Monkey486

Obfuscation pays handsomely

Agreed. No one knows the future. The carriers can cash in on this.

We didn’t get Steve nor anyone like him on our many phone calls. We documented but that didn’t help. We didn’t seek legal help and that is our bad. It shouldn’t be this way but it is what it is.

Caveat emptor. I understand

That sucks.

What? Huh? Well aren’t you special? We were offered no 125% incentive. We were told (first answer-see previous post) the voucher was the only option. Thank you for putting yourself in the place of losing $9600 to a major corporation protected by force of law. The issue largely lies with the worthlessness of the voucher, the lack of protection, of the voucher that was presented to me as the only option. (Stupid me did did not hang up right then and there to seek legal representation.) Morally it’s theft; but yeah they got law behind them. So yeah, here’s me with the shovel digging a hole… I know that legally I’m just out. I’ve been wrestling with this for over a year knowing that 99.9999999999999% doesn’t give one rats ass about me losing money. I’m glad Viking took care of you, but they £¥€|<€|> me. I’m relaying my story to say for people to be careful because Viking will be happy to take your money if you don’t protect against them.

I have. Life moves on and I have my health. It could be worse. Now I just want to spread the word to read carefully and protect yourselves against what I have suffered. There is differentiation between legal and moral. I was naive and I own that. Thank you for sympathizing.

Expensive lesson. Got it.

It was a cautionary tale. We are conditioned as Americans to accept the law as it is fashioned by our leadership as to ‘that is the way it is.’ I’m saying the way the law is structured is what allows big companies like Viking to make money through obfuscation. So yeah, I failed to protect myself from them. What Viking did was morally theft but legally permissible. I have every right to be pissed about being taken advantage of. People should not treat other this way, period. In all, I have been relieved of better than $9600 of my money because I got Covid having all of the insurance issues go past me to their benefit. This is not upfront and honest. Yeah, I suppose I’m not ‘innocent’ in regards to the law which requires me to be ever on guard against predators who take advantage of the fine print. I lost $9600 dollars. That hurts.

It was a very expensive lesson. I understand that legally that $9600 is ‘theirs’ because I did adequately protect myself from the less-than- upfront obfuscatory system which allows them to legally take advantage of people

Thank you. I’m just now getting to the point to where I talk about this. It hurt me. I come on here and I’m attacked as an idiot who didn’t understand the fine print. I shouldn’t have to—agreements should be simple and forthright. I understand that legally Viking did not steal my money—but morally they did by taking advantage of a very obfuscatory system which protects big companies and gives them access to another stream of revenue. It is predatory and immoral.

Legally, yes the money is ‘theirs.’ Morally, it’s theft.

Thank you! I just finished another lengthy response concerning the obfuscation of ‘the agreement’ in lengthy, confusing fine print. It benefits the big companies, positioning them, as in my case with Viking to legally pocket money without services rendered should they not not adequately protect themselves. Viking knows this, it benefits them as they are protected by the law (and apparently public opinion especially as the right off the bat reaction was to call me a dumbass for not reading the terms and conditions.) A simple summary would be appreciated. Transactions should simple and forthright. As another post made the point, there is no incentive for Viking to correct what they did to me, or admit that it was, let’s say, less than upfront, or they’d have a ton of people to reimburse (or face a lot of lawsuits.)

First of all, thank you for this kind response and explanation. This is very painful for me. I finally start to open up and start to talk about it I get attacked for not reading all the terms and conditions. (How many times have clicked the ‘I Agree’ button without having read page after page of fine print?) I’ve had to cancel Airbnb reservations for example, it was all dealt with easily—so I know that can be done with a major company. So yeah, I should have not have taken the first answer, should’ve asked more questions, should’ve been more assertive, should’ve been much more on guard to being taken advantage of my lack of diligence in reading the fine print. Where they got me is my taking a worthless voucher in exchange for changes made to a previous trip (due to family circumstances) made many months (before the penalty kicks in) prior—The first ‘answer’ from Viking was that this was my only option. My bad for not hanging up and seeking legal counsel right then and there. From human to human, this posturing I got from Viking is not being forthright and up front. I see it as setting people up to be taken advantage of if they don’t adequately protect themselves. I see this as predatory and immoral. Concerning the insurance, I said yes when asked if I wanted insurance—the voucher being uninsured went unsaid. This sets the company up to legally pocket the money if something should go wrong. So yeah I feel stupid and taken advantage of. Very expensive lesson. They won’t be getting another nickel out of me.

So I come here to get beat up for being an idiot for not reading the fine print… When asked if I wanted trip insurance I said yes and paid them what they asked for. My bad for assuming it was for only one ticket. Trip insurance is for more than just the price of the ticket, it’s if something happens on the trip so double my bad for not reading the fine print thus unknowingly leaving myself open to lots of liability. Triple my bad for not hiring a travel agent to protect me from Viking giving me a worthless voucher which I exchanged for better than $9600 when they battled about refunding cash concerning changes in a previous trip made many months prior to that trip. That’s the little loophole that provided a way to pocket ‘their’ money should something go wrong. Quadruple my bad for assuming the company would be straight up with me so I have to protect myself with travel agents and lawyers to explain to me that I was in fact only partially insured when I said ‘yes, I want the insurance for the trip.’ Big companies get to structure laws so they can legally keep ‘their’ money even if no services are actually rendered knowing that as a general rule people usually stick to verbals on the part of all parties assuming they are on the up and up—haven’t we all checked the box ‘I agree to terms and conditions’ without reading page after page of fine print? So yeah caveat emptor—I’m an idiot and because of that that $9600 which at one time was mine became ‘their’ money even when all I got in exchange for the transaction was a lot of pain. Viking was righteous in the eyes of the law. Hurray and congratulations—you got me.