Employee Mistake/Bad Customer service

[Escaping2016]

I changed my booking from one ship to another with NCL for a longer more expensive cruise.  There are three of us traveling and although originally we were in one cabin we decided to split up with one of us in a studio.  The agent told us the travel insurance was $115 per person.  When doing this it was late at night so I never checked the confirmation ( I know this was my mistake).  When I took a closer look at my trip summary about a week later I noticed that there wasn't any travel insurance listed on the balcony room but was listed on the studio.  I tried calling several times over the next week and waited on hold for over 45 minutes before having to hang up. Finally, almost 2 1/2 weeks later after using the book a cruise prompt I got through.  Only to be told that there was nothing they could do.   I asked to speak to a supervisor who then told me "that is why they send you a confirmation".  I then responded that "what you are telling me is that if an employee makes a mistake and it is not discovered within 24 hours that it basically sucks to be the customer".  After some back and forth she offered to pull the recordings from my call but told me that it would take 72 hours to get back to me.  I have since gotten travel insurance for from a third party for 1/2 the price.  But I am still thinking that NCL should offer up at the very least an apology for the misunderstanding and horrible customer service of the supervisor.  Has anyone had any similar experiences and if so how was it resolved?  I have about 6 hours left on the 72 hours.  This will be my 6th cruise with NCL in 5 years and I have never had any problems before.

[Tapi]

Help me understand:

 

- Were you charged for insurance for all 3 guests at the time of booking? 

- Is NCL telling you that they can’t add insurance to the second stateroom at a later date, only at the time of booking? 

[Two Wheels Only]

A few questions...

 

Were the 2 in the balcony charged ($230 total) for insurance (original booking) and it wasn't shown on the new booking?

 

Was the $230 carried over to the more expensive booking to pay the cost instead of being used for insurance?

 

Other than the acknowledgment of their mistake and a possible apology, what exactly could NCL do to fix the situation?

 

 

[Escaping2016]

1 hour ago, Tapi said:

Help me understand:

 

- Were you charged for insurance for all 3 guests at the time of booking? 

- Is NCL telling you that they can’t add insurance to the second stateroom at a later date, only at the time of booking? 

When changing the reservation.  They only added insurance on the second state room instead of both state rooms.  He told me it was $115/person which I took as all 3 of us (2 in 1 state room and 1 in the 3)  would have insurance which is not what he did.  I asked if they could correct his mistake and add the insurance understanding that I would have to pay the additional money.They told me that it was too late (we are still more than 90 days out but less than the 120 they now require)even though their employee made the mistake.  Honestly, I am not sure what I expect but an apology would be nice.

[Tapi]

With the information provided, I’m guessing that NCL’s refusal to add insurance at the present time may be because it contains a “cancel for any reason” clause. This usually requires that the insurance is added at the time of making the booking or within a grace period of a few days afterwards.

 

Let’s agree that the agent who made the bookings made a mistake and failed to add the insurance at that time. For that, the supervisor who you spoke to should extend an apology. But I respectfully believe that anything beyond that shouldn’t be expected, and I think that you already know the reason why.

 

Its your responsibility to ensure that your booking is in order and accurate as soon as it’s made, which is why agents ask that you verify all the information as soon as you receive your invoice/confirmation. That way, if there are any mistakes, they can be corrected immediately. You mentioned that you failed to do so, which placed you in this predicament. The agent made a mistake, but unfortunately you made a bigger mistake by failing to do your part.

 

The problem with insurance is that it’s usually provided by a third party vendor with very strict guidelines and which most likely NCL can’t bend. If you failed to inform NCL that the insurance was missing within a reasonable amount of time, the insurance company , not NCL, will refuse to provide the coverage. 

 

I would place this in the “lesson learned” shelf and move on. On a more positive note, the other thing that I hope you have learned from this situation is that there are options, and that it’s usually cheaper to get insurance on your own.

 

 

[Escaping2016]

3 minutes ago, Tapi said:

With the information provided, I’m guessing that NCL’s refusal to add insurance at the present time may be because it contains a “cancel for any reason” clause. This usually requires that the insurance is added at the time of making the booking or within a grace period of a few days afterwards.

 

Let’s agree that the agent who made the bookings made a mistake and failed to add the insurance at that time. For that, the supervisor who you spoke to should extend an apology. But I respectfully believe that anything beyond that shouldn’t be expected, and I think that you already know the reason why.

 

Its your responsibility to ensure that your booking is in order and accurate as soon as it’s made, which is why agents ask that you verify all the information as soon as you receive your invoice/confirmation. That way, if there are any mistakes, they can be corrected immediately. You mentioned that you failed to do so, which placed you in this predicament. The agent made a mistake, but unfortunately you made a bigger mistake by failing to do your part.

 

The problem with insurance is that it’s usually provided by a third party vendor with very strict guidelines and which most likely NCL can’t bend. If you failed to inform NCL that the insurance was missing within a reasonable amount of time, the insurance company , not NCL, will refuse to provide the coverage. 

 

I would place this in the “lesson learned” shelf and move on. On a more positive note, the other thing that I hope you have learned from this situation is that there are options, and that it’s usually cheaper to get insurance on your own.

 

 

I do take responsibility for not checking it ASAP and I even understand the reasoning behind the timelines but the sucks to be you attitude and the 45 minute wait times without any answer were the things that aggravated me most.

 

[Sailing12Away]

I'm starting to experience the 'poor NCL customer service' more and more myself lately. We're currently booked on 3 upcoming sailings, the closest being 4 weeks away. Since we're in the DOS with Haven and for the first time have an actual Cruise Consultant (last cruise with them we never got one somehow, or were never told how to reach them) I figured it would be no problem to book our excursions. I tried the CC first - nope, that has to be through the excursion desk. He transferred me to them, but the particular excursion I wanted was "sold out" and I would need to be placed on a wait list, and then transfers me to the reservation desk. They tell me they have nothing to do with excursions and I would need to speak to that department.
 

I give up and email our Haven concierge. Now, keep in mind, when I first got the concierge email they helped book our excursion in Costa Maya with no difficulty. So I ask them to help book the Belize excursion as well. Their response: You will have to call the excursion desk at phone number..... their hours are..... Rage level just went up another 2 notches. So I reply stating that I already had, and they told me the excursion was sold out and to get myself added to the wait list - but no one told us how to do that, hence why I was asking the concierge for help (isn't that the type of stuff they're supposed to do?). They reply saying that they spoke to the excursion team and they do not take any wait lists, and that the particular excursion I was interested in isn't currently being offered on my sailing at all, and that it is not in fact 'sold out'. Rage level went up another 2 notches.

 

So I asked for the concierge to register a formal complaint with corporate on my behalf for all of this run around and for being told completely different information from their staff depending upon who I spoke to on which day (a common theme unfortunately with NCL). The manager for the excursion desk people wrote back to me apologizing for the confusion, and would see if they could offer the one I was interested in as an option for my upcoming cruise and would 'get back to me'. 

 

I don't have high hopes, and we're fine picking something else - the whole point though is don't tell me it's sold out and I need to figure out how to get my name on a wait list, when you don't offer such things in the first place and that particular tour isn't an option for my particular sailing. Two completely different things. For the concierge - don't help us book one excursion and then 2 weeks later tell me that isn't your job and I have to call the excursion desk myself.

 

I'm dreading having to call them back to book excursions for upcoming cruise #2 as that involves coordinating port excursion credits between 2 different cabins, or cruise #3 with 10 different ports of call. This should be fun..... Definitely going to pass on the port excursion credits next time - not worth it for just a measly $50/cabin anyway.

[myjillian]

I remember once having to cancel 3 excursions that I booked online.  I cancelled them as soon as I boarded the ship...in plenty of time so as not to be in error....well no, they wouldn't do it without a penalty fee....  I took out all of my new medication...etc to prove to them that I didn't have COPD when I booked the diving excursions...and that should count for something...they gave me OBC...with a smile ...that's after they gave me stress !!!LOL