Missed April 6 Refund Request Deadline - File Trip Mate claim?

[lovebrits]

We missed the April 6 deadline to request a refund on our April 19 cruise. Would you recommend filing a TripMate claim to try to get a refund? Viking states that we would lose our 125% voucher if a claim is filed. There has been no response from Viking or TripMate after multiple attempts. Just curious if anyone else is in a similar situation. Thank you.

[Alturia]

1 hour ago, lovebrits said:

We missed the April 6 deadline to request a refund on our April 19 cruise. Would you recommend filing a TripMate claim to try to get a refund? Viking states that we would lose our 125% voucher if a claim is filed. There has been no response from Viking or TripMate after multiple attempts. Just curious if anyone else is in a similar situation. Thank you.

I would think that when TripMate learned that you did not respond to Viking and therefore "accepted" Viking's offer of a 125% future cruise credit that they will deny the claim. Just my 2 cents worth.

[Peregrina651]

I agree with Alturia. The insurance company will consider the voucher as repayment and deny the claim.

 

Keep trying to contact Viking; they are very, very busy right now and doing the best they can to get back to us in a timely manner.

[Redtravel]

Sorry that you missed the date. It was a very short window to request a refund. Have you spoken to Viking?   I tried calling my travel agent with no response. Found out that the travel agent is no longer available. No way to contact him. After 4 days, in desperation, I called Viking. No problem gettting through. Said that since I had made my reservation with a travel agent, I must contact the agent to process the refund request.  After explaining my situation, they processed my request for a refund.  Haven't received the refund yet. However, kudos to Viking for being understanding. Give Viking a chance.

[Heidi13]

On 4/11/2020 at 7:02 AM, lovebrits said:

We missed the April 6 deadline to request a refund on our April 19 cruise. Would you recommend filing a TripMate claim to try to get a refund? Viking states that we would lose our 125% voucher if a claim is filed. There has been no response from Viking or TripMate after multiple attempts. Just curious if anyone else is in a similar situation. Thank you.

Suggest reading the Terms & Conditions of the Viking Insurance, which outlines the covered events eligible for a refund. Provided you purchased the insurance within 14 days of paying the deposit, you also have cancel for any reason, but that only provides future credits, no refund.

 

The other area to read is the exclusions, as at least 3 of them could be relevant.

[orchestrapal]

If you have a high level credit card such as a Chase Sapphire your payment may be covered.

We had a problem with a Viking refund and had the funds returned by our credit card.

The worst part of Viking is their front office!👎

[Heidi13]

12 minutes ago, orchestrapal said:

The worst part of Viking is their front office!👎

We all have different experiences, but that certainly wasn't our experience with Viking. All our dealings with the World Cruise Desk and Viking Air were exemplary and timely.

 

Right now, with these trying times, we are prepared to cut them considerable slack, as they work diligently trying to repatriate about 2,000 crew members to many countries. Before even getting to arrange flights, they have to negotiate with each different country to determine if they will accept their citizens back and under what conditions. The Government negotiations are further compounded, as many mariners are not citizens of their country of residence.

 

Once they have identified which crew can be repatriated, they have to find flights, which based on our recent experience in London is not easy, as very few flights are available. LHR is operating on a single runway and on average have only 2 or 3 flights operating per hour.

 

As we experienced, when connecting flights are required, Viking must further negotiate crew landing in another country to connect to flights to their final destination. When in Dubai, Viking negotiated with the US Govt for 2 days trying to get approval for 8 Canadians to land at Newark, stay in the airport a few hours, then board flights to Canada. Viking's front office wasted 2 days, as they got nowhere, as we spend another 3 weeks aboard.

 

Viking worked diligently for about 3 weeks to get us home safely and now they are doing the same for their crew, some of which are many weeks over their contracts.

 

If we have to wait for a refund or to receive a FCV, in the big picture it is a minor inconvenience, as we believe getting the crew home safely should be their first priority.

[duquephart]

" ---  many mariners are not citizens of their country of residence --- "

Why so?

[Heidi13]

11 hours ago, duquephart said:

" ---  many mariners are not citizens of their country of residence --- "

Why so?

Many crew are married to, or live with other current or former crew from another country. Even if planning to take out citizenship, it can take a number of years. This situation applies with many Officers & Crew on the Sun. 

[tomworldwidewaftage]

Viking cancelled our April 3, 2020 29 day cruise Mumbai to London on March 11th.

We told Viking on March 11th we wanted a refund.

 

Viking said 21 business days for our refund, which would have been April 9th.

On April 10th Viking said refunds were going out by next week.

Now Viking is saying 90 days for our refund.

 

Stock analysis are say the public trading cruise lines will be burning a Billion dollars a month.

 

I convinced Viking won't stay out of bankruptcy before we get our refund.

[tomworldwidewaftage]

On 4/16/2020 at 10:13 PM, tomworldwidewaftage said:

Viking cancelled our April 3, 2020 29 day cruise Mumbai to London on March 11th.

We told Viking on March 11th we wanted a refund.

 

Viking said 21 business days for our refund, which would have been April 9th.

On April 10th Viking said refunds were going out by next week.

Now Viking is saying 90 days for our refund.

 

Stock analysis are say the public trading cruise lines will be burning a Billion dollars a month.

 

I convinced Viking won't stay out of bankruptcy before we get our refund.

Viking finally refunded our money, they way they did it was with no explanation.

All on the same credit card.

1. $500.00 

2. a week later another $4500.00 

3. a week later another $15,000.00