Oceania Refunds - Has anyone actually received any cash yet?

[roger b]

On 6/30/2020 at 2:57 PM, roger b said:

 

 Further to the return of my refund was just assured by the agent that the £1200 was sent on the 28th June and might take 10 days to reach my account, Can't understand why it would take so long as my to reach my account .

 Still no Joy , 10 days has past I received the Bulk of the money from Oceania for my cancelled cruise in May and was assured in writing that the £1200 deposit was passed on the 28th June ,I started another dispute as soon as Amex said that the first one had been disputed by the T.A, I don't know how others have got on with getting their deposits back ??

    

[Paulchili]

1 hour ago, roger b said:

 Still no Joy , 10 days has past I received the Bulk of the money from Oceania for my cancelled cruise in May and was assured in writing that the £1200 deposit was passed on the 28th June ,I started another dispute as soon as Amex said that the first one had been disputed by the T.A, I don't know how others have got on with getting their deposits back ??

    

Roger,

sorry to hear about all your problems. I think somehow - don't know how - it has to do with UK or UK TAs.

I got THREE deposits of $1500 each in 43 days and our May fully paid cruise in 53 days.

I do hope things will work out for you in the end.

Working with Amex can only help - let them do the "heavy lifting" for you.

[LHT28]

5 hours ago, roger b said:

 Still no Joy , 10 days has past I received the Bulk of the money from Oceania for my cancelled cruise in May and was assured in writing that the £1200 deposit was passed on the 28th June ,I started another dispute as soon as Amex said that the first one had been disputed by the T.A, I don't know how others have got on with getting their deposits back ??

    

Might  be time to find  a TA that submits $$ direct to the cruise line & not to the agency first for future cruises/holidays

JMO

[royallondon]

Hi

 

I’ve had both an Oceania and Azamara cruise unfortunately cancelled due to Covid.

The “O” cruise we were able to push back but the April “A” cruise cancelled in March we wanted a refund.  “A” refunded the monies to the TA on the 1 June.  With no reply from my TA asking why the monies had not been paid back,  I instigated a section 75 CC claim and advised the TA accordingly.  Today, I received the response below from the TA.

Should we book another cruise, it looks like booking direct using a CC is the best way of adding an extra layer of financial protection.

 

Regards

 

If I may kindly explain We are not the supplier of the services in question – we act as a retail agent on behalf of the supplier. Therefore, we are not responsible for the provision (or non-provision) of the services – it is the supplier’s responsibility and the supplier’s breach of contract. All payments we collect from our customers are done so in our capacity as a retail agent, and are forwarded on to the supplier – we do not hold on to customer funds. 

We would also like to refer to s.75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1975 which makes it clear that for a transaction to fall within the scope of s.75, it needs to involve the customer, the credit card company and the supplier of the services purchased by the customer – and we are not the supplier. In any event, a chargeback should not be imposed against a merchant who is not the supplier of the services purchased. We do of course understand your frustration and As i advised in my original email that we would arrange refunds back to your account upon receipt of them being returned to us. 

[Paulchili]

1 hour ago, royallondon said:

Should we book another cruise, it looks like booking direct using a CC is the best way of adding an extra layer of financial protection.

Absolutely.

Is the TA denying that they have received the money from Azamara on June 1st?

Do you have documentation from A that they have refunded the money to your TA?

[royallondon]

18 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

Absolutely.

Is the TA denying that they have received the money from Azamara on June 1st?

Do you have documentation from A that they have refunded the money to your TA?

No, they’re not denying they have the funds.  “A” told me verbally the dates and amounts “wired” to the TA.  I’m sure if the funds had not been received by the TA, they would have hit that ball back to me with top spin.  The cruise was cancelled in March for an April sail date.  This UK Cruise Specialists only deals with “boutique” and 5* cruises and I’m sure used by several posters on this board.

I just wanted to share that unlike me, we shouldn’t take for granted that paying by CC to your TA/Cruise Specialist, will give you added protection when things don’t go to plan.

 

Regards

 

[Paulchili]

39 minutes ago, royallondon said:

No, they’re not denying they have the funds.  “A” told me verbally the dates and amounts “wired” to the TA.

So how can they possibly explain holding on to YOUR money?

It is NOT their money.

Boggles the mind - one could call it theft.

Obviously, it would be the last booking they would get from me.

Edited July 12, 2020 by Paulchili

[LHT28]

41 minutes ago, royallondon said:

I just wanted to share that unlike me, we shouldn’t take for granted that paying by CC to your TA/Cruise Specialist, will give you added protection when things don’t go to plan.

 

Regards

 

Might be time for  UK  cruisers  to change the way the system works  there

The pandemic has  brought out  some interesting  twists  in your system

Just saying

 

 When we pay by CC  here  on our statement  it shows Oceania as the recipient  not my TA ...no middle man involved

When I get a refund it comes from the cruise line to my CC account  (in normal times ) within the week or so of cancelling

JMO

[LHT28]

8 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

So how can they possibly explain holding on to YOUR money?

It is NOT their money.

Boggles the mind - one could call it theft.

I agree

The letter above  sounds like bafflegab 😉

[Flatbush Flyer]

2 hours ago, royallondon said:

"....the supplier of the services purchased by the customer – and we are not the supplier. In any event, a chargeback should not be imposed against a merchant who is not the supplier of the services purchased....."

What a load of "horse feathers."

 

The TA certainly is the "supplier of the services" as evidenced (at the very least) by cruise lines turning over control of the booking to the TA (thus requiring you to make any financial adjustments via that TA).

 

Through all of this Covid mess, we've had several refund situations including an airfare issue for flights we needed to replace when our ship disembarked at a different location. We had done a pre-cruise safari and booked all our internal Africa AND Intercontinental (cruise) flights via the safari TA. 

 

As it turns out, we qualified for a partial refund (Cathay Pacific), which was sent to the safari TA who then sat on it for two months - supposedly due to "Covid-19 office closure." In any case, I filed a CC dispute against the TA (who was/is the "supplier of services") and, within a week, the appropriate refund from that TA appeared on my CC account. 

 

FWIW on a related subject, we've had to deal with multiple airlines due to Covid and its affect on all of our 2020 travel. The airlines included Cathay Pacific, Egypt Air, Lufthansa, United and Philippine Air. Without going into great detail, let me say that, for any of our future intercontinental air travel where reasonable (schedule/price, but not necessarily among the cheapest) routing exists, we will only use United Airlines and select members (e.g., Lufthansa) of the Star Alliance.

Working with/through United was the most efficacious and flexible when the "poop hit the fan."

[welshfamily]

Surely the Section 75 law is between your CC ( eg Nat west, Santander etc) and yourself. 

The TA will have no say in whether  or not your CC repays your money. CC’s just look at simple rules. Did you receive the services/products you purchased? Have you tried to liaise with the company to reach a satisfactory conclusion. Have you acted in good faith.

I would also hope your TA is ABTA bonded. You should have an ABTA /ATOL certificate which should be attached to your original booking. I would advise you to fill in a claim/ complaint on their website. This is very easy to do.

 

I would also start a travel insurance claim just to keep them in the picture as they usually ask you to try section 75 first.

 

I also hope you are not using the Chorley based TA as I am waiting for approx£14,000 in refunds.

 

Hope you get your money back soon.

[Paulchili]

11 minutes ago, welshfamily said:

Surely the Section 75 law is between your CC ( eg Nat west, Santander etc) and yourself. 

The TA will have no say in whether  or not your CC repays your money. CC’s just look at simple rules. Did you receive the services/products you purchased? Have you tried to liaise with the company to reach a satisfactory conclusion. Have you acted in good faith.

I would also hope your TA is ABTA bonded. You should have an ABTA /ATOL certificate which should be attached to your original booking. I would advise you to fill in a claim/ complaint on their website. This is very easy to do.

 

I would also start a travel insurance claim just to keep them in the picture as they usually ask you to try section 75 first.

 

I also hope you are not using the Chorley based TA as I am waiting for approx£14,000 in refunds.

 

Hope you get your money back soon.

Boy, what a mess you have there in the UK with your TAs.

I used to think you were so lucky to have all these consumer protections laws for travel that we do not have. Turns out we are doing better without them as far as refunds go..

[royallondon]

47 minutes ago, welshfamily said:

Surely the Section 75 law is between your CC ( eg Nat west, Santander etc) and yourself. 

The TA will have no say in whether  or not your CC repays your money. CC’s just look at simple rules. Did you receive the services/products you purchased? Have you tried to liaise with the company to reach a satisfactory conclusion. Have you acted in good faith.

I would also hope your TA is ABTA bonded. You should have an ABTA /ATOL certificate which should be attached to your original booking. I would advise you to fill in a claim/ complaint on their website. This is very easy to do.

 

I would also start a travel insurance claim just to keep them in the picture as they usually ask you to try section 75 first.

 

I also hope you are not using the Chorley based TA as I am waiting for approx£14,000 in refunds.

 

Hope you get your money back soon.

Yes, it’s a Chorley based TA, ABTA bonded and a certificate issued with the booking.

Yes, I’ve rang and emailed them to see when I will receive the monies that Azamara paid them on the 1 June.

Im not sure however what you mean with regard did I “act in good faith”?  I booked the cruise for April and it was cancelled by Azamara on the 14 March.  

I raise this experience only to make the UK cruisers aware that the insurance of using a CC for bookings via a TA may not be as easy to trigger as first thought, especially with a Chorley based one.
 

Regards

 

 

 

 

 

[Flatbush Flyer]

37 minutes ago, royallondon said:

....Im not sure however what you mean with regard did I “act in good faith”? 

At least in the U.S., evidence that a vendor has "acted in bad faith" can be an important factor  in a lawsuit seeking punitive damages.

[welshfamily]

I was just setting out the questions asked by our CC provider.

Did you act  good faith ....... this basically means were  you confidant you were dealing with a  reputable company. C C ‘s don’t like reckless purchases.  

For example

We lost a holiday in Tenerife at Easter. We booked separate villa and flights. Flights refunded within three days by Jet 2. Villa, which we have stayed in 4 years running twice a year is run by a management company which was taken over last October by a different person. We paid deposit a year in advance to original company. We stayed in October 2019 with no problem. Balance returned for Easter no problem. Deposit however is ......lost .....to original company,  Santander is looking for proof new owner is ‘reputable’ before refunding deposit.  Hopefully just  a step we have to comply with.

 

Certainly,  the Chorley TA and Oceania are as solid a company as you could hope to book with. At least I thought this when we booked.

 

We bought a tailor made package, Our  cruise was due to depart in August. We received notification of the cancellation on the 17th of June and asked for a full refund the same day. I have been told 90 days before refund for the cruise element but in our case the flights may well depart therefore I have been told this refund will take longer. 

 

I hope you will get satisfaction soon as I am probably going to be in your situation soon. 

 

 

Edited July 13, 2020 by welshfamily
Line at bottom extra just wish to delete it.

[roger b]

On 7/12/2020 at 2:15 PM, royallondon said:

Hi

 

I’ve had both an Oceania and Azamara cruise unfortunately cancelled due to Covid.

The “O” cruise we were able to push back but the April “A” cruise cancelled in March we wanted a refund.  “A” refunded the monies to the TA on the 1 June.  With no reply from my TA asking why the monies had not been paid back,  I instigated a section 75 CC claim and advised the TA accordingly.  Today, I received the response below from the TA.

Should we book another cruise, it looks like booking direct using a CC is the best way of adding an extra layer of financial protection.

 

Regards

 

If I may kindly explain We are not the supplier of the services in question – we act as a retail agent on behalf of the supplier. Therefore, we are not responsible for the provision (or non-provision) of the services – it is the supplier’s responsibility and the supplier’s breach of contract. All payments we collect from our customers are done so in our capacity as a retail agent, and are forwarded on to the supplier – we do not hold on to customer funds. 

We would also like to refer to s.75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1975 which makes it clear that for a transaction to fall within the scope of s.75, it needs to involve the customer, the credit card company and the supplier of the services purchased by the customer – and we are not the supplier. In any event, a chargeback should not be imposed against a merchant who is not the supplier of the services purchased. We do of course understand your frustration and As i advised in my original email that we would arrange refunds back to your account upon receipt of them being returned to us. 

 I am with the same company and was promised my Deposit refund on the 28th June now they are not answering my emails noway to get hold of them by phone .I still have a dispute on going with Amex .

      What I don't understand is when the cruise was cancelled you were issued with a cancellation contract which stated you would get your money back in 90 days . 

            Did the T.A take the credit card or the cruise company. Mine was taken Deposit to TA and the bulk if the Money to Oceania I received the money back from O on the 28th June 

[Petoonya]

Thinking again about canceling my Regatta Papeete to SF cruise for next April. We were booked on the same cruise for 2020 when it was cancelled so my original deposit was over two years ago. It's looking more and more like the cruise won't come about. Booked on Windstar Tahiti for later in the year so have that (possibly if that sails) as a backup. I worry that O will start treating deposits as FCC and don't want that.

Wait a few months yet or scrap it now?

[LHT28]

10 minutes ago, Petoonya said:

Thinking again about canceling my Regatta Papeete to SF cruise for next April. We were booked on the same cruise for 2020 when it was cancelled so my original deposit was over two years ago. It's looking more and more like the cruise won't come about. Booked on Windstar Tahiti for later in the year so have that (possibly if that sails) as a backup. I worry that O will start treating deposits as FCC and don't want that.

Wait a few months yet or scrap it now?

So like before   will you cancel now  then in a month re book it?

It is still early days  as far as April cruises go  in my opinion   but   I would think if the cruise was cancelled by O same conditions apply you will get a refund

 

Only you can decide  your  tolerance level  & if you can wait  until the penalty phase kicks in  or cancel now  & know you have your deposit back in your hands 

 

JMO

 

[Flatbush Flyer]

5 minutes ago, Petoonya said:

Thinking again about canceling my Regatta Papeete to SF cruise for next April. We were booked on the same cruise for 2020 when it was cancelled so my original deposit was over two years ago. It's looking more and more like the cruise won't come about. Booked on Windstar Tahiti for later in the year so have that (possibly if that sails) as a backup. I worry that O will start treating deposits as FCC and don't want that.

Wait a few months yet or scrap it now?

Read the Oceania T&Cs.

Oceania will refund 100% of the cruise fare paid if they cancel a cruise. Thus, if you made/make only a $1000.00 deposit, you can choose to receive that deposit back. 

What has "changed" is that you now also have the option of instead choosing whatever FCC amount is currently being offered (e.g., 125% of that deposit).

[LHT28]

34 minutes ago, roger b said:

 Did the T.A take the credit card or the cruise company. Mine was taken Deposit to TA and the bulk if the Money to Oceania I received the money back from O on the 28th June 

Sounds like  the TA takes the deposit  as their  commission 

Interesting they way  it works in the UK

[royallondon]

1 hour ago, roger b said:

 I am with the same company and was promised my Deposit refund on the 28th June now they are not answering my emails noway to get hold of them by phone .I still have a dispute on going with Amex .

      What I don't understand is when the cruise was cancelled you were issued with a cancellation contract which stated you would get your money back in 90 days . 

            Did the T.A take the credit card or the cruise company. Mine was taken Deposit to TA and the bulk if the Money to Oceania I received the money back from O on the 28th June 

Hi Roger b

 

The TA took the monies.  Today I had confirmation from my CC saying: “Good news, the x amount has been claimed from the merchant”.  No doubt the TA will challenge the claim but it’s the principle of the matter.  Retaining my money for 43 days after they received it from Azamara is shameful.  And importantly, I’ll not be the only one.

 

Regards

[SM77]

1 hour ago, Petoonya said:

Thinking again about canceling my Regatta Papeete to SF cruise for next April. We were booked on the same cruise for 2020 when it was cancelled so my original deposit was over two years ago. It's looking more and more like the cruise won't come about. Booked on Windstar Tahiti for later in the year so have that (possibly if that sails) as a backup. I worry that O will start treating deposits as FCC and don't want that.

Wait a few months yet or scrap it now?

I had a similar situation for a Viking Ocean cruise for April 2021for Southeast Asia.  I wound up canceling in early June(final payment was in Sept 2020) - I decided that it was unlikely conditions would be safe enough to travel so far in April 2021 and I already had one canceled by Viking so I already have 125% FCV to use.  In April we had canceled our November 2020 Oceania cruise for Athens.  Oceania had refunded the deposit in a reasonable time, the TA's portion took almost 90 days.  We are stuck w/ the airfare since I had decided to book w/ United directly.  It's a wait and see game if the flights are changed or canceled.  We have another cruise scheduled for Sept/Oct 2021 and I hope it goes.  Meanwhile we are not booking anything else.  There are too many unknowns right now.  

[roger b]

31 minutes ago, royallondon said:

Hi Roger b

 

The TA took the monies.  Today I had confirmation from my CC saying: “Good news, the x amount has been claimed from the merchant”.  No doubt the TA will challenge the claim but it’s the principle of the matter.  Retaining my money for 43 days after they received it from Azamara is shameful.  And importantly, I’ll not be the only one.

 

Regards

 Yes They challenged my dispute with Amex saying that they had not received the money from Oceania and Amex up held this I immediately opened another dispute.

              I have since heard from them and this their response :

 

 

 

Hi Mr rogerb

 

I have checked the status of this booking .

 

I can see we have processed the refund of £1200 on the 28^th June – please allow 10 working days for this to appear back into your AMEX Account.

 

Does this information help? 

 Sent 28th June

  This was their response today !  I know it is just over the 90 days !! 

We have still not received the funds from Oceania for this amount back so we have today sent another chaser to Oceania to understand if they can provide us with a clear date when we will receive this money back to be able to return it to you.

 

I am sorry about the delay but hopefully this explains why the reasons why you have not received it.

 

I will let you know as soon as we have a response from Oceania to give you a better idea. They did originally advise it will take up to 90 days which I can see we have just passed so I will come back to you with more information as soon as I can.

 Sent Today 15 days later

 

                                         

 

                                                         

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 13, 2020 by roger b
Miss Spelling

[Petoonya]

59 minutes ago, SM77 said:

I had a similar situation for a Viking Ocean cruise for April 2021for Southeast Asia.  I wound up canceling in early June(final payment was in Sept 2020) - I decided that it was unlikely conditions would be safe enough to travel so far in April 2021 and I already had one canceled by Viking so I already have 125% FCV to use.  In April we had canceled our November 2020 Oceania cruise for Athens.  Oceania had refunded the deposit in a reasonable time, the TA's portion took almost 90 days.  We are stuck w/ the airfare since I had decided to book w/ United directly.  It's a wait and see game if the flights are changed or canceled.  We have another cruise scheduled for Sept/Oct 2021 and I hope it goes.  Meanwhile we are not booking anything else.  There are too many unknowns right now.  

Sorry about your United fares.....hope that turns out ok. I'm on the fence about cancelling right now but like you leaning towards a cancel. Good to hear O refunded in reasonable time.

2 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Read the Oceania T&Cs.

Oceania will refund 100% of the cruise fare paid if they cancel a cruise. Thus, if you made/make only a $1000.00 deposit, you can choose to receive that deposit back. 

What has "changed" is that you now also have the option of instead choosing whatever FCC amount is currently being offered (e.g., 125% of that deposit).

Yes, I'm fully aware of the policy of returning 100% of the fare if they cancel or a 125% FCC. Had that happen last spring. My concern was more should the policy change and a deposit be refunded in the form of an FCC.

2 hours ago, LHT28 said:

So like before   will you cancel now  then in a month re book it?

It is still early days  as far as April cruises go  in my opinion   but   I would think if the cruise was cancelled by O same conditions apply you will get a refund.

 

Lyn, the cruise was just about sold out back in Jan/Feb. Think there's a big group on board. I wouldn't get the same deal canceling and rebooking if the cruise ends up actually being a go. My concern was more my deposit- if it was decided that the deposit be returned in the form of an FCC or cruise line goes kaput. The deposit is not as big a concern as would be full payment but it's still money. Guess I'll hold on a week at a time until Sept at least when more is known. Isn't looking very bright at the moment 😞

[Paulchili]

2 minutes ago, Petoonya said:

My concern was more my deposit- if it was decided that the deposit be returned in the form of an FCC or cruise line goes kaput.

Your CC is your protection in case of bankruptcy and possibly also in case of FCC vs refund (if Oceania cancels).