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Future sailor deposit ISSUES?


cruisehabits
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Hello all ~

 

As many before me have been ....I too was very excited to place my $500 future sailor deposit with Virgin Voyages.

 

Unfortunately it has not been as smooth of a process as many of you before me. It certainly has not been the experience I had hoped for or anticipated thus far.

 

I realize they are new in the "biz" so to speak, however; Virgin is not new to the business world and I would have expected much better customer service at this point.

 

Here's my current issue.

 

On Tuesday, December 26, 2017, I placed my future sailor deposit on line as many of you have before me. I received the "we are trending message" that some of you received and was informed via that message that the confirmation would be emailed shortly.

 

Well shortly passed (at least to me) so on Wednesday, December 27 I emailed help@virginvoyages.com to inquire regarding my email confirmation. I promptly received a automated email letting me know they received my email and would be in contact shortly.

.

So today is Friday, December 29, 2017 and again I question the definition of shortly?

 

The $500 deposit has completely gone through as a charge on my credit card. It is no longer in pending charge status.

 

I have checked my SPAM email to assure no responses have gone there and have continued to do so since Tuesday.

 

So today I emailed (again) help@virginvoyages.com and cc'd ahoy@virginvoyages.com as these are the two emails found on the main website page. However when I emailed today I did not even get the automated response email.

 

I was very much looking forward to this experience and hype that others of you have enjoyed. I was looking forward to going on line, placing my deposit and being confirmed.

 

Much to my dismay and disappointment it has been a bit of a cat chase to get any type of response. I realize we are amidst the holidays, etc., but I'm not exactly thrilled that my money can be so easily accepted and I get nothing in return. No confirmation, no email responses, nothing whatsoever.

 

I realize at this point I have gone on quite some so I will wrap it up. I totally expected more from a company that has provided such great service in other areas of the business world. I truly hope my experience thus far is isolated and that others won't feel like they are jumping through hoops to follow up.

 

I am interested to know if any other "future sailors" have had the same or similar experience thus far.

 

Kind regards and safe travels to all! :)

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Update......

It seems there was a glitch with their computer system and that was the reason the confirmation was not received initially. It never did come into my email or spam.

After 3 emails and 2 phone calls to their customer service.....all is now well....and I received my confirmation number today!

Looking forward to all that will come of this new build and experience

Safe travels to all! :)

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  • 1 year later...
On 1/3/2018 at 2:39 PM, cruisehabits said:

Update......

It seems there was a glitch with their computer system and that was the reason the confirmation was not received initially. It never did come into my email or spam.

After 3 emails and 2 phone calls to their customer service.....all is now well....and I received my confirmation number today!

Looking forward to all that will come of this new build and experience

Safe travels to all! :)

 

I'm having an issue with them as well, but in terms of getting my deposit refunded.  After seeing the direction VV was taking with their product, we realized it was not something we were interested in so I cancelled my reservation on January 9th.  They responded quickly saying my $500 would be refunded but since it was a manual process it may take up to 3 weeks.  Obviously we're beyond that now and I've heard nothing from them.  I've tried emailing them, contacting them on FB and on Twitter.  Nothing.

 

I haven't been able to find a phone # for their customer service.  If anyone has it, please post it so I can try and get my money back from this second rate operation.

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2 hours ago, SuiteLiving said:

 

I'm having an issue with them as well, but in terms of getting my deposit refunded.  After seeing the direction VV was taking with their product, we realized it was not something we were interested in so I cancelled my reservation on January 9th.  They responded quickly saying my $500 would be refunded but since it was a manual process it may take up to 3 weeks.  Obviously we're beyond that now and I've heard nothing from them.  I've tried emailing them, contacting them on FB and on Twitter.  Nothing.

 

I haven't been able to find a phone # for their customer service.  If anyone has it, please post it so I can try and get my money back from this second rate operation.

You might try going old-school -- send a certified or registered letter to their corporate hdqrtrs. If all else fails, contact the Florida Attorney General's office. Send them copies of your correspondence, dates, times, etc. Since VV has a corporate headquarters in Plantation Florida, they should fall within the AG's jurisdiction. Good luck.

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I’m sure you have already done this, but did you check all your recent transactions on the credit card you used for the deposit?  

 

I also requested a refund of my deposit some time back, and received the same email you did.  I think in about 10 days the credit appeared, but I had no additional corespondence telling me so.  I just happened to see it.  

 

The other issue could be that your original card used for the deposit has charged.  Perhaps it was lost or stolen and the number has changed.  If that is the case VV would have difficulty processing the refund as the original form of payment no longer exists.  

 

Just throwing out some reasons as to why the refund might not be processed.  I honestly don’t think they are trying to rip you off.  There is a hang up somewhere.  

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1 hour ago, eroller said:

I’m sure you have already done this, but did you check all your recent transactions on the credit card you used for the deposit?  

 

I also requested a refund of my deposit some time back, and received the same email you did.  I think in about 10 days the credit appeared, but I had no additional corespondence telling me so.  I just happened to see it.  

 

The other issue could be that your original card used for the deposit has charged.  Perhaps it was lost or stolen and the number has changed.  If that is the case VV would have difficulty processing the refund as the original form of payment no longer exists.  

 

Just throwing out some reasons as to why the refund might not be processed.  I honestly don’t think they are trying to rip you off.  There is a hang up somewhere.  

Good point, E-roller! After all, it has been a long, long time since we all sent in those pre-deposits! What concerned me was that Suiteliving has gotten no responses from VV, after trying to find track down that refund. Hope that it is just a glitch, as you say.

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thanks both, I had been checking the credit card (which hasn't changed) they have just been lax in taking care of it or responding.  I finally heard from them a little while ago (after sending yet another e-mail) saying that they processed the credit and it should post by the end of the day.

 

Nothing yet, we'll see.  This experience certainly confirms my decision not to do business with them.

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On 2/4/2019 at 3:39 PM, SuiteLiving said:

thanks both, I had been checking the credit card (which hasn't changed) they have just been lax in taking care of it or responding.  I finally heard from them a little while ago (after sending yet another e-mail) saying that they processed the credit and it should post by the end of the day.

 

Nothing yet, we'll see.  This experience certainly confirms my decision not to do business with them.

 

 

I hope they get their act together and get that refund processed.  They had no issue charging the card!  That can certainly be frustrating, and I understand having to chase down a refund would not leave a good taste in my mouth.  

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15 minutes ago, eroller said:

 

 

I hope they get their act together and get that refund processed.  They had no issue charging the card!  That can certainly be frustrating, and I understand having to chase down a refund would not leave a good taste in my mouth.  

Thank you for the response.  The credit finally did show up on the credit card this morning.

 

After seeing the fares they're charging, I'm glad I cancelled early, no way I would pay those prices.  I'll stick with Disney's high prices over these.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Over a month to refund a deposit is ridiculous. Even three weeks is way too long.  With other lines I usually get a refund within 48 hours.  

 

I asked for for my refund on 2/12.  The itineraries don’t appeal to me and I don’t think I’m the right demographic for the ship (floating Fyre Festival).  I expected the refund would have posted by now and was going to ask for others experiences when I found this thread.  Guess I’ll wait another week or two before I reach out.  

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On 2/16/2019 at 10:27 AM, cruzmaven said:

Over a month to refund a deposit is ridiculous. Even three weeks is way too long.  With other lines I usually get a refund within 48 hours.  

 

I asked for for my refund on 2/12.  The itineraries don’t appeal to me and I don’t think I’m the right demographic for the ship (floating Fyre Festival).  I expected the refund would have posted by now and was going to ask for others experiences when I found this thread.  Guess I’ll wait another week or two before I reach out.  

 

Update:   It’s been 8 days since refund request. No refund yet. 

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 We requested the deposit cancellation in early January when Virgin released the itineraries as 4 and five day cruises, as we don't like short cruises. I received the  cancellation confirmation and was told 5-7 business days to process the refund. On February 6th,  I called again, and they said they "lost" the refund request information. It was reprocessed on February 6th, and again told 5-7 business days for the refund, and once again received written confirmation of it. I called them today, and was told the paperwork was processed today, and the refund credit should be back on the credit card in another 5-7 business days. The Virgin employees told me that they  are processing every request manually, as they had many cancellations.

 

At this point it is not even about the funds. It is about the complete lack of appropriate follow through by the company. I have flown on Virgin before and like quite a few of Mr. Branson's products and ideas. It will have taken two months to get a simple deposit back. I hope they improve their business model for others in the rollout of the ship. 

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On 2/28/2019 at 12:33 PM, carefree lady said:

We've been waiting over 3 weeks for our deposit refund. Have been told they have a lot of deposits to refund. Still not a good excuse.

It's almost like they were surprised at the sudden number of cancellations. What were they expecting, when they waited so long to release any solid booking details?:classic_unsure:

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An update: VV DID respond to our deposit refund request in a professional and timely manner. Although Scarlet Lady's initial itinerary does not fit our schedule, we would consider sailing on Virgin, in the future. Will be checking back for reviews, as they start to come in. For those of you who have bookings -- Bon Voyage, and keep those reports coming! 😎

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I am amongst those that have chosen to cancel and certainly NOT pleased with how Virgin Voyages has chosen to handle the cancellation/refund process.  7-10 business days for a refund is acceptable and practical to me.  A month or longer is not.

 

It has been very cat and mouse with them.  I have followed up a couple of times now with them since my cancellation and still have not received a refund.  I know I will get it eventually, but honestly their business practice of handling this the way they have has put me off from future consideration of cruising with them.

 

The blanket answer from them is that all refunds have to be manually entered.  How much information has to be put in for it to take this long one would wonder.  More so, how many people that placed early deposits have cancelled?

 

Good luck to those choosing to sail with them.  I truly hope it is enjoyable.  Perhaps they are going through growing pains?

 

Safe travels to all!  :classic_smile:

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Sorry to hear that, CruiseHabits. BTW -- I think that you are right,  about VV experiencing 'growing pains'. Also, they may find themselves 'in the weeds', having to process far more refunds than they had anticipated. We lucked out -- only took us a couple of weeks to get our refund. I think that a couple of things worked in our favor: We made our decision, on the very first day that they were open for booking. That day, their web-site totally crashed (not surprising) -- but they finally put up a phone number (where you could talk to a live person). The young lady my DH spoke with was very professional, and told us that we should get our refund within two weeks -- and we did. One thing to remember: It's been a long time since we made these deposits. If you are requesting a refund, make sure that the credit card you used is still valid, and that the card number/exp.dates have not changed. If VV tries to refund $$ to a card that is no longer valid, it won't go through.

Good luck!

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14 hours ago, deliver42 said:

I hope those waiting aren't counting weekends in their days wait. 7 to10 days is one or 2 weeks @ 5 business days per week.

 

It looks like VV is definitely fumbling on this issue, but there is another factor in the delay. Some banks are much slower at applying the credit to  your account after it has received the credit request from VV. I'm not saying that's the case here, but if you start seeing some people get their refunds within 2 weeks and others going a month or more you can start looking at the receiving bank. We had a credit take 45 days with NCL, but NCL had submitted the credit within a few days of our cancellation - the problem turned out to be Citibank or Chase which was notorious for slow credits at that time.

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1 hour ago, cruisehabits said:

UPDATE:

 

I did receive my refund at the beginning of this week.

 

Although it did take them some time; the refund has finally posted to my credit card.

 

It's a shame things are being handled the way they are.

 

Glad to hear that you finally got your refund, Cruisehabits! Hopefully, VV with get the kinks worked out, as they go along. I still look forward to sailing with them -- just not for a while.

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