Paid in full for cruise, now received balance due

[mayleeman]

15 minutes ago, KEN31VA said:

I don't understand why anyone would book directly with Celebrity.  This is the kind of issue that a travel agent would resolve for you.

It has been explained many times. People have different priorities. I myself prefer to not be waiting for other people to do things. Many stories about TAs letting things go or not being available. When I change my mind or want to get info, I want to do it rather than wait. I am retired, and I have the time. YMMV.

[gerelmx]

When a TA can't fix problems I decided to work directly with Celebrity

[retird]

2 hours ago, KEN31VA said:

I don't understand why anyone would book directly with Celebrity.  This is the kind of issue that a travel agent would resolve for you.

But most TA’s are not open on weekends

[Ex-Airbalancer]

What this thread shows us , the key to happiness is a bit of  patience.

Once the OP was able to talk with Celebrity the problem was fix in 5 mins 😁

[Mark_T]

3 hours ago, Buddysmom10 said:

OP update!   I called first thing this morning, no wait. The guy saw the problem right away; I had bought the tips/wifi/drinks package but they charged me for tips again.

This one is a very common problem on bookings after final payment date...

 

The trick seems to be a quick call to get them to unbundle the AI promotion right after your booking shows as fully paid on their system.

 

I've not had the problem again since doing that...

[N.Ice]

3 hours ago, Buddysmom10 said:

OP update!   I called first thing this morning, no wait. The guy saw the problem right away; I had bought the tips/wifi/drinks package but they charged me for tips again. He fixed the problem right away and sent me a new zero-balance invoice.  I was on the phone a total of five minutes!  YAY! 

They did the same thing to me this March, and I've seen this mentioned in other posts.  You wonder if Celebrity even thinks of this as a problem to solve.

[N.Ice]

Clarification... I meant a problem to solve in their system (so it doesn't happen anymore)... as opposed to a problem to solve for a customer calling to complain.

[mayleeman]

13 minutes ago, N.Ice said:

Clarification... I meant a problem to solve in their system (so it doesn't happen anymore)... as opposed to a problem to solve for a customer calling to complain.

 

Some people here seem to think customers shouldn't complain about having to call to fix stupid problems caused by X. I understand mistakes happen, but making the same mistake over and over again is the literal mark of an unreluable company.

 

One would think that befoee any letter goes goes threatening to cancel their would be a simple check...invoice total vs amount paid. But no.....

 

Anyone excusing this please tell me how you feel when you get a random utility or credit card bill threatening to close an account because they failed to credit a payment. Yes, correctable. Avoidable? Not by the customer if the company's systems don't work.

[jbcallender]

21 hours ago, mayleeman said:

 

Some people here seem to think customers shouldn't complain about having to call to fix stupid problems caused by X. I understand mistakes happen, but making the same mistake over and over again is the literal mark of an unreluable company.

 

One would think that befoee any letter goes goes threatening to cancel their would be a simple check...invoice total vs amount paid. But no.....

 

Anyone excusing this please tell me how you feel when you get a random utility or credit card bill threatening to close an account because they failed to credit a payment. Yes, correctable. Avoidable? Not by the customer if the company's systems don't work.

Sad to say, but in today's enterpise accounting world, human beings see very little but the exceptions and then often only the big ones.  The computer does 98% of the administration without human intervention.  On a cost per transaction basis, humans are infinitely more expensive that computer software.  Long gone are the days of hundreds of bookkeepers in green eyeshades furiously recording things in giant ledger books.  Repetitive tasks are outsourced and off-shored.  AI "bots" review accounts and invoices.  The computer sees a balance due according to its' logic and the e-mail goes out.  How do you write a program that factors in "the customer thinks they paid in full".  Unfortunate -  particularly when you are in the customer service business, but that's the world today.  Not excusing anything, but you have to reduce costs in order to offer a good product at a semi-reasonable price and payroll is typically one of the largest if not the largest cost in a business.  I am in a worldwide customer service business that faces these same sorts of challenges.  Combine this with labor availability and declining skillsets in the available labor force.  Long answer to a seemingly simple problem, I know.

Edited May 29, 2023 by jbcallender

[mayleeman]

@jbcallender If you can write a program that can check for balance due, you can add a step to check the balance due against all invoice amounts, and total payments made. Not rocket science, and no green eyeshaded humans needed. If the data can be accessed by people when a call is made, it is computer accessible, too.

Edited May 29, 2023 by mayleeman

[N.Ice]

5 hours ago, jbcallender said:

Sad to say, but in today's enterpise accounting world, human beings see very little but the exceptions and then often only the big ones.  The computer does 98% of the administration without human intervention.  On a cost per transaction basis, humans are infinitely more expensive that computer software.  Long gone are the days of hundreds of bookkeepers in green eyeshades furiously recording things in giant ledger books.  Repetitive tasks are outsourced and off-shored.  AI "bots" review accounts and invoices.  The computer sees a balance due according to its' logic and the e-mail goes out.  How do you write a program that factors in "the customer thinks they paid in full".  Unfortunate -  particularly when you are in the customer service business, but that's the world today.  Not excusing anything, but you have to reduce costs in order to offer a good product at a semi-reasonable price and payroll is typically one of the largest if not the largest cost in a business.  I am in a worldwide customer service business that faces these same sorts of challenges.  Combine this with labor availability and declining skillsets in the available labor force.  Long answer to a seemingly simple problem, I know.

A customer service rep giving the wrong answer is poor training.  A computer program adding charges incorrectly is poor programming.  

 

Both are somewhat unavoidable given enough scale, but repeating the mistake is not unavoidable, especially when it's the same part of a computer program.  With customer service reps, you at least can still understand that there are different people and they don't all have the same knowledge or training.

[whataboutport]

This exact thing happened to me today! I'm on hold with them right now. I also got on chat too to see if they could help. Dont' bother with chat. they just told me to call their service dept and they can fix it. But the chat agent did use the word "glitch". 

 

I paid in full today, less than 90 days out. Now showing a balance of $2570.

I've been on hold for about 20 mins. Est time was 37. It is Sat though.

 

I agree this "glitch" should have been long fixed. I was about to call my credit card company and file a dispute. This gave me a panic attack when I saw the email and the invoice!

[whataboutport]

I got help after about 50 mins. The agent was nice and got it corrected very quickly, less than a minute. I told him I did a mock booking and the balance due amount was the exact same amount as the "senior resident rate" promo. He said the resident state fell off the booking, and that was the reason. However FL residents (my cabin mate) usually get a minimal discount, not $2570 between two people.

 

He was able to fix it and sent me a confirmation email within seconds.

 

However, they need to fix this one their end so they stop giving people heart attacks!

[SusieAV8R]

On 5/28/2023 at 9:59 AM, mayleeman said:

It has been explained many times. People have different priorities. I myself prefer to not be waiting for other people to do things. Many stories about TAs letting things go or not being available. When I change my mind or want to get info, I want to do it rather than wait. I am retired, and I have the time. YMMV.

 

31 minutes ago, whataboutport said:

I got help after about 50 mins. The agent was nice and got it corrected very quickly, less than a minute. I told him I did a mock booking and the balance due amount was the exact same amount as the "senior resident rate" promo. He said the resident state fell off the booking, and that was the reason. However FL residents (my cabin mate) usually get a minimal discount, not $2570 between two people.

 

He was able to fix it and sent me a confirmation email within seconds.

 

However, they need to fix this one their end so they stop giving people heart attacks!

We have used a big box TA for over a decade now.  Being the social secretary for DH and me, I have lots of experience with TA either reaching out to me immediately about changes X has instituted since booking or acting immediately up my "please-fix-this-issue-now" phone call.  TA always reacts with a smile and  lots of patience; opposite to me, thank goodness! 🙂

[whataboutport]

7 minutes ago, SusieAV8R said:

 

We have used a big box TA for over a decade now.  Being the social secretary for DH and me, I have lots of experience with TA either reaching out to me immediately about changes X has instituted since booking or acting immediately up my "please-fix-this-issue-now" phone call.  TA always reacts with a smile and  lots of patience; opposite to me, thank goodness! 🙂

I have no idea why I didn't use my usual online TA. They were great with my last three I booked with them. 

[SusieAV8R]

1 minute ago, whataboutport said:

I have no idea why I didn't use my usual online TA. They were great with my last three I booked with them. 

 

2 minutes ago, whataboutport said:

I have no idea why I didn't use my usual online TA. They were great with my last three I booked with them. 

🥲

[justmer8]

Mine was one better. After calling to pay my final, they charged my VISA twice. When I finally got through they finally agreed with me  and said the standard that it would take was something like 11 days to correct. All was then OK, even paying for specialty dinners and  seeing the balance returning to zero as I paid for them. About 3 weeks before embarkation, at 11 PM on a Saturday, I received an email saying that my cruise had been canceled due to lack of payment. From there on out it was just one screwup after another, with the final correction coming only 3 days before we were due to fly out. Having a VOIP phone I was able to check my call logs and confirmed that I had spent a total of 16.3 hours on the phone with them.

What did I get out of it from them, not even an apology.

[N.Ice]

38 minutes ago, justmer8 said:

Mine was one better. After calling to pay my final, they charged my VISA twice. When I finally got through they finally agreed with me  and said the standard that it would take was something like 11 days to correct. All was then OK, even paying for specialty dinners and  seeing the balance returning to zero as I paid for them. About 3 weeks before embarkation, at 11 PM on a Saturday, I received an email saying that my cruise had been canceled due to lack of payment. From there on out it was just one screwup after another, with the final correction coming only 3 days before we were due to fly out. Having a VOIP phone I was able to check my call logs and confirmed that I had spent a total of 16.3 hours on the phone with them.

What did I get out of it from them, not even an apology.

Brutal...🤦‍♂️