NCL wouldn't let me pay my onboard account

[SquishTheWhale]

A post earlier mentioned that a lot of cards only have first intials on them- my debit card is like that. Miss S XXXXXXX. I didn't ask the bank to do it like that, they just did. I used this card with NCL and everywhere else with no issues at all. So I suspect if the OPs card just said Mr W XXXXX it would have been fine. But seeing as Bill and William begin with different letters that could have caused the issue. If it said Mr Will XXXXX I bet that would have been fine.

 

I do agree that full names should be used on anything offical. I use Sam but my full name is Samantha. All my offical documents have Samantha on them despite the fact I am never called it (apart from when it's just an initial like my bank card).

 

RE the post about 'never using debit cards to settle on board accounts'- I believe the issue with this is around the hold placed on a debit card (when you present the debit card as your payment method upon check in) taking longer to clear than a credit card. A hold on a debit card may also be much more inconvenient than on a credit card as it may prevent things like bill payments leaving your bank acc, if NCL has a hold on too much of your available funds. That's why people say not to do it. However from the OP I'm not sure if he did use the debit card when originally checking in, as if that was the case he wouldn't need to present it to clear the bill at the end.

[rayness]

I think my parents were closet hippies and named me something crazy and off the wall. I have a simple nickname but unfortunately I have to use my legal name for my credit cards, bank, even my professional license. I want to have it legally changed but until then I have to live with it. I do understand why they denied your card but come on William and Bill? I guess not everyone knows this is a nickname. They could have said I know Bill is probably a nickname but the card has to match your legal name. Thank goodness the other manager ran it for you. Trust me I would love to put my simple nickname on my cards, license and everything else.

 

 

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[Homosassa]

Now that being said their reasoning is completely ridiculous. To me the issue seems to be with NCL computers and employees not your credit card. The card will be processed on the card issuers end regardless of the name if they view the charge valid. I process several credit cards a day on accounts that have names on them and if we use the wife's card on the husbands account it would never be denied for a name issue.

 

Yes, but there is documentation supplied by the card holder for the name on the second card. My husband has a card that I have a card for and it is issued in my name (I have a different last name from him). He also has a card for an account in my name. Both names are a matter of record for both cards.

[luckyinpa]

now this makes me wonder what will happen here

 

1st question. i thought you gave a CC when you embark yet OP says when he went to pay is final bill. do you really have to go to a counter and pay a bill? isnt the point of CC on file so all things automatically go to that CC.

 

please explain like i'm a 5th grader

 

2nd: i always go by my middle name. to the extreme that i had my insurance card at work changed. instead of john joe smith i'm J joe smith on my insurance card. when i paid for my cruise i was under joe smith only. then on the forum i realized that name wont be on the passport i was getting so i called an changed my name to john joe smith for booking purposes

 

my credit card is under joe smith with no initial. is that going to be a problem? i do not believe every person has their entire full name on their CC. plus doesnt NCL have access to billing info? they could see the billing on the CC card matches or when its run through. if billing info matches and name 'pretty much' matches. why would this be an issue?

[BirdTravels]

Now that being said their reasoning is completely ridiculous. To me the issue seems to be with NCL computers and employees not your credit card. The card will be processed on the card issuers end regardless of the name if they view the charge valid. I process several credit cards a day on accounts that have names on them and if we use the wife's card on the husbands account it would never be denied for a name issue.

 

And you are personally assuming risk every time you accept a charge where a name does not match. "Trust me, it's my husbands card and he allows me to use it". I wouldn't.

[sparks1093]

now this makes me wonder what will happen here

 

1st question. i thought you gave a CC when you embark yet OP says when he went to pay is final bill. do you really have to go to a counter and pay a bill? isnt the point of CC on file so all things automatically go to that CC.

 

please explain like i'm a 5th grader

 

2nd: i always go by my middle name. to the extreme that i had my insurance card at work changed. instead of john joe smith i'm J joe smith on my insurance card. when i paid for my cruise i was under joe smith only. then on the forum i realized that name wont be on the passport i was getting so i called an changed my name to john joe smith for booking purposes

 

my credit card is under joe smith with no initial. is that going to be a problem? i do not believe every person has their entire full name on their CC. plus doesnt NCL have access to billing info? they could see the billing on the CC card matches or when its run through. if billing info matches and name 'pretty much' matches. why would this be an issue?

 

It is not unusual for people to go to Guest Services and pay off/pay down their balance, for any number of reasons but as a rule if you have a CC on your account you do not have to do this at all so it's a matter of preference. If you use a debit card to pay a specific portion of the bill then you don't have to worry about holds remaining on your account and it keeps your balance on your CC low.

 

I'm not sure exactly how I feel about what happened to OP, part of me is glad that NCL was diligent but part of me thinks the issue was overthought at guest services. All in all I am glad that it worked out.

[sparks1093]

And you are personally assuming risk every time you accept a charge where a name does not match. "Trust me, it's my husbands card and he allows me to use it". I wouldn't.

 

It's kind of scary how often I've done just this with no questions being asked.(I don't generally carry many cards with me and will grab one as I need it and I've been known to put the wrong one in my wallet:o).

[luckyinpa]

It's kind of scary how often I've done just this with no questions being asked.(I don't generally carry many cards with me and will grab one as I need it and I've been known to put the wrong one in my wallet:o).

 

i literally do this every week . my friend is blind and i shop with her. we empty the cart and she hands me the card and i always swipe and sign. 1 time out of 500 we get asked something. i always remember a few years ago at a 7 am start for christmas shopping she got an 8 dollar order at a hallmark store and the girl wanted her ID. i think its' because we interrupted her speaking with her friend

 

also found out babys r us will not do return without a license but thats for another thread

[westcoastman]

You should never use a nickname on a legal document. The agent was doing their job. You should not have got heated with them.

 

The legal documents, passport, drivers license, all have my legal name. I have done this all my life without any real problem. I think what people are really trying to say is the name Bill has gone the way of Gertrude and Bertha.

[hawkeyetlse]

my credit card is under joe smith with no initial. is that going to be a problem? i do not believe every person has their entire full name on their CC.

If your name is John Joe Smith, and your credit card has "J J Smith" or "Joe Smith" or "John J Smith" or whatever subset of your first names, this is fine. That's different from the OP's situation, where the name on the card was not a part of his name, but a different name.

 

It's for your own security that people recommend having your full legal name on your card and not just "J J", otherwise someone named "Jeroboam Jehosaphat Smith" could take your card and use it, too.

 

Of course this only works if vendors are actually diligent about checking the name on the card and asking for ID, etc.

[blackwing]

The legal documents, passport, drivers license, all have my legal name. I have done this all my life without any real problem. I think what people are really trying to say is the name Bill has gone the way of Gertrude and Bertha.

Hah. I wouldn't exactly say that. But I agree that the only "Bills" I know are in their 40s. I do know two Williams, age 9 and 1. William is still a family name for many, and I believe it is still in the top 10. However, the two I know are both "Will".

 

I wouldn't say that "Bill" has gone the way of Gertrude, Bertha, Edith, Ethel, Mildred, Myrtle, Herbert, Ernest, Harold, Elmer, Eugene, Francis, Cecil, Stanley, Horace and all of those names that were very popular in the 1900s. But it's definitely uncommon. It's more like a Mark, Brian, Jason, Timothy, Gregory, Karen, Jennifer, Michelle, Tracy, Melissa. Names that were popular in the 70s and 80s but you don't really hear anymore on today's babies.

[luckyinpa]

bill i think u deserve to be called what you want. ill stand by you ;)

 

when i called my own insurance company and they refused to talk to me using my middle name i said its on my license. my birthcertificate so thats my name. they wants me to use my first name before they even talked to me

 

simple form to HR got it changed on my card so i can be called what i want.

[westcoastman]

And as a side note if the agent had said from the beginning that the quirky "system" was not taking my first name despite trying it over and over again and it was too late to contact NCL headquarters I would have taken it much differently. But they began accusing me have not using my own card and implying that it was their decision on the spot to decide that Bill is not William. I only go by Bill so their accusations of using my relative Bill's card were not taken well by me. At first I thought they were kidding but their face was very serious. I was so upset that I skipped the final show of the cruise.

[LOWTYD]

OP, out of curiosity, did you use this card when you checked in before you boarded when you got your photo taken and key card? They usually ask for a cc then unless you said you were paying cash.

 

My legal name is Sandra, which I never go by, my bankcard is Sandy as well as my paychecks from work. Sandra is on my SS, License and passport. I never had a problem in the past but this is worrisome. :(

And I hate being called Sandra...:rolleyes:

[westcoastman]

OP, out of curiosity, did you use this card when you checked in before you boarded when you got your photo taken and key card? They usually ask for a cc then unless you said you were paying cash.

 

My legal name is Sandra, which I never go by, my bankcard is Sandy as well as my paychecks from work. Sandra is on my SS, License and passport. I never had a problem in the past but this is worrisome. :(

And I hate being called Sandra...:rolleyes:

 

No I did not and that was a big part of the problem. We used one card for the deposit and split the charges at the end of the cruise. I was only paying gratuity and several port taxes from the UBP. If the card gets cleared at check-in at the pier I think you'll be good. Like I said I don't think I am the only one that could have this sort of problem but they decided they were going to draw the line at Bill.

[DMH15]

Funny. We were talking about this at work today before I read this.

 

At least you are male. We have to deal with all that married name/maiden name/middle name stuff.

 

We agreed to have DL, passport, credit cards UNIFORMLY Styled.

 

Unfortunately, you chose to use a nick name on your card. Not saying I agree with NCL or anybody else who denies it, but the possibility exists.

 

 

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[westcoastman]

Unfortunately, you chose to use a nick name on your card. Not saying I agree with NCL or anybody else who denies it, but the possibility exists.

 

Unfortunately, it is not merely a nickname. My parents never intended for me to use "William" and at the time the formal version of your name went on the birth certificate. Mike, John, Jim, Dan are all examples of the informal version. That has changed over the past few decades with parents officially naming their kids with the informal shortened version of their name. Some people even find the use of the formal version of their name as insultingly patronizing.

Edited September 30, 2016 by westcoastman

[DMH15]

Unfortunately, it is not merely a nickname. My parents never intended for me to use "William" and at the time the formal version of your name went on the birth certificate. Mike, John, Jim, Dan are all examples of the informal version. That has changed over the past few decades with parents officially naming their kids with the informal shortened version of their name. Some people even find the use of the formal version of their name as insultingly patronizing.

 

 

That makes sense. I always found it funny that I had a friend named Bobby his brother's name was Robert.

 

 

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[gadaboutgal]

...I was pleased when I went to the Del Sol in Nassau and the clerk asked me for my ID along with my credit card to pay. The last thing they want is a big identity theft problem like Target etc.

 

Actually that's a big no no in the VISA AND MasterCard governing rules. The merchant is only supposed to verify that the signature on the back of the card is the same as the name on the front. (Was in bankcard training for over 10 years.)

[SeaShark]

I go to use my debit card the last evening to pay my account and customer service desk informs me that my card says Bill and my name is William so therefore it is rejected.

 

Having very occasionally, but only briefly, dealt with this sort of issue with a handful of teenage clerks in the US I insist the agent ask another rep. The agent proceeds to say the same thing over and over that William and Bill are two different people. Of course I'm feeling pretty heated at this point but little did I know, or did he explain, that it wasn't the desk agent that was making this determination, it was their computer system. But he seemed to imply that the card wasn't mine to use.

 

They brought out the financial manager and that guy says the same thing talking about some gibberish that his brother may go by Tito but that's not his legal name. I suspect a part of the problem with NCL is the system for credit cards it also being used for border and immigration manifests so the system may insist it be very exact. They tell me to go use the Casino ATM for $6, which I could of, BUT at this point it's the principle of the matter for me.

 

Wake up this next morning at debarkation and see the same agent who denies me again. I say speak to finance guy in the back office and hear him telling the manager right in front of me that it was already rejected and he recommends not to accept my card. The new morning manager doesn't even think twice and insists he override and accept the card.

 

As he processes my final statement I mention Bill Clinton as I am leaving to which the agent asks if he is also named William.

 

The minute they would have insisted that William and Bill are two different people, I would have responded by telling them that since it is William who owes them money, and I am Bill, I obviously owe them nothing. I would have turned, wished them "good day", and left.

[Samstress]

Altho this is not the exact same situation it does address the legal implications with using 'nicknames' in some situations.

My husband Fred (Frederick on his official travel ID) and I were denied airline boarding because the name on his ticket said Fred & his ID said Frederick.

It took (what seemed like) a long time to sort it out. Lots of phone calls, etc. but we did manage to rectify it and were able to board at the last minute.

So now we make sure all of our ID's are matchy, matchy:)

Cheers,

Sandy

[cruizinwithkids]

Actually that's a big no no in the VISA AND MasterCard governing rules. The merchant is only supposed to verify that the signature on the back of the card is the same as the name on the front. (Was in bankcard training for over 10 years.)

 

Then what's the point of signing the receipt?

[suesings]

Actually that's a big no no in the VISA AND MasterCard governing rules. The merchant is only supposed to verify that the signature on the back of the card is the same as the name on the front. (Was in bankcard training for over 10 years.)

 

I don't get it. Anyone can practice a signature and pretty much get it down (I used to have to sign for an old boss all the time). I am happy when a merchant asks for my ID when I am using my Visa. Years back I had a Nordstrom card stolen from a hotel and thankfully the clerk asked the person for ID and they didn't have it! They alerted security and I immediately got a call!

Edited October 1, 2016 by suesings

[Philob]

Actually that's a big no no in the VISA AND MasterCard governing rules. The merchant is only supposed to verify that the signature on the back of the card is the same as the name on the front. (Was in bankcard training for over 10 years.)

 

Interesting. For as long as I've known SWMBO she have never signed the back of any of her cards. She didn't even sign her new passport until the immigration guy told her to when we came back from someplace.

[sparks1093]

The minute they would have insisted that William and Bill are two different people, I would have responded by telling them that since it is William who owes them money, and I am Bill, I obviously owe them nothing. I would have turned, wished them "good day", and left.

 

And the charges would have gone to the CC on file;).