Non-existent customer service

[wolfcathorse]

On 11/20/2018 at 8:50 PM, Thorben-Hendrik said:

Cash account is so much easier!!!

You can use the onboard ATM!

We have just had it with the false harges of RCI - so cah account it has ben for the last 2 years! Best way to kep the overcharges away...👍

this is what we do, and have for the last 3 years and never a problem! I also got tired of the "mini bar charges" or "towel" charges. So instead of calling, I take cash. I figure $50 per person per day. Any left overs goes towards the next cruise.

[SRF]

18 hours ago, steveru621 said:

 

That's not correct.  The credit line hold and balance hold last as long as the bank chooses, RCI has no control.  It's not necessarily any longer for a debit card.  My bank places NO DEBIT holds for travel and entertainment.  Others it's a short as a day, and some idiot banks as long as 3 months.  I've seen hundreds of customers go over their credit line with pre-auths and get denied.  Then they call us begging for a credit line increase.

 

The pre-authorization is only immediately removed if it is within +-15% of the submitted charge.  If there is a pre-auth every day when you charge something on a cruise ship the final day charge will not match the multiple pre-authorizations and they will not be removed. That is why a hotel posts this notice.  They do a pre-auth every day just like a cruise ship and the same thing happens, they don't match, and the individual pre-auths stay for as long as the bank chooses.

 

I have been doing this for over 40 years.  I know what the process is.  

 

Even your quote is half wrong.  The hold is not dependent on the transfer time, that happens immediately.  The withdrawal is made that second.

 

 

 

I have never had a pre-auth on a credit card not be removed as soon as the same merchant actually charges the card.

 

I travel a lot internationally, with some very large hotel bills, and have never had the problem you mention with my credit card.

 

The only time I had a problem, the hotel mistakenly cancelled the pre-auth, then over the next 5 days kept to redo the pre-auth, doing it for various amounts, some going through, some not.  Since no charges had been made, the original pre-auth was still showing.  It took a phone call to get it removed.  At the point there were like 4 different pre-auths, but once the hotel charged my card, they all went away.

[steveru621]

9 hours ago, SRF said:

 

I have never had a pre-auth on a credit card not be removed as soon as the same merchant actually charges the card.

 

I travel a lot internationally, with some very large hotel bills, and have never had the problem you mention with my credit card.

 

The only time I had a problem, the hotel mistakenly cancelled the pre-auth, then over the next 5 days kept to redo the pre-auth, doing it for various amounts, some going through, some not.  Since no charges had been made, the original pre-auth was still showing.  It took a phone call to get it removed.  At the point there were like 4 different pre-auths, but once the hotel charged my card, they all went away.

2

First of all, let me congratulate you on finding a great card insurer.  It's very rare that a card issuer matches multiple pre-auths over multiple days for different amounts.  Even with that, I'm still skeptical. 

 

That said a merchant cannot cancel a pre-auth once it has been accepted at the issuer.  Only the issuer can remove a pre-auth.

 

 

[John&LaLa]

On 11/21/2018 at 6:40 AM, Thorben-Hendrik said:

I do not have to pay any fees for ATM use

There is no fee for a cash account!

 

I get 3% cash back on my credit card

[Clarea]

8 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

I get 3% cash back on my credit card

 

With no annual fee?

[John&LaLa]

35 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

With no annual fee?

 

Hard to say.  Its SAMS MC. Free with membership. 3% on travel and dining, 5% on gas.  Security folks are killing me though.  Lock it down all the time.  Even when we notify them we're travelling 

[Clarea]

8 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Hard to say.  Its SAMS MC. Free with membership. 3% on travel and dining, 5% on gas.  Security folks are killing me though.  Lock it down all the time.  Even when we notify them we're travelling 

 

Happens to our Discover too.  They tout a zero fraudulant use liability, which means they lock it down at the slightest unusual (to them) use.  However, since I added the texting capability it seems better.  Now they text me when they lock it down and I can respond back to unlock it immediately.

 

Capital One only gives 1.5%,  but has never locked it down.  They don't even want us to notify them when traveling.  Nice thing is that my wife and I both have cards to the same account, but the cards have different numbers.  So when a card is lost, the account still works with the other card.  When Discover locks the account, it's locked for all cards on that account.

[not-enough-cruising]

On 11/20/2018 at 12:51 PM, lifes-a-beach said:

 The last evening and morning of our cruise aboard Liberty a couple of weeks ago there were 50 to 100 people in line.  That’s not a solution for me.  Its their mistake.  They should fix it on my time, not theirs.  A quick email should suffice in today’s world.  

It’s your money, erego it’s your problem. I would never leave the ship with an errant bill, MUCH simpler to fix the error in person than later via phone or email. To each his own. 

[LuckyStar]

On 11/20/2018 at 11:22 AM, BillieJeanKaraokeKing said:

Well, I had a great cruise on IOTS, but unfortunately RCCL have left a bitter taste in the mouth.

 

I was all but double charged on my prepaid card, and seven days after emailing, I have had no effective human reply (three acknowledgements), nor correct reimbursement.

 

I had another week in Florida post-cruise, so had I been on a tight budget and no other provision - luckily not the case - that element of the holiday would have been completely ruined.

 

For me, it's the complete lack of customer service which is grating the most. Very disappointing.

 

This is where having a good credit card can come in handy.  It's amazing how fast companies jump when I call AMEX and dispute a charge.  Unfortunately, you will have to be persistent with RCCL. 

[cruisinfanatic]

10 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

I get 3% cash back on my credit card

Don't know of any card that gives back 3% on all purchases

[John&LaLa]

1 hour ago, Host Clarea said:

 

Happens to our Discover too.  They tout a zero fraudulant use liability, which means they lock it down at the slightest unusual (to them) use.  However, since I added the texting capability it seems better.  Now they text me when they lock it down and I can respond back to unlock it immediately.

 

Capital One only gives 1.5%,  but has never locked it down.  They don't even want us to notify them when traveling.  Nice thing is that my wife and I both have cards to the same account, but the cards have different numbers.  So when a card is lost, the account still works with the other card.  When Discover locks the account, it's locked for all cards on that account.

 

Our problem is that the card is set up with Laura as primary and they won't talk to me, only her. 

 

 

[John&LaLa]

8 minutes ago, cruisinfanatic said:

Don't know of any card that gives back 3% on all purchases

 

See above.  80% of our charges, including cash in the casino hits that 3%

[steveru621]

3% back on all travel plus an additional 2% back for an 'executive membership'.  Not a whole lot, but we squeeze another cruise from the rebates.

[brillohead]

11 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Hard to say.  Its SAMS MC. Free with membership. 3% on travel and dining, 5% on gas.  Security folks are killing me though.  Lock it down all the time.  Even when we notify them we're travelling 

 

I have the Sam's Club Mastercard, too.  I charge EVERYTHING on that sucker, and I love that rebate check every February.  Cha-CHING!!!!

 

[John&LaLa]

2 minutes ago, brillohead said:

 

I have the Sam's Club Mastercard, too.  I charge EVERYTHING on that sucker, and I love that rebate check every February.  Cha-CHING!!!!

 

 

Do you have issues with it bring declined because of fraud control?

 

Our rebate was 2 grand last year.

[brillohead]

10 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Do you have issues with it bring declined because of fraud control?

 

Our rebate was 2 grand last year.

Nope, never had it shut down.  But I'm the only one using it... no significant other to confuse the computer with.  

Back when I was married and he traveled for work a lot, we'd have issues with a lot of our cards b/c he'd charge gas in Alabama the same morning that I'd charge gas in Michigan, which makes the computer's fraud algorithm go bonkers.  (Gas stations are one of the first places scammers try a stolen number to see if the card will work if they go to a store.)

Finally fixed the problem by assigning one card for me to use back home while hubster used another card on the road.  If you and the Mrs. are often using the same account in different cities, that might be your problem, too. 

[SRF]

On 11/25/2018 at 4:49 PM, steveru621 said:

First of all, let me congratulate you on finding a great card insurer.  It's very rare that a card issuer matches multiple pre-auths over multiple days for different amounts.  Even with that, I'm still skeptical. 

 

That said a merchant cannot cancel a pre-auth once it has been accepted at the issuer.  Only the issuer can remove a pre-auth.

 

 

 

Yes, this is why the 4 way conference call (me, hotel staff, their bank, and my credit card company).  

 

But they got it straightened out and everyone was happy.

 

Somewhat.

 

I am still wondering why I was never contacted by the hotel (5 star, major brand) about this issue. 😄

 

But this same card was locked because of suspicious activity when I charged a hotel in Luanda, Angola in the morning and tried to check into a hotel in Johannesburg, South Africa that evening.  I asked the agent when I called if he ever heard of a thing called an AIRPLANE.  You check out of one hotel, FLY to a different country, and check into another hotel.

 

And this is card supplied by my employer to ONLY be used when TRAVELING. 😄

 

As for cards being locked, that is the only time any card of my has been locked without my knowledge.  Every other time, I got a text or email about a suspicious charge, and when I said it was not mine, THEN the card got locked. 

 

And one time, I happened to check online and found a lot of fraudulent charges.  I called the card company, they reversed every charge immediately.  And then offered to either fully block that card, or they could block any charge where the card was not physically swiped or inserted into a chip reader.  Nice, so you could continue travel using that card.

 

That instance was interesting, as some purchased 4 airline tickets, with NAMES associated. 😄

Edited November 27, 2018 by SRF

[martinclm]

On 11/20/2018 at 12:51 PM, lifes-a-beach said:

 The last evening and morning of our cruise aboard Liberty a couple of weeks ago there were 50 to 100 people in line.  That’s not a solution for me.  Its their mistake.  They should fix it on my time, not theirs.  A quick email should suffice in today’s world.  

I had the very same thing happen on a cruise.  Having had the experience before, I would never recommend someone use a debit card OR a prepaid card.  I used a "Simple" card.  It was what Google went to after they quit supporting their Google Wallet Card.  It's basically a pre-paid card.  You load money on.  During our cruise the charges were posted each day and then at the end they charged the full amount.  So my pre-paid balance was negative almost $600 on that cruise.  It took a good three weeks for all of the "held" charges to finally drop off.  I emailed Simple customer service and they said that they'd seen it before, and that I wouldn't be charged because it had gone negative.  I work in banking and it isn't the cruise lines fault (other than I wish they processed their transactions differently....but understand why they hold funds daily) and it isn't the card issuers fault.  Note to self:  use a credit card next time that has enough on it for the double charges.  

[dcgrumpy]

1 hour ago, SRF said:

 

Yes, this is why the 4 way conference call (me, hotel staff, their bank, and my credit card company).  

 

But they got it straightened out and everyone was happy.

 

Somewhat.

 

I am still wondering why I was never contacted by the hotel (5 star, major brand) about this issue. 😄

 

But this same card was locked because of suspicious activity when I charged a hotel in Luanda, Angola in the morning and tried to check into a hotel in Johannesburg, South Africa that evening.  I asked the agent when I called if he ever heard of a thing called an AIRPLANE.  You check out of one hotel, FLY to a different country, and check into another hotel.

 

And this is card supplied by my employer to ONLY be used when TRAVELING. 😄

 

As for cards being locked, that is the only time any card of my has been locked without my knowledge.  Every other time, I got a text or email about a suspicious charge, and when I said it was not mine, THEN the card got locked. 

 

And one time, I happened to check online and found a lot of fraudulent charges.  I called the card company, they reversed every charge immediately.  And then offered to either fully block that card, or they could block any charge where the card was not physically swiped or inserted into a chip reader.  Nice, so you could continue travel using that card.

 

That instance was interesting, as some purchased 4 airline tickets, with NAMES associated. 😄

My card was locked 2 weeks ago while on Allure. I had no problem using it in the beginning of the week. When I went down to pay the balance the last night, my card was declined. I never got a text or email. They did leave a voicemail on my home phone. Which makes perfect sense when they're checking to see if I'm out of the country. 

 

[SRF]

21 hours ago, dcgrumpy said:

My card was locked 2 weeks ago while on Allure. I had no problem using it in the beginning of the week. When I went down to pay the balance the last night, my card was declined. I never got a text or email. They did leave a voicemail on my home phone. Which makes perfect sense when they're checking to see if I'm out of the country. 

 

 

Yeah, I have had that also.  😄

 

But of course, they are not sure.  You may be at home, with the fraud occurring outside the US.  But you think that the previous charges might clue them in. 😄

 

[dcgrumpy]

Just now, SRF said:

 

Yeah, I have had that also.  😄

 

But of course, they are not sure.  You may be at home, with the fraud occurring outside the US.  But you think that the previous charges might clue them in. 😄

 

I agree, but since they have my email and cellphone number I would think they would try one of those in addition to my home phone since they would get me either way. 

 

 

[Sitzmark]

On 11/20/2018 at 2:00 PM, bouhunter said:

 

 

One way to avoid most problems - use a credit card.  Debit and pre-paid cards carry additional risk and/or complications.

On our Carnival cruise we had pre-purchased "gifts" to be delivered to our room.  They never showed up.  For the first couple days of the cruise the guest services folks kept saying "they are on the way", after a day or two it changed to "they didn't show up?"  When I asked for a refund it was promised. 

 

A couple weeks after our cruise when the promised refund never showed and calls to Carnival showed no hope of resolution, I called Capital one and they arranged the refund for me after one short conversation.  Definitely use a credit card.

[dadofjessie]

On 11/20/2018 at 1:43 PM, KuffMUp said:

Best to review your balance on your TV throughout the cruise or at least check before you get off.  I was charged $50 for not returning towels and $9.44 for a Red Bull at a bar when I had the Royal Refreshment package and received no receipt.  I went to customer service and it was taken care of in about 5 minutes total.

 

This is what I do, I check my account every day and when there is an over charge I take care of it immediately.