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Regent Refund Experience (please limit to received refunds)


Portolan
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I just posted on the refund Roll Call that we received overnight a refund of all taxes, port fees and Culinary Kitchen fee for our April 1 Splendor cruise from Miami to NY.  We had previously received FCC for this cruise, which we have already applied to a future cruise.

 

We are still waiting for the same refund of taxes, port fees, additional excursion fees and Culinary Kitchen fees for our April 16 Splendor NY to Venice cruise.

 

Just be patient! It's coming!

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Summary of Regent Refund Process.

 

1. Regent cancels a cruise. You have 2 weeks to fill out a Refund Request form or it automatically converts to a FCC.

2. You complete the refund form and successfully submit it. The clock starts ticking towards 90 calendar days.

3. NCL process these refunds together (all 3 cruise lines are done together). Due to software limitations (I think it was not designed to handle cruises cancelled by the cruise line itself), these are all done by hand and then checked over again by hand by another person. There were errors early on, hence the redundancy now.

4. They are currently working on a batch of sailing from roughly April 1 - April 10. Refunds are processed out of this group, not necessarily by exact day.

5. When they process your refund, it shows up in your customer profile and can be confirmed a couple of days before you see the money back on the credit card used for booking.

6. If that credit card is closed and the credit doesn't go through, a Regent Rep will call your TA (or you) and arrange for another means of processing the refund.

7. I still don't have enough information to detail how a credit is processed if YOU cancel the cruise or how long this takes.

8. This information was obtained directly from different people at Regent and confirmed by 2 or more sources. I hope it helps.

Edited by Pcardad
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2 hours ago, Pcardad said:

Summary of Regent Refund Process.

........

8. This information was obtained directly from different people at Regent and confirmed by 2 or more sources. I hope it helps.

 

 Numerous common sense questions about the refund process have arisen repeatedly on CC with no response from Regent.  Instead a CC poster has to go through some back channels to provide basic information that Regent could have posted long ago on its web site under a FAQ page or some such format.  Pcardad is to be commended for ferreting out information and posting it here.  But why should such sleuthing be necessary for a process that should and could be easily made transparent by Regent?

 

And what about all the other guests who don't read CC who likely have the same questions/issues that have been posted here?   And without regular updates about the process how can a guest know if the information from Pcardad today is still true a few days from now?  And what about cruises that haven't yet been officially cancelled but Regent knows will be unable to operate?  Will these rules still apply?

 

Good communication during a crisis is a key to resolving concerns and problems and instilling confidence. Regent's lack of basic information and transparency on its handling of refunds takes a serious bite out of Regent's continual branding of itself as a luxury line.  

 

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I have appreciated Pcardad since I read his first post on CC.  He does an amazing job.  

 

In terms of getting accurate information, as I repeatedly post, your TA should be your contact point.  This is what they are paid to do.  If you do not have a TA, I don't know what to tell you other than I hope that you use one in the future.  You can call Regent Customer Service 10 times and get 8-10 different answers.  I wonder if their call center is also working at home and therefore Regent is unable to monitor their responses.  While I have heard of mis-information being given by the representatives, I have never heard of the rudeness that some posters have experienced.  I also wonder if there are Regent employees that have been transferred to Customer Service to handle the abundance of inquiries and they simply cannot deal with irate customers (not an excuse for Regent - people that cannot deal with the public should not be representing them on the phones).

 

If (and I do not agree) the handling of refunds "takes a serious bite out of Regent's continual branding of itself as a luxury line", then you may as well write off the other three top luxury lines as they all are having issues with refunds.  

 

When there is a change in the policy, it is posted on the website and TA's are notified.  I read it at least every couple of days (even though our TA is on top of it).  

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6 hours ago, Travelcat2 said:

 

 

In terms of getting accurate information, as I repeatedly post, your TA should be your contact point.  This is what they are paid to do.  If you do not have a TA, I don't know what to tell you other than I hope that you use one in the future.  You can call Regent Customer Service 10 times and get 8-10 different answers.  I wonder if their call center is also working at home and therefore Regent is unable to monitor their responses.  

 

I

Sorry, but just because they are at home doing their jobs is no excuse for Regent not knowing what is going on.  It's a business and if they want to stay that way it's important run it right during the hard times to have the good times.

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10 hours ago, ronrick1943 said:

Sorry, but just because they are at home doing their jobs is no excuse for Regent not knowing what is going on.  It's a business and if they want to stay that way it's important run it right during the hard times to have the good times.

Is it also unthinkable that a portion of the cruisers had planned and paid for their cruises and anticipated going back to work after sailing.....only to find out that they are now furloughed or out of a job indefinitely and need their$$$.? Why should they be concerned about the overworked agents at this point? The Regent agents won't be paying their mortgages and bills. This may not be just FCC play money.

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14 hours ago, ronrick1943 said:

Sorry, but just because they are at home doing their jobs is no excuse for Regent not knowing what is going on.  It's a business and if they want to stay that way it's important run it right during the hard times to have the good times.

 

The only response I can make is that no one in the world expected this pandemic (except for a few scientists).  It is not just "hard times" vs. "good times" as what we are going through is historic (in a bad way).  There were cancelations during the downturn in the economy over 10 years ago but it does not compare to this.  

 

This is frustrating for all of us and I do understand how difficult it is for people that are awaiting refunds.  My posts are not about defending Regent as much as they are about understanding the other side of the equation.  Should Regent and other luxury cruise lines have the processes for unusual (canceled by the cruise line) refunds in place?  Absolutely.  Will they do it in the future?  Probably.  However, they need to deal with here and now.  I remind posters that Regent employees are human beings that are also affected by the pandemic.  They are working harder for less money so that their customers receive their refunds.  

 

In terms of what is going on.  I suppose Regent could take the time to look up refund requests and tell a TA (or a passenger that booked through Regent) that they are currently going through April 1-10 claims (as Pcardad stated) or that their claim is going through the first or second review or even that there were questions that are awaiting a response but I'm not sure that would satisfy irate customers.  I'm not sure that this even makes sense to attempt to do.  As it is, every time someone files a claim with a credit card company, some processing is slowed down in order to find the claim and look at the details so they can respond to the credit card company.  While claims against a company is generally not a good thing, I would not be surprised if credit card companies know exactly what is going on with cruise lines and Regent (or other cruise lines) are not being dinged for the claim.

 

 

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6 minutes ago, Travelcat2 said:

 While claims against a company is generally not a good thing, I would not be surprised if credit card companies know exactly what is going on with cruise lines and Regent (or other cruise lines) are not being dinged for the claim.

Not sure what this statement has to do with anything.  Companies are not "dinged" or  get bad ratings by the credit card companies  for disputes no matter what.  The credit card company simply makes a decision should the merchant not accept the dispute and everybody move on.

 

And with all you wrote in your 4 paragraphs, none of what you wrote had anything to do with the post you quoted.  Simply more defensiveness for Regent.  Perhaps you agree with what ronrick1943 wrote??

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Just a comment from a potential buyer of Regent services, who has worked at home - no reputable employer will set up employees to work at home without ensuring a secure computer network and without ensuring some sort of management control, among other factors.  Many employers implemented work at home protocols under huge time constraints when they realized the extent of the virus, and needed to protected their employees.  If nothing else, people can look up the Chase Bank stress test when they sent a huge number of their employees home just so they could test to see if their essential, and of course necessarily secure, network would hold up.  And, of course, employers maintained recording protocols for outward facing client service employees.

 

All these things require both financial investment and a forward thinking management.  From what I've read (and this includes reviewing years of CC posts - such interesting hours seeing how different loyalty bases evolve), a lot of major cruise lines do not appear great at utilizing technology to serve their clients, or themselves.

 

And now it comes back to bite them big time.  So if NCLH is reduced to three people working at home, apparently using 10-keys, emailing files back and forth rather than utilizing secure computer networking, not having administrative protocols written into easy to use software systems.....goes back to management choices and where they'd rather invest their customer service money in my book.

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greykitty -- you are 100% right about major cruise lines not utilizing technology.  This has gone on for years.  However, I would be very surprised if all Regent employees working at home are not using a secure computer network.  

 

For clarification purposes, I stated (and learned this from a good source) that there were three people processing refunds for Regent rather than NCLH.  

 

Apparently working at home is in the future for many companies.  Our daughter has worked at home for 5+ years and it does present challenges but is doable.  It requires a lot of discipline on the part of the employee.  

 

As you may have learned from my posts, I strongly believe in Regent.  However, when they are wrong, I have no problem saying so.  As I stated on another thread, many of my posts during the pandemic have been to show the other side of the situation.  Regent employees are human beings that are working at home for less money and are as affected by the pandemic as the rest of the world.  Is this an excuse for Regent?  You can take it that way I suppose.  I look at it as the world having a pandemic that no one was prepared for and companies are doing their best in the worst situation that any of us have lived through.

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2 hours ago, Travelcat2 said:

The only response I can make is that no one in the world expected this pandemic

 

The probability, and dire consequences, of a pandemic has long been seen as one of the greatest risks to lives and economies around the world.

This graph is from the UK's National Risk Register for 2008 and shows a pandemic to be likely, with the highest of impacts:

1436534934_RiskGraph2008.thumb.jpg.a36e0a97f7e42aba4ebf728d412e6b04.jpg

 

UK Gov National Risk Register 2008

 

............... but I agree that, despite these accurate predictions, most governments and companies were ill-prepared when the inevitable occurred. 

 

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26 minutes ago, flossie009 said:

 

The probability, and dire consequences, of a pandemic has long been seen as one of the greatest risks to lives and economies around the world.

This graph is from the UK's National Risk Register for 2008 and shows a pandemic to be likely, with the highest of impacts:

1436534934_RiskGraph2008.thumb.jpg.a36e0a97f7e42aba4ebf728d412e6b04.jpg

 

UK Gov National Risk Register 2008

 

............... but I agree that, despite these accurate predictions, most governments and companies were ill-prepared when the inevitable occurred. 

 

Thanks for the graph Flossie. Being in Business Continuity Planning and Risk Management for many years to be honest there is little anyone can do to influence the likelihood of a Global Pandemic.  However the impact is so high any prudent Global Supply Chain Business have had plans in place to mitigate that impact and are audited on those plans.   Sad to say that many governments have chosen not to take this approach due to the costs.  Somewhat understandable due to the many calls on the public purse but with 20:20 hindsight may not

have been correct.

 

 

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5 hours ago, Travelcat2 said:

 

The only response I can make is that no one in the world expected this pandemic (except for a few scientists).  It is not just "hard times" vs. "good times" as what we are going through is historic (in a bad way).  There were cancelations during the downturn in the economy over 10 years ago but it does not compare to this.  

 

This is frustrating for all of us and I do understand how difficult it is for people that are awaiting refunds.  My posts are not about defending Regent as much as they are about understanding the other side of the equation.  Should Regent and other luxury cruise lines have the processes for unusual (canceled by the cruise line) refunds in place?  Absolutely.  Will they do it in the future?  Probably.  However, they need to deal with here and now.  I remind posters that Regent employees are human beings that are also affected by the pandemic.  They are working harder for less money so that their customers receive their refunds.  

 

In terms of what is going on.  I suppose Regent could take the time to look up refund requests and tell a TA (or a passenger that booked through Regent) that they are currently going through April 1-10 claims (as Pcardad stated) or that their claim is going through the first or second review or even that there were questions that are awaiting a response but I'm not sure that would satisfy irate customers.  I'm not sure that this even makes sense to attempt to do.  As it is, every time someone files a claim with a credit card company, some processing is slowed down in order to find the claim and look at the details so they can respond to the credit card company.  While claims against a company is generally not a good thing, I would not be surprised if credit card companies know exactly what is going on with cruise lines and Regent (or other cruise lines) are not being dinged for the claim.

 

 

Know what you are saying, but I disagree---these people work for Regent and they should have training and a manual  to refer too.  simple as that, you shouldn't be able to call 8-10 times and get a different answer to your question (period).

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1 hour ago, ronrick1943 said:

Know what you are saying, but I disagree---these people work for Regent and they should have training and a manual  to refer too.  simple as that, you shouldn't be able to call 8-10 times and get a different answer to your question (period).

On that point, we agree.  Prior to the pandemic, this was also occurring.  It was not only the training and manual but being consistently updated about changes - whether it be an itinerary change, or any other change.  This has been brought up many times and I do wish that it would be remedied.

 

In terms of now, I am horrified to read the rude comments allegedly made by Customer Service Reps.  I have mentioned this recently and think that, under normal circumstances, the person would be fired.  This is something that I have not heard before which is why I suspect that some employees have been temporarily moved into that position which is not a good idea since they are working from home and may feel that no one at headquarters will know what they are saying (sorry for the run-on sentence).

 

in my opinion, what is going on with the people processing claims is a very different issue than Customer Service Employees speaking directly to customers - being rude and giving misinformation.  

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Just an update, Filed for refund on one cruise, April 27th with TA.  Received full refund today on credit card for full amount in June 1.  It came in 4 refunds on same day.  For the the cruises we had booked we took FCC.  Never talked to Regent only my TA.

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33 minutes ago, ronrick1943 said:

Just an update, Filed for refund on one cruise, April 27th with TA.  Received full refund today on credit card for full amount in June 1.  It came in 4 refunds on same day.  For the the cruises we had booked we took FCC.  Never talked to Regent only my TA.

so, if I’m reading this correctly, Regent is not doing refunds by sail date or refund request date.  We filed on April 15 for a sail date of May 11.  Nada so far.  
 

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18 minutes ago, forgap said:

so, if I’m reading this correctly, Regent is not doing refunds by sail date or refund request date.  We filed on April 15 for a sail date of May 11.  Nada so far.  
 

Our sail date was April 1, the cancelled the cruise I think about 2 weeks before.  We asked for a refund on that cruise the day it was canceled , however after we cancelled we had another form our TA had to fill out for the refund (why, I don't know they waiting a few weeks for that form). So maybe they used the early date????

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2 minutes ago, Pcardad said:

They are refunding by date of sailing and doing them in 10 day blocks.

 

The 90 days is from the date they get the form. 

 

Sorry Picardad, that does not make any sense in that they have no idea of how many cancellations there will be so how can they commit to 90 days when for instance Wendy the Wanderer has cancelled her World Cruise schedules to sail in early January 2021 no wayt to knoe how many to process before hers so could be way more than 90 days.  Also looking at the spreadsheet those that have been refunded without credit card sisputes show no consistency for being in cruise date order.

 

Also seems unfair to not consider cancellation date either by Regent or customer.

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I don't speak for them. All I know is what I have confirmed from multiple sources. They are refunding Regent cancelled cruises in 10 day batches by sail date. I have no idea how they are refunding CUSTOMER CANCELLED cruises. They are estimating people will get their money within 90 days of cancellation. It seems, based on the data being collected here, that these refunds are following this pattern. 

 

I can't help it if Regent doesn't make sense....it's on them for not speaking to this. I am just reporting what I hear from my contacts.

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Appreciate you trying to help however, it appears the fact that it seems that everytime one aske a Regent representative a question one gets a different answer and that may apply to the information that has been provided by you.

 

Seems it would save a lot of consternation, confusion, time, etc. if Regent would simply post on their website how refunds work both for cruises cancelled by Regent or the customer.  Much more time and effort is being wasted than taking a little time to update the website with factual information.

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My info came from much higher up the chain than a rep...and I like the phone people I deal with and I like my account rep....but this was higher.

 

Regent also released an internal memo confirming this process.

 

PS. I have suggested repeatedly that they post the specific details of the process...

Edited by Pcardad
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