Mystery charge

[grouchomarx]

I have a cruise booked for next June.  I did not purchase any add ons yet, I was planning to wait until next year.  Today I received a notice from Amex that a charge of $260.72 is pending from Royalcaribbean.com. I checked my reservation and my account and it shows nothing was purchased.  I called Royal and they have no history of any purchases.  So of course I will call Amex next but they will probably tell me they don’t know anything.  Any ideas?  I’m clueless what this could be.

[orville99]

16 minutes ago, grouchomarx said:

I have a cruise booked for next June.  I did not purchase any add ons yet, I was planning to wait until next year.  Today I received a notice from Amex that a charge of $260.72 is pending from Royalcaribbean.com. I checked my reservation and my account and it shows nothing was purchased.  I called Royal and they have no history of any purchases.  So of course I will call Amex next but they will probably tell me they don’t know anything.  Any ideas?  I’m clueless what this could be.

We had this happen once to us. It was on a cruise that we booked right before they changed their minimum deposit policy, so our original down payment was the $500 minimum. After they changed to a fixed % of the cruise fare as the minimum, they billed us for an oddball amount to cover the changed deposit structure. Not sure if that is what you are seeing, but I would check your booking invoice to see whether the amount paid so far has changed.

Edited September 12 by orville99

[grouchomarx]

7 minutes ago, orville99 said:

We had this happen once to us. It was on a cruise that we booked right before they changed their minimum deposit policy, so our original down payment was the $500 minimum. After they changed to a fixed % of the cruise fare as the minimum, they billed us for an oddball amount to cover the changed deposit structure. Not sure if that is what you are seeing, but I would check your booking invoice to see whether the amount paid so far has changed.

I did a mock booking of my upcoming cruise and it still shows the deposit would be $250.  And if they were going to up my deposit they would know about it, wouldn’t they?  I think this is something fraudulent.  

[nelblu]

24 minutes ago, orville99 said:

After they changed to a fixed % of the cruise fare as the minimum, they billed us for an oddball amount to cover the changed deposit structure.

Can you clarify this statement.  Other than suites, the deposits that we have been charged on recent bookings are $250 pp and if booked on board $100 pp.

[orville99]

2 minutes ago, nelblu said:

Can you clarify this statement.  Other than suites, the deposits that we have been charged on recent bookings are $250 pp and if booked on board $100 pp.

It was a GS for July 2024, and when we originally booked it (on board) the deposit they took was $500 ($250/pp). After they changed their policy, they billed us an additional $389.70 to bring the deposit up to the new minimum required on that grand suite. The overall cost of the cruise did not change, just the required deposit.

[firefly333]

41 minutes ago, grouchomarx said:

I did a mock booking of my upcoming cruise and it still shows the deposit would be $250.  And if they were going to up my deposit they would know about it, wouldn’t they?  I think this is something fraudulent.  

So have you called yet. That's the first thing I would do before asking here. What did they say when you called?

[grouchomarx]

Just now, firefly333 said:

So have you called yet. That's the first thing I would do before asking here. What did they say when you called?

I called Royal, no charges in my account. Amex said they can’t dispute it until it posts and they don’t know anything about the charge.  So nobody knows anything.  

[Another_Critic]

5 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

So have you called yet. That's the first thing I would do before asking here. What did they say when you called?

 

Have you read the first post yet?  😄

[firefly333]

Just now, grouchomarx said:

I called Royal, no charges in my account. Amex said they can’t dispute it until it posts and they don’t know anything about the charge.  So nobody knows anything.  

Yes of course its true you cant dispute until after your cut off date for charges for the billing cycle. I worked for amex disputes for a few years back when  it was a fun place to work. Those days are long gone with outsourcing to india.  And they have to "write" to the merchant and allow them time to respond what the charge is. This looks too high to write off so they have to write to the merchant. Just be careful if it actually is from royal and its charged back your cruise could get cancelled. 

[firefly333]

1 minute ago, Another_Critic said:

 

Have you read the first post yet?  😄

Yes posted 1 hour ago. I would have called by now..or as I said before posting it here. Why post such a snarky response. ..turns out OP did call within the last hour.

[grouchomarx]

2 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

Yes of course its true you cant dispute until after your cut off date for charges for the billing cycle. I worked for amex disputes for a few years back when  it was a fun place to work. Those days are long gone with outsourcing to india.  And they have to "write" to the merchant and allow them time to respond what the charge is. This looks too high to write off so they have to write to the merchant. Just be careful if it actually is from royal and its charged back your cruise could get cancelled. 

I don’t understand why it would cancel my cruise, this charge is in no way linked to that cruise.  I was hoping Amex could block the posting of the pending charge since it’s fraudulent but nope.  I wish they had that ability.

[Another_Critic]

1 minute ago, firefly333 said:

Yes posted 1 hour ago. I would have called by now..or as I said before posting it here. Why post such a snarky response. ..turns out OP did call within the last hour.

 

The original post by the OP says:  "I called Royal and they have no history of any purchases."

 

My post was sarcasm, thus the 😄

[grouchomarx]

4 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

Yes posted 1 hour ago. I would have called by now..or as I said before posting it here. Why post such a snarky response. ..turns out OP did call within the last hour.

I posted here after calling Royal and before calling Amex.  I figured they were not going to be helpful since it was still pending and wanted to find out if anyone had any ideas about what this could be to hopefully easy my mind because I am worried about this charge and if someone has my cc # and used it fraudulently.  Also it takes time on hold to get through and in that time I was able to post looking for help.

[Ken at the beach]

29 minutes ago, orville99 said:

It was a GS for July 2024, and when we originally booked it (on board) the deposit they took was $500 ($250/pp). After they changed their policy, they billed us an additional $389.70 to bring the deposit up to the new minimum required on that grand suite. The overall cost of the cruise did not change, just the required deposit.

All bookings made prior to the change in policy date were grandfathered.

[Ken at the beach]

1 minute ago, grouchomarx said:

I posted here after calling Royal and before calling Amex.  I figured they were not going to be helpful since it was still pending and wanted to find out if anyone had any ideas about what this could be to hopefully easy my mind because I am worried about this charge and if someone has my cc # and used it fraudulently.  Also it takes time on hold to get through and in that time I was able to post looking for help.

Call Royal.  Get the agent to reach out to accounting.  They can absolutely search for charges by credit card number and link it back to the purchase.  It is just getting the right person.  I have had to do this several times

[Eastern flygirl]

I had a similar experience.  My online banking of preset auto charges showed RCI a monthly charge of $275.00  I called RCI and they wanted a confirmation number.  They really had no idea what the charges were.

My bank did an investigation and after a week the posting was removed.  Still don’t know the reason for any of this, just happy my bank took care of it.

[firefly333]

9 minutes ago, grouchomarx said:

I posted here after calling Royal and before calling Amex.  I figured they were not going to be helpful since it was still pending and wanted to find out if anyone had any ideas about what this could be to hopefully easy my mind because I am worried about this charge and if someone has my cc # and used it fraudulently.  Also it takes time on hold to get through and in that time I was able to post looking for help.

 

6 minutes ago, Ken at the beach said:

Call Royal.  Get the agent to reach out to accounting.  They can absolutely search for charges by credit card number and link it back to the purchase.  It is just getting the right person.  I have had to do this several times

I would make sure the charge wasnt from royal before disputing the charge. Amex has a different definition of fraud than most card members. How was the card out of your possession for someone to hack it? They have a dept for fraud but I doubt this is the def of fraud on a credit card if the card was never out of your possession. I would be careful throwing out the word fraud if you had possession of the card. It's a unknown charge. Period. Claiming to be hacked or lost card can be more bother for you. Just say you "dont recognize the charge". It will just waste time going to fraud, being rejected, kicked back etc. 

 

Take Ken's advice and get someone to ask accounting, escalate it yourself. Disputing should be a last resort, and can have consequences you didnt anticipate. 

[grouchomarx]

15 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

 

I would make sure the charge wasnt from royal before disputing the charge. Amex has a different definition of fraud than most card members. How was the card out of your possession for someone to hack it? They have a dept for fraud but I doubt this is the def of fraud on a credit card if the card was never out of your possession. I would be careful throwing out the word fraud if you had possession of the card. It's a unknown charge. Period. Claiming to be hacked or lost card can be more bother for you. Just say you "dont recognize the charge". It will just waste time going to fraud, being rejected, kicked back etc. 

 

Take Ken's advice and get someone to ask accounting, escalate it yourself. Disputing should be a last resort, and can have consequences you didnt anticipate. 

I’ve already called Royal and they checked, found no charge in my account and said repeatedly to call my bank.  They can do nothing.  It was reported to me by Amex as a “card not present transaction”, I get alerts for all of those as there are many from monthly recurring charges and online purchases.  Someone can steal your account info and make online charges easily.

[orville99]

33 minutes ago, Ken at the beach said:

All bookings made prior to the change in policy date were grandfathered.

That may have been the intent, but the reality was anything but. The email they sent us specifically stated that the deposit amount we were charged on board had been increased to the new minimum and that we needed to pay the new amount or they would cancel the reservation.

Edited September 12 by orville99

[Ken at the beach]

Just now, orville99 said:

That may have been the intent, but the reality was anything but. The email they sent us specifically stated that the deposit amount we were charged on board had been increased to the new minimum.

Strange.  Never received that for any of the bookings I had as long as the booking was made prior to the date of the change

[Another_Critic]

18 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

How was the card out of your possession for someone to hack it?

 

Welcome to the world of credit card scams.  There are many ways for people to obtain your CC information without actually possessing the physical card.  Card skimmers at gas stations or other venues is a well known scam.  Online merchants getting hacked is another.  

[Another_Critic]

9 minutes ago, Ken at the beach said:

Strange.  Never received that for any of the bookings I had as long as the booking was made prior to the date of the change

 

I'm thinking it was a mistake by the Next Cruise agent, where they charged the non-suite deposit amount after the suite deposit change was in effect.

 

Disclaimer:  I don't know when the booking was made and I don't recall the effective date for the 10% suite deposit.

 

Edited September 12 by Another_Critic

[Ken at the beach]

6 minutes ago, Another_Critic said:

 

I'm thinking it was a mistake by the Next Cruise agent, where they charged the non-suite deposit amount after the suite deposit change was in effect.

 

From what I have experienced with the Next Cruise Agents that is definitely within the realm of possibilities.

[orville99]

48 minutes ago, Ken at the beach said:

Strange.  Never received that for any of the bookings I had as long as the booking was made prior to the date of the change

As I said, we only had it happen once, and to make it even more oddball, it was the middle leg of a B3B booked on board where they never asked for any extra $$ over the original $500/leg on either the first or third legs. I guess that is just classic RCL at work.

[shipgeeks]

I've read a couple of posts recently that mentioned calling RC for an unrelated reason, being told you have an unpaid charge, and asking for immediate payment before proceeding.  As it turned out, the phone number the people called was a scam number, not RC, but obtained from a clever listing somewhere.

Could that be the case here?