CEO should be forced to ring the P&O number

[mrsgoggins]

Any tips?

 

I've now hung on for 57 minutes listening to that woman's 'sweet' voice.  I feel like chucking the phone through the window!  I tried this morning and had to give up after 25 minutes because I had places to be.

 

Thankfully my only other P&O booking is via a TA; one that many use on here.

[zap99]

Not just P&O. The chancellor should phone HMRC, the health minister try and get a doctors appointment. The boss of BG should be forced to even find a phone number. They are all pretty useless.  I needed to attend the hospital. The Lady gave me the direct number. ....Don't tell anyone .

[Harry Peterson]

You could drop the CEO an email, which will result in a phone call from the Customer Service team, but that’s no good if it’s time-critical, which I imagine it is. We’re probably using the same TA, and unless they’ve changed I always found them to be excellent and never booked direct again. They value their customers - P&O don’t.

[CarlaMarie]

15 minutes ago, mrsgoggins said:

Any tips?

 

I've now hung on for 57 minutes listening to that woman's 'sweet' voice.  I feel like chucking the phone through the window!  I tried this morning and had to give up after 25 minutes because I had places to be.

 

Thankfully my only other P&O booking is via a TA; one that many use on here.

 

Unfortunately wait times of an hour are fairly normal, even more. The only advice I can give is to try phoning first thing in the morning when they open or towards the end of the day. You will likely still have to wait, but hopefully not as long.

 

Also when you call do not state you have booked via a TA, as the automated voice will cut you off!! 

[Megabear2]

I've had several conversations with them recently, thankfully with little difficulty. I call around 50 minutes before closing. Once the robot answers I just say operator.  When she moves on I stay quiet and generally that confuses her and she says she will get me help.  That seems to work, music force minute or so and then someone answers. 

 

Hopefully worth a go.  Good luck.

Edited November 22, 2023 by Megabear2

[mrsgoggins]

Right, thanks all - I’ve calmed down now 😂.  It was 59 minutes before a person answered, which I think is shocking.  I was, of course polite to the person who answered, it not being her fault, and she sorted out my straightforward issue quickly.  I can’t imagine ever needing to call them ever again 🤞

 

@zap99, also on my ‘to do’ list is to call HMRC alas!

 

@Harry Peterson you were correct, it was time sensitive and I am hopeful that the not-to-be-mentioned TA will be better because the booking process with them was very good.

 

Thanks for all the support and suggestions 👍

[majortom10]

Unfortunately nothing new have said for many years that P&O are run like 2 different companies shoreside and at sea. Customer service in Southampton has always been poor going back years. Now unfortunately because they use the same staff Cunard Customer Service is as equally bad.

[kermchem]

I am not sure it is much better if you do book through a TA. Two weeks ago we visited our large chain high street TA on a Saturday morning (oops) to ask if we could change airport (from BHX which was what was left when booked, to NCL which now has availability) for a cruise where the final payment was almost due. Select price paid, so the answer should be yes, and indeed was yes. But only after the TA had phoned P&O on the dedicated TA-only number and waited about 30 minutes to get through. The actual call took only 5 minutes or so. 
We live in times when staff shortages are the norm. 

[jeanlyon]

I use an online TA and leave the problem with them.  They always fix it.

[Josy1953]

2 hours ago, majortom10 said:

Unfortunately nothing new have said for many years that P&O are run like 2 different companies shoreside and at sea. Customer service in Southampton has always been poor going back years. Now unfortunately because they use the same staff Cunard Customer Service is as equally bad.

Princess also use the same staff.  I have a direct phone number for one of the Princess people and use that when I need to contact them.

[daiB]

16 minutes ago, kermchem said:

I am not sure it is much better if you do book through a TA. Two weeks ago we visited our large chain high street TA on a Saturday morning (oops) to ask if we could change airport (from BHX which was what was left when booked, to NCL which now has availability) for a cruise where the final payment was almost due. Select price paid, so the answer should be yes, and indeed was yes. But only after the TA had phoned P&O on the dedicated TA-only number and waited about 30 minutes to get through. The actual call took only 5 minutes or so. 
We live in times when staff shortages are the norm. 

I always use nan online TA i have tried high street TA’s but I have found in general I knew far more about P&O than they did.

[kermchem]

We booked through a high street TA because, yes, I knew exactly which cruise I wanted, but we needed an agent to make all the nice customer service noises that one of us needed to hear, and we work in the week, usually in different towns, so an empty (!) TA on Saturday morning it is. I could have booked direct for the same price, or with another TA for a discount, but neither would have made for domestic bliss!
But, back to my earlier comment, P&O has effectively two phone numbers, one for direct customers and one for all the TA’s (big ones, small one, specialist, mine, yours, etc.) and they don’t have enough staff to answer EITHER of them. Use a specialist or online TA and they still have to sit on the phone and wait for P&O to answer. 

[jeanlyon]

Don;t agree.  Some of the online TAs are absolutely brilliant.  I wouldn't use a high street Ta.

[FangedRose]

39 minutes ago, kermchem said:

We booked through a high street TA because, yes, I knew exactly which cruise I wanted, but we needed an agent to make all the nice customer service noises that one of us needed to hear, and we work in the week, usually in different towns, so an empty (!) TA on Saturday morning it is. I could have booked direct for the same price, or with another TA for a discount, but neither would have made for domestic bliss!
But, back to my earlier comment, P&O has effectively two phone numbers, one for direct customers and one for all the TA’s (big ones, small one, specialist, mine, yours, etc.) and they don’t have enough staff to answer EITHER of them. Use a specialist or online TA and they still have to sit on the phone and wait for P&O to answer. 

Having tried both I would only ever use a cruise specialist TA. I would never book direct either. You contact your TA, they contact the cruise company with all the queries they've got for many passengers, and they are dealt with in one call. 

[terrierjohn]

58 minutes ago, kermchem said:

We booked through a high street TA because, yes, I knew exactly which cruise I wanted, but we needed an agent to make all the nice customer service noises that one of us needed to hear, and we work in the week, usually in different towns, so an empty (!) TA on Saturday morning it is. I could have booked direct for the same price, or with another TA for a discount, but neither would have made for domestic bliss!
But, back to my earlier comment, P&O has effectively two phone numbers, one for direct customers and one for all the TA’s (big ones, small one, specialist, mine, yours, etc.) and they don’t have enough staff to answer EITHER of them. Use a specialist or online TA and they still have to sit on the phone and wait for P&O to answer. 

I dont believe your phone number comment, I am fairly certain the major online TA many on here use, has a dedicated P&O line which enables them to provide a superior service.

 

[Megabear2]

16 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

I dont believe your phone number comment, I am fairly certain the major online TA many on here use, has a dedicated P&O line which enables them to provide a superior service.

 

I can confirm my travel agent (who is a personal friend) uses special numbers. However she often waits for well over an hour for anyone to pick up.  That includes P&O, Princes, Cunard, Celebrity and TUI for my bookings and I've sat with her on holiday while she's held for two hours for Jet2!  

[kermchem]

24 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

I dont believe your phone number comment, I am fairly certain the major online TA many on here use, has a dedicated P&O line which enables them to provide a superior service.

 

I am no stranger to booking travel arrangements online - my first experience was booking a flight online in about 1996. I published my first web page in 1994 (now I feel old!). I have built several websites, so the internet is not a novelty to me.

We have cruised before (P&O Oceana 2017, Airtours Carousel 1997 and 1998) but our Canaries Islands experience on Thompson Topaz 1999 (rust and bucket are the best terms to use, together with "missed ports") meant that to persuade my other half to cruise Canaries again, I decided that we needed to sit with a real TA agent. Our chosen agent is the one with the largest UK branch network, and every time we have been there (book, rearrange flights, final balance payment) we have been the only customers in a high street branch on a Saturday morning. I have learned a lot from lurking in this forum (I am showing a profit on my P&O shares even before I get my OBC). Yes, I will book my next cruise online with an agent that offers a discount, but only if my other half is convinced.

I don't doubt that some TAs have the direct desk phone number of their friendly individual at P&O towers, some cruise-specialist online TAs might even have direct access to P&O IT systems (if you reserve a cabin with them then it disappears from the P&O booking site - I have done that experiment), and an online TA can probably save up all the online queries and send them to P&O in one consolidated list, or even ask for a phone back when someone at P&O is quiet. But ten days ago, in a deserted branch of the largest TA in the country it took 30 minutes for P&O to pick up the phone.

If P&O wants more Joe Public to cruise for the first time (and increase the value of my shareholding please), then to return to the thread title, the CEO needs to (a) pick up the phone and try calling his sales office that he is currently advertising on TV, and (b) visit a high street TA and ask something that needs a call to P&O. The CEO gets paid more per hour than I do and he will not be happy to sit and wait, even on his weekend!