No Response to complaint from Customer Services

[kenzie]

Has anyone any experience with Princess Customer services not responding to a complaint. I emailed them on 12 January regarding an issue onboard the Caribbean Princess over the Xmas holidays, despite 2 chasing emails I have nothing but auto responses.

[VTX-AL]

It took ten days for them to confirm by email my purchase of additional OBC and self-gifting, which should been almost automatic - so processing a complaint my take considerably more time :confused: :D

 

...VTX-Al

[Coral]

It is not uncommon to take 6 weeks to reply to a complaint/concern. Especially if they need to contact the ship for more information.

[ellie1145]

Why not call them? Our complaint was resolved swiftly when I spoke to a member of the customer services team.

[yndygo]

It is not uncommon to take 6 weeks to reply to a complaint/concern. Especially if they need to contact the ship for more information.

 

6 weeks?!? :eek: What are they doing... swimming after the ship and shouting the question at someone? ;)

 

Seriously, a courtesy response by an actual human being rather than an autoreply shouldn't take a month and a half. If so? They need to consider outsourcing their customer service to someone like getsatisfaction.com - because that kind of lack of response kills repeat business.

[richstowe]

It is not uncommon to take 6 weeks to reply to a complaint/concern. Especially if they need to contact the ship for more information.

That seems waaay too long to resolve an issue but more importantly shouldn't Princess promptly

reply to the sender that the e-mail was received and that further action will be taken ?

[Casey12]

It depends on the complaint but 4-6 weeks is not uncommon for a written response, especially if someone is asking for compensation for a problem. They do quite a bit of research to confirm issues and that can take awhile.

[lovevacadays]

I think it depends of the complaint and how serious it is. I cruised on the Golden in November and had a really good cruise. However, I did have a concern I thought Princess should know about. It was 4 weeks until I received any communication. I actually did not appreciate the communication I received so called the person listed on the letter I received. Interestingly, I heard nothing for a few weeks and then this week received a voicemail from someone wanting to speak with me regarding my concern. My concern was about the constant lack of soap in the public bathrooms and how dirty they consistently were. The letter I received basically made it sound like it was my problem and I should have told someone. Since I did tell someone, I left a voicemail back indicating that and also indicating that, perhaps, given the recent publicity Princess has had with NoroVirus, etc they might not want to make it seem like it was my fault the bathrooms were so dirty and without soap. I also stated that, given their response, perhaps a call to the media was in order. Wow! Might not have wanted to say that. Now, they are calling me. Really, consistently having no soap in the public bathrooms is not right.:eek::eek::eek:

[elliair]

Why not call them? Our complaint was resolved swiftly when I spoke to a member of the customer services team.

 

I go right to the source while onboard. I had to do this on our last cruise regarding our cabin steward. I not only got a response, I also got a phone call from the guy in charge of housekeeping. He assured me that it wouldn't fall through the cracks. I know it's too late for you now, but maybe a direct phone call would be the trick.

[trbarton]

I'm on the December Anniversary Cruise on the Pacific Princess and had a question about the Love Boat Cast and used Princess Facebook and received a response in 2 days. Just another option.

 

Tom😀

[rdsqrl]

I'm on the December Anniversary Cruise on the Pacific Princess and had a question about the Love Boat Cast and used Princess Facebook and received a response in 2 days. Just another option.

 

Tom😀

Yeah, cause that's exactly the same thing as a serious complaint/concern. *eyeroll*

[two4me]

6 weeks?!? :eek: What are they doing... swimming after the ship and shouting the question at someone? ;)

 

Of course if the ship is transatlantic to Europe.:D

[Colo Cruiser]

I agree it can take 6 weeks.

[pompeii]

We also had a complaint about our stateroom on our Ruby cruise in Nov. Of course we brought it to the PSD's attention on board, got handed off to several "managers" on the ship, they said they would contact corporate on our behalf. There was no resolution while onboard, so we followed up by phone to cust service once we got back. We were told that no one from the ship had contacted corporate and we needed to write a letter. We did that, received an auto response, and finally a few weeks later we got a phone call from them. It never really was resolved to our satisfaction, but we did finally get an answer but it took several weeks. The whole process seemed to say "we'll make you jump through so many hoops that you'll finally give up." YMMV

[geoherb]

I had a couple of complaints last year arising on two different cruises. I emailed them to Customer Relations after each cruise. For the first one, I was surprised to receive a response through my travel agent the same day. Princess gave us the Ultimate Balcony Breakfast (which was one of the things I suggested they could do for us to make up for the problem).

 

With the second complaint, it took about a week and a half to hear from a Princess rep. She agreed with me immediately and said I'd receive a partial refund for an excursion that did not deliver all that was promised. It took about five weeks to show up on my credit card account.

[kimlovesfl]

Yeah, cause that's exactly the same thing as a serious complaint/concern. *eyeroll*

 

I actually had great success using a Facebook page when I had an issue with a mattress company. My emails just seemed to do nothing, so I posted my complaint on their Facebook page, for all the world to see, and the matter was resolved instantly, with a larger refund than I expected.

[BJS]

Has anyone any experience with Princess Customer services not responding to a complaint. I emailed them on 12 January regarding an issue onboard the Caribbean Princess over the Xmas holidays, despite 2 chasing emails I have nothing but auto responses.

 

We sent an email regarding a horrible entertainer who was inappropriate during a 6:30 show. We told them the person hiring should know about this and the entertainer should not be hired again.

 

We received an auto email immediately followed by a message on phone voice mail about 2 weeks later that they had called. The following week they did reach us by phone and after listening to what we said we were told they would pass the information on to the person hiring entertainment.

Edited February 2, 2015 by BJS

[MsSoCalCruiser]

I think it depends of the complaint and how serious it is. I cruised on the Golden in November and had a really good cruise. However, I did have a concern I thought Princess should know about. It was 4 weeks until I received any communication. I actually did not appreciate the communication I received so called the person listed on the letter I received. Interestingly, I heard nothing for a few weeks and then this week received a voicemail from someone wanting to speak with me regarding my concern. My concern was about the constant lack of soap in the public bathrooms and how dirty they consistently were. The letter I received basically made it sound like it was my problem and I should have told someone. Since I did tell someone, I left a voicemail back indicating that and also indicating that, perhaps, given the recent publicity Princess has had with NoroVirus, etc they might not want to make it seem like it was my fault the bathrooms were so dirty and without soap. I also stated that, given their response, perhaps a call to the media was in order. Wow! Might not have wanted to say that. Now, they are calling me. Really, consistently having no soap in the public bathrooms is not right.:eek::eek::eek:

 

It's about time they listen to you! You may want to tell them that I even told the CD there was a problem. :(

[Hlitner]

ROFLMAO. Sometimes we wonder what folks expect from whining after the fact. If one has a serious complaint (such as no A/C in your cabin, no water in the shower, etc) then you should deal with it immediately (onboard) through the normal channels. If you fail to get a quick resolution then you can go through the process of elevating your complaint to a higher level (the ultimate level being to get an appointment with the Hotel Manager).

 

But to waste one's time whining about soap in bathrooms, lousy entertainers (there are many on ships), etc etc. after you return home is just silly. When the cruise line is on their game you should get some kind of canned response or somebody might even politely be empathetic, and nothing will change. Of course there are those (and we have met a few) that are constant complainers and simply do it hoping they will get some kind of financial compensation!

 

And for the record, having spent about 4 years on various cruise ships (as passengers) DW and I have never sent a complaint to a cruise line after a cruise. And yes, we have complained onboard about certain things such as when a pipe burst in our cabin bathroom and flooded our entire cabin, or when our cabin temp would not go below 80 degrees.

 

On the other hand, if you are unsatisfied with parts of your cruise you can have a major impact by putting an accurate review here on CC or posting a thread (hopefully factual) about your rant on the appropriate CC board.

 

But on behalf of all the "serial whiners" we complain after they return home we are happy to post a generic apology:

 

"Thank you for bringing the issue to our attention. We at [insert cruise line name] take seriously every customer complaint and work hard to resolve such issues. We look forward to seeing you on future cruises."

 

Hank

Edited February 2, 2015 by Hlitner

[Colo Cruiser]

We sent an email regarding a horrible entertainer who was inappropriate during a 6:30 show. We told them the person hiring should know about this and the entertainer should not be hired again.

 

We received an auto email immediately followed by a message on phone voice mail about 2 weeks later that they had called. The following week they did reach us by phone and after listening to what we said we were told they would pass the information on to the person hiring entertainment.

 

Onboard after the show would have been the perfect time to relay this to the manager of entertainment (cruise director) who has the correct contacts in the corporate office. Then follow up with the corporate office once home.

[CruisingJs]

ROFLMAO. Sometimes we wonder what folks expect from whining after the fact. If one has a serious complaint (such as no A/C in your cabin, no water in the shower, etc) then you should deal with it immediately (onboard) through the normal channels. If you fail to get a quick resolution then you can go through the process of elevating your complaint to a higher level (the ultimate level being to get an appointment with the Hotel Manager).

 

But to waste one's time whining about soap in bathrooms, lousy entertainers (there are many on ships), etc etc. after you return home is just silly. When the cruise line is on their game you should get some kind of canned response or somebody might even politely be empathetic, and nothing will change. Of course there are those (and we have met a few) that are constant complainers and simply do it hoping they will get some kind of financial compensation!

 

And for the record, having spent about 4 years on various cruise ships (as passengers) DW and I have never sent a complaint to a cruise line after a cruise. And yes, we have complained onboard about certain things such as when a pipe burst in our cabin bathroom and flooded our entire cabin, or when our cabin temp would not go below 80 degrees.

 

On the other hand, if you are unsatisfied with parts of your cruise you can have a major impact by putting an accurate review here on CC or posting a thread (hopefully factual) about your rant on the appropriate CC board.

 

But on behalf of all the "serial whiners" we complain after they return home we are happy to post a generic apology:

 

"Thank you for bringing the issue to our attention. We at [insert cruise line name] take seriously every customer complaint and work hard to resolve such issues. We look forward to seeing you on future cruises."

 

Hank

 

I disagree. There are times when an email following a cruise is appropriate and necessary. I recently sent my first email to customer service regarding a disembarkation tour that was reduced from two hours to 45 minutes due to delayed disembarkation. As we were waiting in the Princess theater, we were told the tour would still be full length and we would be dropped at the airport later. When we finally got on the bus, we discovered the bus driver had another commitment and thus the shortened tour. I immediately got an auto response to my email with a follow up call a couple of weeks later offering each of us $100 OBC on our next cruise. I hadn't asked for compensation and it was certainly a better response than I expected.

[Colo Cruiser]

Has anyone any experience with Princess Customer services not responding to a complaint. I emailed them on 12 January regarding an issue onboard the Caribbean Princess over the Xmas holidays, despite 2 chasing emails I have nothing but auto responses.

 

 

Did you voice your complaint onboard?

[Loonbeam]

The art of communicating a good concern is all about who and when you send it to.

 

When you send a complaint to a general intake system, the response will usually depend on who happens to see it. As with any service center, there are good and bad agents, and some of the metrics centers use do not encourage in depth responses. Call centers are best for complaints that are non-specific and depend on volume to get a response (i.e. things where management looks at number of complaints more than specifics) - items such as general port design issues, ship issues, low impact complaints (recipe changes, entertainment changes, etc). This is also a good place to send compliments/concerns about specific staff members (as well as onboard) because there is usually a process for that.

 

For items that require immediate resolution they should be addressed onboard. The simple fact of the matter is once you are off the cruise, their interest in accommodating you drops. A lot.

 

If you cannot get a satisfactory response on board (with the disclaimer that some people's idea of satisfactory is not reality based), the post-cruise channel to try to find is the applicable land based department. This assumes you either escalated properly on board or were unable to) as opposed to the general pool. It may take some digging to find the right place to go.

 

Some miscellaneous tips:

 

Attend the CC roll call if you can. If officers show up, you now have a face to put to a position, and they remember yours. On our last Royal cruise, the hotel director showed up. Several times later on I ran into him by chance and he always asked how things were. Had I had any, this would have been a perfect opportunity to get an issue resolved.

 

Tone is vital. How you phrase a given concern will affect not only how fast it is processed but how it is processed. I work a lot with call centers. I have seen inquiries that probably warranted a decent response pretty much discarded because of the way it was written (incoherent, all caps, cursing, insane demands, and of course the kiss of death "I will never shop/cruise/stay/use again".

 

----

By way of example (feel free to skip, consider this rant mode and has nothing to do with the OPs email.):

 

Since it was brought up, here's the exact text of an email I sent to Princess a couple of years regarding soap in bathrooms. I have redacted the names and dates in the interest of avoiding "well we sailed on that ship too and......"

 

"To whom it may concern:

 

On our recent cruise (Voyage #*****) aboard the ******** Princess, we noticed several times that the public bathrooms located near the ***** dining room did not have soap, especially around lunch. We communicated this to ******* at guest services, who took down our information. We did notice the situation improved for several days, but as the cruise approached the end, there was again a lack of supplies. We did not go to guest services again, due to the time remaining for a response.

 

We would greatly appreciate if you would contact the appropriate department with our concerns and request they impress on the ship's staff the importance of keeping these areas stocked.

 

Thank you in advance for your assistance,

 

Sincerely.

 

"

 

12 days later received the following.

 

"Dear **********

 

Thank you for making us aware of your concerns regarding your recent cruise. I have forwarded your message to our hotel department so they can take appropriate action. They will contact you if any additional information is needed.

 

On behalf of Princess I do apologize and hope this did not significantly impact your cruise. I want to assure you we take health and safety very seriously.

 

We look forward to having you onboard again soon.

 

Sincerely,

 

**********

 

"

 

Now its entirely possible it went nowhere. But at least there was a box checked somewhere that said Ship X, Problem Y, etc, so that if management sees a trend they can deal with it.

 

I also gave clear details of who I spoke to and when (actually reading it now I should have said what day I went to guest services), and what I wanted them to do...

 

Notice I got back a polite response that indicated someone read my actual message in about 2 weeks, which is what I wanted in the end.

[kimlovesfl]

I cannot stress enough how important tone is in a phone call, email, or snail mail letter. A well-written letter, with no cursing or bad language, detailing the issue and what you desire as your resolution, works better than saying "f- this" and whatever, or being vague, or making outrageous demands when not appropriate (say, a full refund of your cruise fare for a relatively minor problem); when calling, be professional and courteous. When I worked in a call center customer service department (a tour wholesaler), and if someone was yelling or swearing at me, I would warn them, once, to act appropriately or I would disconnect the call, and yes, I disconnected quite a few calls. I also had people call back to apologize.

 

I have had positive outcomes to several customer service issues, like with the aforementioned mattress company, my cable service provider (this took a couple of months, and the biggest issue is each time you email, a new person sees it), and my local newspaper (outsourced customer service to the Philippines). I was always nice, I described my problem in detail, and stated my desired resolution, and every instance, it was resolved to my satisfaction, even though it may have taken several calls or emails and some time.

Edited February 2, 2015 by kimlovesfl

[BJS]

Onboard after the show would have been the perfect time to relay this to the manager of entertainment (cruise director) who has the correct contacts in the corporate office. Then follow up with the corporate office once home.

We felt direct contact with corporate rather than relying on cruise director was the better approach. We were very pleased with the response from our email.

 

For other matters we always make direct contact on the ship.