My Viking Referral Program Nightmare

I decided to post my experience with Viking and their referral program after reading what others have gone through. My experience is similar.

We booked the Viking Star (Ocean cruise) when they announced they were building the ship back in 2013 and paid in full for it at the end of 2013. That cruise is coming up this September. Last year we went on two Viking river cruises. We went to China and we did the Romantic Danube itinerary. Both were fantastic trips and I posted trip reports on CC when we came back. I am a frequent poster on CC and I have met a lot of people through CC. I often post to help others as others have helped me with my cruise planning. On some cruises I have gone on I have met people through CC that we ended up booking private excursions with. I met one couple that we shared transportation with to Prague after disembarking our Viking cruise in Nuremberg. OTHER cruise lines (both ocean and river) have referral programs and have threads on cruise critic and that is allowed and encouraged by the various cruise lines. People post in these threads if they are seeking a referral and people post if they are offering a referral.

I started making referrals to Viking back in 2013 to friends, family and some people that we met during our travels. I have recommended Viking to many people. A few months ago I did post my customer number on CC under the referral thread (as others have done) and a few people called Viking from that and got a referral as a result. I in turn received a referral, or so I thought.

Then a few weeks ago, someone who works in my office (who I had referred a year ago) had booked a Viking China trip for this year told me that their referral was taken away and that they now had a balance of $200 owing on their cruise. I told them there must be some mistake, but later found out from my travel agent that Viking queried a couple people who recently booked and they were asked by Viking how they knew me. When those few people told Viking that they found me on CC, what Viking did was VOID every single referral I have made to them and put a HOLD on my customer number so I could no longer make any referrals. I was shocked. There was no notice from Viking that they were doing this....they just did it. Some of the past referrals had been credited on my cruises last year, but the majority of the referrals I made to Viking were issued to me as a credit on my credit card since my upcoming cruise was paid in full two years ago. This meant that if they voided the referrals and reversed them that I was now owing a large balance on my upcoming cruise, and all the people had referred would now have a $200 balance owing on their cruise.

At first I could not find anything in their "rules" about this but I did eventually find something, which I believe was JUST ADDED by Viking. If you go to the Viking website and click on http://www.vikingcruises.com/about-u...l-rewards.html and from there click on the part that says: "Click Viking Referral Rewards to view detailed information about eligibility and restrictions" you can read the recently added part that states: "Advertising of customer name or ID number in public forums such as on the internet, social media, or public newsletters is considered misuse of Viking referral rewards program. Rewards earned will be voided without further notice". So everyone who had posted on CC just their name would be subject to having every referral voided.

The owner of my travel agency contacted Viking on my behalf and they refused to discuss it with him, replying that “this is between Viking and Carol”. After my numerous email exchanges and phone calls with someone at Viking over the past few weeks, I was eventually emailed a list with all my referrals and I was asked which ones I knew and which ones I didn't know. As I knew the majority I responded truthfully to the email and a few days ago received a reply stating that the referrals will be reinstated, but not the few recent ones that came from CC. They were not on the list and they would not give me credit for those. The person I spoke with said she was going on the Viking Star this week and when she got back would be sorting it all out, but she said my customer number is still FROZEN, meaning I can't make any new referrals.

Another poster had pointed out that that in the VIKING REWARDS REFERRAL PROGRAM BROCHURE that they mail out (I have gotten several in the mail, and one just a couple of days ago) it specifically states "Don't forget to share your cruise experience with friends through Facebook and Pinterest, or pass along a brochure....". What do they think will happen by doing that? If you post something on Facebook or Pinterest obviously it is posted with your name, and lots of people you may know or may not know read these and may decide to book a Viking cruise because of that. This verbiage conflicts with the policy on their website. On one hand they are telling you NOT to post your information on Social Media, and then in their own referral program brochure they are encouraging you to spread the word in Social Media, on sites such as Facebook and Pinterest.

I personally think Viking has made a huge mistake by disallowing referrals from whatever source they come from, but if they have changed the program recently they should not have made it retroactive and they should have notified me. They should have stated that going forward these are the new rules. I can't believe that they would spend the time to call people to find out if they know the referring person. I think Viking has created such bad-will by doing this. After all, I have been a huge cheerleader for Viking and instead of appreciating that they have given me a really hard time. I have told so many people what a good experience we had....most people I know, and some I don't know.

I am the poster who contacted the host to have the referral thread taken down, and I specifically asked for my posts which had my customer number to be removed. At first the thread was taken down but I see it is now back up, subject to Viking clarifying the referral rules with CC.

I read with interest the post by franski and what Viking did to resolve her issue. It seems that all her referrals were reinstated as well as the credit towards a free cruise that was booked. Franski, if you read this please email me (my email is below) with the name and contact information of the person you spoke with at Viking. I would appreciate that.

I wanted to let everyone know that after all these weeks Viking finally reinstated my referrals made to family and friends. They also finally unfroze my customer number so now I can begin making referrals again. There was never an apology from Viking.

Viking obviously needs some major PR help along with basic customer service help. I read your post and kept saying "Wow" over and over and over again. I'm glad it worked out for you, but what a nightmare you went through.

Viking obviously needs some major PR help along with basic customer service help. I read your post and kept saying "Wow" over and over and over again. I'm glad it worked out for you, but what a nightmare you went through.

I forgot to mention that they voided the referrals that came from Cruise Critic. There was one couple I referred from Cruise Critic who called me yesterday to tell me they were taking back my referral and they owed $200 on their upcoming cruise.

I thought that Viking would be posting something in this forum about the changes to their referral program but they are apparently laying low.

Once again Vikings famous "customer service" strikes again. Ive been a victim too, not for this but another issue. I had to take to social media to get it resolved, but only after the fact. It just shocks me over and over how unprofessional their customer service is, yet the cruise itself is usually fantastic. We have a trip with Viking in 2 weeks on the Star and no matter how fantastic it is we wont be using Viking again. Between that prepayment required and their customer service there is just no way any vacation should have that kind of stress coming along with it. There are many many other companies that do a good job and manage to have good customer service.

Signed,

not a Viking cheerleader

It sounds as if their referral program needs to be clarified for the future. We get mailings regularly with our customer number to give out as referrals.....I never gave it much thought to really use them - nor how I should or should not use them. It is their program, so they get to make the rules.....but clarification as to whether you can post your customer number for anyone to use that sees your number on CC or other social sites Sounds like it is u clear....

As far as being customers of Viking in the future, we all have that choice for sure. I have never been on an international trip where there weren't things that fell through the cracks.....in fact on every cruise there has been something that wasn't right.....on trips multiple times we have run into various strikes and missed flights, trains, etc........but every single time, the fun and adventure overrides the invariable issues that are just part of the journey.

It sounds as if their referral program needs to be clarified for the future. We get mailings regularly with our customer number to give out as referrals.....I never gave it much thought to really use them - nor how I should or should not use them. It is their program, so they get to make the rules.....but clarification as to whether you can post your customer number for anyone to use that sees your number on CC or other social sites Sounds like it is u clear....

As far as being customers of Viking in the future, we all have that choice for sure. I have never been on an international trip where there weren't things that fell through the cracks.....in fact on every cruise there has been something that wasn't right.....on trips multiple times we have run into various strikes and missed flights, trains, etc........but every single time, the fun and adventure overrides the invariable issues that are just part of the journey.

They added a new rule to their website in a link which states basically that you can't post your name and customer number on social media sites, but in their very own referral brochure they mail out they encourage you to post about Viking on Facebook and Pinterest....so my question is what if someone I don't know sees my post on Facebook or Pinterest and books a Viking cruise. Would I get a referral? Their own literature contradicts their website. The fact that they went to this trouble to invalidate the referrals from CC is truly unbelievable.

Dear Cruise Critic Members and Viking Travelers,

We wanted to let you know that we are listening and we apologize for our slow public response to this issue.

In the coming weeks we will be reviewing the Viking Referral Rewards program so that the policy is clearly communicated with our guests and with all members of the Viking team. The ways in which social media is used to make or receive a Viking referral will also be reviewed. When the revised policy is finalized our marketing materials will be updated to reflect it and we will also share it here. We apologize for the confusion, disappointment and frustration we have caused, particularly to our valued guests who put their trust in Viking Cruises by referring us to family and friends.

We ask that you please continue to be patient with us. Reviewing our referral program and updating policies and marketing materials (where needed) will take some time, though we will attend to this matter as quickly as we can.

If you have concerns with your referral credits or would like to speak to Customer Relations regarding this issue, please contact us at TellUs@vikingcruises.com. Please include your 10-digit customer number in your email if you would like assistance with the current status of your credits.

Thank you,

Viking Cruises

P.S. As we’ve done in the past, we will post this response to the various threads that have included recent discussions about this topic. Please excuse the repetition.