HAL- CUSTOMER SERVICE- DISGRACEFUL!

[Wehwalt]

17 minutes ago, Rambozo68 said:

I personally think the title is very appropriate. The fact that people have shared various experiences, all handled, in the first instance, by HAL's Guest Relations Department, shows how HAL, has failed to deliver the most basic level of customer comms on multiple occasions.

 

To then see HAL holding onto people's hard earned cash for many many weeks, again in a variety of different scenarios, shows an endemic policy of poor or morally questionable business practice.

 

DIS-GRACE-FUL!

 

Maybe Stratheden is right .......... "These types of complaints are often the first indication of financial difficulty.  This is just my opinion."

I agree. HAL should have given your money back long since. My post, which I've expressed before, says that that when thread titles make clear a grievance without making it clear what the grievance is, it sort of defeats the purpose of a thread title, which is to tell what the thread is about. Multiply by several threads of similar-style titling and you get rather more heat than light.

Edited Tuesday at 02:29 PM by Wehwalt

[Rambozo68]

22 minutes ago, Wehwalt said:

I agree. HAL should have given your money back long since. My post, which I've expressed before, says that that when thread titles make clear a grievance without making it clear what the grievance is, it sort of defeats the purpose of a thread title, which is to tell what the thread is about. Multiply by several threads of similar-style titling and you get rather more heat than light.

Hi Wehwalt, thanks, and ok, fair point, comment noted for future!

[njpln]

This has probably been covered before, but here goes anyway.

 

We recently came back from a Denali land tour and Alaskan cruise. The weather was pretty bad in Ketchikan, the clouds were low. They had to cancel our seaplane excursion, which meant we got almost $600 in onboard credit with one day left to go. 
 

The final statement says we will receive the refund to a credit card, but nothing has happened in a week and a half so I decided to call Holland just to find out how they actually do the refund and how long it takes.  My first call was through the Main Number (dealing with the crazy AI who’s telling me that my cruise is leaving and what day is leaving on… Who programs this stuff?) when I got through to an agent, the agent put me on hold and came back and told me there was 100 minute wait for guest relations and gave me the number. I called and AI took my phone number to do a call back. I never received a call back.
 

So I called at 11:03 EDST today, which I believe is when they open up. I was on hold for 53 minutes before somebody answered…that is just unbelievable and never offered to call me back today.   I finally got through to guest relations who had to put me on hold to check the information and a 10 minutes later I had my information.  They told me we would get a check to the address on file and it would take about a month but no guarantee.😳

 

I am appalled. First that guest relations is not adequately staffed. Secondly, that the statement says they’re crediting a credit card when an actuality they’re going to hold our money for another month and send a check. But I can’t be sure that one or the other is correct.

 

We are three star Mariners and we have two more cruises booked with Holland America. It’s not our favorite cruise line but we like a lot of their itineraries and that’s how we’ve gotten this far. It’s no surprise that there’s that huge thread about Holland America going downhill…. we are not rushing to book any more cruises with them at this point.  
 

Finally, curious how others have received the refunded OBC?

[FlorenceItaly]

This thread may be of interest to you as others are having similar problems months later.

 

[DE Solo]

There is already a very lengthy thread on this topic that you may want to look at.

[Petronillus]

I'm guessing that OP just didn't want to pile on.

IIRC from the lengthy thread that @FlorenceItaly was kind enough to link to, the upshot is that in the fullness of time (which may be as long as 6 weeks, per HAL Ts&Cs and/or policies/procedures/protocols), a $600 credit will appear on your statement for the credit card on file for that cruise.

Ship happens.

[a.madruga]

This happens when you allow customer service to be overseas when they are limited to what actions to take and resolve issues.

[julia]

Issuing a check (wasting time and paper) and sending it via snail mail, is just archaic in this electronic day and age.  If a company can CHARGE a credit card it can certainly issue a CREDIT!

[FlaMariner]

Here is what we do....

 

Anytime we've had OBC issues or inappropriate charges or tour refunds not happening, etc, I send an email to our TA (big, online TA) to track it down.  She handles it and she is better equipped to maneuver thru the HAL weeds....and has much more leverage than little ole 4* me. 

 

The timing is not fast but it seems to resolve itself in a couple of weeks.  She may ask for me to "let me know in a week if there is not credit" and when there is not, it's another simple update to her. 

 

I don't do a thing other than lean on my TA....Isn't that what an "agent" is there to do for you...why they earn the "big bucks"?

 

[julia]

⬆️⬆️⬆️

That's all fine and well, but that's NOT the point. The point is that it should not take WEEKS and CALLS and AGGRAVATION by you or your TA!

 

Case in point:  I started a return with Amazon late yesterday, got a QR code, and took package to UPS store. The credit is on my credit card today.  Bam!  That's how is works.

 

 

[goldsmip115]

Amen re Amazon!  I was notified that there was a problem with my delivery yesterday.  Today they issued a credit and AmexEx notified me of the credit.  HAL can and should do better.

[FlaMariner]

1 hour ago, julia said:

That's all fine and well, but that's NOT the point. The point is that it should not take WEEKS and CALLS and AGGRAVATION by you or your TA!

 

But it does take longer than Amazon to resolve stuff w/HAL...Point understood clearly.  That seems certain.  What it "should take" is irrelevant....IMO...

 

....I just try to focus on the best way to efficiently get stuff done and letting a pro handle it.....in this case, the TA who it is not her "first rodeo" dealing with it....works well for us and thus I wanted to pass along our experience in dealing with mess like the OP is going thru.

 

Problem resolution is never fun......and can become quite the adventure/time waster. 

 

 

[oaktreerb]

Before Covid shutdown if we were entitled to a credit for a cancelled HAL excursion, refundable gifted OBC, or port fees it would show up on our final statement and be credited to the credit card on file with HAL at the end of the cruise.  I don’t understand why this process has changed.  If you had a credit card on file for the cruise the refund should show up and be credited to your CC per your final statement.

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[everbeentoseabilly]

Well, I just spent 2 hours and 45 minutes mostly on hold with guest relations. I wanted to find out what was happening with our refundable OBC. We disembarked August 17. A full 2 hours 20 minutes on hold then actually talked to someone. Gave all the info and was put on hold again. She came

back said she could not find the information. She asked could she put me on hold again and that was it. I think it was closing time and the call was ended. Not

fun at all. I had already sent an email that has only had the auto non response.  I think I’ll try the emails of the higher ups next. 

[Stratheden]

9 hours ago, julia said:

Issuing a check (wasting time and paper) and sending it via snail mail, is just archaic in this electronic day and age.  If a company can CHARGE a credit card it can certainly issue a CREDIT!

We don't use cheques anymore in Australia.  HAL is way behind the 8 ball.

[bigbeergut]

On 9/17/2024 at 2:45 AM, Riversider said:

To add to my posts #55 & #58:

1) After not being able to rebook flights to meet the sailing we contacted Holland by phone, and after an hour on hold the representative could not help us and said he would handle the cancellation for us. We confirmed the cancellation with an email. This was the day before the sailing.

2) Contacted Holland requesting 90% reimbursement -- was told to go through our TA (Alan in Seattle) which we did.  TA was told that our credit card account would be credited for the 90%. This did not happen and Holland did not respond to my emails.

3) Having previous experience with Hollands policy of delaying payments, I filed a complaint with the BBB. After about three weeks I received a letter from XXXXX, Special Advisor-Office of the President, recommending that I file a claim with AON, which I did. AON promptly responded "At this time we advise that you contact Holland America for all Trip Cancellation claim questions and concerns as all cancellation claims are handled through them"

 

I have an extensive file documenting this mess.

 

We have had several dealings with AON over the years and find their service to be outstanding.

If you cancelled the day before the cruise, then it sounds like it was less than 24 hours and you are not eligible for cancellation coverage.  It’s unfortunate that your TA may have received incorrect information.  At less than 24 hours you are in the trip interruption category and the insurance company expects you to join the trip in process.  For a 35 day trip, I suspect that you could have caught up somewhere.

[Rambozo68]

14 hours ago, Petronillus said:

I'm guessing that OP just didn't want to pile on.

IIRC from the lengthy thread that @FlorenceItaly was kind enough to link to, the upshot is that in the fullness of time (which may be as long as 6 weeks, per HAL Ts&Cs and/or policies/procedures/protocols), a $600 credit will appear on your statement for the credit card on file for that cruise.

Ship happens.

Hi Petronillus, I'm now at 6 weeks and 4 days and I've no idea when I'll receive my refund.

[Lido deck main]

10 minutes ago, Rambozo68 said:

Hi Petronillus, I'm now at 6 weeks and 4 days and I've no idea when I'll receive my refund.

If they do end up sending you a cheque it may initially look like junk mail to you.  Years ago I received a cheque refund, didn’t say Holland America on it, (I forgot now the name of the  company) also doesn’t didn’t arrive in an envelope, arrived as a statement, opened it up and one side was the cheque.  Let us know how this all resolves for you.  You are more patient than I would be.  Six weeks and counting is not a reasonable time to wait to receive your own money back in my opinion.

[Rambozo68]

UPDATE 1

 

I mentioned in my original post that this affected both us and our friends who travelled with us. 6 weeks and 4 days after returning, our friends have just received the response below from HAL.

 

• Their bank confirmed that no attempt was made to make this payment.
• "Issue a check" - seriously, it's 2024!
• "Strict auditing - MINIMUM 60 DAYS" - surely not!
• "We regret we are unable to assist with your concern directly" - that's your job!
• "Unable to provide direct contact" - yeah, that means don't bother us again! 
• "Disappointing holiday" - oh no it wasn't, it was fantastic!
• "Office of the President" ??????????????

 

In summary, they still have no idea when their OBC will be refunded!

(almost $900)

 

Edited Wednesday at 08:52 AM by Rambozo68

[TRLD]

16 hours ago, a.madruga said:

This happens when you allow customer service to be overseas when they are limited to what actions to take and resolve issues.

Customer service agents are always limited in what they can do both inside the US or overseas. The biggest issue is that the data accessable by customer service is very limited. So any query that involves shipboard accounts and refunds would need to be sent to the finance department.

[a.madruga]

On 9/12/2024 at 10:44 AM, Rambozo68 said:

Hi Wehwalt, paid for pre-cruise.

were they paid by AARP gift cards?

[Mary229]

20 minutes ago, a.madruga said:

were they paid by AARP gift cards?

That makes no difference. The procedure is to apply cancel excursion fees to the shipboard account. The ship board account credit goes either to you in cash or credited to the credit card on file 

[Wehwalt]

I would imagine that if a check is issued at this late date, it will be in dollars. Since I gather some of the people involved are non-American, this could be an issue at the banking level. 

 

 

Edited Wednesday at 01:44 PM by Wehwalt

[VMax1700]

55 minutes ago, Wehwalt said:

I would imagine that if a check is issued at this late date, it will be in dollars. Since I gather some of the people involved are non-American, this could be an issue at the banking level. 

 

 

The credit to the onboard account would be in dollars and any refund back to a credit card would be in dollars with the bank processing the exchange at current rates.

Problem with a cheque is that when it is lodged to an account, the processing bank will probably send it 'for collection' and until the cheque clears the international banking system the payee will not receive the credit.  This can take another couple of weeks, depending on the drawing bank etc.