Payment in Limbo

[happyiam]

Looking for advice from all the knowledgeable cruisers here. My friend and I booked a cruise in August for end of April this year. The problem has happened when we tried to make final payment. We went through our travel agent, both paying our half with credit cards. Mine went through without any problems. When my friends was entered, nothing showed up at the agents end. He said to look again later to see if it was just a glitch causing the delay. We didn't check back with our agent until the following day. My friend's bank account says payment is pending, but when contacting Royal's agent now, he told the travel agent the card was declined. The bank says Royal has to issue a refund, but Royal says they don't as it was declined. Help please. Who should we escalate this issue to?  Her money is being held in limbo! Final payment is due in 4 days, although the agent did give her a week longer to correct this. Out agent doesn't know what to do. Thank you in advance for

[soremekun]

Can you make the payment and the friend pay your back?  Is it a friend or "friend"?

[happyiam]

 This is a friend I've had for over 60 years. More like a sister. Yes I can definitely you do this, but prefer this as a last resort.  She doesn't want to be on the hook though for paying double. 

[S.A.M.J.R.]

I have no financial backing and didn't stay at a Holiday Inn last night, but I would start with the bank.  "The vendor (Royal) says this payment was declined.  Do you have anything showing it went through?"

 

[Another_Critic]

1 hour ago, happyiam said:

My friend's bank account says payment is pending, but when contacting Royal's agent now, he told the travel agent the card was declined. The bank says Royal has to issue a refund, but Royal says they don't as it was declined. 

Debit card?

Credit card exceeding credit limit?

Card declined due to foreign transaction?

[happyiam]

58 minutes ago, Another_Critic said:

Debit card?

Credit card exceeding credit limit?

Card declined due to foreign transaction?

Nope. Good thoughts though.

[happyiam]

1 hour ago, S.A.M.J.R. said:

I have no financial backing and didn't stay at a Holiday Inn last night, but I would start with the bank.  "The vendor (Royal) says this payment was declined.  Do you have anything showing it went through?"

 

She has a paper showing it as pending. It has been pending now for 5 days which the bank says is strange...She has sent a complaint to the banks customer service.

[Another_Critic]

Just now, happyiam said:

Nope. Good thoughts though.

 

If it's a credit card, have the TA run it through again, verify the correct expiration date and 3 digit CVV (Amex = 4 digits on the front of the card) .

[SG65CB]

Maybe it would be better to pay RC again and then work on fixing this problem.

 

You could spend a lot of time trying to get this resolved between the bank and RC, and end up with your cruise canceled for non-payment. 

 

 

 

[Max and Ruby]

Something like this happened to me when paying for my daughters' cabin.  Apparently the card was declined because both girls were under 18, but their cabin was next to our cabin and our agent didn't note this on the reservation. So Royal's "system" saw it as a free standing cabin with under 21 as passengers. 

Thank goodness I called weeks ahead of final payment because the "pending" that you see on your credit card statement will fall off eventually.  Pay again, bottom line you should not be charged double.  IF you are charged double, you then just have to have agent call Royal back , explain and then get a refund issued.  That is what my agent told me. 

All worked out fine. Although.... I had a big box store agent and had to sit on the phone every time she called Royal. That was my last time dealing with the Big Box stores.

 

Good luck!  

[Ourusualbeach]

9 minutes ago, Max and Ruby said:

Apparently the card was declined because both girls were under 18, but their cabin was next to our cabin and our agent didn't note this on the reservation.

I've had dozens of these situations and never had a card declined for that reason. 

[Max and Ruby]

4 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

I've had dozens of these situations and never had a card declined for that reason. 

My time with the Big Box store agency was a nightmare...I'm glad it is in my rear view mirror. May I also add that for both cruises I booked I was supposed to get 5% cash card back.  Well I had to chase that both times as well. My original agent was like "I just don't understand why this is happening....." in reference as to why I didn't get my card X weeks after the cruises. 

[S.A.M.J.R.]

3 hours ago, happyiam said:

She has a paper showing it as pending. It has been pending now for 5 days which the bank says is strange...She has sent a complaint to the banks customer service.

Is "she" your friend?  Did she get that paper from the bank (actually call and have something emailed or printed in a branch) or online?  I think she needs to talk to a human at the bank (if she hasn't already) and say "the vendor says it was declined". 

[swoopy2110]

If its stuck at pending this it will drop off in a few days. The bank will say its authorised as they've issued an auth code for it, but if RCI aren't going to claim it then it's never going to move on.

[steveru621]

3 hours ago, happyiam said:

She has a paper showing it as pending. It has been pending now for 5 days which the bank says is strange...She has sent a complaint to the banks customer service.

 

If it is on her account as pending, it just means RCI has not settled the transaction.  It wasn't declined, but if RCI thinks it was, have your TA resubmit the payment ASAP.

 

If it shows up on your CC twice, it's a straightforward dispute with your bank as a duplicate transaction.

Edited January 22 by steveru621

[happyiam]

5 hours ago, SG65CB said:

Maybe it would be better to pay RC again and then work on fixing this problem.

 

You could spend a lot of time trying to get this resolved between the bank and RC, and end up with your cruise canceled for non-payment. 

 

 

 

I am thinking this is probably the best route. Thx

[happyiam]

3 hours ago, S.A.M.J.R. said:

Is "she" your friend?  Did she get that paper from the bank (actually call and have something emailed or printed in a branch) or online?  I think she needs to talk to a human at the bank (if she hasn't already) and say "the vendor says it was declined". 

Thank you. Yes she went in and spoke with manager of her branch and is no further ahead,

[happyiam]

3 hours ago, swoopy2110 said:

If its stuck at pending this it will drop off in a few days. The bank will say its authorised as they've issued an auth code for it, but if RCI aren't going to claim it then it's never going to move on.

Thank you for this info. That's more than the bank told her.

[happyiam]

Thank you all. Having heard of others getting their cruises cancelled and never having to dispute anything with the bank, I am going to pass on your comments and just pay again. If not cleared we will cancel as duplicate transaction.

[cruisinfanatic]

6 hours ago, Max and Ruby said:

Something like this happened to me when paying for my daughters' cabin.  Apparently the card was declined because both girls were under 18, but their cabin was next to our cabin and our agent didn't note this on the reservation. So Royal's "system" saw it as a free standing cabin with under 21 as passengers. 

Thank goodness I called weeks ahead of final payment because the "pending" that you see on your credit card statement will fall off eventually.  Pay again, bottom line you should not be charged double.  IF you are charged double, you then just have to have agent call Royal back , explain and then get a refund issued.  That is what my agent told me. 

All worked out fine. Although.... I had a big box store agent and had to sit on the phone every time she called Royal. That was my last time dealing with the Big Box stores.

 

Good luck!  

Didn't get declined because of that. Royal doesn't care who pays them