shaunly

@friedaliene

I know some on here are probably more confrontational than others, but I have treated every representative I have spoken with, both from my TA and HAL, with an appropriate level of civility and respect.  I wholeheartedly agree that the contact with HAL representatives should be courtesy, civil, and respectful. 

You are most definitely correct that Americans are litigious.  Admittedly, I briefly explored small claims court, however the court only issues a judgement and I would still be left to collect on that judgement ... which is basically the same thing as waiting on HAL to pay me themselves. 

Ok, now I get to stand on my soapbox, so if you prefer to tune out ... feel free.  

Obviously these are "unprecedented" times, as the rep that I spoke to so often highlighted.  However, what if I had booked a cruise on HAL and then lost my job?  That would be "unprecedented" times for me.  Would HAL then allow me to pay for my cruise 30, 60, or 90 days later after I was able to find employment again?  What if that happened a week before the sailing, would HAL allow me to cancel that cruise and receive a full refund because of the "unprecedented" circumstances in which I found myself?  Would you be advocating for HAL to be more patient with me as a customer? 

I don't owe HAL anything.  At this point, quite the opposite is true.  They have bungled this from the beginning, which unfortunately seems to have been the case with many things throughout this pandemic.  If they had started with clear communication, or even been moving in that direction, they wouldn't have people like myself and others here scrounging for information.  Think about this too though ... if the US Government can setup a website to track whether a stimulus check has been, or will be issued, to each of it's citizens ... then HAL should be able to construct something to allow its customers to track their refund.  I mean seriously ... the US government got something up and running from nothing between my cancelling my cruise and receiving the refund to which I am entitled.

Janet76's advice regarding disputing the charge is, by far, the best option available for any HAL customer that does not want to wait for HAL to process a refund.

Cheers,

Shaun

More information, for those that are interested anyways.  I called my TA this morning and they connected me to a HAL representative through a conference call.  Initially, I simply requested information on how the refund process was working.  The HAL representative was, somewhat understandably, hostile from the moment they came on the line.  I imagine they are taking the same phone call ad nauseam these days.  The word they pivoted to almost every sentence was "unprecedented" as they explained the timeline for refunds and that they had no further information.

Once their initial rant was done, I was able to get some more information from the representative.  They are apparently processing the refunds in the order of the cancellations.  I asked for a written copy of the company's refund policy and was told, definitively, that there is not one ... which came with a lot of mentioning the word "unprecedented" again.  The rep did explain that the accounting department at HAL is relatively small, particularly compared to their reservations department, and that every refund requires their accounting department manually adjusting the booking to issue the refund.  They did not specify how long this takes per booking, but alluded to the fact that the department was working continuously on processing refunds.  I eventually explained that at some point I would have to protect myself as a consumer and work with my credit card company for a charge-back on the transaction.  The rep admitted that a dispute is certainly an option for me and then tried to convince me that such action would result in it taking longer for me to get my money than just waiting for HAL to get to my refund.  Apparently, they don't understand how credit card transaction disputes work.  The rep for my TA even commented later (after disconnecting from HAL) that the dispute would likely provide my funds much quicker than the HAL rep was indicating.  Despite knowing the likely answer, I decided to ask the HAL rep if there was anything that could be done to expedite my refund request.  The answer was no.

After getting off the phone with this HAL rep, my TA rep was able to get through to the HAL accounting department on a direct phone number.  Don't ask me how they got that, but it worked and the next thing I knew I was talking with a HAL accounting rep on a conference call.  Unfortunately, they were unable to change anything about my situation.  They did confirm that my March 9th cancellation was in the "first batch" of refunds they were processing.  Don't ask me what "first batch" means, they did not expand on it at all.  Nor could the accounting representative even provide an approximate time-frame for my refund.  The accounting rep confirmed basically all the information from the previous rep, but was much more pleasant about it.  I offered the accounting rep some unsolicited feedback about the company not doing a very good job of communicating with their customers throughout this "unprecedented" crisis.  She seemed to take it in stride, but I can only hope she relays it to anyone higher in the company.  I tried not to take up too much of the accounting rep's time, because I would obviously rather have her working on my refund than talking to me on the phone!

Anyway, take this information for what it's worth.  I simply felt that this community could use as much information as they can get their hands on since HAL doesn't seem to want to communicate with their customers more broadly about the subject.

TL:DR ... HAL has a small accounting department that has to address each cancellation individually, which is what is causing the extensive delays for refunds.  HAL is supposedly processing refunds in the order they were cancelled.  Talking directly to the HAL accounting department did not expedite, or even provide an approximate timeline for my refund.

In case anyone's interested, here's the boilerplate response the HAL office of the president is using in response to BBB complaints (read it in two responses so far):

"We understand that you are awaiting a refund for this booking due to the suspension of our cruise operations, and we are sorry for any delay in receipt of these funds. As you have been previously advised, due to the unprecedented volume of bookings which were cancelled due to COVID-19 that our team is managing, processing this refund may take up to 60?days.

We have escalated your case and submitted a request for these refunds to be expedited so we can ensure that you receive your money as soon as possible. We would like to reiterate that this is only a request to be reviewed by management, and we cannot guarantee a date which these will be processed. Please be assured that our Accounting Department is working to finalize this as quickly as possible, and we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience or frustration caused by this delay.

Thank you for your patience and flexibility in these extraordinary circumstances."

Here's my question ... can anyone find the HAL refund policy in writing? 

HAL representatives tell us 7-10 days, then 30 business days, then 60-90 business days.  What is to stop them from telling us that they will refund you within a year?  Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, nothing. 

I've combed through the cruise contract on their website, it does not mention a specific time-frame for a refund, it simply states the conditions under which a refund will and will not be issued to you and that, "Any refunds will be made directly to the method of payment You used at the time of booking or Your travel advisor and You must receive Your refund directly from these sources."  I also combed through the email I got from my TA (Costco Travel) when I booked and they defer to the "supplier", in my case HAL ... "Refund restrictions and policies for unused travel or vacation components vary by airline, by supplier, by season and according to promotional rules and are subject to applicable rules of each supplier." 

I cannot find a specific document pertaining to HAL that actually defines their refund policy, so if someone else can I would love either a reply or a private message!  In the meantime, I just passed my 30 day mark and was told it would now take up to 60 business days.  My TA did confirm that HAL's "system" shows that I am entitled to a refund, which I guess means they intend to eventually issue one to me ... I hope. 

I called to my state's Attorney General's office, but it was not helpful.  They cannot give legal advice and only suggested that I file a complaint.  However, they were specific that filing a complaint did not ensure a resolution.  Next thought was to file a BBB complaint, because I saw that there were some of those recently against HAL.  My problem with that avenue was that one of the questions the BBB asked prior to allowing you to fill out a complaint is whether or not your are alleging a criminal act has occurred.  I didn't know how to answer it.  Without a specific refund policy in writing, I guess not, but it sure seems criminal for them to hold onto my funds and extend the time-line for their return multiple times without my consent.  Still, BBB might be the way to go in the end.  I suppose there is always the credit card "charge-back."  That seems messier to me than any of the other options (including waiting and crossing my fingers) and really isn't the way I want to proceed.  I will have to decide on it relatively soon though, because I figure if I'm going to do a charge-back I should execute that strategy the day after my cruise was supposed to sail ... which is before the 60 business day timeline.  

A little better communication from HAL would probably go a long way right now.  If I knew the exact day, hell even just the week, when they would be processing my refund I feel like it would calm my nerves.  This strategy where first it's this long, now we need longer, and it's going to be longer still ... yadda yadda yadda ... is just frustrating, period.  That and they have the nerve to continue sending me HAL@Home emails.  Their best chance of keeping me as a future customer would be to return the money they owe me first and send emails later.

Just my two cents.

Shaun

I canceled my May 24th sailing out of Amsterdam on March 9th, unfortunately I booked through at TA (Costco Travel) and so it took over 15hrs on hold to even get that accomplished.  Fortunately, that was the last day that I was entitled to a full refund and I was told that it would take 7-10 business days to receive it.  The dining reservations I had made were refunded back to the CC they were purchased on within a couple of days.  At the 10 business day point I called HAL through my TA and was told that it was now taking 30 business days to receive a refund.  I've got that date on my calendar, but fully expect to be informed when I make that call that the policy has been updated with a 60-90 business day timeline.

At the 30 business day mark, I intend to call the Washington state Attorney General's office of consumer protection to discuss the matter with them.  I'm interested to hear if they have any suggestions or alternative avenues to explore.  Otherwise, if HAL has not issued my refund by May 24th I will contact my credit card company and report the "fraudulent" charge for services not rendered.  I've half a mind to contact my local news channel too, since I live in the Seattle area ... perhaps their reporters would like to wander down to the HAL corporate offices and start asking questions about the legality of constantly changing the time-frame in which the company will issue what is, in my uneducated opinion, a contractually obligated refund to a customer.

I get that these are extenuating circumstances and they have evolved into an unprecedented scenario for the cruise industry, but these companies have pages upon pages of legalese designed to provide them opportunities to hold their customers accountable for various actions.  They are not devoid of obligations to their customers either and they should be returning any monies due to people in a reasonable manner.  When I've allowed three times the "normal" time-frame to receive my money, I've been more than reasonable.

My two cents.

Shaun