Luggage Valet Service Refund - Still Waiting

[CruzinFeraBruzin]

On May 6, we disembarked in Lisbon after the 37 day Grand Mediterranean Voyage aboard the Moon.  About a week before, we received a letter in our suite indicating Silversea was not going to be able to provide their Luggage Valet service to return the 4 suitcases they shipped for us at the beginning of our voyage due to FedEx having a backlog of shipments going to the Ukraine.  To compensate us for the inconvenience, the letter promised a refund would be charged back to the credit card on file and no further action on our part was necessary.  It's been almost a month and still no refund.  Has anyone else had a problem recently in getting a refund from Guest Relations for luggage valet or other promised refunds?  Do such refunds normally take weeks to process?

[Gourmet Gal]

I had a recent refund for unused SS Air that processed within 1 week.

[CruzinFeraBruzin]

6 minutes ago, Gourmet Gal said:

I had a recent refund for unused SS Air that processed within 1 week.

Thanks Gourmet Gal.  I just sent an email to Guest Relations, attaching the letter we received as proof of the promised refund.  Not sure why this is taking so long.

[Stumblefoot]

2 minutes ago, CruzinFeraBruzin said:

Not sure why this is taking so long.

It shouldn’t, at least not in my book.

 

I wonder why they just didn’t issue a credit to your onboard account and as such, the credit would be applied to your final bill.  Therefore, if a credit remained thereafter, it would be automatically refunded to the card you presented upon embarkation.

[CruzinFeraBruzin]

9 minutes ago, Stumblefoot said:

It shouldn’t, at least not in my book.

 

I wonder why they just didn’t issue a credit to your onboard account and as such, the credit would be applied to your final bill.  Therefore, if a credit remained thereafter, it would be automatically refunded to the card you presented upon embarkation.

Agreed Stumblefoot.  We also thought a credit to our onboard account made more sense, but no, they said they would refund the card on file.  Silly us for thinking this would happen immediately.  When we disembarked, the full balance on our account was charged with no credit for the luggage valet.  

[Observer]

1 hour ago, CruzinFeraBruzin said:

 Silversea was not going to be able to provide their Luggage Valet service to return the 4 suitcases they shipped for us at the beginning of our voyage due to FedEx having a backlog of shipments going to the Ukraine.  

 

I continue to be surprised by the sudden suspension of this service. I assume that your four suitcases were not destined for the Ukraine.  In fact, if FedEx had so much eastbound traffic they should have had lots of room on their westbound flights.

 

Does anyone know whether this service has been restored?  

[CruzinFeraBruzin]

1 hour ago, Observer said:

 

I continue to be surprised by the sudden suspension of this service. I assume that your four suitcases were not destined for the Ukraine.  In fact, if FedEx had so much eastbound traffic they should have had lots of room on their westbound flights.

 

Does anyone know whether this service has been restored?  

Based on SS Facebook posts, it was offered to at least one couple when they disembarked from the World Cruise last week, so either it has been fully restored or it's been selectively restored.  We would not have used this service had it not been offered to us as part of the Grand Voyage.  We counted ourselves lucky we weren't among the many who had their luggage lost in transit or delayed for over 1 to 2 weeks at the start of the cruise.  Now we are just waiting for our promised refund.

[Observer]

56 minutes ago, CruzinFeraBruzin said:

 We counted ourselves lucky we weren't among the many who had their luggage lost in transit or delayed for over 1 to 2 weeks at the start of the cruise.  

 

Could it be that Silversea withdrew its promise of free luggage shipment at the end of the cruise because of so many bad experiences at the beginning?  Was the (to me highly implausible) Ukraine excuse merely another among what seem to be Silversea's many exercises in shifting blame?

[CruzinFeraBruzin]

16 minutes ago, Observer said:

 

Could it be that Silversea withdrew its promise of free luggage shipment at the end of the cruise because of so many bad experiences at the beginning?  Was the (to me highly implausible) Ukraine excuse merely another among what seem to be Silversea's many exercises in shifting blame?

The bad experiences at the beginning was part of it.  Silversea stated FedEx could not guaranty our luggage would make it back home without delays or worse.  What irritated most of the affected guests was there was no alternative offered such as DHL, Luggage Forward or any other luggage service to ease the burden of carrying your excess luggage off the ship yourself.  We were offered compensation and were not required to prove whether we contracted with another shipping company or paid the excess baggage charges the airlines imposed on us.  We were not required to submit receipts.  It seems to me I've seen others on this site raise concerns of delayed refunds, but that was mainly cancelled cruises.  

[Silver Spectre]

4 minutes ago, CruzinFeraBruzin said:

The bad experiences at the beginning was part of it.  Silversea stated FedEx could not guaranty our luggage would make it back home without delays or worse.  What irritated most of the affected guests was there was no alternative offered such as DHL, Luggage Forward or any other luggage service to ease the burden of carrying your excess luggage off the ship yourself.  We were offered compensation and were not required to prove whether we contracted with another shipping company or paid the excess baggage charges the airlines imposed on us.  We were not required to submit receipts.  It seems to me I've seen others on this site raise concerns of delayed refunds, but that was mainly cancelled cruises.  

Refunds out of the U.K. office are much faster than that, you really shouldn’t be waiting more than a week. If you are on the site that CC doesn’t like people to mention then perhaps you should try contacting Barbara Muckermann direct.

[CruzinFeraBruzin]

1 minute ago, Silver Spectre said:

Refunds out of the U.K. office are much faster than that, you really shouldn’t be waiting more than a week. If you are on the site that CC doesn’t like people to mention then perhaps you should try contacting Barbara Muckermann direct.

I am a member of that site, but stating anything that is perceived as negative is removed.  I'm trying to remain hopeful that Guest Relations will take action soon.  I just wondered whether anyone else was affected.  This oversight won't deter us from sailing with them again.  We've got 2 future cruises, including another Grand Voyage booked for 2023 and 2024.

[les37b]

5 hours ago, CruzinFeraBruzin said:

I am a member of that site, but stating anything that is perceived as negative is removed.  

 

Disguise it with a picture of a drink and weird toy. You'll probably get untold likes and high fives! They really should rename passengers to cheerleaders!

 

Funnily I was going to ask "4 cases.... That's a lot"..... Then remembered our first 12 day med cruise, we did the same! Hope you managed to get everything home without too much of a struggle. 

 

For something as straight forward and simple as this, there really shouldn't be any excuse not to resolve it quickly. Keep us posted. Fingers crossed it's sorted shortly.

 

 

[Stumblefoot]

56 minutes ago, les37b said:

Disguise it with a picture of a drink and weird toy. 

😅😂🤣 That’s brilliant.

[CruzinFeraBruzin]

6 hours ago, les37b said:

 

Disguise it with a picture of a drink and weird toy. You'll probably get untold likes and high fives! They really should rename passengers to cheerleaders!

 

Funnily I was going to ask "4 cases.... That's a lot"..... Then remembered our first 12 day med cruise, we did the same! Hope you managed to get everything home without too much of a struggle. 

 

For something as straight forward and simple as this, there really shouldn't be any excuse not to resolve it quickly. Keep us posted. Fingers crossed it's sorted shortly.

 

 

This was our first cruise with Silversea and yes, we did pack way too much. We had 7 suitcases if you count the one we checked on the plane and two carry on bags. Even at 37 days, it was too much.  Our next Grand Voyage that includes Luggage Valet is 71 days long and we've learned our lesson...

By the way, the World Cruise guests who mentioned their bags were being shipped back thru Luggage Valet last week traveled with the Duke... 

Edited May 31, 2022 by CruzinFeraBruzin

[Lois R]

7 suitcases??

[les37b]

4 hours ago, CruzinFeraBruzin said:

This was our first cruise with Silversea and yes, we did pack way too much. We had 7 suitcases if you count the one we checked on the plane and two carry on bags. Even at 37 days, it was too much.  Our next Grand Voyage that includes Luggage Valet is 71 days long and we've learned our lesson...

By the way, the World Cruise guests who mentioned their bags were being shipped back thru Luggage Valet last week traveled with the Duke... 

 

Oh my days! 7 cases?

 

Ah only 1 was hold. Carry on's don't count! 🤣 

 

To be fair, for a 71 nighter, I'd probably still bring 2 cases each.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[CruzinFeraBruzin]

1 hour ago, les37b said:

 

Oh my days! 7 cases?

 

Ah only 1 was hold. Carry on's don't count! 🤣 

 

To be fair, for a 71 nighter, I'd probably still bring 2 cases each.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We sent 4 full size suitcases thru Luggage Valet and checked 1 full size suitcase on the plane and carried 2 roll-on bags on the plane that went into the overhead, so yeah, we had 7 suitcases, plus a backpack and soft bag we stuffed under the seat.  Way too much luggage for 2 people...

[Stumblefoot]

9 hours ago, CruzinFeraBruzin said:

By the way, the World Cruise guests who mentioned their bags were being shipped back thru Luggage Valet last week traveled with the Duke... 

Based on the beginning of their voyage, no wonder they were the ones who were able to get their luggage shipped home.  At first I figured it was because they were Canadian, but then Mysty and Myster didn't have such luck, so it has to be Duke.  Little bastard.

[Stumblefoot]

4 hours ago, CruzinFeraBruzin said:

We sent 4 full size suitcases thru Luggage Valet and checked 1 full size suitcase on the plane and carried 2 roll-on bags on the plane that went into the overhead, so yeah, we had 7 suitcases, plus a backpack and soft bag we stuffed under the seat.  Way too much luggage for 2 people...

I'm impressed!  You're the first people I've ever known who travels with more luggage than Stumblefoot and Silver Queen. 

 

Now, when we throw Silver Princess into the mix, we're still the luggage champs and keep in mind, we've only sailed for a maximum of 15-days with her. 😆

[CruzinFeraBruzin]

10 minutes ago, Stumblefoot said:

Based on the beginning of their voyage, no wonder they were the ones who were able to get their luggage shipped home.  At first I figured it was because they were Canadian, but then Mysty and Myster didn't have such luck, so it has to be Duke.  Little bastard.

Indeed...

[CruzinFeraBruzin]

7 minutes ago, Stumblefoot said:

I'm impressed!  You're the first people I've ever known who travels with more luggage than Stumblefoot and Silver Queen. 

 

Now, when we throw Silver Princess into the mix, we're still the luggage champs and keep in mind, we've only sailed for a maximum of 15-days with her. 😆

Yes, I'm so embarrassed.  Felt like Zsa Zsa Gabor standing at the dock with all that luggage.  Never again.

[CruzinFeraBruzin]

Update - we finally got our refund for Grand Voyage Luggage Valet that was promised when we disembarked May 6.  It took multiple phone calls to our Silversea Cruise Consultant who advised Guest Relations is handling countless issues ranging from cancelled flights to compensating guests who are testing positive for Covid, either before they board or during the voyage.  Our next grand voyage that includes Luggage Valet is in 2024, but after witnessing FedEx losing luggage, delaying luggage, etc., we will only bring what we can manage ourselves.