Poor HAL Customer Service
 

Let me preface my post by stating that I have nothing but good things to say about the experience my wife and I had while on-board the MS Oosterdam. The intent of my post is to let people know about the poor customer service I experienced dealing with HAL Corporate while trying to straighten out a billing issue.

My wife and I went on the Mexican Riviera cruise. MS Oosterdam sailing March 10th. The first day on-board we signed up for a couples membership to the Greenhouse / Hydro Spa. My wife was visibly pregnant when we signed up; the staff even commented on it when signing us up. They have a body temperature hydro spa so we weren't concerned with any potential health issues to the baby.

The next day when we were using the spa, a different staff member informed my wife that they shouldn't have allowed her to sign up and that HAL does not want to risk anything with pregnancy. That was fine with us...better safe than sorry. The staff said that they would reduce the billed amount to a single membership. They felt bad about the error and offered my wife a complimentary facial at the spa. She gladly accepted the offer and signed up for it.

We had an early departure the day of disembarkation and didn't have time to thoroughly review the bill slipped under our door at 7:30am. We figured we'd deal with any issues once we got home.

Once home, we noticed that not only was the spa membership not adjusted to a single person, but she was charged for the "complimentary facial". We dealt with a very nice woman with the onboard accounts department. She put in a refund for the membership adjustment and said she would have to check with the ship about the "complimentary" facial. A few days later we were informed that there may have been a miscommunication and that the staff had no authorization to offer a complimentary treatment. If we wanted to pursue this further, we would have to take it up with Guest Relations.

We discussed the issue with Guest Relations and they said they'd be unable to refund the price of the facial ($145). After more pressing, they said that they'd offer us $145 on-board credit. That was not an acceptable resolution since we should never have been charged in the first place. Additionally, with having a baby we will not be cruising in the foreseeable future. They would not change their final offer.

Long story short, I escalated the issue and all correspondence was being handled by a Walter Pagan, Special Advisor - Office of the President. I informed them that the credit was not an acceptable resolution and that we should not be the ones to have to pay for the error on their part. He insisted that the credit was a very generous settlement. I made it clear that they would be losing a future customer unless we received the refund we deserved. We were informed that the credit is all they were willing to do.

We spent quite a bit of money for this cruise. We paid for a Deluxe Verandah Suite as well as spending over $1500 on board the ship during the cruise. The fact that they are willing to lose a customer over $145 mistake on their part shows me how much they value their customers at Corporate.

Again, we thoroughly enjoyed the cruising experience and our suite was excellent, but I just can't get over their unwillingness to fix their mistake. I'm left with the feeling that they have our money, so we no longer matter.

The lesson here for others should be to get your account issues straightened out before you leave the ship, no matter how short on time you are the morning of disembarkation.

Sorry for your experience with the home office. I have long beleived that the corp offices of all the li8nes owned by Carnival cease to care about you once they have your money. Dealing with passengers is merely a necessary burden.

Well that is terrible. Have you considered a protest thru your cc? I woul look into that.

BTW we had a similar experience on Celebrity with an on board issue. They basically told me as to compensation that "we don,t do that". Well after much persistence we got a fair amt. offered for future OBC though I really did not think it would have to go so far. From what I have read on cruise critic the CS for X post cruise is well below the service you get on board.

boom_boom - thanks. Your belief certainly seems to be the case here. In short they are telling me that in order to get back my $145 I'm owed, I need to spend another $7k on a cruise with them.

I should have mentioned that I've already filed a claim with American Express to dispute the $145 charge. I've also filed a claim with the BBB. I let HAL know I was doing this.

Very smart to file a claim with the BBB, you might also want to consider contacting Consumer Affairs and the Attorney General's office of the state HAL is headquartered in. We had a similar problem with a land tour operator and after contacting all of the proper authorities we received a full refund. Hope all turns out well.

Good luck. Do you mind letting us know the outcome?

Larry.

I'll gladly post the outcome. On another message board where I posted my story, a few suggested contacting Steiner Leisure. Apparently Steiner is the company that runs the spa and gives HAL a cut of the profits.

I can't help but share the same experience with you dealing with Corporate Office,Special Advisor to The President, which was actually in my home town of Seattle,WA. They were adamant with their offer of Onboard credit for future sailing. Who says we are going back to sail with them again ? Never ever in this life !. See my review report on 'Worse Cruise Experience On HAL, Eurodam'. That makes 2 loss of client to HAL