Tangiera

Well, I've wasted another hour of my precious youth (?) this morning on hold with X, since I never received the promised call back. Supposedly, a supervisor escalated my issue to the mysterious Accounting Department, and now a full refund is being processed, to be returned to my CC. But it might be another 30 days. REALLY? I'll believe it when I see it.  Fortunately, I have at least 30 days in the billing cycle before the rebill becomes due. If you feel the Earth shake around that time, the epicenter of the quake will be at my house in South Carolina.

I truly feel sorry for the people who answer the phones at X. I might not be as pleasant if I had to listen to the rants of disgruntled customers all day. Kudos to them for still being so nice. I'm sure they do as much as they can, but management does not empower them to do more. In my career, I've seen how companies in trouble can play cash games to stay afloat. (No pun intended) There probably is an amount determined weekly (or even daily) that is disbursed. If your situation is anything like mine, don't be afraid to ask for the Resolutions team or you'll stay at the end of the line. Good luck to all those still awaiting refunds.

The documentation X presented to my CC company consisted of screen shots showing that they had issued me a FCC which charged a penalty.  No reason for the penalty was given. I thought this was corrected through my phone call of 4/1, when the agent assured me that the small  initial amount was a "computer error". The screen shot had sections whited out (?), although it appeared that there were additional pages that were not included. I could see the 4/1 date at the bottom, but none of the information pertaining to my call. 

I spent over an hour on the phone with X yesterday. Their phone system is acting up, and the Resolutions agent I spoke with could not hear me, nor could I hear him, half of the time. He was perplexed at the entire situation ("I never heard of us reversing charges like that"), and escalated to his supervisor. The supervisor is supposed to call me back after speaking to the "Accounting Department", the mysterious entity that you cannot reach by any means. As of 10 AM this morning, no one has responded. The rebill is still on my credit card.

Hmmm. I am beginning to suspect this is an effort by X to hold on to as much cash as they can. My original refund request was "lost", FCC credit issued in the wrong amount, 4/1 phone call ignored, and, now, they have a phone issue that makes it incredibly difficult to communicate with them.

I have tried contacting LLP previously, and never received any response. If you know of any magical way to do this, please let us all know.

4 minutes ago, Luvcrusn said:

Treating any customer like that is shameful.

True!

Hotels, airlines, cruise lines and even camp grounds now make use of software that automatically adjusts pricing based on demand, closeness to the requested date, and any other criteria the user wants. It's harder to beat the system than it used to be. 

An update to my tale of woe: Celebrity contested my credit card dispute, just before their opportunity to do so expired. Instead of the thousands of dollars they owe us, in their documentation, they reverted to the minuscule FCC they incorrectly issued back in March, which included a "penalty". They claim to owe us nothing else, since our port taxes were refunded. Celebrity cancelled our cruise the week before sailing, not me. I thought that we had this straightened out in a phone call with Celebrity back on 4/1. Guess I should have suspected an April Fool. The disputed amount is back on my credit card. And I am supremely angry. Fortunately, I asked the rep with whom I spoke to email me documentation of my April call, stating we were to receive a full refund, as was requested. It's been sent to my CC company,  along with other proof, as I continue now to dispute their dispute of my dispute. Treating an Elite status customer like this is shameful.

I posted previously about our trials getting a refund for the 4/5 Silhouette sailing. We're now nearly 2 months from when I requested the refund (on the form which was inexplicably "lost")and 6 weeks from the April 1 email I received from X stating I would see a refund within 30 business days (I suppose "business days" are like "restaurant minutes" when you're waiting for a table). I received a small credit, which I assume was for port taxes (no explanation) weeks ago. I spent 2 hours on the phone today, mostly on hold, trying to get some idea when the balance would process. Rep #1 must only do booking, and transferred me. I got the "you need to call your travel agent" excuse (yeah, they already told me to call YOU and the charge on my credit card is clearly from Celebrity) from Rep #2 before he told me he could not access my account and transferred the call. To some black hole, I assume. I listened to their repeating hold advert extolling the virtues of the new ships on which I will likely never set foot so many times I can probably recite it. With hold times like this, a little music would be welcome. I am frustrated to the point where I decided to take the step of filing a dispute with my credit card company. Hate to do it, but.......here goes!

I spent much of my career doing IT procurement. The problem may not entirely be the fault of the IT department (although Celeb's certainly designed a pretty creaky website for the 21st Century) - it can also be how the request was translated into requirements for the programmer. I've seen this happen in large companies I worked for, with unpleasant results. I think, in this case, the programmer was probably not aware that there was a difference between customers who cancelled and Celebrity cancelling a cruise.

Our April 5 Silhouette cruise was cancelled by Celebrity on March 14. I filled out the on-line form that day, requesting a full refund. Unfortunately, their system does not send any sort of confirmation. On March 30, I received an email stating that we would be receiving FCC for a fraction of the amount. After a few attempts at calling, I reached a very nice CSR who corrected the error. It seems some computer geek tried to help with the huge volume by running a program to make mass changes in their system, resulting in mass errors in many folks' accounts. That sure didn't help the call volume that ensued. I requested and received an email confirmation on April 1 that a credit would be processed, please allow 30 BUSINESS days. A former employer of mine used the 30 "business day" payment term, which usually equates to 45 days. I am guessing that the computer error above reset the clock on my refund by two weeks. It's now past the 30 calendar-type days from April 1, but longer since the initial refund request was made. I did receive a credit for around $262 a week ago, which I assume was for port taxes and fees. Hopefully, the somewhat larger amount of the cruise itself will follow.

Thanks to hcat for the call early suggestion. For anyone else who needs assistance, although the phone lines open at 7 Eastern time, there is no one with access to refund info and such until after 9. If anyone runs into the issue I had, know that it was caused by an attempt to expedite FCC's electronically. The program they ran included the penalty that was applicable to people who cancelled prior to cruises being cancelled by Celebrity. For some reason, my online refund request was "lost", even though it said it was accepted when I entered it. The rep I spoke to was very helpful, and I anticipate a refund, although it may take 30 days to be credited to my Visa. Considering the tens of thousands of transactions they are processing, a little patience is required.

In January, I booked an April 5 cruise that was one of those cancelled by Celebrity. I filled out the on-line form requesting full refund on March 14. I paid with a credit card back in January. I paid the Visa bill in full the following month. I received an email today telling me a have a "Cruise with Confidence" Future Cruise credit for a fraction of our fare! I just spent an hour on the phone on hold with Celebrity without getting through. Got tired of listening to the commercials for Edge, the Galapagos, blah, blah, blah, over and over, and will attempt to call another day. We have Elite status and have cruised with Celebrity for many years. Not happy with X right now - at all!