Excessive charges from Cunard

[Victoria2]

4 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

 

And, in the U.K. at least, you are expected to take reasonable steps to mitigate your loss, which I think might include a phone call to Cunard.

or in our case, let our excellent agent 'have a go'! 🙂

[ak1004]

Finally after over a month got the following answer from Cunard (had to contact the Office of the President to get a response):

"Please find attached a copy of your on board account from your recent voyage:

As you can see, a charge was added to you on board account after 6pm on Sunday 22nd May 2022. As you will know, you disembarked the ship the morning of Sunday 22nd May and as such, this charge is not yours.

I sincerely apologise for this mis-charge you have incurred. To explain, our systems roll over on the day of disembarkation/embarkation to charge any purchases to the guests who embark the ship and are booked in your stateroom. However, there was a delay in this roll over process and as such, the new guests first purchase was charged to your account in error."

 

So the charge was for the spa service and it was used by a guest in our cabin - the only problem is that the date and the time was 10 hours after we disembarked.

 

Now, I will give Cunard the benefit of the doubt that it was not intentional. But if they knew that "there was a delay in this roll over process", wouldn't it be prudent to check all guests accounts to make sure there are no errors? Or did they just hope that some guests will not notice the extra charge?

[theartfulcodger]

Beware of an extra few drinks added to your onboard account if you have the full drinks package

the bill comes in the early hour of disembarkation day so dont have much time to argue the point to cancel.

 

very sneaky tut tut.

[exlondoner]

49 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

Finally after over a month got the following answer from Cunard (had to contact the Office of the President to get a response):

"Please find attached a copy of your on board account from your recent voyage:

As you can see, a charge was added to you on board account after 6pm on Sunday 22nd May 2022. As you will know, you disembarked the ship the morning of Sunday 22nd May and as such, this charge is not yours.

I sincerely apologise for this mis-charge you have incurred. To explain, our systems roll over on the day of disembarkation/embarkation to charge any purchases to the guests who embark the ship and are booked in your stateroom. However, there was a delay in this roll over process and as such, the new guests first purchase was charged to your account in error."

 

So the charge was for the spa service and it was used by a guest in our cabin - the only problem is that the date and the time was 10 hours after we disembarked.

 

Now, I will give Cunard the benefit of the doubt that it was not intentional. But if they knew that "there was a delay in this roll over process", wouldn't it be prudent to check all guests accounts to make sure there are no errors? Or did they just hope that some guests will not notice the extra charge?

 

Sounds like All's Well That Ends Well, if more than somewhat belatedly, but that may be because of involving the credit card company. Interestingly, however, if that is the whole of the letter, it doesn't mention refunding you.

[ak1004]

2 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

 

Sounds like All's Well That Ends Well, if more than somewhat belatedly, but that may be because of involving the credit card company. Interestingly, however, if that is the whole of the letter, it doesn't mention refunding you.

 

They did say they are going to refund. And as I mentioned, I did not officially involve the credit card company - I did call them, but they advised me to wait for Cunard's response, which I did. 

[Victoria2]

26 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

 

They did say they are going to refund. And as I mentioned, I did not officially involve the credit card company - I did call them, but they advised me to wait for Cunard's response, which I did. 

and I'm very glad your problem has been resolved. It shouldn't have happened, but it did and whilst I have no hesitation in thinking it a glitch/an error, it's a salutary lesson to all to keep an eye on the onboard account.

[ak1004]

I really want to give Cunard the benefit of a doubt, but I hear similar "mistakes" from too many people. In all cases, charges were posted 2 days after guests left the ship, but dated debarkation day. Normally I would think that after you disembark, the account should be closed and they shouldn't even have access to your credit card anymore. Apparently Cunard has different practices.

 

Seems like a pattern to me. "Lets try, maybe they won't notice.." Hard for me to believe that the same glitch happens cruise after cruise and they are not able to fix it..

[Host Hattie]

Thank you for reporting back.

[sogne]

55 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

I really want to give Cunard the benefit of a doubt, but I hear similar "mistakes" from too many people. In all cases, charges were posted 2 days after guests left the ship, but dated debarkation day. Normally I would think that after you disembark, the account should be closed and they shouldn't even have access to your credit card anymore. Apparently Cunard has different practices.

 

Seems like a pattern to me. "Lets try, maybe they won't notice.." Hard for me to believe that the same glitch happens cruise after cruise and they are not able to fix it..

In 30+ Cunard cruises + several other lines it has never happened to us.  It has however happened st a 5☆ hotel.

[ak1004]

30 minutes ago, sogne said:

In 30+ Cunard cruises + several other lines it has never happened to us.  It has however happened st a 5☆ hotel.

 

And our friends never got Covid while 80% of the population did. What kind of argument is it?

 

We heard from many people that this happened to them on Cunard. The pattern is the same - charges were posted 2 days after guests left the ship, but dated debarkation day.

 

Cunard admitted in their response that they knew about the issue - so why they even waited for me to contact them instead of voluntarily check the accounts?? Someone posted that in happened to them on the previous cruise (May 8-15), so they clearly knew there is an issue with their systems.

 

Here is a screenshot of their response:

 

And a screenshot of our account:



How is it possible that they added a charge for a service that happened on May 22 at 18:47 while our cruise ended on the morning of May 22?? 

[majortom10]

Our erroneous charges appeared whilst onboard during the cruise and once Cunard were informed the extra charges were cancelled but we were never given apology of why the charges appeared. I have often thought since if I had no noticed these charges would Cunard have noticed, I very much doubt it.

 

Also how many people have been charged extra either onboard or after the cruise and either not noticed or too small amount to worry about chasing refund.

 

 

[carlmm]

2 hours ago, sogne said:

In 30+ Cunard cruises + several other lines it has never happened to us.  It has however happened st a 5☆ hotel.

 

2 hours ago, ak1004 said:

 

And our friends never got Covid while 80% of the population did. What kind of argument is it?

 

We heard from many people that this happened to them on Cunard. The pattern is the same - charges were posted 2 days after guests left the ship, but dated 

Sorry ak1004 your anecdotal evidence is not better than sogne's. 

Or have you done a scientific study of all Cunard passengers?

 

For now you appear to believe Cunard conducts purposely and with bad attentions. 

"Many" 😉 others have never experienced what you have or just accept that errors do happen.

[sogne]

2 hours ago, ak1004 said:

 

And our friends never got Covid while 80% of the population did. What kind of argument is it?

 

We heard from many people that this happened to them on Cunard. The pattern is the same - charges were posted 2 days after guests left the ship, but dated debarkation day.

 

Cunard admitted in their response that they knew about the issue - so why they even waited for me to contact them instead of voluntarily check the accounts?? Someone posted that in happened to them on the previous cruise (May 8-15), so they clearly knew there is an issue with their systems.

 

Here is a screenshot of their response:

 

And a screenshot of our account:



How is it possible that they added a charge for a service that happened on May 22 at 18:47 while our cruise ended on the morning of May 22?? 

I am merely stating a fact as far as our cruise experience goes. 

[sogne]

14 minutes ago, carlmm said:

 

Sorry ak1004 your anecdotal evidence is not better than sogne's. 

Or have you done a scientific study of all Cunard passengers?

 

For now you appear to believe Cunard conducts purposely and with bad attentions. 

"Many" 😉 others have never experienced what you have or just accept that errors do happen.

Over reliance on IT being infallible?

[ak1004]

17 minutes ago, carlmm said:

 

Sorry ak1004 your anecdotal evidence is not better than sogne's. 

Or have you done a scientific study of all Cunard passengers?

 

For now you appear to believe Cunard conducts purposely and with bad attentions. 

"Many" 😉 others have never experienced what you have or just accept that errors do happen.

 

No I have not done any scientific study. But there are many comments from other passengers suggesting a similar pattern, including someone who was a the cruise prior to ours (May 8-15).

 

The fact that they knew about the issue (as admitted in their own response) and never contacted me or anyone else involved speaks volume.

 

Bad intentions or just terrible incompetence? Obviously we have no way to know.

[Covepointcruiser]

How about your almost immediate complaint to the Better Business bureau?    How did that pan out?

[ak1004]

5 minutes ago, Covepointcruiser said:

How about your almost immediate complaint to the Better Business bureau?    How did that pan out?

They didn’t even bother to respond..

[lissie]

15 hours ago, ak1004 said:

 

Now, I will give Cunard the benefit of the doubt that it was not intentional. But if they knew that "there was a delay in this roll over process", wouldn't it be prudent to check all guests accounts to make sure there are no errors? Or did they just hope that some guests will not notice the extra charge?

I think your complaints made them figure out there was a delay in their roll over process. Its cost them money - not made them money -  presumably the spa charge didn't appear on the following guest's account and they didn't complain!  Now they've had to do all the back office stuff to figure out what was wrong 

[ak1004]

7 hours ago, lissie said:

I think your complaints made them figure out there was a delay in their roll over process. Its cost them money - not made them money -  presumably the spa charge didn't appear on the following guest's account and they didn't complain!  Now they've had to do all the back office stuff to figure out what was wrong 

 

Yes, but some people mentioned to me that the same issue happened on the sailing prior to ours (May 8-15), and some other sailings. They clearly knew there is an issue with their system.

[exlondoner]

Of course, what we are unlikely ever to know is how many people have mistakes made in their favour, and either don't notice or don't say.

[ak1004]

48 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

Of course, what we are unlikely ever to know is how many people have mistakes made in their favour, and either don't notice or don't say.

 

Unfortunately we never had "mistakes" made in our favor. Never. Not on a cruise ship, restaurant or hotel. Somehow when a business makes a "mistake", it's always in their favor..

[exlondoner]

3 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

 

Unfortunately we never had "mistakes" made in our favor. Never. Not on a cruise ship, restaurant or hotel. Somehow when a business makes a "mistake", it's always in their favor..

 

It has happened to me certainly as frequently as the other way round, though not on Cunard.

[david,Mississauga]

Another thing to watch out for is the profit the credit card company can make because of a mistake. Although I have been lucky with cruise lines, there was a hotel in England that billed us for an extra night. I had stayed there many times so I didn't suspect criminal intent.  I contacted them by e-mail and they immediately apologised and refunded the charge.

 

Because banks have different sell and buy rates, which of course are always in their favour, when the £ refund was converted to Canadian $ they made about $20.00. I protested to Amex Bank and after getting the explanation about the difference in rates I said to the agent that if I made an error or cancelled something I accept that I should pay the rate difference, but I shouldn't have to pay because of an unauthorised charge. She agreed and wiped out the amount.

 

I know the amount was small, but if we let banks get away with this they will make more profit than they are entitled to.

[Host Hattie]

5 hours ago, ak1004 said:

 

Unfortunately we never had "mistakes" made in our favor. Never. Not on a cruise ship, restaurant or hotel. Somehow when a business makes a "mistake", it's always in their favor..

You must be very unlucky, I quite often have to tell a restaurant they've forgotten to charge us for something.

[Slugsta]

On 6/30/2022 at 9:17 PM, Host Hattie said:

You must be very unlucky, I quite often have to tell a restaurant they've forgotten to charge us for something.

Me too, restaurants and shops.