Feeling Ripped OFF!

[septrack]

My wife and I cruised the Mercury this past July. Not the best cruise we have taken, but still very nice. Never met a cruise I didn't like.

 

We have cruised 17 times now and pretty much know how things work. We did have an experience which very likely will prevent our cruisin Celebrity or RCCL again.

 

I call it institutional theft. Let me explain.

 

On the last morning we received our bill. No problem as usual. Then when we got our credit card statement the Celebrity charge was increased $28. I immediately emailed celebrity and 7 days later received a reply apologizing for the error and saying that it had been forwarded to accounting for the $28 to be returned.

 

I never received the credit. Since then, I have emailed the individual twice asking for the situation to be corrected. She doesn't even return my emails since the first helpful response. Very unprofessional!

 

I realize $28 is not the end of the world, but sometimes it becomes the principal of the thing that drives me. I don't take well to being ripped off .

 

I then challenged the charge on my AMEX card. They checked with Celebrity who apparantly now says we took 2 pool towels from our room. I don't know where they come up with that, since we certainly didn't bring them home with us. Anyway AMEX is no help.

 

So now I'm left with showing our displeasure with our crusin decisions. on RCCL ships, I guess never again is the only answer. (had cruised Celebrity 5 times and other RCCL 3 times) Recently booked a B2B on Princess for next month.

 

Curious if anyone else has had a similar problem of institutional theft with Celebrity, and if they ever got satisfaction. I call it that since they put these towels supposedly in the rooms, then charge you if they are not recorded as being there when you disembark. If the cabin attendant misinventories your cabin, or if they work themselves up to the pool area you get charged for them. (This was an Alaska cruise without pool weather, so this did not happen.) They don't see the need to inform you about the charge before you disembark, so it can be corrected while you are onboard.

 

Thanks for hanging in there on this long post. Just wondering if this is now a profit center for Celebrity.

 

Mark

[DaveFr]

I also had a $28 extra charge for a beach towel appear on my charge card within the Celebrity charge for our recent cruise on the Mercury. I called the Celebrity phone number for post-cruise problems. I explained the error to the Celebrity Customer Service Representative and she said she would issue a credit for the $28 charge. The credit showed up on my credit card account a couple of days later.

[CaptData]

I had a $28.00 charge in 2003. I thought my son had maybe had drinks the last night very late so I did not fight it. Now I am going on Celebrity so I will watch and fight it if it appears again.

[Gypsea]

Charges for this type of thing are the best reason for settling the bill in cash. When you get on you leave a cash deposit for your account and when it gets used they call you for more. Then if there is a dispute you can get it straight right then. I am an immediate gratification kind of woman! I've heard other people say they have had issues with cards that are frozen by the cruise line for some wierd reason. It tells me they are dangerous people to give your number to. Just something to consider.

[ahoymatey3]

I got that beat. X robbed me of a day in marseilles, a day in rome and a sea day. Instead we get to be docked in barcelona for three days.

[drk]

This does seem to be an X thing. We have taken 10 cruises in the last 3 years on several lines. Out of the 3 on X, twice we have had to argue after the fact about charges to our account after the cruise (once for the dreaded towel and once for the in room fridge...which we never even opened). The other 7 cruises on Carnival, HAL and RCL we never had this happen.

 

Both times we got the charges reversed but it is annoying and does leave a bad taste in your mouth.

[cruising with marti]

I got that beat. X robbed me of a day in marseilles, a day in rome and a sea day. Instead we get to be docked in barcelona for three days.

 

Robbed you huh? poor guy(or gal) 3 days in Barcelona? what a nasty break:D

 

 

Phil

[randyat1001]

I had a similar problem on a Celebrity ship but was able to get it corrected on the ship. It was much more effort than it should have been and it left a bad taste to deal with this on the last day. It was made even worse when they imply that if you don't pay your steward will have to. It took dealing directly with the hotel manager to get it resolved.

Randy

[Gypsea]

This is worse than nickel and dime because you have so little control, feel ripped off and they insult you too. At least with extra charges you have some control since you can choose to purchase the item or not. Here they make you feel like a petty crook and they'll take the steward along for the ride if you give them any trouble. Nice people!

[ahoymatey3]

I think I'll videotape my steward removing the towels and clearing the minibar. I bet the charges won't show up then.

[septrack]

For anyone interested I finally got things straight today.

 

After reading all your responses I decided I would try once again to get this fixed. I called Celebrity, and after much ado they tell me they gave me the credit on August 24th. I checked my CC statement again and said I never received it . They insisted it was credited back to my CC ending in 1009. Finally it sunk in to me that my cc was close at 1019, but no match.

 

It turns out they credited my cruise buddies who put the trip on there CC. The sea pass account was settled using my CC but for some reason they put the refund on the CC which paid for the trip. Go figure.

 

At least I can now cruise RCCL and Celebrity again. Too bad that we booked the Carribean Princess B2B starting Dec 2. If they would have answered my emails this would have been resolved long ago.

 

Thanks again for all your posts!

[septrack]

For anyone interested I finally got things straight today.

 

After reading all your responses I decided I would try once again to get this fixed. I called Celebrity, and after much ado they tell me they gave me the credit on August 24th. I checked my CC statement again and said I never received it . They insisted it was credited back to my CC ending in 1009. Finally it sunk in to me that my cc was close at 1019, but no match.

 

It turns out they credited my cruise buddies who put the trip on there CC. The sea pass account was settled using my CC but for some reason they put the refund on the CC which paid for the trip. Go figure.

 

At least I can now cruise RCCL and Celebrity again. Too bad that we booked the Carribean Princess B2B starting Dec 2. If they would have answered my emails this would have been resolved long ago.

 

Thanks again for all your posts!

[Tricia724]

Doncha wonder how many people are billed an extra $28 who don't bother to check over their shipboard account and just pay it?

[usha]

Oh, would that I could find an onboard charge we weren't guilty of.....:rolleyes:

[CaribbeanCrazy]

I haven't had this happen on Celebrity...being I haven't cruise with them yet. (1st cruise will be on 1-23-06)

But I did have this happen on Carnival.

I got a credit after calling customer service when we got our credit card bill showing a questionable charge. It was the for the same thing. Two towels. I returned the towels in question to the pool attendant. They questioned us while on board on the day I returned them. (These were not the towels from the room.) I told them that we returned the towels and that I can show them my receipt. They said that it wouldn't be necessary. They told us everything was taken care of...not to worry. When I received our bill on the morning of debarkation...I was happy to see that there was no charge...that it had been taken care of as we were told.

So we thought anyway! But sure enough when we got our credit card statement...there is was. A 44.00 charge for two towels. As I stated above...we did get a credit on our charge card. But...we shouldn't have had the hassle of having to call to get it straightened out. Especially when we tried to get it taken care of on the ship!

It sounds like the cruise lines need a better system of keeping track of there inventory.

 

CaribbeanCrazy

[gprentice]

Just noticed a Celebrity charge of $56USD on my VISA statement - two weeks after the cruise.

 

Called Celebrity today - they seemed to think it was a towel issue - we did not take home any towels - not sure how they inventory - we had 3 in our room and only had two towels - had to chase down our room steward for a third beach towel for the port stops.

 

Celebrity said they would rectify the problem - so we'll see what happens.

 

Perhaps they should have a better system of inventory on departure day.

 

During the cruise - the towels go into the laundry and may or may not make it back to your stateroom. One beach day they left us with 3 small white shower size bathroom towels instead of the full size yellow ones we had the previous day. (Again we had to chase down our room steward before hitting the beach).

 

Still had a great Christmas cruise on the Constellation.

 

Graham

[judyfssw]

I try to check our account on the TV every other day and spotted errors that way including the night before we left. It seems that our asst. room steward thought that we drank the large blue bottle of water that was in our room. I pointed out to him that it was on one of the wall shelves and he corrected it.

[tadjr]

One day they had taken the beach towels out of the room and did not replace them. The next morning I made sure to get the room steward and let them know that we never did get the beach towels back and that we were going to need them that day for our trip. (I also didnt want to get charged for them.) They were in the room when we returned.

With the room steward and assistant both working the room, I wouldnt be surprised if one took them out and didnt replace and the other one thought they had been taken by the occupant of the room.

Maybe they would be better doing it like Princess does for their winter blankets and have you sign them in and out. If you want beach towels you have to go to the pool (or designated area) and sign them out, then back in when you return them. Of course, it would require someone else to work that position and make it where they couldnt just tack on the $ without many people realizing it had been charged.

[nu2sea]

That is interesting. My husband noticed an additional $13 on our credit card bill that did not appear on the statement that we got when we left the Mercury. Don't know if he disputed it or just paid it, probably the later.

 

That's an easy $13 for X. Wonder how many other odd charges they accumulate from passengers who don't check closely, or who do check but tire of fighting over it, or just decide to get it over with and pay it.

 

Susan

[ML147000]

I too had a similar experience while on my last venture on Mercury.

Fortunately I made it a habit of checking my account every couple of days. Good thing I did!

• They "accidently" charged the gratuities for both my travel partner and me on my card even though we both had separate accounts.
  
• They charged me $.32 from the Theater Bar (#1 I don't drink; #2 never went to the theater or ordered anything there; #3 the only beverages I drank on board were iced tea at meals and Crystal Lite in my own water jug; #4 what could possibly cost $.32???:eek: )

I would highly recommend checking account balances every day. Since it is now available to do so right in your room via the interactive screens, it's an easy way to catch them if they do screw up.

 

Make sure you go to the desk prior to departure and have them give you a printout of your final expenses and keep it. That way you have a record of your final expenses and have ammo to use if they decide to charge for something you didn't use.

 

Just a thought.

[turquoisesea]

It is interesting that you all had a bill to compare your CC charges to. Last week on the Infinity we received our "final bill" before we went to dinner on the last night. We had drinks, wine, and purchased last minute pictures after the bill arrived. I fully expected the real "final" bill to be on the door the next morning - but it was not! Tried to check the TV account review - but it no longer worked. Needeness to say the line at the desk was around the lobby and it was time to get off the ship. I called the Customer Service number first thing on Monday and they said they don't have any information on bills from that cruise yet and check back in two weeks. Does that sound right??

[Tricia724]

We did not receive a final bill on our last Summit cruise either. I was concerned because I had been billed for someone else's drinks at the Martini Bar (in addition to mine) and had requested Customer Service to review the original signature on the charge slip and remove it from my account. I was looking for the final billing to make sure the charge had been removed, but it never came. So, I had to wait until the Celebrity charge appeared on my credit card to find out whether my account was credited for the overcharge....and for some reason, it took Celebrity a couple of weeks to bill my charge card. They did remove the incorrect charge and I was billed correctly, but I'm not sure why we didn't receive a final billing.

[woody14h]

Had a similiar problem with a gratuity charge error? on a bar bill. Went to service desk and was told it was an error and the credit would be set up. Guess what, it never was. Item less than $5 so was not worth pursuing but I guess that's why they get away with it. Has anyone ever been undercharged?? Doubt it!! The customer service desk pays lip service but does nothing, make sure you see the credits before you leave the ship. The interactive tv in the rooms help lot in checking charges. Celebrity still the best despite these small annoyances.

[dutchess43]

After reading these posts I for one will be watching my bill very carefully regarding towels etc. This spring will be the first time on X never had a problem with RCI. We did have a problem with Princess, on the Grand this summer regarding 2 charges that was not our's. One very important thing is to always make sure you get the receipt's from whatever you order or purchase on board. We usaully travel with another couple & every night one couple buys a bottle of wine at dinner & we alternate nights. When I got home I notced that we got charged for 7 bottles of wine I was going to let it go until I contacted the other couple & found out that they were charged for 6. This was a 12 day cruise not 13 & it seems that on one night we both were charged for the same bottle of wine. I also noticed that after midnight the day we were to disembark we were charged for a drink in the casino. Now both of us were asleep unless DH snuck out for a night cap which he did not. I contacted Princess & was told that they had to contact the ship & get our documents & if I was correct then my cc would be credited. Well the statement came & of course no credit. I called them immediately & was told it would be on the next statement because they did make a mistake in my charges. By the third statement I was credited the total amount. What I came to realize that neither couple ever received our receipts from the wine that was purchased at dinner. This will never happen again! It also proved to me that even if you are home you can still get your charges reversed which I thought was impossible.

[lmmn]

I have learned that you will get better results from a phone call than email.