Refund of Insurance Premium when Cruise was cancelled by Oceania due to Covid

[Petoonya]

No, I'm baffled by the 82%. It correlates to nothing, not deposit, excursions nothing. It was a straight fare only transaction.

And no as I said earlier, on March 12 O cancelled my April 14 cruise.( I'm the lady who was crazily gung ho on the cruise).

I understand your interest in the variables, but there are none. My TA who is fantastic scratches her head about it.

[LHT28]

1 minute ago, Petoonya said:

No, I'm baffled by the 82%. It correlates to nothing, not deposit, excursions nothing. It was a straight fare only transaction.

And no as I said earlier, on March 12 O cancelled my April 14 cruise.( I'm the lady who was crazily gung ho on the cruise).

I understand your interest in the variables, but there are none. My TA who is fantastic scratches her head about it.

Confused

Did the refund come as total  cruise only fare  amount ??

 Did you used O air/deviation?

[Flatbush Flyer]

1 minute ago, Petoonya said:

No, I'm baffled by the 82%. It correlates to nothing, not deposit, excursions nothing. It was a straight fare only transaction.

And no as I said earlier, on March 12 O cancelled my April 14 cruise.( I'm the lady who was crazily gung ho on the cruise).

I understand your interest in the variables, but there are none. My TA who is fantastic scratches her head about it.

But isn't this the TA who doesn't provide Oceania invoices? Do you have your most recent Oceania invoice? That will give you the bottom line of what was paid to them and that combo (Oceania invoice and 82% refund amount, along with the email notice from Oceania [transmitted to you via your TA] saying 100% refund) is what you can submit to your CC issuer for a dispute.

Pretty easy solution here.

[Petoonya]

1 minute ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

So, why aren't you disputing the original charges with your CC issuer? 

I still think you should give up complete details of what may be represented in the 18% (BTW, how much $ is it? I ask because, if it's some number that would suggest a math error (e.g., $1k instead of $2k), you may have your answer.

And, if your TA is a significant booker of Oceania cruises, there's no way O wouldn't respond to him/her. 

Other than disclosing the actual amount which I won't do there is no math error. The fare is exactly what was online, no air, no Olife. No other charges. My TA is a cruise connoisseur and has been communicating with O they just won't give her an answer when the final amount will be coming, but they she has verified the amount owed. The amount I've received so far is actually 81.89% of what I paid.

[Petoonya]

1 minute ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

But isn't this the TA who doesn't provide Oceania invoices? Do you have your most recent Oceania invoice? That will give you the bottom line of what was paid to them and that combo (Oceania invoice and 82% refund amount, along with the email notice from Oceania [transmitted to you via your TA] saying 100% refund) is what you can submit to your CC issuer for a dispute.

Pretty easy solution here.

I want to use my CC rather than insurance?

[Petoonya]

3 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

But isn't this the TA who doesn't provide Oceania invoices? Do you have your most recent Oceania invoice? That will give you the bottom line of what was paid to them and that combo (Oceania invoice and 82% refund amount, along with the email notice from Oceania [transmitted to you via your TA] saying 100% refund) is what you can submit to your CC issuer for a dispute.

Pretty easy solution here.

Of course I have invoices. Up till now I was trying to remain patient with O as I've heard from others who've received just partial invoices. But it's worn thin. I guess I'll do what you and Lyn suggest and try the CC before insurance and maybe still be able to cancel or use the insurance for another day.

[Flatbush Flyer]

Just now, Petoonya said:

I want to use my CC rather than insurance?

Why wouldn't you???

1. Get the invoice.

2. Get the 82% refund notice.

3. Get the 100% O refund email.

4. Call CC issuer and start dispute (Dispute the 18% as "promised refund not paid.")

5. Try to get your insurance moved to new cruise OR file claim (in addition to CC dispute)

 

In all honesty, I just don't buy that your TA can't get an answer (that and no invoice is way too big a "red flag" for me).

[Andee]

Completely unrelated to Covid19, several months ago Road Scholar cancelled the trip to Cuba we had booked because our idiot-in-chief tightened regulations, making the itinerary impossible.

I had purchased insurance through insuremytrip, which just required a statement from me that we hadn't yet made a claim and documentation from RS that they had cancelled the trip. The full refund of our premium came quickly.

[Petoonya]

22 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Why wouldn't you???

1. Get the invoice.

2. Get the 82% refund notice.

3. Get the 100% O refund email.

4. Call CC issuer and start dispute (Dispute the 18% as "promised refund not paid.")

5. Try to get your insurance moved to new cruise OR file claim (in addition to CC dispute)

 

In all honesty, I just don't buy that your TA can't get an answer (that and no invoice is way too big a "red flag" for me).

You misunderstood or I misstated. I have all the O invoices from my TA. She's a well respected agent by many on this board btw. Can't tell you why she doesn't have an answer for when O will pay out though.

Thanks for the steps in filing with CC. I guess it doesn't hurt to file with insurer too. I already started a claim with them for the air portion of this travel. That was initially no refund which evolved into a waiver- so claim dropped there. Guessing since I already started that process however that ship has sailed- not going to be able to transfer insurance.

 

Curiously, about the same time I received my partial refund someone on my original roll call also posted that he got a 82% refund- we were in different categories. The magic number. Have yet to get a response from him to ascertain if he's received more. But there has to be something more about that 82% figure. Fare minus TA commission?

Edited May 2, 2020 by Petoonya

[Flatbush Flyer]

2 hours ago, Petoonya said:

But there has to be something more about that 82% figure. Fare minus TA commission?

Not an unrealistic percentage neighborhood. But, you'd think Oceania would not want its customers dragged into (or dependent upon) any of their (re)negotiations with TAs.

[Petoonya]

26 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Not an unrealistic percentage neighborhood. But, you'd think Oceania would not want its customers dragged into (or dependent upon) any of their (re)negotiations with TAs.

Yeah, you'd think!

[njhorseman]

2 hours ago, Petoonya said:

You misunderstood or I misstated. I have all the O invoices from my TA. She's a well respected agent by many on this board btw. Can't tell you why she doesn't have an answer for when O will pay out though.

Thanks for the steps in filing with CC. I guess it doesn't hurt to file with insurer too. I already started a claim with them for the air portion of this travel. That was initially no refund which evolved into a waiver- so claim dropped there. Guessing since I already started that process however that ship has sailed- not going to be able to transfer insurance.

 

Curiously, about the same time I received my partial refund someone on my original roll call also posted that he got a 82% refund- we were in different categories. The magic number. Have yet to get a response from him to ascertain if he's received more. But there has to be something more about that 82% figure. Fare minus TA commission?

 

16 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Not an unrealistic percentage neighborhood. But, you'd think Oceania would not want its customers dragged into (or dependent upon) any of their (re)negotiations with TAs.

 I just received a refund from another cruise line...not another of the NCLH lines for that matter...and my refund came in two pieces, the smaller of which fell into the normal range for TA commissions, so I suspect that mine was also broken down into fare less commission and commission. However I got both refunds on the same day, so I didn't have to chase down a missing partial refund.

 

I suspect it was just a bookkeeping issue, with the two pieces coming from different accounts.

[Flatbush Flyer]

10 minutes ago, Petoonya said:

Yeah, you'd think!

Perhaps it's time to chat with your TA again.

[Petoonya]

2 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

 

 I just received a refund from another cruise line...not another of the NCLH lines for that matter...and my refund came in two pieces, the smaller of which fell into the normal range for TA commissions, so I suspect that mine was also broken down into fare less commission and commission. However I got both refunds on the same day, so I didn't have to chase down a missing partial refund.

 

I suspect it was just a bookkeeping issue, with the two pieces coming from different accounts.

I'm confused by what you're saying. Of the two amounts that I was refunded, one is almost exactly 10% of the total, the other 72%. The un-refunded amount is 18%, and I'm guessing the un-refunded amount is commission. I owned a travel agency way back and 18% would be about right for a preferred agency, not 10%. Yet as we all know commission is not paid or deducted until cruise has passed.

[Petoonya]

4 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Perhaps it's time to chat with your TA again.

I'm kind of on the non-confrontational side! I'll talk to a few agents at O first. I truly believe that the TA would be straight with me anyway, but must admit it's very suspicious.

Edited May 2, 2020 by Petoonya

[LHT28]

18 minutes ago, Petoonya said:

I owned a travel agency way back and 18% would be about right for a preferred agency, not 10%. Yet as we all know commission is not paid or deducted until cruise has passed.

I wonder how you would have handled a situation like  a pandemic

 

Just dealing with complaining  clients on day to day basis  would be  annoying LOL  😉

[njhorseman]

13 minutes ago, Petoonya said:

I'm confused by what you're saying. Of the two amounts that I was refunded, one is almost exactly 10% of the total, the other 72%. The un-refunded amount is 18%, and I'm guessing the un-refunded amount is commission. I owned a travel agency way back and 18% would be about right for a preferred agency, not 10%. Yet as we all know commission is not paid or deducted until cruise has passed.

It's not necessarily true that commissions are paid only after the cruise has been taken.

 

When I owned a travel agency we were  often permitted by cruise lines to deduct commissions from final payments and remit only the remainder to the cruise line. I chose not to do that except in the cases where payment had been made by cash or check because I didn't want to incur the expense of charging the portion attributable to my commission on my credit card account, which would cost me a percentage of the charge. I'd rather have the entire credit card fee absorbed by the cruise line and wait for them to make the commission payment to me.

 

Today at least one agency I do business with breaks my final payment down into two pieces, the commission due, which is paid to the agency's account and the remainder, which is paid to the cruise line. In one recent case where I cancelled a fully paid for cruise that had not been taken I received two refunds, one from the cruise line and one from the agency.

[Petoonya]

3 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

I wonder how you would have handled a situation like  a pandemic

 

Just dealing with complaining  clients on day to day basis  would be  annoying LOL  😉

Yeah Lyn.....

I probably still would have been submissive and patient. I know my TA as all TAs went through HELL during the first few weeks of that. It still can't be pretty. I know clients just YELLED at her and she had nothing to do with it. Why I'm a little intimidated about mentioning to her. She is WONDERFUL. I'll talk to a few different agents at O and see if I learn anything and next step will be CC or Travel Assured.

[Petoonya]

1 minute ago, njhorseman said:

It's not necessarily true that commissions are paid only after the cruise has been taken.

 

When I owned a travel agency we were  often permitted by cruise lines to deduct commissions from final payments and remit only the remainder to the cruise line. I chose not to do that except in the cases where payment had been made by cash or check because I didn't want to incur the expense of charging the portion attributable to my commission on my credit card account, which would cost me a percentage of the charge. I'd rather have the entire credit card fee absorbed by the cruise line and wait for them to make the commission payment to me.

 

Today at least one agency I do business with breaks my final payment down into two pieces, the commission due, which is paid to the agency's account and the remainder, which is paid to the cruise line. In one recent case where I cancelled a fully paid for cruise that had not been taken I received two refunds, one from the cruise line and one from the agency.

VERY interesting! Things have changed since the old days. Gosh I really appreciate this input. It stands to reason this is exactly what happened. Now the ball is in my court. Thanks.

[njhorseman]

15 minutes ago, Petoonya said:

VERY interesting! Things have changed since the old days. Gosh I really appreciate this input. It stands to reason this is exactly what happened. Now the ball is in my court. Thanks.

 I owned the travel agency back in the "old days" too and as I said we took our commission up front in every case where it made financial sense to do so. Since it was a brick and mortar agency we actually received a fair percentage of our payments by check or cash rather than credit card. Not a majority of payments by any means, but it wasn't that rare.

Edited May 2, 2020 by njhorseman

[Petoonya]

Just now, njhorseman said:

 I owned the travel agency back in the "old days" too and as I said we took our commission up front in every case where it made financial sense to do so.

We were only able to do so (and these is back in the 80's and 90's) if the traveler paid by check, not CC. But you are 100% right, and if so and I've asked twice about it ,I'd move my next booking- no clue where. My TA is the kindest most honorable person I know- and has rescued me from myself more than once. It's still hard to think that she would not tell me.....:( It's a lot of money.

[LHT28]

21 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

It's not necessarily true that commissions are paid only after the cruise has been taken.

 

When I owned a travel agency we were  often permitted by cruise lines to deduct commissions from final payments and remit only the remainder to the cruise line. I chose not to do that except in the cases where payment had been made by cash or check because I didn't want to incur the expense of charging the portion attributable to my commission on my credit card account, which would cost me a percentage of the charge. I'd rather have the entire credit card fee absorbed by the cruise line and wait for them to make the commission payment to me.

 

Back in the old days  (before  internet ) many people would pay cash/cheque so agents could just submit the net rate   but in this new  world of travel most pay by credit card so agents just wait for the commissions to be paid to them  AFAIK

[LHT28]

5 minutes ago, Petoonya said:

We were only able to do so (and these is back in the 80's and 90's) if the traveler paid by check, not CC. But you are 100% right, and if so and I've asked twice about it ,I'd move my next booking- no clue where. My TA is the kindest most honorable person I know- and has rescued me from myself more than once. It's still hard to think that she would not tell me.....:( It's a lot of money.

why not just give her more time   as I cannot believe  if you have dealt with her for a long time  that she would steer you wrong

My TA is wonderful  &  I appreciate all she does for us  

she is patient with me when I ask questions I should know the answers to LOL

 

 Step back for  a couple more weeks  & enjoy life 

well as much as we can during these trying times

 

[Petoonya]

2 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

Back in the old days  (before  internet ) many people would pay cash/cheque so agents could just submit the net rate   but in this new  world of travel most pay by credit card so agents just wait for the commissions to be paid to them  AFAIK

 

That's why I find it close to impossible to believe the withheld amount is commission my agent withheld. When I had my agency we used consolidators for some people who were on a tight budget and needed the best international fares. It was in the day when consolidators were honorable and people rarely got into trouble. I kept whatever commission I wanted to add right off the top as most agencies did, but for the rest we never withheld commissions. I think maybe Oceania is holding it back for whatever reason.

[Petoonya]

2 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

why not just give her more time   as I cannot believe  if you have dealt with her for a long time  that she would steer you wrong

My TA is wonderful  &  I appreciate all she does for us  

she is patient with me when I ask questions I should know the answers to LOL

 

 Step back for  a couple more weeks  & enjoy life 

well as much as we can during these trying times

 

Nah. I've got another cruise on a different line that, if you read publications like Business Weekly, has a good chance of going under. It's too much money on the table overall. I'll pursue with Oceania and then take to the next level. And the other cruise line too.