Double charged for service charges

[cs]

I just got off the phone with my TA. She said the mistake was on NCL's part. Instead of crediting the money towards the DSC, NCL credited it towards the cost of the cruise. Since the cruise was already paid in full, they thought I had overpaid and NCL mailed a reimbursement check to my TA.

I told my TA that I was posting this answer on Cruise Critic, and I wanted to make sure she was okay with saying that it was NCL's fault. She confirmed that it was NCL's fault and said to go ahead and post it.

Now I have to wait for reimbursement to me because NCL made the check out to the TA.

[sjbdtz]

[quote name='cs'][B]Without a doubt the TA has messed up and I'll be looking for a new TA after this[/B]. [/quote]

[quote name='Dr. Jack Daniels']Great points. It's really pretty pathetic how the cheerleaders are so quick to bash the OP and tell you how this is not NCL's fault. OP - Thanks for sharing your insights.[/quote]

See OP's insights, above..... :rolleyes:


[quote name='first time cruiser 8']Why can't you just realize that this is a message board and not all threads have to be "I love NCL". The purpose is to imform people of the good and yes the not so good. Give people a break once in a while! :eek:[/quote]

Ditto

[darrengs]

[quote name='cs']I just got off the phone with my TA. She said the mistake was on NCL's part. Instead of crediting the money towards the DSC, NCL credited it towards the cost of the cruise. Since the cruise was already paid in full, they thought I had overpaid and NCL mailed a reimbursement check to my TA.

I told my TA that I was posting this answer on Cruise Critic, and I wanted to make sure she was okay with saying that it was NCL's fault. She confirmed that it was NCL's fault and said to go ahead and post it.

Now I have to wait for reimbursement to me because NCL made the check out to the TA.[/quote]

Now seriously, why couldn't someone have seen this while you were still on the cruise? I would hope that an issue like this would be relayed to the Miami offices and then they would research it.

[sjnyc323]

CS you should write a letter to the main headquarters regarding this issue you encontered. Who knows maybe for your trouble they will offer you OBC for your next cruise. I had an issue with one of the ship's shore excursions and wrote to main headquarter after cruise was over and they sent me an onboard credit for my next cruise.

[DaddyDex]

When was the check mailed to the TA?

[cs]

[quote name='DaddyDex']When was the check mailed to the TA?[/QUOTE]

That's a good question. I didn't ask but now I wonder.

[petesweet]

Forget it. OP clarified later.

[billie5]

I am happy that this urgent matter has been cleared up.

Or has it?? There is no way to tell if this was NCL's fault in any manner. If the TA did not properly identify where the money was to go, it seems to me that NCL did exactly the right thing in returning it to the TA.

Wow. This is definitely worth another 50 postings.

Bill

[Dr. Jack Daniels]

[quote name='cs']I just got off the phone with my TA. She said the mistake was on NCL's part. Instead of crediting the money towards the DSC, NCL credited it towards the cost of the cruise. Since the cruise was already paid in full, they thought I had overpaid and NCL mailed a reimbursement check to my TA.

I told my TA that I was posting this answer on Cruise Critic, and I wanted to make sure she was okay with saying that it was NCL's fault. She confirmed that it was NCL's fault and said to go ahead and post it.

Now I have to wait for reimbursement to me because NCL made the check out to the TA.[/quote]

Thanks for coming back and clarifying.

We'll await the ususal suspects to come in here and bash you and say how it is still not NCL's fault. Should not take long.;)

Either that or they will come back and apologize for being wrong. Nah! That'll NEVER happen. What was I thinking?:rolleyes:

[Planer's Edge]

[COLOR=Black]Don't be a hater, Jack. :rolleyes:

PE[/COLOR]

[cs]

[quote name='billie5']Wow. This is definitely worth another 50 postings.

Bill[/QUOTE]

Was that necessary?

[Planer's Edge]

[quote name='cs']Was that necessary?[/quote]

[COLOR=Black]He can't help himself. :rolleyes:

PE[/COLOR]

[billie5]

You are so right, PE. :)

Of course, as Doc has quoted, the TA says it was NCL's mistake, so that should settle the matter for anyone who thought it might be the TA. :confused:

Bill

[Planer's Edge]

[quote name='billie5']You are so right, PE. :)

Of course, as Doc has quoted, the TA says it was NCL's mistake, so that should settle the matter for anyone who thought it might be the TA. :confused:

Bill[/quote]

[COLOR=Black]...and we all know Doc is always right, with his assertions. :rolleyes:

PE[/COLOR]

[luddite]

An apple a day keeps the ....
well, anyway.

[sjbdtz]

[quote name='billie5']You are so right, PE. :)

Of course, as Doc has quoted, the TA says it was NCL's mistake, so that should settle the matter for anyone who thought it might be the TA. :confused:

Bill[/quote]


Well if the TA says they didn't make a mistake, it was someone else's fault...I guess that's worth taking on faith.

It's not like the TA doesn't risk losing a customer, if it were THEIR fault.


On the other hand, if NCL ever claimed that something wasn't their fault...well, they're just a big bad evil corporation that does nothing without a profit orientation. :rolleyes: (even if it WAS the TA's fault)

[time2cruise1]

[quote name='sjbdtz']Well if the TA says they didn't make a mistake, it was someone else's fault...I guess that's worth taking on faith.

It's not like the TA doesn't risk losing a customer, if it were THEIR fault.


On the other hand, if NCL ever claimed that something wasn't their fault...well, they're just a big bad evil corporation that does nothing without a profit orientation. :rolleyes: (even if it WAS the TA's fault)[/quote]

[COLOR=black]Zackly [/COLOR];):D

[cs]

[quote name='sjbdtz']Well if the TA says they didn't make a mistake, it was someone else's fault...I guess that's worth taking on faith.

It's not like the TA doesn't risk losing a customer, if it were THEIR fault.


On the other hand, if NCL ever claimed that something wasn't their fault...well, they're just a big bad evil corporation that does nothing without a profit orientation. :rolleyes: (even if it WAS the TA's fault)[/QUOTE]

I know that the TA is at fault for some things. They didn't have records of me paying when I first called them about this issue. Then they suddenly found the records. I'm not saying that the TA is not responsible for any part of this.

But NCL could have told me while I was on the ship (when I put in an inquiry) that they had sent a reimbursement check to the TA because they thought it was an overpayment. It took NCL a few days after my inquiry to figure out where the payment I made to them had gone. That should have been easy to figure out while I was still onboard.

It seems to me that fault lies equally with NCL and my TA.

[sjbdtz]

[quote name='cs']I know that the TA is at fault for some things. They didn't have records of me paying when I first called them about this issue. Then they suddenly found the records. I'm not saying that the TA is not responsible for any part of this.

But NCL could have told me while I was on the ship (when I put in an inquiry) that they had sent a reimbursement check to the TA because they thought it was an overpayment. It took NCL a few days after my inquiry to figure out where the payment I made to them had gone. That should have been easy to figure out while I was still onboard.

It seems to me that fault lies equally with NCL and my TA.[/quote]


I know you've been reasonable, and this is not an attack on you.....but the people standing at the front desk? They're not accounting majors.

They probably sent a request to accounting to ask whether there was a prepayment record, and accounting looked at things when the request came up in the queue, and said...oh, oops.... refund.

By that time, you were probably on land again. If you figure.... somewhere in the neighbourhood of 2800 guests on each of 10 ships = 28,000 people sailing each week,
plus some % booking for future weeks, and some other % whining about past weeks..... there's a LOT of potential questions on the go at any time.

The only unrealistic thing is expecting an instant response.

[brfan]

[quote name='sjbdtz']I know you've been reasonable, and this is not an attack on you.....but the people standing at the front desk? They're not accounting majors.

They probably sent a request to accounting to ask whether there was a prepayment record, and accounting looked at things when the request came up in the queue, and said...oh, oops.... refund.

By that time, you were probably on land again. If you figure.... somewhere in the neighbourhood of 2800 guests on each of 10 ships = 28,000 people sailing each week,
plus some % booking for future weeks, and some other % whining about past weeks..... there's a LOT of potential questions on the go at any time.

The only unrealistic thing is expecting an instant response.[/quote]

My guess is one of two things:

1) Guest Services didn't send or forgot to send a request to accounting to find out if the DSC had been prepaid. Very easy since they are busy, so it would be easy that they forgot to do that.

2) If they did send a request they likely just asked if the passenger prepaid the DSC. Accounting would check and see no there was no prepaid tips. In order to find out what happened to the money that the passenger had paid would have required a second question, such if not prepaid, what happened to the money that was paid? I doubt guest services would have followed up and I doubt accounting would have gone beyond the screen that said no DSC was prepaid. I'm sure reference to the refund would have been somewhere other than where DSC info is located, since NCL didn't realize the money was for DSC. Probably a note somewhere in the reservation stating the TA overpaid on behalf of the passenger and that money was refunded. Easy for them not to put two and two together to realize the refund was supposed to be the DSC.

But I doubt Accounting would have done much of a search as I'm sure many passengers think they've prepaid when they haven't or think that the DSC is already included in the fare they paid as part of the taxes (eg. not understanding the DSC concept). So I'm sure they get that question quite a lot.

One other question (addressed to OP), apparently the refund cheque was sent to the TA in their name. Why can't the TA deposit the cheque and issue a cheque to the OP to refund for the extra DSC charge? Would make more sense than the TA returning the cheque and asking NCL to re-issue one for the OP or go to the trouble of a credit card challenge.

[newmexicoNita]

[quote name='cs']This kind of ticks me off.

I prepaid the service charges 24 days in advance of our sailing (but not at the same time as final payment). That should have been enough time for NCL to let the ship know that we prepaid them. When I was on the ship, I found out that I was being charged for the DSC again. While I was still on the ship, I asked them to look into it and they said that the issue was with my travel agent. I knew I'd have to wait till I got home to resolve the problem.

I'm home now and just looked at my online credit card statement and there's a reference that says that the charge went through to NCL the day after I called my travel agent to prepay.

I thought prepaying the service charge was the smart thing to do. I guess not...[/QUOTE]

Stuff happens. Your credit card company can straighten this out in no time if it hasn't been cleared up already. Good luck,

Nita

[newmexicoNita]

[quote name='darrengs']Now seriously, why couldn't someone have seen this while you were still on the cruise? I would hope that an issue like this would be relayed to the Miami offices and then they would research it.[/QUOTE]

something isn't jelling here and I don't quite know what. If what the OP was told by the TA about overpayment, the check would have been sent the minute the final was made, but even then there is something missing. I have to say the TA did screw up. When she/he attemped to make final payment whether on line or on the phone the error would have showed up that second...

NIta

[time2cruise1]

[quote name='newmexicoNita']something isn't jelling here and I don't quite know what. If what the OP was told by the TA about overpayment, the check would have been sent the minute the final was made, but even then there is something missing. I have to say the TA did screw up. When she/he attemped to make final payment whether on line or on the phone the error would have showed up that second...

NIta[/quote]

[COLOR=black]My question is since all those charges be directly to NCL on the OPs credit card any overpayment would get credited to that card not sent to the TA as a check. :confused: Something is not right but at least everything will be resolved. [/COLOR]
[COLOR=black] [/COLOR]

[leekel619]

[quote name='newmexicoNita']something isn't jelling here and I don't quite know what. If what the OP was told by the TA about overpayment, the check would have been sent the minute the final was made, but even then there is something missing. I have to say the TA did screw up. When she/he attemped to make final payment whether on line or on the phone the error would have showed up that second...

NIta[/QUOTE]

I agree about the jello. Bottom line here. OP paid the money and it charged to the credit card on file. This amount was above and beyond the final cost of the cruise tickets.

NCL decides to send TA a refund.

What, was the TA trying to pull a fast one and keep the money NCL sent back?

All I know is I love this thread and I'm already an eagle eye, for all the reasons mentioned. LOTS of cruisers and accounts, etc. But whatever, its all about the data entry. Information should be available with the push of a button.

Two months ago, I logged into "My NCL" account to check on something, and my 5-6-11 cruise was deleted.

I had a mystery $250 credit in my checking account added. Called TA. She called NCL.

They deleted my cruise (which had been booked for 5 months already) and sent the deposit back, because they said I was double booked??? OK.

No I wasn't. Luckily I caught it in time and they re-confirmed my sailing. A couple days later, they took the $250 BACK out of my checking(debit card).

So how do they get in and out of my checking account so easily??? They have the debit card numbers! We were never contacted or sent any emails from NCL. We didn't book thru NCL either. Believe me, they have EVERYTHING.

They can JUST AS EASILY credit OP's credit card. (and while I was typing this I see someone said the exact same thing)
Thanks for all the comments everyone. Interesting.

Still, love NCL and love cruising! Just got home from Bermuda!

[brfan]

[quote name='time2cruise1'][COLOR=black]My question is since all those charges be directly to NCL on the OPs credit card any overpayment would get credited to that card not sent to the TA as a check. :confused: Something is not right but at least everything will be resolved. [/COLOR]
[/quote]

I can see a cheque being sent if:

1) the OP paid for DSC by cheque (either made out to the TA or to NCL) and the cheque was either forwarded to NCL by the TA or a cheque from the TA was sent (if OP made the cheque out to the TA); or

2) the OP paid the TA by credit card and the TA sent a cheque to NCL to pay for the DSC;


Otherwise, I agree if the payment was made directly to NCL (via the TA) by credit card, then I don't understand why the card wasn't credited by the overpayment.