Help!! $1722.50 Internet Charge..........

[Treven]

I"m new to this so please someone enlighten me....what does the number of posts have anything to do with this person's complaint (or the validity of his complaint)?? I'm just curious...thanks for your responses! (I don't mean to get off track, but since it came up....)

Zero, nada, zilch.

[eweig2]

As soon as you typed that line you lost all credibility with me. Your not here to be helpful or answer the OP's questions so just what in the hell are you up to? I didn't even bother to read the rest of your gobbledegook. It may as well have read "I AM A TROUBLE MAKING TROLL".

 

AMEN!

[glassmazza]

It sounds like you forgot to log off after your 1st use, if n:eek: o one used that terminal for a few days the charges could be legit.

[NormanW]

Meaning were the minutes claimed used were on YOUR computers or RCI's?

 

This is VERY IMPORTANT. I will not go into the details but wireless is very easy to "sniff" out. If a user is savy enough to do this they can easily surf on YOUR dime. This includes cloning YOUR pc's MAC address so the logs will indeed match the MAC address of YOUR computer. This would make it very hard to prove that YOUR computer was not used. Again, this depends on where they are getting the details to generate the charge. (and of course the details and retention policies of their logs)

 

That's the biggest downfalls of public WLAN's. Sure you can use SSL on webpages to protect your passwords and data HOWEVER at sea the connection itself being billed as high as $.70 per MINUTE becomes quite valuable.

 

Cheers,

 

Norman

[Carolrd]

Do you have a friend that is an attorney? Ask him/her to have a letter sent to RCCL or AX on their company letterhead. See how fast you get a response.

 

Carol

[MGoBlue2]

I"m new to this so please someone enlighten me....what does the number of posts have anything to do with this person's complaint (or the validity of his complaint)?? I'm just curious...thanks for your responses! (I don't mean to get off track, but since it came up....)

Unfortunately, there are people who make posts (often misleading or completely fabricated) for no other reason than to rile things up and see how many responses they can get. These people (called Trolls) are most often people who have a very low post count.

 

Also, unfortunately, there have been many of these "Trolls" posting here in the past. So many so, in fact, that it is even addressed in the Board Guidelines in a section entitled "Harrassment, Flaming and Trolls".

[Nliedel]

Meaning were the minutes claimed used were on YOUR computers or RCI's?

 

Norman

 

I cut out some of Norman's reply. He is dead right and this is the main reason we do not have WiFi at home. It is very important to find out how the minutes were used.

 

Post count (this is a piggyback answer). Some people will have a less than perfect cruise, and sometimes it's their own darn fault for not researching a cruise past watching old episodes of The Love Boat. They expect the moon and stars and when they don't get it they come home madder than a snake and will seek out forums to complain in. They frequently find CC and start a post about their awful trip on _____________ line. Most of the post is VERY negative and includes such zingers as, "there were not enough hangers". In their first post. They then disappear when the lines resident apologists basically cut them a new exit in their backside. Sometimes the complaints do have some merit and sometimes they don't. Sometimes people will jump to the defense of their favorite line and would do so if the line put people on the deck and started pushing them overboard at random. In other words in a percentage of the posters eyes here ____________ cruise line can do no right or do no wrong.

 

Some posters just are having a bad day, surf the Internet and make outrageous statements to cheese off the regular posters here. Those are trolls. They are "trolling" for responses to their posts, the more upset the better.

 

The reality is no vacation is 100% good or bad. To a certain extent you need to roll with the punches and sometimes bad things that are preventable really do happen.

 

Hope that helps.

[Globetrotter11]

Meaning were the minutes claimed used were on YOUR computers or RCI's?

 

This is VERY IMPORTANT. I will not go into the details but wireless is very easy to "sniff" out. If a user is savy enough to do this they can easily surf on YOUR dime. This includes cloning YOUR pc's MAC address so the logs will indeed match the MAC address of YOUR computer. This would make it very hard to prove that YOUR computer was not used. Again, this depends on where they are getting the details to generate the charge. (and of course the details and retention policies of their logs)

 

 

There has been no details whatsoever on what the usage was. From my previous posts you can see that after we left the ship, a single entry was added to my bill with the $1722.50 added. I have asked for clarification, but have received none so far.

 

It sounds like you forgot to log off after your 1st use, if n o one used that terminal for a few days the charges could be legit.

 

 

There were usually (both times) a wait to use the computers in the internet lounge. And both times the charges (total of $7.00) were correctly posted on my bill the same day.

 

Sincerely,

 

Globetrotter11

[Nliedel]

There has been no details whatsoever on what the usage was. From my previous posts you can see that after we left the ship, a single entry was added to my bill with the $1722.50 added. I have asked for clarification, but have received none so far.

 

 

It sounds like you forgot to log off after your 1st use, if n:eek: o one used that terminal for a few days the charges could be legit.

 

There were usually (both times) a wait to use the computers in the internet lounge. And both times the charges (total of $7.00) were correctly posted on my bill the same day.

 

Sincerely,

 

Globetrotter11

 

Good so we can assume this is not a WiFi issue and becomes more straightforward. If this was WiFi it could easily be a mess.

 

I assume you have your origanal seapass accounting? Or I hope you still do. You have contacted Amex and are disputing the charges. I would still follow up with RCI and expedite it as far up the line as you can. Call and keep going up the line. Offer to fax all info. If you can prove you were elsewhere while they say you were on the internet then again, they will not have much of a case. This is a mess I agree.

[Boo Boo]

Some posters are wondering if my teenagers ran up the horrendous internet bill. I do not believe this to be the case at all. As I stated before, there were 2 internet charges (one for $3.00 and one for $4.00). One was mine verifying our flight back to San Diego, and the other was my daughter getting confirmation on our Grand Cayman excursion. Both were posted promply on our folio. The girls, as always, were very active onboard, spending time with activities and friends, and sometimes barely making it back in time to change and meeting me for dinner. Both port visits were spent together all day. There were simply no interest, time or opportunity to rack up 57 hours of internet time. As for the laptop computer - I will just reiterate that it required going to the front desk to make arrangements for password and billing. This was NOT done, and if it was, it would seem like it would be easy to substantiate for the cruise line.

 

People should note that the OP has said that they didn't use a laptop to access the wireless service OR even have things set-up so that they (or anyone else could do it).

 

As you say, it really was not practical for you to be logged on THAT long in the internet cafe.

 

I wonder if the cruiseline has any controls in place (they certainly should do!) to time users out and/or to check unused terminals...

 

At the most innocent, this appears to be negligent of the cruise company (i.e. SOMEHOW billing you for incorrect charges). It could, of course, be something more serious: i.e. someone attempting to commit fraud.

 

I feel sure that this is simply a mistake. However, in the meanwhile I am financially responsible for it untill it gets cleared up. Amex has suspended the charge for the second time, but it is still hanging over my head. It is a large amount of money ($1722.50), while our total ship charges were $174.72. We always try to spend our money wisely, so we can enjoy wonderful cruising vacations together. One day they are going to be too old to go with daddy anymore....

 

Sounds as though you are doing all the right things - please keep us updated and I hope that you can a satisfactory explanation for all of this too: it points to some bad lapse in RCCL's billing or internet security procedures - I am really hoping that this is fully investigated and those procedures rectified.

 

Best wishes,

Boo

[Globetrotter11]

Nliedel,

 

I have the original Sea Pass bill. It was faxed to Amex in January, as soon as I received the bill with the extra charge.

 

I have contacted RCCL twice, and still await a reply from them.

 

 

Boo Boo,

 

It has been two months since we finished the cruise, and I would like to have it cleared up.

 

This was our second Royal Caribbean cruise, and we have always had a good experience.

 

I will post any new developments, good or bad, as soon as there is progress being made.

 

Sincerely,

 

Globetrotter11

[Nliedel]

Nliedel,

 

I have the original Sea Pass bill. It was faxed to Amex in January, as soon as I received the bill with the extra charge.

 

I have contacted RCCL twice, and still await a reply from them.

 

 

 

 

 

Do me a HUGE favor and send off a dispute CERTIFIED mail today. With phone calls there is no documentation. Document, document, document. Get it off, get your complaint in writing (you may have done this but I have been in the stupid hospital and am on pain pills. Pretty much you could tell me anything at this point and I would believe it. Look UFO's have landed on my lawn and little green men are coming out!)

[KamloopsCruisers]

Globetrotter11,

 

Thanks for the update. I think many of us will now double check that we are, in fact, logged off after using the computer terminals onboard.

 

Best wishes for a quick resolution (in your favour).

[clingandclatter]

One thing of note is that some people are questioning if the account was logged off from. If "someone" didn't log off, then shouldn't the bill have been for the amount of time 24hrs x whatever # of days this cruise was? I can't see a time out on non-use being 8+ hours.

[AlDubya]

Yeah, the biggest thing I think people are forgetting here is that he/she received a final bill that only had $7 in charges. It wasn't until he/she got home and received the AmEx bill that the $1722.50 appeared.

 

If the kids had left themselves signed on, or if they had signed up for an account with the desk and were using the WiFi without his/her knowledge, that still would have shown up on the bill for the week.

 

The fact that it showed up AFTER the final bill makes his case even stronger.

[nrdsb4]

Originally Posted by JWMom

I"m new to this so please someone enlighten me....what does the number of posts have anything to do with this person's complaint (or the validity of his complaint)?? I'm just curious...thanks for your responses! (I don't mean to get off track, but since it came up....)

 

 

 

Zero, nada, zilch.

Of course not everyone who has a low post count is a troll.

 

HOWEVER: True Trolls almost ALWAYS have a low post count, so I can certainly see how someone might wonder about a poster with single digit post counts who post a problem as their first (or close to first) posts.

 

I didn't read view this thread as coming from a troll, but it's not like it's insane to wonder about posters with low post counts who start complaint threads.

 

I'm sure the OP will resolve this to his satisfaction, but it certainly sounds like a pain.

[Globetrotter11]

Hello everyone,

 

This is the latest news on my situation.

 

I spoke with Royal Caribbean again today. As in the past, the customer service representative was pleasant and helpful. The request for documentation (regarding the $1722.50 added to my Sea pass account after leaving the ship) was resubmitted today. The first request was sent on Feb. 17. Due to the large amount in question, they need a response from the ship before a decision can be made on the validity of the claim.

 

I did offer to mail/fax/email a statement explaining my concerns, but were told that at this point, it would not be helpful to the process. So short of sending one to the CEO of Royal Caribbean (I know, I'm considering it), I will have to excercise some patience and wait for the ship to respond.

 

Thank you for all your support and suggestions.

 

Sincerely,

 

Globetrotter11

 

PS. Several posters refer to the OP. I assume it refers to me, but what

does it mean?

[Retired not Expired]

Original

Poster

[suzeyQ]

Globetrotter, Even though you were told that it "won't be helpful" to send a letter outlining your issue, it certainly isn't going to hurt at all to do so. It sounds like RCI is being pretty helpful and you'll probably get this resolved without having to take it any further but if it doesn't get resolved, you'll thank yourself later for putting things in writing now. Good luck!

[Nliedel]

Yep what Mr. Not Expired said, Original Poster, YOU Trotter (forgive me for the short names).

 

Send it to the CEO, certified. He won't get it but someone up top will.

[Globetrotter11]

Globetrotter, Even though you were told that it "won't be helpful" to send a letter outlining your issue, it certainly isn't going to hurt at all to do so. It sounds like RCI is being pretty helpful and you'll probably get this resolved without having to take it any further but if it doesn't get resolved, you'll thank yourself later for putting things in writing now. Good luck!

 

Send it to the CEO, certified. He won't get it but someone up top will.

 

 

The more I think about it, the more I realize that you are correct.

 

I will write it tonight and send it certified mail in the morning.

 

OP (Original Poster);) ,

 

Globetrotter11

[suzeyQ]

Good job! :D

[Smith0806]

I am not sure how RCCl does it, but on Carnival when you use the internet you get a reciept printed out right away with your time used. Also I was told by the Carnival guy that they check the computers once someone leaves to make sure they logged out correctly.

[Globetrotter11]

Hello everyone,

 

This is the latest news on my situation.

 

I spoke with Royal Caribbean again today. As in the past, the customer service representative was pleasant and helpful. The request for documentation (regarding the $1722.50 added to my Sea pass account after leaving the ship) was resubmitted today. The first request was sent on Feb. 17. Due to the large amount in question, they need a response from the ship before a decision can be made on the validity of the claim.

 

I did offer to mail/fax/email a statement explaining my concerns, but were told that at this point, it would not be helpful to the process. So short of sending one to the CEO of Royal Caribbean (I know, I'm considering it), I will have to excercise some patience and wait for the ship to respond.

 

Thank you for all your support and suggestion

 

Hello everyone,

Here is the latest update on my situation.

 

On Feb 28 I sent a certified letter to the CEO of Royal Caribbean as well as faxing the same to their headquarters. So far I have received no reply.

As far as I know the ship has not responded to either request for documentation (Feb 17 and 27).

 

I am leaving for Asia tonight and will be back home next Saturday for a couple of days before going back over there. As soon as I hear back from Royal Caribbean I will make another posting.

 

Sincerely,

 

Globetrotter11

[sherry7]

Thanks for the update Globetrotter. I hope you're able to get this mess straightened out.