TA retaining funds

[vozzie]

Hi Folks,

Has anyone else run into this issue?

It's the second time for me. Perhaps I'm slow to learn.

Made final payment 1 month ago.

Went to print out Boarding Pass ...but alas, Cruise Company says final payment not made.

I can only assume TA has been making interest off my money for a month.

Not happy Jan.

 

[Aus Traveller]

That sounds very strange. I would be phoning the TA first thing in the morning and asking what the h ... is going on? I am pretty sure the TAs we have worked with pass the payment onto the cruise company within a few days.

[The_Big_M]

Also in the bit weird camp. Haven't had that happen.

 

That said, I wouldn't think they're earning interest in this current ultra low interest/growth environment. It's extremely hard to get any return, except for fixed interest and that is still meagre.

[pully8]

Curious when do you travel?

Agree speak to your travel agent for an explanation.

[Chiliburn]

Another happy agent story.

Probaly now resides in a country with no exredition agreement.

[icat2000]

One of the reasons why I just book with Cruiseline directly. Sure sometimes you might get a little bit cheaper or some OBC with TA. But I never have any issue with making changes, refunds, refaring etc with cruiseline. 

[cheznandy]

Vozzie, has the final payment date passed?

TA's online or not will hold your money until final payment then pay the cruise line, even if you pay in full a month before.

 

We have 4 cabins booked on an upcoming cruise, each family member got a different final payment day, mine being July 1st, but I know they would have held that money until August 28th when final payment was due to the cruiseline. A phone call from me changed that date........when asked they say its what the computer spits out🙄

 

Like Sarah we usually book direct, unless I can take advantage of $10 bookings on cruise lines other than Princess where we use a FCD.

We pay the final payment on the very last date, better the money in my account than theirs.

 

 

Edited June 24, 2019 by cheznandy

[getting older slowly]

Our TA print our Boarding Pass for us.... I would ring them now...

 

Best of luck and I hope it all works out

 

Don

[NSWP]

The crafty TA's put the money in the short money market and pass it on to the cruise line at payment deadline.

Edited June 25, 2019 by NSWP

[NSWP]

4 hours ago, Chiliburn said:

Another happy agent story.

Probaly now resides in a country with no exredition agreement.

That has happened before, misappropriation of funds.

[Brisbane41]

That is one of the reasons I will not use a travel agent for a cruise. They have done it to me before and the results for them were not good. Whatever reason they do it I do not appreciate that level of trust being broken. I know they do it so can confirm that from past experience.

[GUT2407]

24 minutes ago, NSWP said:

The crafty TA's put the money in the short money market and pass it on to the cruise line at payment deadline.

Not just TAs either, a lifetime ago I worked in banking, many businesses had standing orders to put certain funds on the overnight money market at close of business. Might not sound like much, but if you’ve got $100,000 sitting there (small change for some) and get 0.1%, thats $100, sounds like peanuts still, but EVERY night of the year?

[The_Big_M]

1 hour ago, GUT2407 said:

Not just TAs either, a lifetime ago I worked in banking, many businesses had standing orders to put certain funds on the overnight money market at close of business. Might not sound like much, but if you’ve got $100,000 sitting there (small change for some) and get 0.1%, thats $100, sounds like peanuts still, but EVERY night of the year?

 

That's an annualised rate of 36.5%. Nobody is offering anywhere near that in today's market.

 

In the current market, you'd be lucky to get 0.365% p.a. on call. In your scenario that would be $1 a day. Who'd do that for such a meagre return. The labour cost would be greater.

[vozzie]

Thanks for your replies.

The final date where "the Cruiseline will automatically cancel your booking if not paid" has passed.

Obviously, the Cruiseline has not cancelled my booking....I think.

My feeling is that it's on the short term money market...while I'm paying 20% on my credit card...when it could have sat there another month.

There's probably some fine print somewhere that covers it, but, for a good relationship to exist, things need to be seen to be above board, not just be above board.

My future bookings will go elsewhere.

 

P.S. I did some quick calculations and if they were holding 100 customers funds of, say, $4000 for 1 month...that's about a $1000 windfall. Nothing to be sneezed at.

 

P.P.S. I don't know if its coincidence or the result of my nasty-gram....but I'm now fully paid.

Edited June 25, 2019 by vozzie

[Aus Traveller]

1 hour ago, vozzie said:

Thanks for your replies.

The final date where "the Cruiseline will automatically cancel your booking if not paid" has passed.

Obviously, the Cruiseline has not cancelled my booking....I think.

My feeling is that it's on the short term money market...while I'm paying 20% on my credit card...when it could have sat there another month.

There's probably some fine print somewhere that covers it, but, for a good relationship to exist, things need to be seen to be above board, not just be above board.

My future bookings will go elsewhere.

 

P.S. I did some quick calculations and if they were holding 100 customers funds of, say, $4000 for 1 month...that's about a $1000 windfall. Nothing to be sneezed at.

 

P.P.S. I don't know if its coincidence or the result of my nasty-gram....but I'm now fully paid.

Did the TA give you a reason why your cruise was previously shown as not paid in full when you had paid a month earlier?

[vozzie]

No response as yet....I'm just now showing fully paid and boarding passes printed.

[Chiliburn]

5 hours ago, NSWP said:

That has happened before, misappropriation of funds.

Maybe you should call a couple of old work mates and a phone book and give them the booking.

[cheznandy]

2 hours ago, vozzie said:

Thanks for your replies.

The final date where "the Cruiseline will automatically cancel your booking if not paid" has passed.

Obviously, the Cruiseline has not cancelled my booking....I think.

My feeling is that it's on the short term money market...while I'm paying 20% on my credit card...when it could have sat there another month.

 

It is wrong that TA's can make up their own final payment date and hold the money for two months as was my case.

Also wrong that they can say "your booking will be cancelled" when they have no intention of paying the money to the cruise line for a couple of months.

As I said in my previous post we have 4 cabins booked, same categories, all booked with same TA but different operators the final payment dates ranged from July 1st, July 28th and August 28th.

I called, got another 2 months to pay but lots would not even realise and pay up early.

Glad it is all sorted for you.

[MicCanberra]

I am not sure if it has ever happened with us, but I do find it strange that final payment has passed and the cruise line has not cancelled your booking but says you cannot print as you haven't paid as yet.

[cheznandy]

1 hour ago, MicCanberra said:

I am not sure if it has ever happened with us, but I do find it strange that final payment has passed and the cruise line has not cancelled your booking but says you cannot print as you haven't paid as yet.

Mic, the final payment that some TA's give you is different to the final payment of the cruise lines, so they hold your money for longer.

Obviously you cannot print out Edocs unless the money has been passed on to the cruiseline.

I have often done mock bookings on online TA sites and the cruiseline sites and they have different final payment dates.

 

[vozzie]

Hi Folks,

I have received a response from the TA and instead of para-phrasing it, I will paste it word for word (removing names of course):

 

Good evening ,

 

Thank you for your email.

 

XXXXXXX sends final payments in bulk due to the amount of bookings and payments that are processed daily. For each cruise we have a particular date in which the final amount is sent in bulk so that our accounts systems are not overloaded, and final payments are processed smoothly. We also hold payments as long as possible to look out for our customers; sometimes with cancellations we can still have payments on file and the cruise line are unable to access this should you cancel your cruise. XXXXXXXX are then able to refund monies promptly. Your finals were due to be sent 75 days prior to sail along with the rest of the bookings on this voyage (yesterday).

 

Please be advised that your payment was sent to xxxxxxxx yesterday at 11.21am – at may have still been processing when you logged in.

 

I can see that the funds are now with xxxxxxxxx, and you should now be access all of your documentation.

 

If we can be of any further assistance please don’t hesitate to contact us.

[MicCanberra]

Well that is that sorted, I suppose if you are not happy, you can go elsewhere but other TAs may well do the same thing.

[The_Big_M]

Well, they've given you a reason for doing what they do; up to you now whether you're comfortable with that for the future.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Most businesses run monthly accounts and they would account on the 20 th of the month.

[Aus Traveller]

We have a couple of cruises booked. The payment date for the first one, according to the cruiseline, is 8th July (75 days prior) but the TA asked for payment by 28th June. I don't mind that because it gives the TA a buffer to make sure they have payment in time to pass it on to the cruise company. We also like a bit of a buffer so we paid yesterday (25th July). I will monitor the website to see when our cruise is marked as "paid" rather than "outstanding".