Using your FCC at big-box TA? Be careful.

[kwb101]

2 minutes ago, oaktreerb said:

Good news.  I’ll keep this in mind when I rebook my HAL cancelled cruise with my BB TA.  I prefer refundable OBC but as part of my original booking I was offered the cash card so I know now that I need to ask for it when I rebook. Thanks for reporting back!

I thought you got the shop card no matter what. The nice lady (sadly, I can't remember her name) said that they went to those and stopped giving OBC at the beginning of this year, when a contract expired. (I remember seeing that other cruise lines the TA represented already had the shop card as a bonus...although I've seen mention here very recently that they're now giving OBC; I can't keep up.)

It may take a little longer to do the booking, but it should be worth it: the kind of money you get for many trips will buy you a lot of TP and water there 😉

Good luck!

[oaktreerb]

23 minutes ago, kwb101 said:

I thought you got the shop card no matter what. The nice lady (sadly, I can't remember her name) said that they went to those and stopped giving OBC at the beginning of this year, when a contract expired. (I remember seeing that other cruise lines the TA represented already had the shop card as a bonus...although I've seen mention here very recently that they're now giving OBC; I can't keep up.)

It may take a little longer to do the booking, but it should be worth it: the kind of money you get for many trips will buy you a lot of TP and water there 😉

Good luck!

We have used the same BB TA “co” for years and this is the first time we have booked since they changed to the cash card/shop card.  As far as I know this BB TA only offers the shop cards now.  When I booked my cruise I mentioned to a supervisor that I didn’t like the change to the shop cards.  It’s a lot of money and I’d rather spend it as OBC to enhance my cruise experience and get a refund of the balance at the end of the cruise.  

 

I never mind spending a lot of time booking a cruise and always call instead of booking online because I hope the TA can get it right the first time.  The TA’s are always very helpful.  Thank you for following up on this issue.

[kwb101]

15 hours ago, oaktreerb said:

As far as I know this BB TA only offers the shop cards now.  When I booked my cruise I mentioned to a supervisor that I didn’t like the change to the shop cards.  It’s a lot of money and I’d rather spend it as OBC to enhance my cruise experience and get a refund of the balance at the end of the cruise. 

The lady I spoke to said some other cruise lines were now letting the TA offer OBC, so it all must've switched at the beginning of the year. it used to be that HAL was one of the few to offer OBC, and the others offered shop cards.

[kwb101]

I want to clarify a bit about the shop card amount: at the moment, we're getting $1070. Before the FCC was applied to our booking, the shop card was $1260.

I think that the shop card amount is based on the fare from the cancelled trip. If this is true, they're not including the 25% bonus taking the FCC instead of a cash refund.

The TA is still swamped, and there's no rush, so I will call them in early June to see if this is the case, or that there's been a mistake.

I will keep you posted.

[yunksr]

On 5/9/2020 at 5:35 PM, kwb101 said:

Briefly:

• April 15, HAL cancelled our voyage this June (by email). We chose the 125% future cruise credit plus $250 per person OBC option.
• April 18, I booked (essentially) the same voyage for July 2021.
• May 7, HAL sent a message that the credit was available.
• May 8, I called our big-box travel agent to apply the future cruise credit to the April '21 voyage. There was about $795 future cruise credit remaining after transferring it to the  trip (which is in our Mariner accounts). So far, so good.

BUT...

• Rather than applying the FCC as a payment, the cruise package price was reduced to $0...which meant that the $1260 shopping card we were to receive before applying the FCC disappeared (there is still a $25 card shown, their minimum).

 

I'm rather upset about this, since we had already paid in full using the big-box credit card, and the only difference between the cancelled trip and the new one is that we paid for the former directly and the latter had money transferred from HAL.

 

This is not good. Has anyone else had this happen?

We had a FCC with RCL and used it to rebook our cancelled cruise. With the incentive, we were able to upgrade and still had a $$ left. Our travel agent said that the balance would be reissued as a NEW FCC. Might be the same set up. 

 

[kwb101]

On 5/9/2020 at 3:54 PM, Caribbean Chris said:

No, but this is a very interesting and disturbing piece of news. The big box store is not working for free. They WILL get a commission from HAL at some point.  Out of that commission, they owe you the same terms in the booked offer for 2021. Let us know what happens.

 

On 5/9/2020 at 3:58 PM, oaktreerb said:

I’ve been wondering how the big box would handle this.  Supposedly the BB TA got to keep the full commission from HAL from which you were to have been rewarded with a $1260 cash card.  BB TA kept the full the commission and didn’t pay the $1260 cash card rebate to you for giving them the booking.   If the BB TA is not honoring the original cash card then I see no reason to give them the replacement booking.

HAL posted a webinar to TAs today that explains about compensation options. I don't have a link to the webinar itself.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2749272-hal-webinar/

[kwb101]

1 hour ago, yunksr said:

We had a FCC with RCL and used it to rebook our cancelled cruise. With the incentive, we were able to upgrade and still had a $$ left. Our travel agent said that the balance would be reissued as a NEW FCC. Might be the same set up.

I was told that our ~$800 balance would stay in our Mariner accounts.

[AlanF65]

On 5/9/2020 at 4:02 PM, kwb101 said:

The OBC/shopping card change is also not good: until late last year, you got a percentage (usually about 7%) of your fare as OBC. Then, it changed to a Shop card that could only be used in their warehouses (can't be cashed out, and is sent out after the voyage)...and was calculated at a lower percentage.

I just looked at next years booking and the shop card for me is  slightly less than 8.15% (shop card value divide by fare w/o taxes and port fees). last year it  was about 7.9% on RCCL. I think they round down to some magic number or maybe different staterooms pay different commissions.

 

I like the shop cards, sometimes I let them buildup and make a big ticket purchase, other times I use the stuff the business needs and get reimbursed and other times I just use them to shop. My cancelled cruise had $515 OBC from BB TA, $250 OBC shareholder, $200 from HAL, there was no way I would spend it all on board but it would have been nice to take cash or credit home.

A-

 

[Bethcb]

My understanding is that the shop cards or OBC from Big Box TA is in set increments. As of February this year, we got OBC for Princess cruises. Always got it from HAL, but maybe that has changed. For Celebrity Cruise, it has always been shopping card. 

[kwb101]

1 hour ago, Bethcb said:

My understanding is that the shop cards or OBC from Big Box TA is in set increments. As of February this year, we got OBC for Princess cruises. Always got it from HAL, but maybe that has changed. For Celebrity Cruise, it has always been shopping card. 

For the big-box TA, the agent I spoke to said they went to shop cards in January.

[Alberta Quilter]

11 hours ago, kwb101 said:

For the big-box TA, the agent I spoke to said they went to shop cards in January.

 

IIRC correctly, the change occurred earlier than that.  I think it was late November of 2019.  There was a thread about it here then.  I"ll try to find the thread and link it here.  However, if one booked a cruise before the change and later transferred it to the big box agency, then one still received OBC.  If one booked after the change then one received a shop card.

 

Having said all that, I booked a cruise after the change and will receive BOTH a shop card and OBC, from the BBA, which surprised me.  I'm not sure why but didn't question it further; I just accepted it and ran!

 

Found the thread from last year:  

 

Edited May 13, 2020 by Alberta Quilter

[kwb101]

1 hour ago, Alberta Quilter said:

IIRC correctly, the change occurred earlier than that.  I think it was late November of 2019.  There was a thread about it here then.  I"ll try to find the thread and link it here.

That was my recollection, too, and was surprised that the TA said it was January.

[fusion927]

If you have a booking with the BBS, look at the Additional Terms and Conditions, specifically look for Reservations made on or after 11/27/2019.

 

Just a little hint😀

[Alberta Quilter]

7 minutes ago, fusion927 said:

If you have a booking with the BBS, look at the Additional Terms and Conditions, specifically look for Reservations made on or after 11/27/2019.

 

Just a little hint😀

I don't think anyone begrudges the BBA from decreasing the amount of the shop card when the fare is decreased.  It depends on how the fare is decreased, though.  If I took a price drop, then, yes, the value of the shop card should be decreased accordingly.  But, in the OP's situation, he had a credit for a previously paid for and then cancelled cruise which was commissionable, and when that was applied to the new booking, the value of the shop card decreased to the minimum offered.  That was not right and was subsequently rectified by the BBA.

[Caribbean Chris]

I’m really glad I checked back on this thread and learned the good outcome for the OP. I’m grateful that you helped the BBTA see the light and fix that issue. Thank you!

 

As far as the discussion about Shop Card vs Refundable OBC, it’s understandable to me that the BBTA would rather have the rebated commission coming into the stores and used for purchases. 
 

It doesn’t matter much to us because we live very near a BB Store and go there often for many necessities. So it has equal value to us. But I do understand that it is far less convenient for many people than getting cash from the front desk before leaving the cruise used to be.

[aa7yy]

I was told buy the BigBox TA that the change from OBC to the Shop Card was a requirement made by HAL. I have witnessed this, my wife see's the BB OBC as a refund and quits spending. It makes sense to me that HAL would like to take that carrot out of your vision.

[kwb101]

Although it didn't have any bearing on my getting the shop card vs. OBC, I called and applied the FCC on Friday, and the nice lady said she'd check with her supervisor and get back to me re: the $25 card. I didn't expect anything to happen.

The phone rang late morning Monday, and it was her, reporting that her sup had called HAL and had gotten back the full (?) amount of the card. I told her how much I appreciated her effort and quick resolution. This isn't the first time I've had this experience with them. 

We live about 2 miles from the BB store, so it's 'way too easy to get there and buy lots of good stuff 😜

Edited May 14, 2020 by kwb101

[tert333]

Has anyone recently dealt with the Big Box on this issue, where they reduced shop card when the FCC is applied against an existing cruise.

 

People have reported that they had to call the TA and they on occasions would reverse out the shop card reductions.

 

[kwb101]

I always check the big-box website and start to book, so I can see how much the card will be. This lets me know that the amount the TA quotes when I book for real is accurate. Good luck! 

[Caribbean Chris]

On 9/21/2020 at 9:10 AM, tert333 said:

Has anyone recently dealt with the Big Box on this issue, where they reduced shop card when the FCC is applied against an existing cruise.

 

People have reported that they had to call the TA and they on occasions would reverse out the shop card reductions.

 

Can’t comment about existing cruises, but for a new booking, no problem. We automatically received the same amount of shop card when booking a few weeks ago as if we had paid new cash, even though we were using almost entirely FCC.
 

They netted down the cruise fare itself in the booking confirmation’s Price Summary section. For example, if our cruise package was $9000 and we had $8000 in FCC, it was applied as a credit in the “taxes and fees” line, for a new “total package price” of anything we still owed. It was NOT shown on the “payments applied” line, where our deposit was entered. YMMV for an existing cruise booking.
 

I think it just took the Big Box a little time to reprogram their booking software after the early days of upheaval - this thread began in May.

[tert333]

Great!

 

Thanks for the reply

[kwb101]

42 minutes ago, Caribbean Chris said:

I think it just took the Big Box a little time to reprogram their booking software after the early days of upheaval - this thread began in May.

I guess I was just a little too soon for them to have changed their system to account for the FCCs. Glad it worked for you; I'm looking forward to seeing the FCC from our second cancelled voyage show up shortly.

[AlanF65]

I transferred a new booking to BB TA about 5 weeks ago. They read me a bunch of legalese for 3-4 minutes that I had to agree to before they could answer questions. One of the terms was reduction in shop card for using FCC.

 

After I agreed I asked why the shop card was being reduced when the FCC were both for canceled cruises through BB TA. The agent then looked it up and said my FCC were protected and I would get the full shop card and my FCC were protected. I told her I didn't want to apply them until we got closer to their expiration date in case I cancelled or wanted a refund

 

A-

[kwb101]

4 minutes ago, AlanF65 said:

After I agreed I asked why the shop card was being reduced when the FCC were both for canceled cruises through BB TA. The agent then looked it up and said my FCC were protected and I would get the full shop card and my FCC were protected. I told her I didn't want to apply them until we got closer to their expiration date in case I cancelled or wanted a refund.

From what I see on my account page at HAL's site, we decide how to apply the FCC. Not too long ago, it was applied automatically to your bookings. Progress!

[AlanF65]

1 hour ago, kwb101 said:

From what I see on my account page at HAL's site, we decide how to apply the FCC. Not too long ago, it was applied automatically to your bookings. Progress!

The fine print on the FCC I received for cancellations was they would automatically be applied to current bookings, one of the reasons I hurried up the transfer to the TA