When we booked our Viking Cruise 3 months ago, paying extra for a Deluxe Veranda that ensured early excursion bookings, we were told by our Viking sales representative to be sure and mark June 26th on our calendar as that would be the day we would be able to book our excursions early to ensure we could get the selections we wanted.
We called at exactly the right time today and had every excursion we selected for each day of the cruise in our "CART". My husband took a screenshot of our CART and they are all listed, in the cart. When we put in our payment information the screen went blank. We logged out and tried to log in to Viking's "My Viking Journey" page again but we were unsuccessful. We called Customer Service and we were told that there was a "Crash" of their system and to try back in an hour or so. We expressed concern that we had all of our excursion selections in our CART but had not been able to complete the payment due to the "crash". The agent said not to worry. He said if there were in our "CART" they would be there until we made payment.
We tried again in 30 minutes and this time the CART/payment page came up but a new screen popped up telling us that two of our selections were "NO LONGER AVAILABLE". We immediately called Customer Service again and told the agent we had a screenshot of our "Cart" which listed all of the selections we had chosen and then the web site crashed before our payment was completed. Our Viking customer service agent confirmed that there had been a crash of their system and said there were "two options he could offer us". One was to "keep checking and wait for someone to cancel from the excursions we selected" in the days that lead up to our cruise. The second option was to wait until we board our cruise ship and then go to Guest Services to see if they have other passengers who are still interested in these excursions, in which case they "MAY" add another excursion. I WAS SHOCKED AT THIS RESPONSE. Our cruise classification and fare was supposed to guarantee us early selections, which is one of the main reasons we spent the extra money. Also, this was in NO WAY our fault. It is Viking's fault that their system failed and yet they do not have an acceptable solution for the problem that was THEIR PROBLEM. They do NOT EVEN OFFER TO CREATE A WAIT LIST and CALL US if there is a cancellation nor do they offer ANY KIND OF SOLUTION to show they care about their customers/passengers. They put everything on the onus of the passenger who endured the mistake of their system! When I asked to speak to a supervisor, the agent said he would find a supervisor, but he hung up and the phone went dead.
I called another Customer Service agent, who also validated the crash but went through the SAME response as the first agent. I again asked to speak to a Supervisor but the Agent just kept telling me the only thing they had to offer was for ME to check for cancellations or go to Guest Services on the day we set sail to see if there were other options. I expressed great frustration at this suggestion, telling the agent that very few Viking Cruise passengers would board the ship with no excursions on two of the port days because they were "waiting to see" if Guest Services would add another group!!! She finally agreed to get a Supervisor.
Annette, who identified herself as "a Customer Service at a higher level Administrative position", responders but simply repeated, in a MUCH STERNER voice, the responses of the lower level Customer Service agents. It is difficult for me to believe that, in this day of data collection, Viking would not be able to keep track of other passengers who also were knocked out of the selections they had made due to VIKING'S crash, and then try to build other excursions for these groups. I was an Assistant Manager of a large Marriott Hotel and this was not at all the approach we took when a mistake was made that was clearly the Mariott's fault. I am sorry to say the Viking's main Customer Service strategy seems to be "strong-arming" their passengers into submission, even when the mistake is clearly theirs. Passengers should be aware that, if problems occur, Viking will offer minimal to no support in solving the problem, even when it is of their own making.
We called at exactly the right time today and had every excursion we selected for each day of the cruise in our "CART". My husband took a screenshot of our CART and they are all listed, in the cart. When we put in our payment information the screen went blank. We logged out and tried to log in to Viking's "My Viking Journey" page again but we were unsuccessful. We called Customer Service and we were told that there was a "Crash" of their system and to try back in an hour or so. We expressed concern that we had all of our excursion selections in our CART but had not been able to complete the payment due to the "crash". The agent said not to worry. He said if there were in our "CART" they would be there until we made payment.
We tried again in 30 minutes and this time the CART/payment page came up but a new screen popped up telling us that two of our selections were "NO LONGER AVAILABLE". We immediately called Customer Service again and told the agent we had a screenshot of our "Cart" which listed all of the selections we had chosen and then the web site crashed before our payment was completed. Our Viking customer service agent confirmed that there had been a crash of their system and said there were "two options he could offer us". One was to "keep checking and wait for someone to cancel from the excursions we selected" in the days that lead up to our cruise. The second option was to wait until we board our cruise ship and then go to Guest Services to see if they have other passengers who are still interested in these excursions, in which case they "MAY" add another excursion. I WAS SHOCKED AT THIS RESPONSE. Our cruise classification and fare was supposed to guarantee us early selections, which is one of the main reasons we spent the extra money. Also, this was in NO WAY our fault. It is Viking's fault that their system failed and yet they do not have an acceptable solution for the problem that was THEIR PROBLEM. They do NOT EVEN OFFER TO CREATE A WAIT LIST and CALL US if there is a cancellation nor do they offer ANY KIND OF SOLUTION to show they care about their customers/passengers. They put everything on the onus of the passenger who endured the mistake of their system! When I asked to speak to a supervisor, the agent said he would find a supervisor, but he hung up and the phone went dead.
I called another Customer Service agent, who also validated the crash but went through the SAME response as the first agent. I again asked to speak to a Supervisor but the Agent just kept telling me the only thing they had to offer was for ME to check for cancellations or go to Guest Services on the day we set sail to see if there were other options. I expressed great frustration at this suggestion, telling the agent that very few Viking Cruise passengers would board the ship with no excursions on two of the port days because they were "waiting to see" if Guest Services would add another group!!! She finally agreed to get a Supervisor.
Annette, who identified herself as "a Customer Service at a higher level Administrative position", responders but simply repeated, in a MUCH STERNER voice, the responses of the lower level Customer Service agents. It is difficult for me to believe that, in this day of data collection, Viking would not be able to keep track of other passengers who also were knocked out of the selections they had made due to VIKING'S crash, and then try to build other excursions for these groups. I was an Assistant Manager of a large Marriott Hotel and this was not at all the approach we took when a mistake was made that was clearly the Mariott's fault. I am sorry to say the Viking's main Customer Service strategy seems to be "strong-arming" their passengers into submission, even when the mistake is clearly theirs. Passengers should be aware that, if problems occur, Viking will offer minimal to no support in solving the problem, even when it is of their own making.