Random $175 Charge

[dayzees13]

Has anyone else been charged a random $175 charge by Princess recently, for no reason? We have been discussing cruises and looking at a few different lines, including Princess and we have sailed Carnival, RCC, and Princess in the past so this isn't new to us. However, in reviewing our credit card yesterday, I noted a $175 charge from January 2, 23. I contacted Princess via their online chat and they couldn't even look it up as we have nothing booked. I then had to report to my bank and now they are sending a new card (sigh). 

 

I ask because maybe others have received this charge for some reason and I'd love to know.  Thank you

[Rick&Jeannie]

You have nothing booked???  Definitely something strange going on here.  Personally, I think I would have just contested the charge via the credit card company before going through the pain of getting a new card (and all of the locations where I would have to "update" my CC info!)  But...going the route you did slams the door on any possible fraud...if that is in fact what was taking place.

 

But to answer your initial question...no, this should NOT happen!  

[Thrak]

17 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

You have nothing booked???  Definitely something strange going on here.  Personally, I think I would have just contested the charge via the credit card company before going through the pain of getting a new card (and all of the locations where I would have to "update" my CC info!)  But...going the route you did slams the door on any possible fraud...if that is in fact what was taking place.

 

But to answer your initial question...no, this should NOT happen!  

 

Agreed. The last time I had to replace a credit card it was a major hassle. I use that card in soooooooooo many places. In many cases I use a "virtual" number that Capital One associates with my card so the number is only good in a single place. All of those numbers are linked to the main card number. It's no fun having to fix all of those billings.

 

I can't think of any reason for a random charge of $175 from Princess. It seems pretty weird. Even though the OP has cancelled the card and cancelled the charge I think I would still pursue the matter with Princess in an attempt to discover what had triggered the charge.

[skynight]

Contact your credit card company and inquire. If the charge is not yours place a stop on it. Are you sure it is Princess Cruise Lines or some other Princess? Lots of on line sites called Princess. 

[reedprincess]

37 minutes ago, skynight said:

Contact your credit card company and inquire. If the charge is not yours place a stop on it. Are you sure it is Princess Cruise Lines or some other Princess? Lots of on line sites called Princess. 

They did report to their CC, as clearly stated in their opening post... 

[tonit964]

This is the reason I set up a cash account once on the ship, especially now that they send your final invoice via email. I’d rather not try to sort any errors out once I’m off the ship. 
Easy Peasy.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

1 hour ago, tonit964 said:

This is the reason I set up a cash account once on the ship, especially now that they send your final invoice via email. I’d rather not try to sort any errors out once I’m off the ship. 
Easy Peasy.

OP is not freshly off the ship though.

[dickinson]

It sounds to me like this is possible fraud.  That is probably why when the OP contacted the credit card company they closed the account and are sending her a new one.

[jeromep]

3 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

You have nothing booked???  Definitely something strange going on here.  Personally, I think I would have just contested the charge via the credit card company before going through the pain of getting a new card (and all of the locations where I would have to "update" my CC info!)  But...going the route you did slams the door on any possible fraud...if that is in fact what was taking place.

 

But to answer your initial question...no, this should NOT happen!  

When a bank or credit card issuer has a customer report a transaction as not legitimate and is seeking a chargeback, depending on that issuer's policies, the transaction is considered fraudulent.  Since the customer is claiming that they didn't conduct the charge, that leads to the assumption that the card information has been compromised in some way.  The only way to address this issue is to issue a new card.  Again, depending on the risk tolerance of the issuing institution, they may issue a new card with the same card number, but a new expiration date and new CVV number, which effectively makes any additional fraudulent transactions not work because the data doesn't match when the fraudster tries a new transaction, or they may issue an entirely new card with new card number, along with new expiration and CVV numbers (new chips and new NFC in the card also).  Credit/debit card fraud is really annoying, and unless it is an incident which impacts thousands or millions of users all at once, think Target's breach many years ago, you never really know where the fraud occurred and just have to pick up the pieces and move on.

[VibeGuy]

Did the transaction information say “PASSAGE” or have a specific ship name?

[tonit964]

3 hours ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

OP is not freshly off the ship though.

Very good point. Sounds like it’s a fraudulent charge. 

[dayzees13]

Thanks so much to everyone that answered. @jeromep, you are exactly correct. As soon as I report suspected fraudulent charges, my credit card automatically cancels my card and issues a new one. I am dreading all the updating I will need to do but I didn't see any other way around it. I am attaching a screenshot of the charge, if anyone is interested. Also, I googled the phone number and it appears to be a legitimate Princess number but I did not actually try to call the number.  I appreciate everyone's thoughts~!

 

[dayzees13]

7 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

Agreed. The last time I had to replace a credit card it was a major hassle. I use that card in soooooooooo many places. In many cases I use a "virtual" number that Capital One associates with my card so the number is only good in a single place. All of those numbers are linked to the main card number. It's no fun having to fix all of those billings.

 

I can't think of any reason for a random charge of $175 from Princess. It seems pretty weird. Even though the OP has cancelled the card and cancelled the charge I think I would still pursue the matter with Princess in an attempt to discover what had triggered the charge.

I love the idea of a virtual number! I bank with Chase and it would be so awesome if they had something like this. I am DREADING all the updates I'm going to have. 

[Rick&Jeannie]

13 hours ago, dayzees13 said:

Thanks so much to everyone that answered. @jeromep, you are exactly correct. As soon as I report suspected fraudulent charges, my credit card automatically cancels my card and issues a new one. I am dreading all the updating I will need to do but I didn't see any other way around it. I am attaching a screenshot of the charge, if anyone is interested. Also, I googled the phone number and it appears to be a legitimate Princess number but I did not actually try to call the number.  I appreciate everyone's thoughts~!

 

 

That phone number listed in your screenshot is the main Princess call-in number...

 

It would really be interesting to know exactly what that charge was...

[nasa1974]

20 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

Agreed. The last time I had to replace a credit card it was a major hassle. I use that card in soooooooooo many places. In many cases I use a "virtual" number that Capital One associates with my card so the number is only good in a single place. All of those numbers are linked to the main card number. It's no fun having to fix all of those billings.

 

I can't think of any reason for a random charge of $175 from Princess. It seems pretty weird. Even though the OP has cancelled the card and cancelled the charge I think I would still pursue the matter with Princess in an attempt to discover what had triggered the charge.

This is more about the hassle of going to all the accounts you have set up on your credit card. I had a AAA VISA credit card from Bank of America for 30 years. In 2022 AAA decided to go to a different bank for the VISA card. The problem for me was when the new card was activated and the old card charge billing dates. So I had to go into all my accounts and change them for billing to one of my other credit cards.

Fortunately, I had documentation of what accounts billed to the credit card and crossed reference that to the BoF account. 

[jeromep]

@dayzees13

There is a service on the VISA network which communicates card number changes to recurring billers, those billers who you have set up an automatic recurring charge, like Netflix or your internet provider.  I can't remember it's official name, but for banks that offer it, it is a service that just operates in the background, it is not an opt-in service, but an opt-out service, so if they offer it, you would have had to opt-out of it at some time in the past.  It works well if the biller pays attention to the account number change information which is communicated back to them through the VISA network when they run your old card number for a recurring charge.  You may want to contact your card issuer and see if they offer this service and if so, your individual status with the service.

Edited January 9, 2023 by jeromep

[Rick&Jeannie]

11 hours ago, jeromep said:

@dayzees13

There is a service on the VISA network which communicates card number changes to recurring billers, those billers who you have set up an automatic recurring charge, like Netflix or your internet provider.  I can't remember it's official name, but for banks that offer it, it is a service that just operates in the background, it is not an opt-in service, but an opt-out service, so if they offer it, you would have had to opt-out of it at some time in the past.  It works well if the biller pays attention to the account number change information which is communicated back to them through the VISA network when they run your old card number for a recurring charge.  You may want to contact your card issuer and see if they offer this service and if so, your individual status with the service.

Hah!  That's a new one on me!  Thanks for sharing it.  (I don't think my bank does it, though.)

[nasa1974]

21 hours ago, jeromep said:

@dayzees13

There is a service on the VISA network which communicates card number changes to recurring billers, those billers who you have set up an automatic recurring charge, like Netflix or your internet provider.  I can't remember it's official name, but for banks that offer it, it is a service that just operates in the background, it is not an opt-in service, but an opt-out service, so if they offer it, you would have had to opt-out of it at some time in the past.  It works well if the biller pays attention to the account number change information which is communicated back to them through the VISA network when they run your old card number for a recurring charge.  You may want to contact your card issuer and see if they offer this service and if so, your individual status with the service.

Sounds interesting but that wasn't even mentioned by AAA. Nor in the letter I received by the new issuer of my new AAA VISA card. It worked out but it was a pain in the butt changing everything.

[jeromep]

15 hours ago, nasa1974 said:

Sounds interesting but that wasn't even mentioned by AAA. Nor in the letter I received by the new issuer of my new AAA VISA card. It worked out but it was a pain in the butt changing everything.

I've found that a lot of card issuers don't make a big deal of the service.  So, they may offer it, and it works in the background, but little is said of the service.  On the flip side the issuers that don't offer the service won't educate their CSRs on the fact that they don't offer it, so if you ask a CSR in a call center about it they won't even know what you are talking about.

 

The mailer that a card is attached to has a lot of information printed on it regarding card features, contacting customer service, and so forth, but the account number migration feature is something that is usually not mentioned on that limited real estate.