Third Party Authorization.........

[sail7seas]

Has anyone had to deal with 'hold on H*** ' waiting to speak with a real person at HAL excursion office because of a special requirement I never heard of before.

 

Yesterday, I booked a tour for our upcoming cruise for my DH and myself. I then entered our friends booking number and name and booked the same tour for them. I used the same credit card (ours) to charge their tour.

 

Up popped a Third Party Authorization Form that had to be completed, printed, signed and faxed to HAL in order for them to make the charge I wanted to make on MY credit card.

 

Problem was each time I tried to print the form in order to comply with their requirement, it vanished. I was unable to print it.

 

I am now on 'hold on h*ll' having to deal with this.

 

I am not a happy cruiser right now.

 

Anyone else had to go through these hoops?

 

I am very ready to say forget it and they'll lose $400 worth of bookings.

 

The irony is that I got an e-mail confirmation that their tour had been booked as well as one for our booking. But......who knows if when we arrive at the ship, their tour coupons will exist. So here I wait holding on.

 

What peeves me is the annoying voice that keeps thanking me for my patience. Don't Thank me for my Patience. I am NOT being patient!!!

 

Okay.....rant is over.

[kryos]

Up popped a Third Party Authorization Form that had to be completed, printed, signed and faxed to HAL in order for them to make the charge I wanted to make on MY credit card.

That's the stupidest thing I ever heard of ... and it sounds like a glitch in HAL's system. If you're putting the charge on your credit card, there is no third party involved, and no third party authorization form needed.

 

Why don't you just dump this on your TA to handle for you? She probably has "special" phone numbers she can call to get faster service.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[sail7seas]

:) I have more 'special phone numbers' than most any TA will ever have!!! ;) I don't share the numbers I have with her. :)

 

If I could not work it out on my own, I would use those numbers but don't want to bother people who should not have to be involved in it.

 

I was able to resolve it. After a lengthy hold, I spoke with a very polite, competent, pleasant woman who acknowledged it was not necessary to have that kind of confirmation seeing as I was using my own card to make the charge. It didn't matter whoever I was buying the excursion FOR as long as it was me using the card.

 

She then very efficiently booked two additional tours for the four of us and within 5 minutes I have e-mail confirmation that all was done exactly as I desired.

 

I was simply so annoyed to have to go through the nuisance and probably shouldn't have posted the whole story but I was dangling in 'hold on' outer space.

 

All is well that ends well. :) ....and hopefully we'll enjoy some fun tours.

 

[kryos]

:) I have more 'special phone numbers' than most any TA will ever have!!! ;) I don't share the numbers I have with her. :)

LOL ... yeah, I don't doubt it. :) I'd bet you could have an awesome travel business of your own if you wanted it. You probably have more experience with cruising than most travel agents do.

 

Glad all worked out well. It's just a shame you had to go through all that crap. HAL needs to fix their online booking system. It shouldn't have required that third party authorization in the first place.

 

Blue skies and I hope you have some awesome tours ... and a fine cruise too!

 

--rita

[sail7seas]

Thank you, Rita. What a nice message. I appreciate it.

Blue skies to you, as well.

 

[kryos]

Thank you, Rita. What a nice message. I appreciate it.

Blue skies to you, as well.

 

Oh, my skies are very blue today. I just found out that a drop zone has opened on the beach at my favorite "downashore" hangout ... Wildwood, New Jersey. Yep ... time for another tandem! :)

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[sail7seas]

You're talking about skydiving, right?

Sorry......I'm not sure about the lingo.

I seem to remember you commenting you had a bad accident and weren't able to dive anymore. Hopefully, I'm mistaken.

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

Glad to hear that everything worked out.

 

I have never heard of a third party authorization before espcially when you are paying for their shore excursion.

 

Thankfully got someone who was pleasant.

 

Did you get to hear any lovely music while you were on hold?

[Pudgesmom]

I'll bet Brian wishes Celebrity had a "third party authorization" practice in effect. It might have saved a lot of headaches with his charge card on that "free" cruise he took! :rolleyes:

 

Beth

[sail7seas]

Beth.....I was the person charging on MY card. No one but me had the authority to use it.

[Pudgesmom]

Beth.....I was the person charging on MY card. No one but me had the authority to use it.

 

It was just a little joke. (I guess very little.)

 

I was thinking that the HAL rep got confused and maybe had been told not to let any other cabins book on other's credit cards. So, he or she was trying-not well-to extrapolate that to your circumstances.

 

It seemed that X took it upon themselves to charge some things to Brian's ATM card.

 

Beth

[sail7seas]

:) I was booking the excursions on line at the HAL site.

 

 

Yes...I remember when "X" placed charges on his credit/debit card without his knowledge or approval.

[Candy]

S7S... I learned the hard way that if you want to enjoy an excursion with a couple in another cabin, to use your own booking number and credit card, and ask for 4 tickets. Our friends booked theirs separately, and they got tickets... it was sold out by the time we called.

 

Candy the ZuiderPrincess

[sail7seas]

It's funny, Candy, but I did think of that. I said to my DH just as I was beginning to do the bookings that there was always the chance I would get the reservations made for him and me and then when I went to do it for our friends, the excursions could be full.

 

I think we would have up to ten days prior to the cruise to cancel if we made our booking and I could not get them a reservation. We would have had the choice of deciding if two of the four of us wanted to do the tour or if none of us would. (Maybe the two men or one of the couples.....whatever.) I wanted their tickets in their names. I wanted to keep the reservations separated and 'clean'. Besides, I was doing it on line. When I entered our booking number, of course, only our names came up. I then had to click on each name to make a booking for each of us. Without using their Confirmation Number, I would be unable to get their names up. I don't think there is a way to make an excursion booking on line without having the individuals name attached to their own confirmation number.

 

It all worked out fine in the end.

[kryos]

You're talking about skydiving, right?

Sorry......I'm not sure about the lingo.

I seem to remember you commenting you had a bad accident and weren't able to dive anymore. Hopefully, I'm mistaken.

 

Sadly, you are not mistaken. I had a bad accident (broke both femurs) in 1999. So, I can't jump on my own anymore ... it's just too risky. But that doesn't preclude me from doing the occasional tandem jump (where you are harnessed to an instructor for the jump ... and he takes the brunt of the landing on his legs).

 

Love them blue skies!

 

--rita

[HeatherInFlorida]

Beth, I got your joke:). But I also clenched my teeth hoping that mess wouldn't all rear it's ugly head again!!!

 

Candy, your suggestion makes sense. I'm a little surprised, actually, that HAL lets someone book a tour for another couple unless the reservations are linked. I can see where it could possibly cause problems later on.

 

But since it worked out in the end, we won't go there;) .

 

Sail, to answer your question ... yes, I've been on hold with HAL many times. Being on hold with anyone is just a royal pain in the you know what ... especially with those horrendous messages, music, etc!!!:D

[sail7seas]

Heather.......Our reservations are linked. ;)

 

[HeatherInFlorida]

Sail, I should have guessed that!!:) Well, then, no excuse.

 

Don't you wish, though, that they'd give us an option about what we hear on hold? Like "press 1 for silence"?:D

[sail7seas]

Press -1- for Silence.......I LOVE IT!!!! What heaven if all these companies would offer that choice. Bad enough we have to hold for ridiculous lengths of time but to have to listen to their ads in the meantime is torture for me.

[sail7seas]

Heather.....what a cute new photo you're using.

[HeatherInFlorida]

Thanks, Sail. I like it and finally got it downsized properly so I could use it ... just me and my Molly:) .

 

I figure if we have to "press 1 for English", the least they can do is give us an option to "press 1 for silence"!!!! Glad you like my idea ... we should get working on it.:D

[WNYCRUISER]

As long as you are waiting on hold anyway, this is something that I have found works in many businesses as you go through hold h**l. Simply push 0 (zero), this take you in many cases to a switchboard, or at least a live person.

[Cruiseoften]

My problem is with that tiresome message "your call is important to us" AAARAGH!- I should believe IT when every organization uses it!!!!!!!!!!

 

The other one "we're experiencing an unusually high volume of calls, blah,blah.... we appreciate your patience"......:eek:

[HeatherInFlorida]

Pressing "0" works sometimes, but not always.

 

Cruiseoften, you are so right!!! And I especially hate it when they say "we are experiencing an unusally high volume of calls" with the added message that in order to avoid that to please call during certain hours. But a quick check tells you that you're calling during those times so that's clearly not the problem!!!:eek:

 

Even more irratating is when they say so sweetly ... "your estimated wait time is ..... 35 minutes"!! Thanks! I'll just go get lunch and come back!:D

[Pudgesmom]

There are a few businesses I call on a regular basis. I have to go through about 5 or 6 menus of choices, like "press 1 if you are blonde, press 2 if you are brunette," etc. I finally got smarter and wrote down my particular list, so now when I call, I can press 3,5,2,1,6 etc. Still end up on hold too much, but at least I'm not listening to the menus anymore!

 

Beth