so I dialed the number from another phone line in our house and that was answered in 10 minutes (and I was still on hold with the first call). When I was done with my shore excursion, I checked and the other line was still on hold. That makes no sense to me.

[Scrumpy]

Reaching someone at HAL (in any dept) is very hit-and-miss. And, yes, sometimes you get an answer from one person, then a different answer from someone else. I have emailled them to get things in writing when I'm unsure of a verbal response, but when you want a quick answer, that isn't a great option either.

I wonder if they need a new phone system; if the calls are going through out of order, even more people must be getting unnecessarily irritated.

[lardan]

Interesting enough, I tried to call yesterday at 2:00 pm PT. I was on hold 30 minutes and hung up.

This morning, I called at 6:58 am PT, and got a message that they didn't open until 7:00 am. Called back two minutes later, and was on hold, but this time only for 10 minutes. I had to be one of the first callers.

Whatever, at least I got to take care of what I needed to.

[debjo]

For 6Arabianhorses...
I've not had great experience with the "waiting" times on the HAL phones...I have even tried reaching them (on the West Coast) when they first open in the morning with no avail. Thank God for speaker phones and portable phones...at least I can still get some "stuff" done while I've "waited".
My "call" yesterday took a total of 45 minutes of "waiting" and being switched to three different reps. I finally had to hang up in order to call my husband at work during his lunch hour. After talking with him, I phoned HAL again and waited another 20 minutes speaking to the receptionist, then reservations, then shore excursions...it should be noted that I asked for shore excursions in the first place! When it finally came time for me to ask "my questions" the rep in shore excursions didn't know the answers...I said I'd "hold". She politely said that she needed to ask her supervisor and that might take a couple hours before she could do that. She took my email address and said that she'd email the answers to me. (I've been down that road before and never got an email response from HAL and fortunately was able to get my questions answered by the kind folks on these message boards). I explained to her that I needed an answer that day. She assured me that she'd send off an email message in the next few hours. We'll...here we are, another day later, and I still haven't received an email. Guess I'll have to try the phone again tomorrow. :-( I've even tried emailing HAL from their website and haven't gotten an answer to my questions from a month ago.

I know it is all very frustrating, but I've found that persistence usually pays off...I'm just glad I have the time to "wait". I can't think of what it would be like if I had to work outside of my home!

By the way, we've got horses too...16 miniature horses now (no "large" ones at this point).

Debjo

[Spender Nui]

Sounds like a recommendation to use a TA.

[debjo]

For Spender Nui...
We do have a TA...she also has a teaching job and is unavailable during the day. Sadly, she has the same amount of "waiting" difficulty with HAL that everyone else has. With her limited time, I sometimes take it upon myself to call HAL directly. Fortunately, most of my questions get answered by the savy Cruise Critic people and we don't have to rely on "waiting" on the phones with HAL...but there are some things that we DO need to talk with HAL about.

Debjo