Princess Call Center Has To Be Bad Business For Their Business

[Princessfan20]

I have tried to be patient with Princess' new call center in the Philippines.  Every time I have called I have had to wait from 15 minutes to 45 minutes. It sounds very unprofessional because there is always a lot of back ground chatter with agents talking about all kinds of things besides bookings.  I just spent 45 minutes on hold and then got an agent who did not know how to apply a FCD to a new booking.  After waiting for them to do it for 20 minutes my call was dropped.  Is the new call center with agents with limited skills the only way to deal with Princess now? Am I the only one receiving less than stellar service from the new Princess agents?  What happened to the Princess agents who use to know what they were doing and did customer service well?  Cannot imagine Princess is going to keep this level of service to help their business grow.

Edited June 26, 2023 by Princessfan20

[Thrak]

The people staffing things in the Philippines seem to be almost universally clueless. Twice I've gotten people who sounded like they were working from home with kids, TV, and dogs in the background. They never did understand what I wanted and it was a total waste of time.

[memoak]

Another reason we use a CVP

[Lady Arwen]

We’ve been using the same CVP for years and have never had any issues.  She’s extremely knowledgeable, professional and prompt to return my calls.  I call and leave a message as to what I would like and she calls back to say she’s taken care of it.  Why are people trying to do it all themselves when help is only a phone call away and it’s completely free!  Please, do yourselves a favour and get a CVP or a good travel agent.  You don’t have to go through this!

[Cruisin_with_Kids]

What is CVP? 

[Micahs Grandad]

Happy to use a TA to do this for us

[that]

CVP

Cruise Vacation Planner

is a Princess employee

 

800-901-1172

 

[voljeep]

1 hour ago, Princessfan20 said:

agent who did not know how to apply a FCD to a new booking.

you were trying to make a new booking?  or a apply a FCD to a 'new booking' you already made?

[startedwithamouse]

1 hour ago, Princessfan20 said:

 

I have tried to be patient with Princess' new call center in the Philippines.  Every time I have called I have had to wait from 15 minutes to 45 minutes. It sounds very unprofessional because there is always a lot of back ground chatter with agents talking about all kinds of things besides bookings.  I just spent 45 minutes on hold and then got an agent who did not know how to apply a FCD to a new booking.  After waiting for them to do it for 20 minutes my call was dropped.  Is the new call center with agents with limited skills the only way to deal with Princess now? Am I the only one receiving less than stellar service from the new Princess agents?  What happened to the Princess agents who use to know what they were doing and did customer service well?  Cannot imagine Princess is going to keep this level of service to help their business grow.

 

Never deal with a call center, that's what our TA is for. Have them handle any issue. 

 

What happens if everyone is in the US at a call center, earning a minimum wage of $15.50 an hour, plus rent of the space, utilities, Workers comp insurance, etc.  Do you want your cruise cost to double?  

 

It's a business decision. Same as ordering on an app, self checkout at stores, internet shopping, etc. 

[PacnGoNow]

1 hour ago, Princessfan20 said:

 

I have tried to be patient with Princess' new call center in the Philippines.  Every time I have called I have had to wait from 15 minutes to 45 minutes. It sounds very unprofessional because there is always a lot of back ground chatter with agents talking about all kinds of things besides bookings.  I just spent 45 minutes on hold and then got an agent who did not know how to apply a FCD to a new booking.  After waiting for them to do it for 20 minutes my call was dropped.  Is the new call center with agents with limited skills the only way to deal with Princess now? Am I the only one receiving less than stellar service from the new Princess agents?  What happened to the Princess agents who use to know what they were doing and did customer service well?  Cannot imagine Princess is going to keep this level of service to help their business grow.

I agree with @Lady Arwen…get a CVP or TA.  They will take care of these issues for you.  You should not have to waste time on the phone.  The agents that are offshore, seem to be there to take orders for beverage packages and to upsell products.  

[dickinson]

Many of the people responding here don't realize that you could have a TA but you are calling about something they don't take care of.  Example - EZ Air issues.  I had trouble with EZ Air.  Two different agents said I had to speak with Customer Service.  Hold time too long yesterday.  They said CS was open 24/7.  I said no and they said yes.  Well, I called about 8 am this morning but guess what?  They were closed.  Recording didn't say when they opened.  I called back at 9 am and didn't have to wait.  I don't know if the answer I received was correct (When do I get my refund of the difference in the EZ Air price I paid at final payment and the amount my flights cost now because I changed to less expensive flights 75 days out).  I was told 10-15 business days.  We shall see.  These agents are poorly trained.

[Chad_O]

I agree. In recent days I have had a few simple questions about a refund and some OBC and have been on hold for hours only to be told by Mars the CSR that he could not be able to help me nor could he refer me to someone who could. I could not have a supervisor or manager's name nor be referred to another level of CSR. I will complete the 2 booked cruises with Princess but will not continue to book further cruises.  

[cr8tiv1]

Princess customer service (outsourced) can only deal with cruise and revenue related issues (excursions/packages/etc).  

 

Sometimes (it does happen), if EZ Air gets inundated, they cycle back to Customer Service.  Anything to do with (cruise) refunds has to be deferred to "revenue department".  This is where a TA comes in very handy.  They have their "sources".

 

EZ Air is a third party consolidator.  TA's have nothing to do with air travel.  

[Thrak]

5 hours ago, startedwithamouse said:

It's a business decision. Same as ordering on an app, self checkout at stores, internet shopping, etc. 

 

A business decision that alienates loyal customers and causes unnecessary angst and anger toward the company is a poor business decision. Of course that is hardly surprising when you put a marketing person in charge. They rarely have any connection with reality.

[Mike45LC]

Although I love to complain, my three experiences with the Call Center in the Philippines were fine.  Two casino offers were booked with no problems at all, no issues except a couple of “please repeat that, I could not understand [due to heavy accent].”  I am not good with accented English.  

[beg3yrs]

A friend who used to work in customer service gave me this tip (although I haven't tried it personally); if you're asked to press some number for Spanish, do it. All those folks speak English too and ... they're based in the States.

[Mud_Shark]

I'm not ready to throw in the towel with princess quite yet, but this issue is a big irritant, and makes calling Princess to re-fare or any other request, a negative experience.  I will give it time and hope that the experience level grows as these people get their feet under them.

 

I like controlling my own booking, but not with long waits and weak communication and expertise.

[JinxyB]

I’ve been very frustrated with the call center, too. I had to make a modification to the land portion of my Alaskan cruise tour which included cancelling an extra night in one of the lodges that I had booked. After reassuring me the changes had been made, my booking didn’t reflect it. I called and somehow got lucky and spoke to someone in the USA and they said it had never been cancelled!
 

I recently called in to cancel a different booking, and the man I spoke to could not understand the phonetic alphabet or English alphabet. I spent 40 min on the phone with him trying to spell my name and booking number and he still sent me someone eles’s cancellation email. All this while listening to chatter, laughter and kids/dogs barking. Very unprofessional and will make me think twice booking with Princess again.

 

I was able to get resolution with sending a direct message to Princess on Instagram - they handled it quickly 

[SargassoPirate]

A root canal is less painful that dealing with a call center staffed with people for whom English is not their first language.  At least with a root canal you get something to numb the pain.

 

I quit using cruise line call centers years ago when I could tell they were outsourcing to third world countries.

 

I usually book directly with the cruise line website and once I've secured the perfect cabin in the perfect location, I transfer it to my warehouse club travel department.  They handle any issues and I garner some additional bennies.

 

 

[nasa1974]

Just think how much fun it will be after June 29th when SOBC and MOBC get messed up for our cruises.

[Astro Flyer]

1 hour ago, nasa1974 said:

Just think how much fun it will be after June 29th when SOBC and MOBC get messed up for our cruises.

UGH!!! 😳

 

If my previously issued SOBC/MOBC gets messed up I’d reapply to their very efficient shareholder section to reinstate our SOBC instead of to futilely attempt to get it corrected by their poorly trained inexperienced difficult to understand overseas call center staff who could make the issue even worse.

 

Edited June 27, 2023 by Astro Flyer

[cruisingram1]

I spoke to SIX CS reps yesterday trying to resolve an issue. No 1 person was a rep in the Philippines. Haven’t been cruising since COVID so didn’t know the location of said rep other than I could not understand him. But fear not, he passed me on to no 2 rep (had to repeat problem) but at least minimal accent. This went on 4 more times until 6th CS rep resolved issue. But I had to repeat the story from the start each time. Total time on phone ~almost 3 hours. Im giving myself Patience of the Year award. So frustrating. Hold time very long just to start the process. Did a call back. That helped 

[Teechur]

1 hour ago, cruisingram1 said:

I spoke to SIX CS reps yesterday trying to resolve an issue. No 1 person was a rep in the Philippines. Haven’t been cruising since COVID so didn’t know the location of said rep other than I could not understand him. But fear not, he passed me on to no 2 rep (had to repeat problem) but at least minimal accent. This went on 4 more times until 6th CS rep resolved issue. But I had to repeat the story from the start each time. Total time on phone ~almost 3 hours. Im giving myself Patience of the Year award. So frustrating. Hold time very long just to start the process. Did a call back. That helped 

What is a CS rep? Call Senter??? 🤔

[cr8tiv1]

20 minutes ago, Teechur said:

What is a CS rep? Call Senter??? 🤔

 

Customer Service representative.  aka Princess agent.

[PhotogrFrGal]

I recently had to contact Princess to take care of an issue with our EZAir reservation after airline cancelled original flight.  I first contacted our TA and he said we would have to contact Princess.  I was unaware of the change of venue for the CS reps.  After a long hold time, I was connected.  The young man was very professional, although lacking in some knowledge (i.e - didn't know EZair hours of operation).  There was a lot of background noise and laughter during our conversation.  I felt that undermined his professional approach.   Since EZAir was closed, I had to call back.   So next day, called and spoke to another CS rep,  Also, professional in demeanor.  However, when I was put on hold, the call was disconnected after a few minutes.  The guy did call me back right away.  Again, same type of background noise.  Not able to assist me, I asked to speak to supervisor.  After 15 minutes on hold, got another CS rep.  This time my problem was resolved.  The entire call had a rooster crowing in the background! 🙂