Cruise deposit credit charge not paid to HAL

[fann1sh]

I hope I'm fussing over nothing.....but I'd really appreciate some feedback and advice. The deposit for our cruise December 15, 2007 for Zuiderdam just came through on my credit card - but the name on the charge wasn't HAL.

I used a different TA for this cruise, because I'm cashing in credit card points, and can only do that through one of their authorized agencies. I'll be getting $1,700 back because of those points.

When I called to query, my agent told me not to worry. This company (I'll call it XYZ to make sure I break no rules on this board) is a cruise consolidator. But, why? "So you can book in Canadian dollars." But I booked in US funds, and reminded her of this. "Don't worry, we use XYZ all the time."

Any idea what's going on here?

[jhannah]

It sounds like it's the arrangement to get your points redeemed. You have to go through (and therefore pay) XYZ Company to get the deal. Now just hope that XYZ sends the appropriate deposit to HAL.

[newmexicoNita]

What jhanna said is about the way it works, but I would be concerned as well. I don't mean you have anything to be concerned about, I just mean if I had paid $1700 to someone and thought I was paying someone else I would wonder what was going on.

 

NMNita

[O2cruise]

I'm going to assume they gave you your booking number. (If not GET IT NOW). To check and make sure things are what they should be just go to the HAL website and click on for booked guests. Click on the immigration form and fill in your booking number and last name. That should confirm that HAL has you in the system and will confirm the assigned cabin (unless you booked a guarantee)

[gomonty]

This is a fairly common situation. As a travel agent, consumers give me a credit card and I always run it through my merchant account. Then I pass along the payment to the cruise line. The cruise is being booked through me, not the cruise line. There is really nothing to worry about here. Cruise consolidators and travel agents alike do this all the time! That's how the business is run.

[fann1sh]

Thanks for the support. So far, I'd only used my booking number to check shore excursion availability, specifically a cabana (13 months ahead? HA!) But, I was able to access the immigration form. Again, thanks all - so much. I've had a lousy day for a bucketful of reasons, and the people on this board are the best!

[hammybee]

This is a fairly common situation. As a travel agent, consumers give me a credit card and I always run it through my merchant account. Then I pass along the payment to the cruise line. The cruise is being booked through me, not the cruise line. There is really nothing to worry about here. Cruise consolidators and travel agents alike do this all the time! That's how the business is run.

 

I respectfully disagree. The cruise line is usually the contra-side to the charge regardless of who executed the booking. This practice makes clear the two principals to the transaction,the cruise line and the consumer. The travel agent is the consumer's agent and not principal to the transaction.

 

Generally speaking, I would be uncomfortable if the travel agent were listed as the contra -side as it increases my risk in the event of a travel agency failure. And while such transaction may be bonded, it is not necessarily adeqaute to cover the cost.

 

Of course I am not implying that gomonty is not on the up and up. He/she probably works closely with people he/she has known for years and gets a lot of referal business. But in terms of walking in off the street, I would not do business this way, with people I did not know and trust.

 

This may or may not be applicable in the OP's case because he/she is using points. Given the credit card company is directing the reservation to a specific travel agency, I think it's probably just fine. I would however monitor my reservation closely now and right up to the cruise.

[DFD1]

I am currently using a large on-line agency. My credit card charges for all of the bookings thru this agency have been made directly by HAL. At no time has the agency run the credit card charge thru its own account.

 

If that were to happen, I would be on the phone to HAL immediately to be sure the money was in the right pocket.

[jhannah]

My credit card billings have always shown the cruise line, not the agency.

[cruisecache&squash]

My deposit showed up as HAL, but my final payment, which I paid early to take advantage of a 5% mastercard discount showed up as my TA. Everything seems okay, though, since I would assume HAL wouldn't send out cruise docs if they didn't have their $$$. It's probably fine, but if you're worried (and I was, too), you might want to get your booking number and check with HAL online.

[Bramcruiser]

This is a fairly common situation. As a travel agent, consumers give me a credit card and I always run it through my merchant account. Then I pass along the payment to the cruise line. The cruise is being booked through me, not the cruise line. There is really nothing to worry about here. Cruise consolidators and travel agents alike do this all the time! That's how the business is run.

 

I think jhannah is probably correct but I am kind of surprised gomonty mentioned what he or she just said. Never have I had my credit card charged by the travel agency or some other company OTHER than the actual cruise line or airline that I was making a booking with. So I am just wondering how common this business is.

 

I'm admitting to using a on-line agency for my December cruise and thankfully they have come through for me and I have received my tickets with no problem. Even they put my cruise charge through my VISA properly and it was the cruiseline that showed up on my statements.

 

If travel agents supposedly do this all the time I would worry because I am not so sure they should be from what my understanding is over the years.

 

David

[cruiseco]

This is a fairly common situation. As a travel agent, consumers give me a credit card and I always run it through my merchant account. Then I pass along the payment to the cruise line. The cruise is being booked through me, not the cruise line. There is really nothing to worry about here. Cruise consolidators and travel agents alike do this all the time! That's how the business is run.

 

This is not how the business is generally run and here is why:

 

Assume that the travel agency pays a 2% fee for charges run through their merchant account (could be higher, could be a little lower).

 

On a $1000 booking the fee adds up to $20.

 

Let's also say that the agency is making 15% commission on the commissionable part of the full fare cost -- let's say non-commissionables are $100 leaving a commission of $135 (0.15 X $900)

 

So this agency is using up $20 of the $135 commission in fees (that's approx 15% of the earned commission going to merchant fees). To what benefit? There's only one: They get to collect their commission immediately rather than waiting the 60 - 90 days that it takes to receive the commission from the cruise line.

 

OK math wizards, the TA is basically paying a 15% penalty to get the commission 60 - 90 days sooner than otherwise. What does that work out to on an annual basis percentagewise? Compounded is that like a 60+% APR. That's loan shark rates.

 

Now there's some good reasons for an agency to occasionally run a payment through their own merchant account. I worked at a large agency and we maybe did it once or twice a year. But otherwise it's a complete waste of money.

[RuthC]

This is a fairly common situation. As a travel agent, consumers give me a credit card and I always run it through my merchant account. Then I pass along the payment to the cruise line. The cruise is being booked through me, not the cruise line. There is really nothing to worry about here. Cruise consolidators and travel agents alike do this all the time! That's how the business is run.

This is not how I want my payment processed. I want it charged to the cruiseline, and I'll tell you exactly why:

Twenty years ago we paid for a cruise by a check (yeah :rolleyes: ) made out to the travel agency. Time went on and our documents did not come, and did not come, and.... We were constantly on the TA's back about this, and eventually were told it would be "pier pick-up". Since the cruise was booked well in advance there was no apparent need for this.

A few weeks after we returned from the cruise the travel agency went belly-up. It seems the TA was skimming $$$ off the top, then using current deposits to pay off older final payments. It caught up with her right after we got our cruise (whew).

Others were not so fortunate.

 

I don't ever want to be put in that postion again.

[cruiseco]

This is not how I want my payment processed. I want it charged to the cruiseline, and I'll tell you exactly why:

Twenty years ago we paid for a cruise by a check (yeah :rolleyes: ) made out to the travel agency. Time went on and our documents did not come, and did not come, and.... We were constantly on the TA's back about this, and eventually were told it would be "pier pick-up". Since the cruise was booked well in advance there was no apparent need for this.

A few weeks after we returned from the cruise the travel agency went belly-up. It seems the TA was skimming $$$ off the top, then using current deposits to pay off older final payments. It caught up with her right after we got our cruise (whew).

Others were not so fortunate.

 

I don't ever want to be put in that postion again.

 

The agency that went out of business in our town was doing the same thing. In fact it got to be so blatant -- along with some other red flags -- that we went to the Sheriff's office to let them know what was going to happen. Their attitude was that there is no law against being a bad businessman. A week later the agency owners skipped town and about $200,000 in deposits were lost.

 

This was all pre-internet so there's now some additional safeguards in place like being able to go online to check the status of your booking. But remember that those that come to Cruise Critic are a small minority of the total and most either don't know that they can check their own booking status or don't know how.

[Mary Ellen]

I'm with RuthC. I remember several years ago some small (bowling?) group going to the pier (LA?) for their cruise. None had ever cruised before and didn't think anything about 'pier pick-up' for their tickets. TA had never made the payment.... This is a VERY rare (almost unheard of) occurrence, but why take a risk?