Regent Refund Experience (please limit to received refunds)

[ddsun1]

3 hours ago, Travelcat2 said:

 

Agree that the number of people on this thread that have not received funds yet is a small sample.  And, some folks feel that "Critic" means that they are suppose to complain (not true - as many know).   

 

It is interesting, but not surprising, that people calling in are far less agitated.  If people calling in were as upset as some posters, I feel badly for the Customer Service Reps. (and I generally have nothing good to say about them).  

I believe that CC serves many purposes, including, if appropriate, complaints.

[SusieQft]

1 hour ago, Pcardad said:

It was a Cov-19 cancelled cruise but if you feel it misleads people then please remove my data from the spreadsheet. If it isn't relevant, it shouldn't be there.

I believe it is relevant, primarily as an example of how Regent USED TO handle refunds.  I agree with jeb_bud's dinosaur and meteor analogy.  

[bissel]

I wonder when RSSC actually receives their 2b and when they’ll start refunding. Anyone have any ideas?

[Pcardad]

They used to handle refunds in 2 or 3 days. I have a phone meeting on Monday - I will try to get an update then.

[bissel]

Good. Thanks!

[Travelcat2]

This what CC has to say on this issue:

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/5342/?et_cid=3330961&et_rid=124463740&et_referrer=Baccardi_Contest

 

[SusieQft]

2 hours ago, Travelcat2 said:

This what CC has to say on this issue:

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/5342/?et_cid=3330961&et_rid=124463740&et_referrer=Baccardi_Contest

 

This is a well written and informative article, but keep in mind that CC is not an unbiased source.  I'm sure all the delay causing problems they mention are in play, but cash flow management is also in play and at a minimum is a motivation for the cruise lines not to work too hard to overcome the other obstacles.  If it is mostly because of inadequate  human resources working on the problem, then they should add some more humans to help.  Once everyone who is waiting gets to 90 days, they won't automatically solve all the other problems.  People should be incrementally getting their refunds, perhaps with a slowly growing average number of days.

 

Regent does not have "thousands and thousands of transactions a day, compared to maybe a hundred a day before."  Their five ships have a maximum total capacity of 2390 passengers or 1195 bookings.  If you assume all sailings were booked at 100% capacity and only 7 days in length, that comes down to 239 cancellations per business day for those cancelled by Regent that hit all at once.  Half of those are taking the FCC, but still need a refund for port taxes and excursions.  Maybe a similar number are cancelling on their own, but in the Roll Call thread there are about 4 times as many reporting a full refund or FCC with refund of taxes etc., as opposed to those reporting a deposit refund.  It seems that at this point most of those who are fully paid are waiting for Regent to cancel.  All told, I am guessing that Regent has an average of about 300 new cancellations per day to process.

 

I have a horrible feeling that very soon they will be saying it takes "120-150" days, and then more.  At this point, if they do not significantly pick up the pace, they will be sailing again long before they get the refund turnaround time back under 90 days.  I very much hope I am wrong.

[flossie009]

@Pcardad, Thanks for you comprehensive response.

 

18 hours ago, Pcardad said:

3. Not sure what you mean by sitting on deposits and seeking full payment. You can, by the terms of your contract, not make any payment. You can also use the Regent Reassurance program. You have many options...you might not like them but they are exactly (or better) than what your contract dictates.

Sorry I did not make myself clear.

FdR, in his interview with CruiseCritic & elsewhere, has effectively "cancelled" Regent cruises for July, August and most in September.

However Regent has yet to ratify this public announcement; therefore those with upcoming final payments either have to make the cancellation themselves (losing their deposit) or make a large payment to Regent in order to qualify for either Regent Reassurance (or a refund when Regent does finally confirm the cancellations, which maybe some weeks away).

I realise that most contributors to this thread are from the US but loss of deposit in the UK is significant - up to 20% and not convertible to FCC.

 

17 hours ago, Pcardad said:

I think tracking shows what people can except, and what Regent isn't saying out loud.

 

Calling lets Regent know that their paying customer base is not happy...I don't think they understand the depth of it yet.

Again, from experience with the UK office, Regent have said they are unwilling to discuss or chase refunds until the 90 days has elapsed; not the best customer service 😕

I would hope that the cruise lines are monitoring social media to gauge how their customers are feeling.

 

16 hours ago, Pcardad said:

It was a Cov-19 cancelled cruise but if you feel it misleads people then please remove my data from the spreadsheet. If it isn't relevant, it shouldn't be there.

Your data is totally relevant.

We had two segments of our cruise cancelled. One was cancelled by Regent before the March 13 "meteor" and one after. 

For the first we have received the refund (albeit taking a long time and much chasing by our TA). The second we expect to have to wait a lot longer. @SusieQft's analysis gives a good indication as to why.

[flossie009]

18 hours ago, Travelcat2 said:

Not sure what the point of tracking refunds so diligently is. All it seems to do is get people upset (if someone gets a refund before they do)

I disagree.

@Portolan's initial thread highlighting the delayed refund issue and @SusieQft's excellent work in pulling together the spreadsheet has shown that all of us waiting for refunds for cruises cancelled by Regent from March 13 onwards are in the same boat.

 

Comparison with other cruise lines shows that they are all delaying refunds in a similar manner.

It is my opinion that in these difficult times business decisions have been taken that cashflow is more important than customer satisfaction.

[liptastic]

Flossie/Susan,

 

I am glad you have posted the above 2 posts. We have all been told by Regent and our own TA,s that 90 days is the expected wait time for refunds due. 
It’s not a good customer service in this day and age but I do accept the issues the staff involved are having and just have to wait albeit impatiently in my case.

We have a second Splendour cruise booked for November, it was booked about a year ago. I don’t think this cruise will sail, and our payment is due next month.
As you say it’s unacceptable this loss of the 20% deposit if we don’t pay in full. We certainly don’t want to pay the balance to get FCC that May or may not be lost? Better communication from Regent would definitely go some way to alleviate anxiety about future money tied up in cruises and prevent people being able to book cruises that they know full well they are going to cancel.

Best wishes Jean.

 

[nfcu]

As someone else has posted on here, as the 90 day mark approaches in mid-June, Regent will announce refunds will take 120 to 150 days.  And those who will be at the 120 day mark will have yet to receive a refund.  This does not only apply to Regent.

[bissel]

nfcu,  you state this as fact. How do you know this to be true?
Sympathy  for those in the UK who have these payment decisions to make. That really is between a rock and a hard place!

 

 

[Belfast Taxman]

30 minutes ago, bissel said:

nfcu,  you state this as fact. How do you know this to be true?
Sympathy  for those in the UK who have these payment decisions to make. That really is between a rock and a hard place!

 

 

Indeed

we have today extended further interest free credit to Regent (sorry, I meant paid the final balance of over £13,000 for an August cruise that the CEO of Regent has publicly stated will not be sailing)

madness? Well it was either pay or lose our deposit (£5,000 plus)

we will want a refund - I just hope we get this year😥

[bissel]

Oh, that does sting 🙁 but the Regent press release today looked promising. So here’s hoping it comes out alright in the end.

[Belfast Taxman]

At least we may get to “book” our speciality restaurants in a couple of weeks🤪

[bissel]

Can you book your spa appointments too? Get in early before you get shut out!

[liptastic]

1 hour ago, Belfast Taxman said:

Indeed

we have today extended further interest free credit to Regent (sorry, I meant paid the final balance of over £13,000 for an August cruise that the CEO of Regent has publicly stated will not be sailing)

madness? Well it was either pay or lose our deposit (£5,000 plus)

we will want a refund - I just hope we get this year😥

That’s the situation we face next month too while waiting for the refund for our cancelled  April Splendour cruise.  It’s time Regent looked into the UK policy of the non refundable 20% large deposit. I can imagine how you are feeling today especially when you have heard from the CEO your cruise will not sail. This is a sure fire way of guests losing faith in Regent .  Loyalty should be working both ways here surely?  Jean.

[pappy1022]

21 hours ago, Pcardad said:

I can't help but wonder if all the time that went into all these posts would be better spent calling Regent daily and voicing the same concerns. It would certainly have a greater effect.

I and my TA have called multiple times and we get different stories each time including talking to supervisors. I personally have given up on getting a factual answer from Regent. They should be able to tell their customers when a refund will be available because they must have a system of managing these refunds. Instead they claim they don’t know and say it might take up to 90 days. I can get that answer from a recorded message. 

[Travelcat2]

17 minutes ago, liptastic said:

That’s the situation we face next month too while waiting for the refund for our cancelled  April Splendour cruise.  It’s time Regent looked into the UK policy of the non refundable 20% large deposit. I can imagine how you are feeling today especially when you have heard from the CEO your cruise will not sail. This is a sure fire way of guests losing faith in Regent .  Loyalty should be working both ways here surely?  Jean.

 

Perhaps the UK needs to look at their policies as well. UK's consumer protection policies place most of the risk on Regent.  Here are a couple of articles for those that are not familiar with them:

 

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/holidaymakers-consumer-rights-online-travel-agents-package-airline-hotel-a8425316.html

 

https://www.abta.com/tips-and-advice/is-my-holiday-protected/new-package-travel-regulations 

 

While it is not the passengers' fault that these protection plans are in place, Regent needs to do what it has to do to protect itself. 

[flossie009]

37 minutes ago, Travelcat2 said:

While it is not the passengers' fault that these protection plans are in place, Regent needs to do what it has to do to protect itself. 

Sorry, I am failing to understand how a 20% deposit protects Regent from its obligations 🤔

[JVNYC]

These cheerleaders are exhausting and delusional. 

[Travelcat2]

2 minutes ago, flossie009 said:

Sorry, I am failing to understand how a 20% deposit protects Regent from its obligations 🤔

 

The 20% deposit does not protect Regent from their obligations.  I should have said that it helps them get the money necessary to enforce the consumer protection laws.  I copied and paste a paragraph from the first article.  As the article states, Regent bears the risk.  

 

Proper package holidays are the gold standard of travel. By booking flights and accommodation in a single transaction from a tour operator, you transfer all the risk to the company. A cancelled flight or an overbooked hotel? They have to sort it out, and provide a refund or compensation as appropriate.

 

4 minutes ago, JVNYC said:

These cheerleaders are exhausting and delusional. 

 

And I can say the same about people that are constantly negative about everything and do not have one positive thing to say about Regent.    Let's try to disagree in a calmer, less confrontative manner.  Thank you and stay safe.

[rallydave]

11 minutes ago, Travelcat2 said:

As the article states, Regent bears the risk.  

 

Proper package holidays are the gold standard of travel. By booking flights and accommodation in a single transaction from a tour operator, you transfer all the risk to the company. A cancelled flight or an overbooked hotel? They have to sort it out, and provide a refund or compensation as appropriate.

And as you have often said Regent goes over and above for US Customers and is responsible for all these issues without the non refundable 20% deposit.   And, what does a non-refundable deposit have to do with paying for something that occurs  during the holiday.  Those costs, if any would be in the full cruise fare and not be applicable to a cancelled cruise.

[Bellaggio Cruisers]

I guess I am one of the Regent cheerleaders.....but, I am not delusional. 

We love everything Regent offers. We, too are awaiting our refund and have deposits on four additional cruises.

However, I do believe that they are holding on to our money as not to deplete their cash reserves. I feel better about it after the $2.5 billion raised last week. Less chance of a bankruptcy. We care about our money, but since there is nothing we can do, we will just wait. Fortunately, our cruise money is for vacations, not to pay our mortgage or buy food or other necessities of life. We worked very hard all our lives to be able to be in this position. 
Lets hope we can sail once again on Regent. 
sheila and Herb

[fizzy]

At this point, I think it would be an act of respect to have a spokesperson with a VERIFIED cruise critic account, come on to this board and make a statement or answer some questions. Regent is so lucky to have such an extremely loyal passenger base but I can see some chinks in the story line starting to emerge. And yeah yeah, blah blah blah, it would prove that those in charge have some integrity.