MSC Comedy of Errors

[Stockjock]

2 hours ago, mscdivina2016 said:

That's what I did for my $1800 mystery 9 times and no results.

 We now have several for the other $1000 and now two for the denied massages despite them being on my new corrected confirmation from last Wednesday.

 

Want their attention? Have them served! Things get done in an hour. For $290 it is not worth it.

The nice thing about the e-mail I've written is that he can copy, paste and send in less than a minute.  The risk/reward is on his side, since I've "set the table" for him.

I've had e-mail messages work maybe 10%-15% of the time.  They seem to be ignored 85%-90% of the time.  Not great odds, but so easy that it's worth a try.

[mscdivina2016]

5 hours ago, Stockjock said:

The nice thing about the e-mail I've written is that he can copy, paste and send in less than a minute.  The risk/reward is on his side, since I've "set the table" for him.

I've had e-mail messages work maybe 10%-15% of the time.  They seem to be ignored 85%-90% of the time.  Not great odds, but so easy that it's worth a try.

You did a good job.

Your figures are probably right on as well.

[Stockjock]

Okay, I've got a new one and this has become painful.

As previously mentioned, there were some discounts that MSC removed and it took months and an act of God to fix.  But they finally fixed it.

We did several prepaid excursions and my GF wanted a different one.  So I was hesitant to call MSC but I didn't see where I could make the change online.

The agent assured me that she could cancel the unwanted excursion and add the new excursion without any change in pricing.  So she did that and was accurate.

I said, "One last thing.  You have early dining listed and I had requested late dining.  If I change that, are you sure that it won't impact pricing or discounts already in place?  She said, "No, I can do that.  It won't change any of the pricing".  I asked, "Are you sure, because I've had problems with this in the past?"  She replied, "I'm positive".

After we got off the phone, she sent me a booking confirmation.  The price increased by $800. 

Edited April 4, 2022 by Stockjock

[mscdivina2016]

1 hour ago, Stockjock said:

Okay, I've got a new one and this has become painful.

As previously mentioned, there were some discounts that MSC removed and it took months and an act of God to fix.  But they finally fixed it.

We did several prepaid excursions and my GF wanted a different one.  So I was hesitant to call MSC but I didn't see where I could make the change online.

The agent assured me that she could cancel the unwanted excursion and add the new excursion without any change in pricing.  So she did that and was accurate.

I said, "One last thing.  You have early dining listed and I had requested late dining.  If I change that, are you sure that it won't impact pricing or discounts already in place?  She said, "No, I can do that.  It won't change any of the pricing".  I asked, "Are you sure, because I've had problems with this in the past?"  She replied, "I'm positive".

After we got off the phone, she sent me a booking confirmation.  The price increased by $800. 

Only $800, you are lucky.

 

Sounds about right.  Good luck calling them.back.

[Stockjock]

3 hours ago, mscdivina2016 said:

Only $800, you are lucky.

 

Sounds about right.  Good luck calling them.back.

I'll get it fixed, but it might take 6 months to a year off of my lifespan to sort it out.
 

[deliver42]

Welcome to the price jump club. I feel lucky. Mine only went up $209.00.

[Stockjock]

On 3/17/2022 at 2:40 PM, mscdivina2016 said:

You did a good job.

Your figures are probably right on as well.

I called customer service today.  Stayed on the line for maybe 25 minutes.  They were able to reduce the price by about $400 and will have Italy hopefully adjust the pricing down another $400.

Last time, they kept me on the line while they called Italy and they fixed it while I was on hold.  No such luck this time.  Typically, I have to call back many, many times over the span of weeks or months, but maybe I'll get lucky this time.

[perakcruiser]

On 4/4/2022 at 2:23 PM, Stockjock said:

I'll get it fixed, but it might take 6 months to a year off of my lifespan to sort it out.

Well, you broke your own rule 😉

 

For something that usually is so easy to be fixed on board. And when asking "Are you sure, because I've had problems with this in the past?" you already knew 100% what will happen ...

[Stockjock]

On 4/5/2022 at 2:01 AM, perakcruiser said:

Well, you broke your own rule 😉

 

For something that usually is so easy to be fixed on board. And when asking "Are you sure, because I've had problems with this in the past?" you already knew 100% what will happen ...

I didn't know for sure what would happen, as the excursion changes did not alter the reservation.  And I didn't think changing the dining time would alter it, but it did.

Just to follow up, hadn't heard back from MSC in roughly a week.  They did reduce their error from about $800 too high, down to about $300 too high.

Was hold for over an hour today while the customer service agent communicated with a lead agent who apparently communicated with someone in Italy.  After an hour, they came back and told me that the higher amount is accurate because I added an excursion.  I told them that wasn't true because all of my excursions are pre-paid and thus wouldn't add hundreds to the balance owed.

Supposedly, Italy will look at it again next week.  I'm not optimistic that I will get a timely response.

Edited April 8, 2022 by Stockjock

[cheeseheads4ever]

With all these problems and the difficulty dealing with this pathetic cruise line  I have one question? 
Why do you book with them? 
You can read these reviews and yes some people have not had issues but seems like most do. So what if there fares are cheaper you pay for it cause they are a pain in the a** to deal with.

I just dont understand it.

[Morgsmom]

27 minutes ago, cheeseheads4ever said:

With all these problems and the difficulty dealing with this pathetic cruise line  I have one question? 
Why do you book with them? 
You can read these reviews and yes some people have not had issues but seems like most do. So what if there fares are cheaper you pay for it cause they are a pain in the a** to deal with.

I just dont understand it.

With all due respect @cheeseheads4ever why do you keep stalking the MSC board when your loathing of the product is so clear?  Do you feel that interjecting your ire is going to dissuade others and somehow make you a hero for warning non-suspecting folks of the potential downfalls? 

 

These forums are meant to inform, enlighten, and encourage (in my opinion).  

 

You have had bad experiences.  Check.

You will not sail with them again. Check.

So why continue to poke the bear?  

[mscdivina2016]

15 minutes ago, Morgsmom said:

With all due respect @cheeseheads4ever why do you keep stalking the MSC board when your loathing of the product is so clear?  Do you feel that interjecting your ire is going to dissuade others and somehow make you a hero for warning non-suspecting folks of the potential downfalls? 

 

These forums are meant to inform, enlighten, and encourage (in my opinion).  

 

You have had bad experiences.  Check.

You will not sail with them again. Check.

So why continue to poke the bear?  

Same reason I do and will.

They have screwed me over on multiple occasions. I am again going at them down the legal path.

 

I will forever relay my lousy experiences as they are factual and I want to "inform" potential booker's to not book with them.

 

 How much worse than the Salsa debacle ? All they had to do was lift and shift me.

 I hate them but it looks like I am sailing with them again on May 2023 on a family reunion cruise. Ugh😭

[cheeseheads4ever]

Totally agree with mscdivina2016

#1-I am enlightening people to not cruise with this cruise company. I feel if I can help someone eliminate the misery myself and others have went thru dealing with them then I feel I am helping others.

If you’ve had great experiences with MSC customer service then good for you. But from what I have read and dealt with myself they are few and far between.

Encourage yes others not to book with them. 

 

 

[JAGR]

3 minutes ago, cheeseheads4ever said:

Totally agree with mscdivina2016

#1-I am enlightening people to not cruise with this cruise company. I feel if I can help someone eliminate the misery myself and others have went thru dealing with them then I feel I am helping others.

If you’ve had great experiences with MSC customer service then good for you. But from what I have read and dealt with myself they are few and far between.

Encourage yes others not to book with them. 

 

 

So, in essence you are acting as a Brand Ambassador.  Well, maybe a "Branding Iron" Ambassador!

 

Sorry about your experience.  We've had one or two unsatisfactory incidents, but none so bad that it resulted in an overall negative experience.

Edited April 23, 2022 by JAGR

[baelor]

3 hours ago, Morgsmom said:

These forums are meant to inform, enlighten, and encourage (in my opinion).  

They have certainly encouraged me never to waste my time with MSC (at least since I would have to deal with their US customer service).

[perakcruiser]

3 hours ago, JAGR said:

Sorry about your experience.  We've had one or two unsatisfactory incidents, but none so bad that it resulted in an overall negative experience.

Which is probably true for 99% of cruisers. Yes, MSC has been not been perfect on on most our nine cruises with them, but the overall product is hard to beat. Especially not for the price they charge. 

 

@mscdivina2016 and @cheeseheads4ever can try hard, but they will not stop MSC to become the cruise company No. 1. Probably they are anyway already No. 1 everywhere outside the US,  there is a reason for this. I really would hope to find an alternative, I always tried in the last years before I booked MSC again. No success. 

[Stockjock]

On 4/8/2022 at 11:21 AM, Stockjock said:

I didn't know for sure what would happen, as the excursion changes did not alter the reservation.  And I didn't think changing the dining time would alter it, but it did.

Just to follow up, hadn't heard back from MSC in roughly a week.  They did reduce their error from about $800 too high, down to about $300 too high.

Was hold for over an hour today while the customer service agent communicated with a lead agent who apparently communicated with someone in Italy.  After an hour, they came back and told me that the higher amount is accurate because I added an excursion.  I told them that wasn't true because all of my excursions are pre-paid and thus wouldn't add hundreds to the balance owed.

Supposedly, Italy will look at it again next week.  I'm not optimistic that I will get a timely response.

FWIW, they did eventually get the pricing right.  It took about 4-5 phone calls, 2-3 e-mail messages, and a few hours of my time, but shockingly I looked at it last week and the price was finally correct.

[mscdivina2016]

On 4/24/2022 at 2:59 PM, Stockjock said:

FWIW, they did eventually get the pricing right.  It took about 4-5 phone calls, 2-3 e-mail messages, and a few hours of my time, but shockingly I looked at it last week and the price was finally correct.

Congrats.

It's a shame you needed to go thru that.

 

[Stockjock]

On 4/29/2022 at 6:06 AM, mscdivina2016 said:

Congrats.

It's a shame you needed to go thru that.

 

Par for the course.  Just made final payment today.  Hopefully, there are no further issues.  Since everything now seems to be in good order, I don't dare call them, lol.

Edited May 6, 2022 by Stockjock

[perakcruiser]

OK, we all (and me especially) love to complain about MSCs terrible IT and website. For a good reason. But after researching for a cruise with another line I have to say that the Royal Caribbean website and the Costa website are by no means any better.

 

RCCL has great promos on the Singapore landing page, but if you search for are cruise in detail you get absolutely ridiculous prices where the kids not sail free as advertised. As usual with US companies a myriad of crazy fees and taxes are added very late and the advertised price has nothing to do with reality. 

 

With Costa there international pages not include the cruise in Asia. For this you will be directed to costaasia com. A webpage that is not working at all and looks and feels like programmed by guys who where fired for incompetence from MSC 😄 

[Stockjock]

I wanted to add that at least one of my original issues was at least partially resolved, 4 years later.

As mentioned in 2018, we had a cruise in 2018 which would have kept our Voyager's Club points alive (must sail once every 3 years).  However, MSC drastically changed the itinerary at the last minute from 4 nights out of Barcelona to 20 nights out of Brazil and on a different date.  After assuring us that they wouldn't delete our VC points, as it was MSC's fault we couldn't go, they did just that and took our points to zero.

I recently contacted MSC because my GF hasn't received any VC points on her last 2 cruises (another error).  Also, I cannot add her VC number to our future cruises (another error).  I had asked them multiple times to reinstate our prior points and they would not do that.

After a week, I got a message from MSC saying they were investigating my points and the GF's points.  Without me even asking (this time), they added in her missing points and reinstated both of our past points that had been previously deleted.  That took her from Classic to Gold level and took me only 400 points shy of Black membership.

So when I criticize for doing something wrong, I think it's only fair to praise them when they resolve an issue, even a long-lingering one.

They still don't have the GF's account squared away.  I think the problem might be that they show her middle and last name to be her last name when they should be separated into a first, middle, and last name.  I've asked them to fix this and fingers crossed that they do.  I think I'll also hit them up for some extra OBC, since she didn't get some VC OBC on prior cruises that she should have been entitled to.

Edited October 13, 2022 by Stockjock

[mscdivina2016]

49 minutes ago, Stockjock said:

I wanted to add that at least one of my original issues was at least partially resolved, 4 years later.

As mentioned in 2018, we had a cruise in 2018 which would have kept our Voyager's Club points alive (must sail once every 3 years).  However, MSC drastically changed the itinerary at the last minute from 4 nights out of Barcelona to 20 nights out of Brazil and on a different date.  After assuring us that they wouldn't delete our VC points, as it was MSC's fault we couldn't go, they did just that and took our points to zero.

I recently contacted MSC because my GF hasn't received any VC points on her last 2 cruises (another error).  Also, I cannot add her VC number to our future cruises (another error).  I had asked them multiple times to reinstate our prior points and they would not do that.

After a week, I got a message from MSC saying they were investigating my points and the GF's points.  Without me even asking (this time), they added in her missing points and reinstated both of our past points that had been previously deleted.  That took her from Classic to Gold level and took me only 400 points shy of Black membership.

So when I criticize for doing something wrong, I think it's only fair to praise them when they resolve an issue, even a long-lingering one.

They still don't have the GF's account squared away.  I think the problem might be that they show her middle and last name to be her last name when they should be separated into a first, middle, and last name.  I've asked them to fix this and fingers crossed that they do.  I think I'll also hit them up for some extra OBC, since she didn't get some VC OBC on prior cruises that she should have been entitled to.

4 years?  So I now have hope.

 

Glad someone finally got an issue fixed.

Thanks for updating.

[Stockjock]

18 minutes ago, mscdivina2016 said:

4 years?  So I now have hope.

 

Glad someone finally got an issue fixed.

Thanks for updating.

lol

[Stockjock]

I think I'll add this to the thread.

My GF has not been getting Voyager's Club points for her sailings or spending.  I tried to address this in 2021 but they couldn't resolve the problem.  Since we just did a 10-night sailing on Grandiosa (no points once again), I thought I'd revisit this issue.

Apparently, the only way to contact Voyager's Club is by e-mail.  Response generally runs from 1 to 2 weeks, but there may sometimes be no response.

I explained what was going on.  They added in her prior sailings, bringing her to Gold (7,700 points).  However, I still could not add upcoming sailings to her account or associate them with her Voyager's Club number.

I contacted MSC Customer service and they thought that the problem could be that they showed her middle name as a part of her last name.  They suggested that I e-mail Voyager's Club again to have them correct the issue, as it could create a name mismatch, so I did that.

After about a week and a half later, I received a message from Voyager's Club informing me that her name was properly updated and we could now log in and add future sailings to her online account.

Logged back in and was greeted with numerous error messages.  Not only that but her Voyager's Club account was apparently deleted and taken to zero points.  Also, I am still unable to add 2 upcoming sailings to her account.

I called customer service and they had no idea what was going on.  And they were unable to locate any mention of my GF's Voyager's Club account in their system.  They suggested that I e-mail Voyager's Club once again, which I did.

All of this is not only time consuming, but quite frustrating.  And of course, because her points have not been updating, she has not received Voyager's Club OBC that she was entitled to.

Again, a comedy of errors.

Edited October 18, 2022 by Stockjock

[mscdivina2016]

1 hour ago, Stockjock said:

I think I'll add this to the thread.

My GF has not been getting Voyager's Club points for her sailings or spending.  I tried to address this in 2021 but they couldn't resolve the problem.  Since we just did a 10-night sailing on Grandiosa (no points once again), I thought I'd revisit this issue.

Apparently, the only way to contact Voyager's Club is by e-mail.  Response generally runs from 1 to 2 weeks, but there may sometimes be no response.

I explained what was going on.  They added in her prior sailings, bringing her to Gold (7,700 points).  However, I still could not add upcoming sailings to her account or associate them with her Voyager's Club number.

I contacted MSC Customer service and they thought that the problem could be that they showed her middle name as a part of her last name.  They suggested that I e-mail Voyager's Club again to have them correct the issue, as it could create a name mismatch, so I did that.

After about a week and a half later, I received a message from Voyager's Club informing me that her name was properly updated and we could now log in and add future sailings to her online account.

Logged back in and was greeted with numerous error messages.  Not only that but her Voyager's Club account was apparently deleted and taken to zero points.  Also, I am still unable to add 2 upcoming sailings to her account.

I called customer service and they had no idea what was going on.  And they were unable to locate any mention of my GF's Voyager's Club account in their system.  They suggested that I e-mail Voyager's Club once again, which I did.

All of this is not only time consuming, but quite frustrating.  And of course, because her points have not been updating, she has not received Voyager's Club OBC that she was entitled to.

Again, a comedy of errors.

I actually feel your pain and frustration.

In today's technological world how can things be so difficult?

 

Such a good product, but stupidity prevails.