Phone agent was deceitful

[woopuppy]

This is our first cruise on Carnival. We have always cruised NCL. I always book by phone and then manage my booking online. We booked our cruise for next January with an agent on the phone. He gave us a price and I accepted it. I asked him if our deposit was refundable since my son may not be able to go and would cancel well before final payment. He told me that is was not to worry. After the booking I went online to make sure everything was good on the bookings. I found out that he booked us the Early Savers rate that means my deposit isn't refundable and it is a penalty instead. The agent lied to me and I have no recourse on this. I am basically out the deposit for my son if he can't go. I will say this will be my first and last cruise on Carnival. The agent was deceitful to say the least.

[asalligo]

I am sorry you experienced this. I have to agree that I have had the same experience. I perform a mock booking and then call my PVP just to be nice and give him a little commission and he first does not know what he is talking about when it comes to rates and rooms and then quotes me a much higher price then my mock booking. We argue over which rates are cancellable. After all is done, several things about the booking are wrong and I do not involve a PVP anymore.

 

On an up note, I am usually able to call that PVP right back and he makes the changes. I bet if you called him and said you booked me under the wrong rate he could fix it. If not, speak to his supervisor.

[the_lovely_voyage]

The deposit can be applied to a future booking, so you can move that money over to a new sailing. It’s not a total loss if you have to cancel that specific sailing. Also, you can call back and talk to a new rep about troubleshooting it instead of just writing about it here. I also find that the Facebook reps are helpful and you can message them for help.

 

 

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[twitzgall]

If you booked with a credit card and end up not being able to go, issue a chargeback for the deposit amount stating the deceit you just described above by the agent.

[hate2shop]

Why do you think you have no recourse on this ? As mentioned above you have lots of options, the easiest by far is calling back and telling them they booked you under the wrong rate. A supervisor can and will fix it. No need to boycott an entire cruise line for an agents mistake. If you were deliberately mislead they will verify it when they listen to the original call.

Happy Cruising !

[bury me at sea]

My only suggestion is to call Carnival as soon as possible, explain what happened, ask them to review your phone conversation assuming it was recorded, and to change your rate.

 

Good luck.

[woopuppy]

Unfortunately it was book last spring. We had another cruise we just went on that I was focusing on and just now started working on this one. That is why I feel I have not recourse. My mother in law who is going with us has already paid for hers in full and I don't want to add anymore to her bill since their finances have changed since the original booking. I will take it as a lesson learned.

[ProgRockCruiser]

You booked in Spring 2017 for a cruise in Jan 2019, and only now you are reviewing the booking?

 

You wrote:

 

After the booking I went online to make sure everything was good

 

That's not "after the booking", which most folks would interpret to mean within a day or so, that is "almost a year later". Yes, technically accurate, but a bit mis-leading.

 

OK , so the blame falls partly on you - you should always check booking immediately after making them, even if you did it yourself online with no other humans involved - sometimes systems glitch, or you make a bone-head selection ("Doh, I meant room #4 on the seventh deck, not Room #7 on the 4th deck!"). And with other humans involved, there is always opportunity for mistakes in mouse-clicks at the other end.

 

I suppose you could still try calling Carnival, but I doubt you will get much traction.

[klfrodo]

Unfortunately it was book last spring. We had another cruise we just went on that I was focusing on and just now started working on this one. That is why I feel I have not recourse. My mother in law who is going with us has already paid for hers in full and I don't want to add anymore to her bill since their finances have changed since the original booking. I will take it as a lesson learned.

 

I can completely understand why you would feel as if the agent was deceitful and less than honest.

 

That's exactly how I feel after reading your first post and then hearing the "rest of the story" in your follow up post.

[bury me at sea]

I can completely understand why you would feel as if the agent was deceitful and less than honest.

 

That's exactly how I feel after reading your first post and then hearing the "rest of the story" in your follow up post.

 

You make a very good point.

[Nic6318]

This is our first cruise on Carnival. We have always cruised NCL. I always book by phone and then manage my booking online. We booked our cruise for next January with an agent on the phone. He gave us a price and I accepted it. I asked him if our deposit was refundable since my son may not be able to go and would cancel well before final payment. He told me that is was not to worry. After the booking I went online to make sure everything was good on the bookings. I found out that he booked us the Early Savers rate that means my deposit isn't refundable and it is a penalty instead. The agent lied to me and I have no recourse on this. I am basically out the deposit for my son if he can't go. I will say this will be my first and last cruise on Carnival. The agent was deceitful to say the least.

 

 

Hi

 

As mentioned by others, you do have many options. Before you do make other changes, I would make sure you understand what any change may means. Since you have already experienced the typical telephone rep.'s performance, make an effort understand things as stated on their website or ask on this forum.

 

You don't mention how much your deposit was. A different booking "rate" could easily be more per person than the deposit. You may also not get price drop protection.

 

have a great cruise

[lcpagejr]

I think "deceitful" is a strong word. Booking mistakes happen and I'm sure the Rep didn't do this on purpose. You/we are responsible to verify our bookings. You should have received a email confirmation which would have shown your booking information. A quick review would have pointed out the issue because you would have seen a rate differences (lower) vs what you thought you were booking. Don't mean to be harsh...but you need to take on responsibility as well..... This isn't just a bash Carnival issue!

[sanger727]

Unfortunately it sounds like you’ll have to take it as a lesson learned. 100% agree that IF you had checked the booking right afterwards you would have been able to make a good case for a supervisor to switch you to a different rate. Calls should be recorded so if reported in a timely manner they could pull it.

 

But waiting months isn’t timely and takes away your ability to do a chargeback. Months after the fact it would appear more like you booked the rate you wanted and simply have buyers remorse now. Hopefully you can go on the cruise as planned.

 

 

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[woopuppy]

For the ones who are being rude, I am sure you have never made an error in doing anything when you had a lot on your plate at the time you booked or ordered or did anything. I do take some responsibility for this but I do not take full responsibility. The agent wanted the commission especially since I was booking 4 rooms. (yes they do get commission I had a friend who worked for them and she did get a commission per room booked) I did go on after I booked last spring and it was the price the agent stated. The price was what he said so that is not my issue. People are reading into this post as if I didn't check it til now. As I said I am new to Carnival and did not know about this thing called Early Savers and the penalties that come with it. As I did not book or look online for this cruise and went through and agent I took his word for it. I went online after and created a login so I could view the reservation. Yes I got email confirmation but since he told me that the deposit was refundable so I wasn't concerned about it. I asked if the deposit was refundable if my son could not go and that he would not know til 2018 if he would be able to go. He stated that it was completely refundable. He did not mention anything about a future cruise or a penalty. I point blanked asked him. That is being deceitful. No I don't hold Carnival at the heart of this issue but it has left a bad impression and I won't be cruising with them again. I am not exclusive to one line even though that is all I have cruised. I am currently looking at 2 other lines for one in 2020.

 

As I said its a lesson learned and it is my choice to not book again with Carnival. I am just hopeful that my posting about this Early Savers rate penalty that it helps someone else. I did go back and try a mock booking and in order to even see this penalty you have to click a tiny link on it that explains it in tiny print. It should be right there in the description what the Early Savers gets you (like guarantee price, 50% reduced deposit, etc).

[woopuppy]

I think "deceitful" is a strong word. Booking mistakes happen and I'm sure the Rep didn't do this on purpose. You/we are responsible to verify our bookings. You should have received a email confirmation which would have shown your booking information. A quick review would have pointed out the issue because you would have seen a rate differences (lower) vs what you thought you were booking. Don't mean to be harsh...but you need to take on responsibility as well..... This isn't just a bash Carnival issue!

 

I did not bash Carnival. I just said this was my first and last Carnival cruise. The "bashing" as you put it was with the agent. Before you accuse a person of bashing get your facts straight.

[Bookworm1985]

For the ones who are being rude, I am sure you have never made an error in doing anything when you had a lot on your plate at the time you booked or ordered or did anything. I do take some responsibility for this but I do not take full responsibility. The agent wanted the commission especially since I was booking 4 rooms. (yes they do get commission I had a friend who worked for them and she did get a commission per room booked) I did go on after I booked last spring and it was the price the agent stated. The price was what he said so that is not my issue. People are reading into this post as if I didn't check it til now. As I said I am new to Carnival and did not know about this thing called Early Savers and the penalties that come with it. As I did not book or look online for this cruise and went through and agent I took his word for it. I went online after and created a login so I could view the reservation. Yes I got email confirmation but since he told me that the deposit was refundable so I wasn't concerned about it. I asked if the deposit was refundable if my son could not go and that he would not know til 2018 if he would be able to go. He stated that it was completely refundable. He did not mention anything about a future cruise or a penalty. I point blanked asked him. That is being deceitful. No I don't hold Carnival at the heart of this issue but it has left a bad impression and I won't be cruising with them again. I am not exclusive to one line even though that is all I have cruised. I am currently looking at 2 other lines for one in 2020.

 

As I said its a lesson learned and it is my choice to not book again with Carnival. I am just hopeful that my posting about this Early Savers rate penalty that it helps someone else. I did go back and try a mock booking and in order to even see this penalty you have to click a tiny link on it that explains it in tiny print. It should be right there in the description what the Early Savers gets you (like guarantee price, 50% reduced deposit, etc).

Sorry, you are equally to blame. Regardless of what else you had going on, it is YOUR responsibility to manage your booking. A simple error on the reps part could have easily been rectified a year ago had you bothered to look over your booking. If you didn't know what Early Saver meant, then you should have looked it up. Was the rep wrong...yes. Were you wrong...yes.

 

When doing mock bookings (with a cruise or any other vacations/flights I book), I always look at all the terms and conditions that apply to that transaction. I look up deposit amounts, cancelation or change fees, charges for extra perks etc, because it is my responsibility as the consumer. If I don't understand something, I research it. When ever I have booked a cruise, my PVP always goes over things at least three times to make sure I understand, as well as makes sure I get the confirmation email with the details and log on to view it myself.

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

I'm not sure why you are blaming Carnival as a whole, for the actions of one phone agent, especially as you have not given Carnival a chance to fix it.

 

Did you try calling Carnival even though it is a year later? They may still have the recording of your conversation when you booked the cruise. Why not call and see what they can do?

 

Give them a chance to make it right, whether it be changing the rate code or something else. Then, you can come back and say:

 

"Carnival is great. They came through and fixed a mistake that was made last year."

Or

"Carnival is terrible for not fixing a mistake one of their employees made."

[LUVMYGSDOG]

No one is being rude to you. You just aren't liking the answers they are providing you.

 

Kim

 

 

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[SMSACE6]

woopuppy, try not to focus on the rude comments. There are rude people on every board here and on other public forums. Just tune those out, or scroll past and, take some of the good advice offered.

 

I would call Carnival, and speak with a supervisor, and ask for them to review the booking call you made. Those calls are recorded for a reason. I have had to make a complaint on one occasion, and had a fair result. I tend to not go the complaint route, but that time, I felt it necessary, and it worked out fairly for me in my opinion.

 

So, try that first, before you write off the whole experience. You never know till you try. Hope the cruise will be a pleasurable one for you and family, aside from this first negative occurrence..

[woopuppy]

No one is being rude to you. You just aren't liking the answers they are providing you.

 

Kim

 

 

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Yeah they kinda are and I don't have any issue with the answers being provided. Everyone keeps saying I am to blame also and I have said that I DO TAKE SOME OF THE RESPONSIBILITY for this. I purposely book with an agent because of not understanding a lot of the language used on websites so YES I DO HOLD THE AGENT RESPONSIBLE TOO. I have not and will not "BASH" Carnival. All I have said is that I will not cruise Carnival again and if that offends anyone then suck it up. I have "BASHED" the agent. There was deceit on the agents part when he lied to me.

 

I am done with Cruise Critic. It is pathetic that a person can not post something without it being taken apart and only what people feel is wrong is picked apart and totally taken out of context. After this post I am deleting my account.

 

To the few people who actually stated some useful things thank you.

[Schoifmom]

Just a short voice of reason here. I understand why you are upset. I probably would be, as well. I would also be on the phone to Carnival about it, not posting here. The only gain that you can hope to make is working with Carnival to get it resolved. I'm sure that you meant your post as a cautionary tale, but often when we are upset that comes shining through in the language that we use, and people react to that.

[katiel53]

I have found that when booking with agents, most people want the lowest price. Most times, that is Early Saver. I don't know how you phrased your request other than you said your son might not be able to go and wanted to know if the fare was refundable.

 

I guess I could stretch the thinking of the agent's saying not to worry, as only $50 is lost and the rest of the deposit is left to be used on a future cruise, albeit within a certain amount of time. Perhaps the non- Early Saver rate was more than the non-refundable deposit. I don't know enough about the original conversation to accuse the agent of being deceitful.

 

I usually look online for the price of the cruise and make my decision so I know what the rates are for what I want to book. I do this whether I have cruised the line previously or not. I just want to be sure I am getting what I want.

 

By the way, is your son able to go? If you mentioned it in the original post, I missed it.

[lcpagejr]

I did not bash Carnival. I just said this was my first and last Carnival cruise. The "bashing" as you put it was with the agent. Before you accuse a person of bashing get your facts straight.

 

Sorry...But the Agent is Carnival...whether you agree or not. Instead of looking for sympathy....do something about it!

[sanger727]

I’m sorry that you feel like people are being rude but it’s a little hard to pull the ‘agent lied to me’ card when you are well past the point when it could be proven either way. We record everything where I work and the standard retention period is 90 days. If someone has an issue within 90 days we can easily pull the tapes and see who said what and sort it out. Unfortunately past that point it’s all ‘he said she said’ and frankly, the agent most likely won’t even remember what was said.

 

But I do find it odd that you are outright dismissing the possibility of even calling to see if the recorded calls would be held this long. If I felt that I had been outright lied to I would at least call to see if it could be proven one way or another.

 

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[NewKansasKruiser]

I did not bash Carnival. I just said this was my first and last Carnival cruise. The "bashing" as you put it was with the agent. Before you accuse a person of bashing get your facts straight.

 

It's too bad that before you have even really had the Carnival experience, you are done with them. I can tell you...that will taint your cruise experience. If you don't like and have negative feelings about the cruise line before you get on the ship, this probably won't be a good cruise for you. Really sad actually! If I "was done with" every company that I had a problem with one employee with, I'd probably just have to stay home 24/7. That one person maybe didn't do his job correctly, but he isn't Carnival. Hope you enjoy your cruise.