Can you believe what my TA did to me!?

[Sue L]

 

 

I think the TA just doesn't want the hassle applying payments.

 

 

You are probably right, but it is so stupid on the TA's part!!

[newmexicoNita]

I booked my cruise in April of 2007. I have been paying on it monthly ever since. I call today to make a payment, he says that they don't accept partial payments any more!!!

I agree with Sue, it agents like this that don't help us who try to be helpful, professioal and caring. There is no reason for not taking partial payments.

 

Nita

[FL_Cruiser64]

You are probably right, but it is so stupid on the TA's part!!

 

Of course it is but hey, whatever floats his/her boat.

 

:D

[VillaHappy]

I learned something new today, because I never knew you could make partial payments towards a cruise. It never occurred to me to look into it. I use my credit card for both the deposit and then the final pmt, and make sure I use a cc that gives good points or cash back. :cool:

[uksimonusa]

I'm sorry but have any one here thought about this from the TA's point of view. Maybe he/she has been burned so many times before that they can no longer accept monthly payments. And no, I am not a TA and like do pay as I go.

 

How can a TA be burned, they are not responsible for anything if the cruiser does not pay, unless it is a group booking and they have guaranteed to sell the cabins

 

Were they paying in cash or credit card each time? If it was by credit card/debit card, the TA gets charged a fee each time. They could be why they said that.

 

Also, sometimes policies get changed higher up in the chain that make sense, for new bookings, but management doesn't think about people who have already booked. Then the agent has to tell you what the new policy is, and gets stuck in the middle when management decides to allow you to do it. I can tell you it has happened to me on several occasions with the agency I worked for (very large company).

 

The TA will not be charged by the credit/debit card company, as they should not be charging the card themselves, they should be letting RCI run the card, to protect the cardholder

[cruzcat]

I'm a TA and call in partial payments to RCCL for my clients all the time. I only do it by using their credit card number though. It does cost me shipping charges to send a check each time as I always send it by FED EX and require a signature. That's why I only do it by credit card. The client just puts the money saved for the cruise as a payment to their card when the charge hits.

[TPKeller]

The TA will not be charged by the credit/debit card company, as they should not be charging the card themselves, they should be letting RCI run the card, to protect the cardholder

That is what I was thinking too... if RCCL is the one charging the card, they are paying the credit card fees... and not only that, I thought they were a straight percentage of the transaction amount, so 5 smaller payments or 1 bigger payment, the credit card fee would be the same, right?

 

Now I have heard arguments for changing the fee structure to be less based on the transaction amount... which does make a certain amount of sense... the transaction amount has nothing to do with the cost incurred by the credit card company for performing that transaction.

 

But back to this subject, sounds like a case of "lazy" to me...

 

Theron

[Sue L]

That is what I was thinking too... if RCCL is the one charging the card, they are paying the credit card fees... and not only that, I thought they were a straight percentage of the transaction amount, so 5 smaller payments or 1 bigger payment, the credit card fee would be the same, right?

 

Now I have heard arguments for changing the fee structure to be less based on the transaction amount... which does make a certain amount of sense... the transaction amount has nothing to do with the cost incurred by the credit card company for performing that transaction.

 

But back to this subject, sounds like a case of "lazy" to me...

 

Theron

 

You are completely correct, I misspoke earlier when we call it in then the vendor (in this case RCCL) they pay for the merchant fees. It is a percentage and different companies have different percentages, so it is a different amount for Visa then Master card.

[concour]

Our beloved TA works for a national company that handles all your car and travel needs. Her regional manager came up with the brilliant idea that a deposit and final payment was all that was going to accepted. The TA and almost all of the other TAs just laughed and said no way. That if their clients wanted to bring in $5 a day in pennies they would accept it no matter what the regional manager's policy was and all threatened to leave if she forced the issue. The new policy was quickly dropped.