MSC Comedy of Errors

[drsel]

5 hours ago, optimusprime82 said:

Our fourteen night cruise on the Meraviglia is a mess now. We have two separate bookings now, in two different cabins. Sent an email to the Existing Reservations email address per the suggestion of the phone rep that was assisting us in mid-June. Heard back within a week acknowledging that some work needed to be done on to correct our booking and MSC requested a good contact number and time to call me. Replied the same day and have emailed two more times since but no one has ever called me. Their email asking for a good contact number and time to call was received ten days ago. Not really sure what to do since the normal phone reps don’t seem equipped to fix most complicated issues. Our final payment is due at the end of the month and right now the website shows we $5,000 more than we’re supposed to lol. 

MSC website wants you to pay $5000 extra?

You need a good TA to sort it out with MSC.

Don't waste your precious time and money, leave it to the TA, it's their job

 

Edited July 3, 2021 by drsel

[optimusprime82]

On 7/2/2021 at 10:32 PM, drsel said:

MSC website wants you to pay $5000 extra?

You need a good TA to sort it out with MSC.

Don't waste your precious time and money, leave it to the TA, it's their job

 

 

I've never felt the need to use a TA, my parents regularly do, but my patience is running really thin right now. 

 

Sent an email as requested by the phone agent on 06/15/21. 

 

Received the following response on 06/22/21:

 

 

Dear Mr Prime

Booking No. XXXXXXXX

 

We recently received a request to help with changes on your booking. We would like to help but need further clarification on what is needed to be adjusted.

Can you kindly provide a number and time when we can call you to discuss the changes.

 

We appreciate your patience

Best regards

Resolution Department

Linda

 

I replied the next morning, 06/23/21, with:

 

Good Morning Linda, 

 

I will be available between 10am and 11am ET today (Wednesday). My best contact number is 555-555-5555. Looking forward to speaking with you. 

 

Sincerely, 

 

Optimus Prime 

 

Then sent another email on 06/28/21:

 

Good Afternoon Linda, 

 

I haven't heard back from anyone yet. I am available most of this week from 8am to 9pm ET. My best contact number is still 555-555-5555. Thank you and have a great afternoon. 

 

Sincerely, 

 

Optimus Prime

 

Still nothing so I sent another follow-up on 07/01/21:

 

Good Afternoon Linda, 

 

I still haven't heard back from anyone yet in response to your email on 06/22/2021. I am available from 8am to 9pm ET and would love to speak with someone soon. My best contact number is still 555-555-5555. Thank you and have a great afternoon. 

 

Sincerely, 

 

Optimus Prime 

 

Finally, thirty minutes ago I receive the following completely unsatisfactory response:

 

Thank you for contacting MSC Cruises ,  please  contact us  directly  and  speak with  one of our  agents  please  contact  us  at  1-877-665-4655 to  discuss this matter  .

 

We look forward to welcoming you back on MSC Cruises in the near future.   

 

Sincerely, 

 

MSC Cruises (USA) Inc.

 

I'm usually pretty agreeable with customer service people, they have tough job but I'm really annoyed by this lol. Below is my latest reply, which will get me no where but I'm leaning towards just canceling and switching to another cruise line at this point. BTW, that 877 number is their normal customer service number. 

 

 

Good Afternoon,  

 

No, someone from the Existing Reservations Department may contact me, as soon as possible please. MSC wanted a good contact number and time to call which I promptly provided and have been waiting for nearly two weeks. A regular agent is probably going to tell me to email the Existing Reservations Department, like they usually do. 

 

I remain available at 555-555-5555. 

 

Thank you for your anticipated quick response.

 

Sincerely, 

 

Optimus Prime 

[drsel]

You can try to transfer your booking to a large agency, get the 6 to 12% discount on the basic fare ( excluding port fees and taxes ) then tell the agency on the phone or email what exactly you want and they will do it for you.

So they are paying you 6 to 12% (in the form of a discount on your basic fare) to do the boring, time-consuming work for you!

Isn't that incredible?

 

I seriously doubt that anyone from MSC is going to call you, but they reply to emails.

Usually, the customer has to phone MSC.

Edited July 6, 2021 by drsel

[Stockjock]

5 hours ago, drsel said:

You can try to transfer your booking to a large agency, get the 6 to 12% discount on the basic fare ( excluding port fees and taxes ) then tell the agency on the phone or email what exactly you want and they will do it for you.

So they are paying you 6 to 12% (in the form of a discount on your basic fare) to do the boring, time-consuming work for you!

Isn't that incredible?

 

I seriously doubt that anyone from MSC is going to call you, but they reply to emails.

Usually, the customer has to phone MSC.

Question when transferring to a large agency.  If they provide a rebate, is that usually in the form of on board credit?  I would assume so, as having to rebook would likely result in the loss of one's cabin and perks.

[drsel]

1 hour ago, Stockjock said:

Question when transferring to a large agency.  If they provide a rebate, is that usually in the form of on board credit?  I would assume so, as having to rebook would likely result in the loss of one's cabin and perks.

In the case of MSC, the TA can reduce your basic fare by 6 to 8% for low price cabins/Cruises and 10 to 12% for expensive cabins/ cruises.

There is no need to rebook or cancel your existing cabin/Cruise but there is a time limit within which you can transfer it to a TA

 

The TA will try to offer you onboard credit (which they buy in bulk at a discount), but you should insist on an equal reduction in the basic Cruise fare instead

Edited July 6, 2021 by drsel

[drsel]

Transferring your booking to a TA will cost MSC 10 to 16 per cent of the basic fare, but they don't mind paying that in order to avoid dealing with angry, irritated customers,😉

[optimusprime82]

Never received a call from MSC, something they wanted to do, and they haven't sent any additional emails to me. I finally gave up since our final payment was due in four days and I didn't want to shell out an extra $5,000 and hope that MSC gave it back to me (lol).

I was chatting with my folks recently and mentioned our issues with our upcoming cruise and they mentioned that if we couldn't work it out they'd be happy to schedule a cruise with us (they prefer Princess and Celebrity). My Dad is finally retiring and they usually take us on a cruise every five years for our wedding anniversary so this seemed like a good option. We pretty quickly got organized and are cruising with them in late January, onboard the Enchanted Princess for nine nights for Fort Lauderdale.

 

Today I called up MSC and changed our screwed up Meraviglia booking to the Fantasia out of Barcelona. Originally we were going to book for late October 2022 but MSC wouldn't let us use our FCC for that date and said we had to use it by the end of September 2022. It was slightly more expensive to sail in September but we're finally booked for seven nights in the Fantasia's YC. We were looking forward to another 14 nights on the Meraviglia but it will be our first time in YC and our first trip tp Spain. Hopefully the cruise industry will have stabilized a lot between now and then. Our 15th wedding anniversary will be during the voyage so hopefully Palermo is a nice place to celebrate another year of marriage lol.

[Stockjock]

18 minutes ago, optimusprime82 said:

Never received a call from MSC, something they wanted to do, and they haven't sent any additional emails to me. I finally gave up since our final payment was due in four days and I didn't want to shell out an extra $5,000 and hope that MSC gave it back to me (lol).

I was chatting with my folks recently and mentioned our issues with our upcoming cruise and they mentioned that if we couldn't work it out they'd be happy to schedule a cruise with us (they prefer Princess and Celebrity). My Dad is finally retiring and they usually take us on a cruise every five years for our wedding anniversary so this seemed like a good option. We pretty quickly got organized and are cruising with them in late January, onboard the Enchanted Princess for nine nights for Fort Lauderdale.

 

Today I called up MSC and changed our screwed up Meraviglia booking to the Fantasia out of Barcelona. Originally we were going to book for late October 2022 but MSC wouldn't let us use our FCC for that date and said we had to use it by the end of September 2022. It was slightly more expensive to sail in September but we're finally booked for seven nights in the Fantasia's YC. We were looking forward to another 14 nights on the Meraviglia but it will be our first time in YC and our first trip tp Spain. Hopefully the cruise industry will have stabilized a lot between now and then. Our 15th wedding anniversary will be during the voyage so hopefully Palermo is a nice place to celebrate another year of marriage lol.

Not sure if you are willing to consider that Fantasia out of Barcelona slightly later (late Nov or Early Dec, I believe), but if so, it's a Voyagers Select sailing.  So not only was it dirt cheap to begin with, but you get 20% off and double Voyagers Club points.  

Beyond that, the Yacht Club cabins are as cheap as I've seen them, net, after the 20% discount.  So if you've always wanted to try YC, it could offer a good opportunity.  One negative though is that the weather will be a bit cooler.

Let me know if you need help finding what I'm referring to, if interested.  I think the Yacht Club exterior cabins ran $1,200 USD or so for a 7-night sailing, and I thought that was a great deal.  Standard balcony cabins much less than that.

Edited July 21, 2021 by Stockjock

[optimusprime82]

1 minute ago, Stockjock said:

Not sure if you are willing to consider that Fantasia out of Barcelona slightly later (late Nov or Early Dec, I believe), but if so, it's a Voyagers Select sailing.  So not only was it dirt cheap to begin with, but you get 20% off and double Voyagers Club points.  

Beyond that, the Yacht Club cabins are as cheap as I've seen them, net, after the 20% discount.  So if you've always wanted to try YC, it could offer a good opportunity.  One negative though is that the weather will be a bit cooler.

 

I'd be open to a later sailing but the cost would have to be a lot cheaper to offset the $750+ FCC that MSC won't let us use beyond September 2022. When I called today I was trying to book for 10/29/22 and they wouldn't let me change the booking to that date and still apply the FCC. I'll check it out though, if the savings are good enough I'd let the FCC expire.

[Stockjock]

2 minutes ago, optimusprime82 said:

 

I'd be open to a later sailing but the cost would have to be a lot cheaper to offset the $750+ FCC that MSC won't let us use beyond September 2022. When I called today I was trying to book for 10/29/22 and they wouldn't let me change the booking to that date and still apply the FCC. I'll check it out though, if the savings are good enough I'd let the FCC expire.

It might not help, but I recommend calling 866-420-3584, which is the Resolutions Dept.  They seem to have more authority than the "regular" customer service agents.  Might not help, but it couldn't hurt.  Just try to figure out precisely what you'd like to do and then see if they can make it happen.  Worth a shot, imo.

[Stockjock]

I'll add this video to the thread, as it ties in with the theme.  He has several concerns, but looks like they essentially double billed him and then tried to force him to take a Future Cruise Credit to resolve their error.  Finally, they agreed to pay him back, but said it would take months.  The fellow was forced to dispute the charge on his credit card.
 

 

Edited September 22, 2021 by Stockjock

[Stockjock]

I've got yet another in a long series of the "Comedy of Errors".  If only they were funny.

Booked a 10 night summer 2022 cruise.  I had a 15% off certificate, so my total price was $1,950.20, and I have an invoice showing this.

I noticed that they were having a free balcony upgrade promotion and the price was even lower than the discounted price.  Called MSC and asked if I could switch to it.  She said, "Yes you can and it does look like you can save some money".  I asked if she could retain the same cabin and apply the 15% customer care certificate (past issues) and she said yes.

She put me on hold for roughly 25 minutes.  She did come back several times to tell me that she was working on it.  While I was on hold, I noticed that the promotion for that particular sailing went away.

She came back on the line and said she must have been looking at an 8 night, because the 10 night wasn't eligible.  I told her that the 10 night had been eligible, but it became ineligible while I was on hold.  I know this because I got the e-mails saying, "Hurry, continue planning your cruise" and that link did take me to the 10-night I was viewing, only now at a much higher price.

The agent, who was very nice, assured me that she hadn't changed my current reservation.  Not only that, they had failed to apply the 15% discount, so she would contact Italy and have them do so.  Great, now I would get another 15% off.  I was fine with that.

It's been several days now.  I checked the reservation tonight.  Rather than decrease it from the prior $1,950.22, they instead increased it to $2,320.  So that call caused my price to increase by almost $400.

Seems like each time I call them, something gets messed up.

It's a Comedy of Errors.

Edited September 24, 2021 by Stockjock

[Stockjock]

On 9/23/2021 at 7:59 PM, Stockjock said:

I've got yet another in a long series of the "Comedy of Errors".  If only they were funny.

Booked a 10 night summer 2022 cruise.  I had a 15% off certificate, so my total price was $1,950.20, and I have an invoice showing this.

I noticed that they were having a free balcony upgrade promotion and the price was even lower than the discounted price.  Called MSC and asked if I could switch to it.  She said, "Yes you can and it does look like you can save some money".  I asked if she could retain the same cabin and apply the 15% customer care certificate (past issues) and she said yes.

She put me on hold for roughly 25 minutes.  She did come back several times to tell me that she was working on it.  While I was on hold, I noticed that the promotion for that particular sailing went away.

She came back on the line and said she must have been looking at an 8 night, because the 10 night wasn't eligible.  I told her that the 10 night had been eligible, but it became ineligible while I was on hold.  I know this because I got the e-mails saying, "Hurry, continue planning your cruise" and that link did take me to the 10-night I was viewing, only now at a much higher price.

The agent, who was very nice, assured me that she hadn't changed my current reservation.  Not only that, they had failed to apply the 15% discount, so she would contact Italy and have them do so.  Great, now I would get another 15% off.  I was fine with that.

It's been several days now.  I checked the reservation tonight.  Rather than decrease it from the prior $1,950.22, they instead increased it to $2,320.  So that call caused my price to increase by almost $400.

Seems like each time I call them, something gets messed up.

It's a Comedy of Errors.

I hope some of you are reading this and not just dismissing it as "whining", as the continually screw-ups are just unbelievable.

Just to continue, I moved to a promotion that included drinks.  Got the confirmation and as mentioned, the prior 15% cruise credit for a past issue had been stripped away.  They told me it should be fixed in 24 hours or so.

When I got the booking confirmation, I saw that the price had increased by $100.  Called back and was told it was a change fee, as I had changed promotions twice.  Told them that wasn't the case and they removed it and said the 15% discount should be added in a day or so.

2 weeks later, it was still not corrected and sat at the new price of $2,389.82, which is correct before the 15% would be taken off by Italy.  Ultimately, the price should be roughly $2,031 or so.

The new agent assured me that this time it would be corrected in 24 hours.  After I got off the phone with her she sent me a new confirmation.  The price is $2,631.32.  Calling to check on why the 15% hasn't been adjusted instead raised the price by $241.50.

One of these days, they'll get it right.  If I live long enough.

[Stockjock]

3 minutes ago, Stockjock said:

Duplicate post, sorry.

 

Edited October 6, 2021 by Stockjock
Duplicate

[quattrohead]

I am done with these muppets.

[styles27]

Oh my goodness what a fiasco @Stockjock!  I realize Italians are laid back and I witnessed this while in Italy a couple of years ago but it’s hard to believe that MSC will thrive in the US market if they can’t hire and train competent IT and customer service reps. 
Americans won’t keep putting up with shoddy customer service over and over again. Or maybe some will maybe that’s what they’re banking on. 
 

[Stockjock]

26 minutes ago, styles27 said:

Oh my goodness what a fiasco @Stockjock!  I realize Italians are laid back and I witnessed this while in Italy a couple of years ago but it’s hard to believe that MSC will thrive in the US market if they can’t hire and train competent IT and customer service reps. 
Americans won’t keep putting up with shoddy customer service over and over again. Or maybe some will maybe that’s what they’re banking on. 
 

Ain't that the truth?  And as you may know, MSC is rolling out a new ultra-premium cruise line known as Explora.  I don't know who, in their right mind, would pay ultra-premium prices for MSC's "special brand" of "customer service" when there are existing ultra-premium lines with a long history of doing things right.  People who pay those prices demand nothing but the best, and rightly so.  Pretty sure they won't get it with an MSC subsidiary.

Just to add to the prior comment, I called MSC back and got an agent who seemed pretty competent.  She said she could add one discount back in manually over the phone, but the other discount would have to be approved by Italy (or wherever).

I said, "That's fine.  Please send me a booking confirmation.  I'm going to stay on the phone this time, which might save me from having to make another call".  

Got the confirmation and it showed the same mystery price from this morning, which had magically increased $241 to $2,631.  No change at all.  Obviously, I would have had to call back, so I'm glad that I stayed on the line.

The agent said, "Hang on, I'll send you a corrected copy".  Got that copy and it still showed the incorrect price of $2,631 (should ultimately be about $2,000, so still way off).

Told her that the 2nd confirmation was also wrong.  She had me hang on again and sent me a 3rd and 4th confirmation that had it down to around $2200 and change.

But then...

Went online and it didn't show $2,631 or the new price of $2,200+, but instead $2,389.82 (It had been showing $2,631).  Huh?  Logged out and logged on again and the price was back to $2,200.

Assuming that Italy, or wherever, applies, the final discount, the fare would be correct.  But knowing MSC, I'm pretty sure it will get messed up again.  I'm guessing one of these three things will occur:

1. No change is made and I don't hear from them.

2. The price actually increases again, magically.

3. Some totally random and unexpected, but highly annoying, error occurs.

We'll see...

Edited October 6, 2021 by Stockjock

[styles27]

3 hours ago, Stockjock said:

Ain't that the truth?  And as you may know, MSC is rolling out a new ultra-premium cruise line known as Explora.  I don't know who, in their right mind, would pay ultra-premium prices for MSC's "special brand" of "customer service" when there are existing ultra-premium lines with a long history of doing things right.  People who pay those prices demand nothing but the best, and rightly so.  Pretty sure they won't get it with an MSC subsidiary.

Just to add to the prior comment, I called MSC back and got an agent who seemed pretty competent.  She said she could add one discount back in manually over the phone, but the other discount would have to be approved by Italy (or wherever).

I said, "That's fine.  Please send me a booking confirmation.  I'm going to stay on the phone this time, which might save me from having to make another call".  

Got the confirmation and it showed the same mystery price from this morning, which had magically increased $241 to $2,631.  No change at all.  Obviously, I would have had to call back, so I'm glad that I stayed on the line.

The agent said, "Hang on, I'll send you a corrected copy".  Got that copy and it still showed the incorrect price of $2,631 (should ultimately be about $2,000, so still way off).

Told her that the 2nd confirmation was also wrong.  She had me hang on again and sent me a 3rd and 4th confirmation that had it down to around $2200 and change.

But then...

Went online and it didn't show $2,631 or the new price of $2,200+, but instead $2,389.82 (It had been showing $2,631).  Huh?  Logged out and logged on again and the price was back to $2,200.

Assuming that Italy, or wherever, applies, the final discount, the fare would be correct.  But knowing MSC, I'm pretty sure it will get messed up again.  I'm guessing one of these three things will occur:

1. No change is made and I don't hear from them.

2. The price actually increases again, magically.

3. Some totally random and unexpected, but highly annoying, error occurs.

We'll see...

Wow you can’t make this stuff up. 
 

I have heard of the luxury line they’re coming out with and I highly doubt it will be successful. As you said when one pays a premium they expect premium customer service. 
 
Maybe you should play those numbers maybe it’s a sign lol

Edited October 7, 2021 by styles27

[Beamafar]

9 hours ago, styles27 said:

Americans won’t keep putting up with shoddy customer service over and over again. Or maybe some will maybe that’s what they’re banking on. 
 

I’ve been reading posts similar to this for years on here, and, yet, MSC has been steadily growing its market share in the US over that time.

Edited October 7, 2021 by Beamafar

[Morgsmom]

On 5/16/2021 at 5:44 PM, Stockjock said:

I think the cruise I just booked on Celebrity was a good one.  7 night Alaska on the Millennium as a group rate for $620 OV guarantee.  I've already been assigned (1 day) and it was on the bow of the ship, but they let me move back a bit.

Would you mind sharing the date of that sailing? That's a great rate!

[Stockjock]

2 hours ago, Morgsmom said:

Would you mind sharing the date of that sailing? That's a great rate!

It is a May 2022 sailing. The rate on my particular cruise went up in price a little bit, but other dates during May and perhaps beyond, are still pretty good. As you know we cannot name specific travel agencies, but this is a group rate for one of the bigger ones. It is a basic rate that does not include drinks and such.

[Stockjock]

8 hours ago, Beamafar said:

I’ve been reading posts similar to this for years on here, and, yet, MSC has been steadily growing its market share in the US over that time.

MSC has a few things going for it.  Their ships are very nice and their cruises often offer an outstanding value.  I can't touch MSC's prices with most other cruise lines.  Plus, their Voyager Sailing discounts of up to 20% are legitimate and they can take a good price and make it an excellent price.

The onboard experience, while varied, is more good than bad.  I usually have a nice time while actually onboard a MSC ship.

In my view, the issues come from incompetence in pre-cruise, and sometimes post-cruise, customer service.  They really need to streamline their operations and empower local agents to resolve issues.

As an example, I just spoke of a couple of discounts that they can't get right.  One is a discount related to a prior issue on a European sailing and the other is a Voyager's Club discount.  The USA agents can fix one issue or the other, but not both.  So it must go to Italy, or wherever, and that's where things get screwy.

Yesterday, I asked one agent, "Why don't they allow you to fix both issues since you understand the problem and know how to resolve it?"  She replied, "That's just how they do it.  They allow us to make some adjustments, but not others".

I also mentioned that on my last Caribbean sailing, the tour bus broke down.  While that's not directly MSC's fault, it was an MSC-sponsored excursion.There was no air-conditioning, and unbelievable heat and humidity.  Not only that, but as luck would have it, our bus (a full-sized one), blocked BOTH directions of the main road, as it broke down diagonally, fully obstructing that road.  Police were there, traffic was backed up for miles, and many of those blocked were honking at us.  We had other issues, such as a heavy diesel smell in the restaurants (staff said it was a broken compressor and had been like that for weeks), which made me nauseous.  We also had food and grease-stained menus (badly) and the ship's engines failed, but were repaired fairly quickly, so that wasn't a huge deal.

I had asked MSC for a refund on the tour where the bus broke down.  They refused.  I sent them 2-3 e-mail messages, detailing some of the issues we'd experienced, including the bus situation.  No reply whatsoever.  I find that response, or lack thereof, to be unacceptable.  

Edited October 7, 2021 by Stockjock

[deliver42]

I think all e-mails to MSC wind up in spam, and the put it in the trash without even reading them.

[dexddd]

12 hours ago, deliver42 said:

I think all e-mails to MSC wind up in spam, and the put it in the trash without even reading them.

I'd agree except once in awhile you'll get an automated message that your email has been received giving false hope for any response.

[DCGuy64]

On 10/7/2021 at 3:30 AM, Beamafar said:

I’ve been reading posts similar to this for years on here, and, yet, MSC has been steadily growing its market share in the US over that time.

That's because experiences like those being related here are an anomaly, and aren't in any way representative of the average MSC cruiser's experience. Look: you could have 10 cruises with 2,000 passengers each (and that's a conservative estimate), so that's 20,000 passengers, so if 1, 2, even 10 passengers have a terrible pre-cruise experience, that's still only .05% of passengers. On Cruise Critic, someone with an endless tale of woe might make it seem like the entire company is a shambles, but that simply isn't true. There's a rule of thumb in marketing that something like 90% percent of satisfied customers won't say anything, but 90% of dissatisfied customers will. Which gives the (false) impression that the dissatisfied are representative of the whole. Which also isn't true. We routinely talk with other passengers onboard our MSC cruises and no one has EVER told us a horror story about dealing with MSC prior to their cruises.