Surprise Charges

[TigerStar]

Credit card companies handle their card holder accounts differently than they do the vendors who accept their cards.

 

When a card holder disputes a charge they are issued a pending credit for the amount in dispute. This amount is available for the card holder to use, but keep in mind if the case is resolved in favor of the merchant and the amount added back to the card, the card holder can be charged over the limit fees.

 

In the case of the merchant, the $$ in dispute is automatically debited from their account and held by the card company. ALONG WITH charge back fees. I've seen these fees as high as $75 for one transaction. So in the case of the OP, CCL would get dinged for $100 over a $25 charge. BTW, the fee is NOT refunded if the merchant proves the charge and gets the disputed amount back. They have to eat the fee regardless of the outcome.

 

I am a retired office manager and had to deal with these issues on the rare occasions they came up. From my experience, the ONLY thing that a card company will accept as proof is a signed credit card charge slip for the item(s) in dispute. The company I worked for did most of its business via the net. We would have email trails between us and the customer detailing what was being ordered and the prices involved along with the customers intent to call with their card number. The card companies (mc, visa, discover) would not accept this as proof. HAD to be signed receipt.

 

I suspect a large vendor such as CCL would weigh the cost of the charge back against the amount of the charge and act accordingly.

 

Nice post, but I wanted to correct one small discrepancy that most people wouldn't think twice about - MC, Visa, and Discover are not credit card companies. They are associations. Capital One, Citi, etc are credit card companies. The average cardholder never actually deals with the associations. The chargeback is with the issuer of the card (Bank of America, Citi, etc).

[Boozebabe]

Nice post, but I wanted to correct one small discrepancy that most people wouldn't think twice about - MC, Visa, and Discover are not credit card companies. They are associations. Capital One, Citi, etc are credit card companies. The average cardholder never actually deals with the associations. The chargeback is with the issuer of the card (Bank of America, Citi, etc).

 

 

 

And to add to this , the retailer deals with neither of these. The retailer deals with their processor. That is a third party that actually processes every transaction and divvies out the $$$ to Visa, MC, Discover, Amex etc. And retailers pay dearly for this "service. A lot of customers have no idea that the reatiler has to "pay" to take credit cards. The chearges to retailers usually include a per transaction charge (no matter what the price of the transaction) and a percentage of the sale. The fees at my store are actually more per month than the mortgage payment on the building. SAD

 

I once had a customer who wanted to charge a pack of gum....35 cents. I just gave it to them because fees would have been more than the gum. By the way it is illegal to refuse any transaction for any amount if you accept cc in your business. The contract with the processor says so.

 

So please people.....carry a couple dollars with you to pay for these very small purchases. I have done the math and if a customer wants to purchase just a 20 oz. soft drink from me on a cc I still actually lose a couple cents. And you would be amazed at how many of those purchases come thru in a day.

 

I could only imagine how much Carnival pays to the cc processor per year. YIKES !!!

 

My nephews wife just returned from the Destiny. He was at home watching his bank statement and daily there were numerous debits (transactions) coming through. She was using a debit card. She didn't have a cc. Every single purchase she made showed up individually. I'm wondering if Carnival paid the per transaction fee for every one of those transactions. Unlike a regular cc where the entire total would be submitted at the end of the cruise.

[chickie_mite]

I'd never dispute such a small fee with the credit card issuer.

 

It was $25.00? Same here, I would say, oh well.

[More to go]

Do'nt putter about it . Just kiss that money good bye. Trust me I know.:(

[martinchem]

This would be nice but everything is put on your sail and sign, Carnival doesn't accept cash on the ship except at the pursers desk for settlement.

 

And to add to this , the retailer deals with neither of these. The retailer deals with their processor. That is a third party that actually processes every transaction and divvies out the $$$ to Visa, MC, Discover, Amex etc. And retailers pay dearly for this "service. A lot of customers have no idea that the reatiler has to "pay" to take credit cards. The chearges to retailers usually include a per transaction charge (no matter what the price of the transaction) and a percentage of the sale. The fees at my store are actually more per month than the mortgage payment on the building. SAD

 

I once had a customer who wanted to charge a pack of gum....35 cents. I just gave it to them because fees would have been more than the gum. By the way it is illegal to refuse any transaction for any amount if you accept cc in your business. The contract with the processor says so.

 

So please people.....carry a couple dollars with you to pay for these very small purchases. I have done the math and if a customer wants to purchase just a 20 oz. soft drink from me on a cc I still actually lose a couple cents. And you would be amazed at how many of those purchases come thru in a day.

 

I could only imagine how much Carnival pays to the cc processor per year. YIKES !!!

 

My nephews wife just returned from the Destiny. He was at home watching his bank statement and daily there were numerous debits (transactions) coming through. She was using a debit card. She didn't have a cc. Every single purchase she made showed up individually. I'm wondering if Carnival paid the per transaction fee for every one of those transactions. Unlike a regular cc where the entire total would be submitted at the end of the cruise.

[DavyB]

Good Luck getting your money back.

 

For those of you that say let it go. I realize its only $25 but if you knew a complete stranger went in your purse or wallet and took $25, would you let it go? I wouldn't.

[crusing_guy]

Someone suggested to use cash on small transactions.....One thing I like about charging my purchases is having a statement at the end of the month reminding me where my money went to....I also keep all of my receipts to check back to the statement. My credit card also gives reward points for every purchase which I can use toward crusies.....I use my credit card to pay for everything I can and then just pay the credit card at the end of the month......Insurance payments, cell phone bills, anything I can think of so that I can accumulate more reward points.

 

On a side note, the person also mentioned that they would just give the person the pack of gum because it would end up costing them less....While I can understand this from the business owner's point of view, some people do not like to carry cash...

 

My son went to Subway and ordered two sandwiches last night.....After the sandwiches had been prepared, the cashier attemped to use the credit card system to accept my son's payment. There machine was not working and my son did not have cash. He said the cashier was very rude but since he did not have cash and the credit card machine was not working, nothing could be done.......As he was leaving the cashier cursed and threw the sandwiches in the garbage can. What a waste....

[TigerStar]

And to add to this , the retailer deals with neither of these. The retailer deals with their processor. That is a third party that actually processes every transaction and divvies out the $$$ to Visa, MC, Discover, Amex etc. And retailers pay dearly for this "service. A lot of customers have no idea that the reatiler has to "pay" to take credit cards. The chearges to retailers usually include a per transaction charge (no matter what the price of the transaction) and a percentage of the sale. The fees at my store are actually more per month than the mortgage payment on the building. SAD

 

I once had a customer who wanted to charge a pack of gum....35 cents. I just gave it to them because fees would have been more than the gum. By the way it is illegal to refuse any transaction for any amount if you accept cc in your business. The contract with the processor says so.

 

So please people.....carry a couple dollars with you to pay for these very small purchases. I have done the math and if a customer wants to purchase just a 20 oz. soft drink from me on a cc I still actually lose a couple cents. And you would be amazed at how many of those purchases come thru in a day.

 

I could only imagine how much Carnival pays to the cc processor per year. YIKES !!!

 

My nephews wife just returned from the Destiny. He was at home watching his bank statement and daily there were numerous debits (transactions) coming through. She was using a debit card. She didn't have a cc. Every single purchase she made showed up individually. I'm wondering if Carnival paid the per transaction fee for every one of those transactions. Unlike a regular cc where the entire total would be submitted at the end of the cruise.

 

The retailer does not deal with the processor. The retailer should deal with whomever they have contracted their merchant services through. They should be the ones to interact with the CC companies. The retailer pays their merchant service provider, not the processor. The transaction charges that the retailer pays goes to the merchant service provider. The CC company 'earns' an interchange fee per transaction. The processor earns a transaction fee from the CC company (and it is normally in the < $0.009 per transaction level).

 

I agree with you that in 99.999% of cases, it is 'illegal' (actually against the retailer's contract with their merchant service provider) not to take a card for a transaction or to prefer one type (Visa) over AmEx (if they take AmEx).

 

I work for one of the world's largest third party processors. There are only 2-3 big ones, the rest are small time.

[dmdiver]

It was $25.00? Same here, I would say, oh well.

 

$25? I would certainly dispute it. I can't believe people are so frivolous with money. If I didn't spend it, I'm sure not gonna let it go. $25 is dinner for dh & me at Chili's. That's insanity. I record every credit card transaction in my checkbook register. I know exactly how much, when & where I charge things. I keep my receipts until the bill comes & check every one of them off on the statement. Financial surprises are not the kind of surprises I like to have.