Check your onboard spending account - double charged by Cunard QM2

[buchanan101]

15 hours ago, Teddy123 said:

Clearly, when a merchant initiates a holding charge the bank must allow a certain period for the merchant to change it to a real charge.  Different banks may have different periods before the holding charge "times out" and is no longer active (so the money is released).  However, it IS a Carnival problem because they could a) remove the holding charge themselves when they make the actual one or b) simply turn the holding charge into an actual one rather than making an additional charge.  However, they do neither and simply let the customer be inconvenienced while waiting for the time out.

Exactly this.

 

And they managed to return the $1 test charge in 2 days.

 

Holding charge for Hotel Riu in MYC returned balance  in 2 days

 

It's only $150 for me, but now 9 days and counting. I phoned a couple of days ago, maybe a complaint email is required

[Teddy123]

Worth a complaint, but mine only resulted a long explanation of how the holding charge wasn't an actual charge (which I knew) and a claim that Cunard couldn't do anything about it - a claim flatly contradicted by my bank.

[buchanan101]

2 minutes ago, Teddy123 said:

Worth a complaint, but mine only resulted a long explanation of how the holding charge wasn't an actual charge (which I knew) and a claim that Cunard couldn't do anything about it - a claim flatly contradicted by my bank.

Just this very second... an email response - exactly as you've been saying. But why can't they just charge as incurred during the voyage rather than pre-authorise? They'd want me to contact bank...hmm

 

The transactions don't show as pending on the account though

 

 

 

From Cunard:

 

Thank you for your call to the Customer Contact Centre with regards to your onboard account.

I can advise that any amounts other than your final balance payment are likely to be pre-authorisations. These checks are typically done at embarkation and throughout your voyage in line with your spending. This is done in order to confirm that the card has not been reported lost or stolen and that there are funds to take the final balance at the end of the voyage. Generally, these pre-authorisations should drop off your card within 7-10 days of being taken and therefore should now be removed from your account. Once you have disembarked and your account has been settled, we advise card providers to place any pending transactions back on the account as we will not be taking them.

This is a practice we have been doing for many years and is detailed in our brochures and on our website. Many hotels and other cruise companies use these checks to ensure the card is legitimate. Therefore, I would kindly recommend that if you are still seeing the pre-authorisation checks after 7-10 working days, you contact your bank and advise them to place the pending transaction back onto your account. Failing this if it is still showing on your account, please could I ask you to provide a screenshot/evidence of the additional payments being taken from your card and I will get our finance team to investigate this further for you.


 

[Teddy123]

Just checked with my bank again and ONLY the merchant can remove a pending charge - not the customer as Cunard said in this reply.  So more nonsense from Cunard.

[buchanan101]

28 minutes ago, Teddy123 said:

Just checked with my bank again and ONLY the merchant can remove a pending charge - not the customer as Cunard said in this reply.  So more nonsense from Cunard.

All a customer can do is dispute the charge

 

I will give it 10 working days, and then put it back to them. It should not take that long - as I said the hotel did it in 2

 

 

[Solent Richard]

This is an old chestnut that makes occasional appearances on many cruise lines's facebook pages and gets the same response every time.

 

It's no different to hotels covering themselves against financial misconduct: and quite right so.

 

I still can't believe that folk still use a debit card for their onboard expenses: particularly if one is going on a reasonable spending spree.

[Teddy123]

If you're going on a spending spree, 1% cashback from the debit card is good reason to use it!

[carlmm]

37 minutes ago, Teddy123 said:

If you're going on a spending spree, 1% cashback from the debit card is good reason to use it!

 So there are features you regard as advantages? And others you regard as disadvantages? Like the consequences of the standard procedures of Cunard and many other cruise lines and hotels?

 

While it might certainly be irritating and worrisome to see what looks like daily "charges" plus the final charge, there is nothing to complain about once one has been told or has understood the way it works. There is no "double charge" as the title claims.

I am with @Solent Richard: "It's no different to hotels covering themselves against financial misconduct: and quite right so."

 

Thus this thread could be helpful for the reference of future customers wondering what's going on: Just normal operations. Nothing to worry.

[Teddy123]

While the principle is common, the problem with Cunard is: a) they don't remove the hold - when hotels, etc frequently do; b) they claim they can't remove the hold - not true; c) they say the customer can remove the hold - not true.

[lissie]

3 hours ago, Solent Richard said:

 

I still can't believe that folk still use a debit card for their onboard expenses: particularly if one is going on a reasonable spending spree.

I did and will continue to do so. I get a much better exchange rate using my debit card rather than my credit card. Plus this year I'd had the luck to buy some US$ in advance on my multicurrency card so saved even more as the us$ increased in value against my own currency.  

 

I use a Wise visa debit card and there was no double charging - the preauthorisation amount was periodically updated to reflect our spend - and transferred to a "spent" amount when Cunard said the bill would be settled both at the end of a sector and the end of the voyage. 

 

I use a card issued by wise (wise.com) not a bank - I suspect that is the issue. Though I did have a hotel take a hold on this debit card and take a few days to  remove the amount after we checked out. I think that was confused because the account was settled by a different card. 

 

I've also had cause to do  charge back against a merchant which i used the card with - that was handled exactly like a charge back for a credit card - I had 6 months to dispute the amount 

[2BACRUISER]

3 hours ago, Solent Richard said:

This is an old chestnut that makes occasional appearances on many cruise lines's facebook pages and gets the same response every time.

 

It's no different to hotels covering themselves against financial misconduct: and quite right so.

 

I still can't believe that folk still use a debit card for their onboard expenses: particularly if one is going on a reasonable spending spree.

Totally agree your cc company will fight your corner when you have aggro the bank don't want to know. 1% ain't worth imo the aggro caused by holds and trying to sort out the aftermath. Visa Barclaycard all the way 👍🙂

[lissie]

6 hours ago, 2BACRUISER said:

Totally agree your cc company will fight your corner when you have aggro the bank don't want to know. 1% ain't worth imo the aggro caused by holds and trying to sort out the aftermath. Visa Barclaycard all the way 👍🙂

Its more like 2.5% for my CC v a currency conversion card - plus they don't automatically alert me when the card is used - so its far less secure 

[buchanan101]

15 hours ago, Solent Richard said:

This is an old chestnut that makes occasional appearances on many cruise lines's facebook pages and gets the same response every time.

 

It's no different to hotels covering themselves against financial misconduct: and quite right so.

 

I still can't believe that folk still use a debit card for their onboard expenses: particularly if one is going on a reasonable spending spree.

Whereas I can say that "I can't believe that people don't use a Curve debit card fronting a credit card so that I pay 0% currency transaction fees (saving 2.99% typically) AND I get Avios from the underlying credit card...!"

 

Hotels repay in 2 days. It should not take Cunard 2 weeks.  Hotels take a sum to cover misconduct (e.g. $50/day); that isn't remotely like Cunard do - they charge specifically for the items purchased each day, so why not leave it at that - no need to charge twice

 

 

[buchanan101]

14 hours ago, carlmm said:

 So there are features you regard as advantages? And others you regard as disadvantages? Like the consequences of the standard procedures of Cunard and many other cruise lines and hotels?

 

While it might certainly be irritating and worrisome to see what looks like daily "charges" plus the final charge, there is nothing to complain about once one has been told or has understood the way it works. There is no "double charge" as the title claims.

I am with @Solent Richard: "It's no different to hotels covering themselves against financial misconduct: and quite right so."

 

Thus this thread could be helpful for the reference of future customers wondering what's going on: Just normal operations. Nothing to worry.

My credit card currently HAS double charges on it because if i had to pay off that card today I would have to pay the double amount

 

It is greatly different from hotels who charge a flat fee; hotels don't charge you daily then again at the end of the stay, and then sometime down the line remove the first charge. 

 

Again - why don't they just make the daily "holding" charges the actual charges to the card?  This is what I assumed that they were doing when daily notifications popped up on my phone

[buchanan101]

To clarify... on my Barclaycard account now (also for items purchased through Curve) I have 3 items showing as "pending".

 

The daily charges from Cunard and the total charge at the end of the voyage are all shown as fully charged to the card: Neither the daily or the total appear in the pending section. I currently *have* been charged double whatever other people may claim. It's not an "old chestnut" and it is quite different from what hotels do as I have tried to explain

[exlondoner]

23 minutes ago, buchanan101 said:

To clarify... on my Barclaycard account now (also for items purchased through Curve) I have 3 items showing as "pending".

 

The daily charges from Cunard and the total charge at the end of the voyage are all shown as fully charged to the card: Neither the daily or the total appear in the pending section. I currently *have* been charged double whatever other people may claim. It's not an "old chestnut" and it is quite different from what hotels do as I have tried to explain

And I’ve not so far had it happen to me on Cunard, so it is not necessarily their standard practice, so much as yet another cockup. An even greater one is them not remedying it at once.

[Solent Richard]

7 hours ago, buchanan101 said:

Whereas I can say that "I can't believe that people don't use a Curve debit card fronting a credit card so that I pay 0% currency transaction fees (saving 2.99% typically) AND I get Avios from the underlying credit card...!"

 

Hotels repay in 2 days. It should not take Cunard 2 weeks.  Hotels take a sum to cover misconduct (e.g. $50/day); that isn't remotely like Cunard do - they charge specifically for the items purchased each day, so why not leave it at that - no need to charge twice

 

 

 

Always interesting to hear how others operate their onboard finances: particularly as your original opening comment referred to your  'Credit Card'.

 

I personally use a  Halifax Clarity credit card which also has a zero currency transaction fee (saving typically 2.99%) and whose exchange rate is the going interbank rate - that's the best you'll get daily.

 

Then of course I don't get the hassle  (😉😉) of cruise lines / hotels taking pre-authorised amounts thereby negating the necessity to keep high balances in one's current account.

 

And added to all that the luxury of having upwards of 56 days interest free credit.

[Solent Richard]

19 hours ago, lissie said:

I did and will continue to do so. I get a much better exchange rate using my debit card rather than my credit card. Plus this year I'd had the luck to buy some US$ in advance on my multicurrency card so saved even more as the us$ increased in value against my own currency.  

 

I use a Wise visa debit card and there was no double charging - the preauthorisation amount was periodically updated to reflect our spend - and transferred to a "spent" amount when Cunard said the bill would be settled both at the end of a sector and the end of the voyage. 

 

I use a card issued by wise (wise.com) not a bank - I suspect that is the issue. Though I did have a hotel take a hold on this debit card and take a few days to  remove the amount after we checked out. I think that was confused because the account was settled by a different card. 

 

I've also had cause to do  charge back against a merchant which i used the card with - that was handled exactly like a charge back for a credit card - I had 6 months to dispute the amount 

 

Good afternoon Lissie.

 

May I refer you to my comment # 26 particularly the requirement to keep larger amounts in one's current account.

 

To make a fair comparison of credit card  exchange rates one really needs to know which cards are being used.

[Solent Richard]

22 hours ago, carlmm said:

 So there are features you regard as advantages? And others you regard as disadvantages? Like the consequences of the standard procedures of Cunard and many other cruise lines and hotels?

 

While it might certainly be irritating and worrisome to see what looks like daily "charges" plus the final charge, there is nothing to complain about once one has been told or has understood the way it works. There is no "double charge" as the title claims.

I am with @Solent Richard: "It's no different to hotels covering themselves against financial misconduct: and quite right so."

 

Thus this thread could be helpful for the reference of future customers wondering what's going on: Just normal operations. Nothing to worry.

 

Exactly @carlmm . 

[Teddy123]

3 minutes ago, Solent Richard said:

 

Exactly @carlmm . 

If it isn't clear from my other posts, what I have to complain about is that a) most hotels, etc DON'T block off the whole billing amount in stages and then take the full amount as well - which is what Cunard do; b) most hotels, etc remove any block quite quickly but Cunard do NOTHING to remove the block even when the full amount is taken. Instead, it erroneously claims it can't do it, then claims the customer can do it himself (wrong again).  However, if this hasn't been understood by now, I'm not inclined to repeat it again after this.

[Windsurfboy]

I also use a Halifax credit card, no foreign  fees, MasterCard. Like Solent Richard said My understanding was you get MasterCard bulk exchange rate , cant be beaten. I keep it for holidays, use another with better benefits for sterling transactions. 

 

Of course there are a couple of other no foreign  fees credit cards. 

 

Never had a problem with  holding charges on Cunard , but never really examined it as never normally go near my credit limit

 

Understand curve card  trick is very useful if you want to maximise your avios on every single transaction . I'm just a bit lazy

 

 

Edited November 4, 2022 by Windsurfboy

[Victoria2]

We use Amex.

Dead easy, no hassle and marvellous in letting you know if your card has been cloned/misused  where ever you are in the world and great at holding challenges off the account until settled one way or the other.

[Host Hattie]

59 minutes ago, Teddy123 said:

If it isn't clear from my other posts, what I have to complain about is that a) most hotels, etc DON'T block off the whole billing amount in stages and then take the full amount as well - which is what Cunard do; b) most hotels, etc remove any block quite quickly but Cunard do NOTHING to remove the block even when the full amount is taken. Instead, it erroneously claims it can't do it, then claims the customer can do it himself (wrong again).  However, if this hasn't been understood by now, I'm not inclined to repeat it again after this.

I think the reason we're struggling to understand it is that's not what happens to the rest of us. I could imagine that perhaps 1 days transactions could be processed incorrectly but not every day.

I'd never heard of a Curve card until this thread, I can't help thinking that has added a layer of complexity to the process.

[Teddy123]

16 minutes ago, Host Hattie said:

I think the reason we're struggling to understand it is that's not what happens to the rest of us. I could imagine that perhaps 1 days transactions could be processed incorrectly but not every day.

I'd never heard of a Curve card until this thread, I can't help thinking that has added a layer of complexity to the process.

OK one more go!  It's not an "incorrect" transaction - the Cunard T&Cs actually say that interim holds will be placed each day, although they don't say the full amount will then be charged as well separately.  The issue is that Cunard makes no attempt to remove these holds even when it's taken the full amount at the end of the cruise. They only disappear when Cunard fails to exercise its option to turn them into real charges and they time out.  (Nearly) all other merchants - hotels, etc - actively remove any holds.  Until a hold goes, there is effectively a double charge because money/credit is used up and not available to the customer.

Although there seems some evidence that things happen differently sometimes, I'd put money on this happening to all UK passengers, even if they don't realise it (perhaps because their bank/credit card company times out holds faster than mine). 

Edited November 4, 2022 by Teddy123

[Host Hattie]

But the OP is insisting that these are not holds !