Final payment (due Monday) online showing higher amount due than original invoice??!!

[KKB]

I booked 2 B2B cruises to UK & Norway for May online in Nov. 

I went to pay the final payment today...and the amounts online are completely different (other than my down payment) than the original invoices (which I have the emails from.

One is $150 more & one is $250 more--it prompts me to pay this increased price.

What in the world is going on?

Assuming I just need to call, but has anyone else had this happen?

[Stockjock]

30 minutes ago, KKB said:

I booked 2 B2B cruises to UK & Norway for May online in Nov. 

I went to pay the final payment today...and the amounts online are completely different (other than my down payment) than the original invoices (which I have the emails from.

One is $150 more & one is $250 more--it prompts me to pay this increased price.

What in the world is going on?

Assuming I just need to call, but has anyone else had this happen?

I have had an increase of $800 for something as simple as changing from early dining to late dining.  Even minor changes to the booking can potentially trigger pricing changes.

As much as I hate to call customer service, it's what you need to do.  Be sure to have access to your original invoices and understand what has changed so you can articulate that to the agent.

If you get an agent who doesn't seem sharp or helpful, try to get off the phone, redial, and talk to someone else.  That said, most should be able to help you with this issue.

Edited February 3, 2023 by Stockjock

[JT1962]

1 hour ago, KKB said:

I booked 2 B2B cruises to UK & Norway for May online in Nov. 

I went to pay the final payment today...and the amounts online are completely different (other than my down payment) than the original invoices (which I have the emails from.

One is $150 more & one is $250 more--it prompts me to pay this increased price.

What in the world is going on?

Assuming I just need to call, but has anyone else had this happen?

it seems that anytime someone goes into your reservation on the MSC system, it reprices it to the current rate. That seems to be another flaw in their IT department and systems.
 

My May cruise was paid in full, and I asked my agent to check to see how much it would be to add someone to my cabin (not actually add them, just to see how much it would be).  The MSC rep told the TA they would need a full name, DOB, etc. to check the price, so I told her not to bother. I then received an invoice from MSC for an additional $587 because they said I made a change to my cruise. It. It took the agent five days to get it straightened out and then back to the original price is paid in full.

 

 

Edited February 3, 2023 by JT1962

[KKB]

45 minutes ago, Stockjock said:

Even minor changes to the booking can potentially trigger pricing changes.
 

12 minutes ago, JT1962 said:

it seems that anytime someone goes into your reservation on the MSC system, it reprices it to the current rate. That seems to be another flaw in their IT department and systems.

 

 

Here's the thing--I have not done ONE change to either booking since I booked them!!!

(tho I DID on my sailing in 2 weeks...added my son to that)

Actually was quite easy when I called--tho it did seem $75 higher than it should be...but since it was a free cruise for I figured perhaps port fees had gone up. 

 

 

 

Edited February 3, 2023 by KKB

[Stockjock]

20 minutes ago, KKB said:

Here's the thing--I have not done ONE change to either booking since I booked them!!!

(tho I DID on my sailing in 2 weeks...added my son to that)

Actually was quite easy when I called--tho it did seem $75 higher than it should be...but since it was a free cruise for I figured perhaps port fees had gone up. 

 

 

 

Customer service should know.  Just have your original booking invoice handy when you call, as they may not have access to this.

[Stockjock]

36 minutes ago, JT1962 said:

it seems that anytime someone goes into your reservation on the MSC system, it reprices it to the current rate. That seems to be another flaw in their IT department and systems.
 

My May cruise was paid in full, and I asked my agent to check to see how much it would be to add someone to my cabin (not actually add them, just to see how much it would be).  The MSC rep told the TA they would need a full name, DOB, etc. to check the price, so I told her not to bother. I then received an invoice from MSC for an additional $587 because they said I made a change to my cruise. It. It took the agent five days to get it straightened out and then back to the original price is paid in full.

 

 

This is one of the very legitimate complaints about MSC.

I've had someone here ask me, "Why do you hate MSC?"  I replied that I don't hate them or I wouldn't cruise with them, but some of the shoreside customer service issues, and the time and effort required to straighten them out, is not only maddening, but unacceptable.

[KKB]

2 minutes ago, Stockjock said:

This is one of the very legitimate complaints about MSC.

I've had someone here ask me, "Why do you hate MSC?"  I replied that I don't hate them or I wouldn't cruise with them, but some of the shoreside customer service issues, and the time and effort required to straighten them out, is not only maddening, but unacceptable.

I can certainly see people just cancelling a cruise when they see a larger amount on the final payment than their original invoice suggests. 

So odd.

[KKB]

Welp an hour & a half on the line (sometimes on hold...).

1st cruise corrected.

Then it was 4PM...which is 5PM in FL. Guess either the supervisor or the rep was off at 5.

They said it would be attended to 1st thing Monday.

We shall see.

I sail next Sunday so I need that one resolved  so I can make my final payment on it.

They were great to work with but that is nuts!

[mscdivina2016]

40 minutes ago, KKB said:

Welp an hour & a half on the line (sometimes on hold...).

1st cruise corrected.

Then it was 4PM...which is 5PM in FL. Guess either the supervisor or the rep was off at 5.

They said it would be attended to 1st thing Monday.

We shall see.

I sail next Sunday so I need that one resolved  so I can make my final payment on it.

They were great to work with but that is nuts!

I wish you luck.  I had a $1000 over charge in 2020.  I finally got my money a couple of months ago after having others step in.

 

Pay it now and we will correct it. Yeah that didn't happen.

[JT1962]

3 hours ago, KKB said:

Here's the thing--I have not done ONE change to either booking since I booked them!!!

(tho I DID on my sailing in 2 weeks...added my son to that)

Actually was quite easy when I called--tho it did seem $75 higher than it should be...but since it was a free cruise for I figured perhaps port fees had gone up. 

 

 

 

Not that anyone can figure out MSC’s systems or why things happen, but I would guess when you made the change to the cruise in 2 weeks that their system somehow refreshed all of your bookings or the Customer Service Rep clicked on the wrong one initially. It literally seems like if any of their reps open your booking for any reason, that their system treats it as a change, and it is re-priced at the current rate.

[KKB]

7 minutes ago, JT1962 said:

Not that anyone can figure out MSC’s systems or why things happen, but I would guess when you made the change to the cruise in 2 weeks that their system somehow refreshed all of your bookings or the Customer Service Rep clicked on the wrong one initially. It literally seems like if any of their reps open your booking for any reason, that their system treats it as a change, and it is re-priced at the current rate.

That's all I can think of....

2nd cruise came thru...

I have paid for both before things go ary again!!

[JT1962]

7 minutes ago, KKB said:

 

I have paid for both before things go ary again!!

Hopefully you won’t have any more issues. Paying in full doesn’t seem to matter with MSC. The one they billed me for had shown fully paid for almost 2 months. I learned my lesson and will not be asking them any questions about any of my future bookings. Hopefully no reps log into any of my bookings before I sail.

Edited February 4, 2023 by JT1962

[CTGirl74]

I have a question. I need to cancel one cruise because I decided to book YC instead. So I have two cruises for the same date and itinerary out there. I also want to make partial payment on the YC cruise. Should I do it in one call, or would I be better off calling to cancel the first cruise, and then calling back to make the partial payment? With any other company it wouldn't occur to me this could be an issue, but given all the customer service and repricing issues I hear about on here with MSC, I'm really worried. I'm also wondering if a partial payment would be too much for them to handle and I should just wait and make the full payment when I have it. I want to pay "cash" and not use my credit card; however, I guess I could use the card and then just pay down the card when the money comes in (waiting on a work bonus).

[JT1962]

54 minutes ago, CTGirl74 said:

I have a question. I need to cancel one cruise because I decided to book YC instead. So I have two cruises for the same date and itinerary out there. I also want to make partial payment on the YC cruise. Should I do it in one call, or would I be better off calling to cancel the first cruise, and then calling back to make the partial payment? With any other company it wouldn't occur to me this could be an issue, but given all the customer service and repricing issues I hear about on here with MSC, I'm really worried. I'm also wondering if a partial payment would be too much for them to handle and I should just wait and make the full payment when I have it. I want to pay "cash" and not use my credit card; however, I guess I could use the card and then just pay down the card when the money comes in (waiting on a work bonus).

I would base my decision on whether to do both at once on how the customer service rep you receive handles your first request. If they seem to know what they are doing, I would probably do both at once. If they don’t seem to have a clue or struggle with the first request, I would only make the one request or hang up and call back. There is a wide variety of competence and experience with the MSC customer service reps. If you get a good one on the line, try to get all of your requests done in that call.

Edited February 4, 2023 by JT1962

[twangster]

I had a similar experience and ended up cancelling the cruise.

 

 

[Gatordad1967]

what did your T/A say?

 

[ChattTenn]

We booked thru TA whose tried to make the payment through MSC system it also shown the cost more than our invoice (under $100).  Our agent called MSC and their agent quoted from their system the same price as our invoice.  MSC system might have a problem.  You might need to invest a phone call to their customer service before calling your cruise.

We already got our cruise paid for May sailing (same price as invoice).

 

Edited February 20, 2023 by ChattTenn

[B_A_H]

Whenever there is a change to a booking that impacts the cruise fare, it reprices to the current day's pricing.  MSC recently revised European port taxes and a bunch of us here got confirmation e-mails with higher prices than we booked.

 

I e-mailed my original booking PDF to mscexistingreservations@msccruisesusa.com as they asked and within an hour I got a revised confirmation with the corrected pricing.

 

Should it happen?  No.  Is it annoying?  Yes.  Is it the end of the world?  No. 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

2 hours ago, B_A_H said:

Whenever there is a change to a booking that impacts the cruise fare, it reprices to the current day's pricing.  MSC recently revised European port taxes and a bunch of us here got confirmation e-mails with higher prices than we booked.

 

I e-mailed my original booking PDF to mscexistingreservations@msccruisesusa.com as they asked and within an hour I got a revised confirmation with the corrected pricing.

 

Should it happen?  No.  Is it annoying?  Yes.  Is it the end of the world?  No. 

well, i didn't even get a pdf file when I made a reservation online, so I don't have anything to show.

[mscdivina2016]

14 hours ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

well, i didn't even get a pdf file when I made a reservation online, so I don't have anything to show.

You might have an issue then.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

1 hour ago, mscdivina2016 said:

You might have an issue then.

I got the email that the reservation was made and a deposit was paid. but no pdf file.

[travelberlin]

I keep getting wrong invoices indicating we have to pay a large amount for our cruise that we have already paid in full. I have contacted my travel agent, who after contacting MSC explains to me that those invoices are automatically generated and that we should just ignore them. Something is wrong with MSC! 
Ivi

[Nunagoras]

On 2/3/2023 at 7:11 PM, KKB said:

I booked 2 B2B cruises to UK & Norway for May online in Nov. 

I went to pay the final payment today...and the amounts online are completely different (other than my down payment) than the original invoices (which I have the emails from.

One is $150 more & one is $250 more--it prompts me to pay this increased price.

What in the world is going on?

Assuming I just need to call, but has anyone else had this happen?

As the amount is on the 100-300 bucks difference, my impression is that the amount might to have happened due to port and state taxes increases in the mean time or the gratuities if those are part of the deal, once those are calculated apart, but built in your set price. As someone has said small changes on bookings my incur on some price adjustment, but this time I believe more on my first assumption. Please contact them.

[Homosassa]

While the OP's fares have been corrected, it might help other to know this  rom those MSC Terms and Conditions  (MSCUSA) that so many do not read before accepting the booking:

 

"Prior to 20 days before departure or receipt of full payment, the Company reserves the right to modify the Contract price to allow for variations of: (a) air transportation costs; (b) fuel costs for the propulsion of the vessel; (c) dues, taxes or fees chargeable for services such as embarkation or disembarkation fees at ports or airports; and (d) the exchange rates relevant to the Cruise Package. Variations may be upwards or downwards. For air transportation costs, any variation of the Cruise Package price will be equal to the extra amount charged by the airline. For fuel costs, any variation of the Cruise Package price will be equal to 0.33% of the price of the Cruise for every dollar of increase of the fuel per barrel (NYMEX Index). For dues, taxes or fees, any variation of the Cruise Package price will be equal to the full amount of the fees."

[mscdivina2016]

17 hours ago, Homosassa said:

While the OP's fares have been corrected, it might help other to know this  rom those MSC Terms and Conditions  (MSCUSA) that so many do not read before accepting the booking:

 

"Prior to 20 days before departure or receipt of full payment, the Company reserves the right to modify the Contract price to allow for variations of: (a) air transportation costs; (b) fuel costs for the propulsion of the vessel; (c) dues, taxes or fees chargeable for services such as embarkation or disembarkation fees at ports or airports; and (d) the exchange rates relevant to the Cruise Package. Variations may be upwards or downwards. For air transportation costs, any variation of the Cruise Package price will be equal to the extra amount charged by the airline. For fuel costs, any variation of the Cruise Package price will be equal to 0.33% of the price of the Cruise for every dollar of increase of the fuel per barrel (NYMEX Index). For dues, taxes or fees, any variation of the Cruise Package price will be equal to the full amount of the fees."

That may be there but in reality that cannot be enforced without allot of effort.

Everyone has the right to receive verification so they are not publishing their numbers on each of those and lastly they must give you the option to cancel with no penalty if they alter a contract without providing documents to back it up.

 

This is the same with other lines.

What they do is make a public announcement that a fuel charge or higher tips are being implemented on such a such date. Many give you the option to pay now.

Also fully paid bookings are supposed to be protected.

 

I got a lawyer when they downgraded me out of YC with no fare reduction and found out many things.