Crystal Refund Roll Call

[Thecat123]

3 hours ago, Stickman1990 said:

168 days and still waiting for a booking I cancelled on 18 March 2020

Not impressed

Anyone else that long?

 

I have another one at 46 days - just a youngster...

 

 

And after all the promoting you have done promoting Crystal over the years I would have thought you would be one of the first for a payout

[commodoredave]

On 9/1/2020 at 12:19 AM, Vegas Cruiser said:

We will see how Capital One responds but they opened a Freud claim and there was every indication that they would be crediting our account. I’ll keep everyone posted!

Was this a Freudian slip by Capital One?

[krisbelledc]

13 hours ago, MBP&O2/O said:

 

A slight aside ... I booked our flights separately with KLM. We fully anticipated losing them as they were non refundable.
On Saturday they cancelled one flight and offered a full refund. On Sunday I rang them and asked for the refund and on Tuesday it was in the bank. It can be done

 

Yes! Exact same thing happened to us with British Airways. I was blown away with how great the experience was...no questions even asked.

[seattleskibums]

<<168 days and still waiting for a booking I cancelled on 18 March 2020. ... Anyone else that long?>>

 

We're at 173 days.  Crystal canceled our river cruises on March 13.  As of Aug. 13, Violet Bianchi of the Office of the President at Crystal, said the refund of our taxes "would be coming shortly."  We were told numerous times before June 13 that the refunds might take up to 90 days.  It now is approaching twice that long.  We're starting to wonder what Ms. Bianchi's definition of "shortly" is.  Tomorrow will be three weeks since she made the statement.  At the time, we thought she was talking days, not weeks or months.

 

Has anyone experienced these kinds of delays with any other company -- or is it just Crystal that can't deal with its failures?  As we noted earlier, we have received refunds from 24 other travel-related companies for canceled travel -- all after Crystal canceled our river cruises.  Most of them were processed in days.  The longest took about three weeks.  So Crystal's excuse that all processors are experiencing the same delays is just a flat-out lie.

  

[Vegas Cruiser]

Ms. Bianchi told us something similar. Apparently they are still processing March refunds....which is hilarious since your cancellation was March 18th and I see others who cancelled after you or me have gotten refunds (usually after the CC company gets involved). Ms. Bianchi told us about six weeks ago that it would probably be within two more weeks. The reality is that Crystal is in financial trouble. I would not be a bit surprised to see an announcement they have filed for BK. I am hopeful Capital One will make it right for us. I have given up on seeing a refund from Crystal.

 

[caroak]

I don't understand why those that are waiting many months for refunds don't just file a credit card dispute and end the misery.  There's simply no reason not to and, as of late, seems to be the only way to get your refund.   Crystal's future sure does look precarious and glad I did it when the getting was good.

[Stickman1990]

44 minutes ago, caroak said:

I don't understand why those that are waiting many months for refunds don't just file a credit card dispute and end the misery.  There's simply no reason not to and, as of late, seems to be the only way to get your refund. 

It’s not always that simple and it’s not correct that there is “no reason not to”

There are sometimes issues with the period of time that has elapsed since payment - I know Visa won’t dispute anything where payment was made over approximately 550 days before a dispute is raised

[Thecat123]

2 hours ago, Stickman1990 said:

It’s not always that simple and it’s not correct that there is “no reason not to”

There are sometimes issues with the period of time that has elapsed since payment - I know Visa won’t dispute anything where payment was made over approximately 550 days before a dispute is raised

 

I agree with Stickman there are other reasons not to

I have never paid for any type of holiday with a bank card as my TA and others charge 3%? for using a bank card here. Always pay cash and which after reading here and other cruise sites on CC I think I might be paying with a bank card in the future as a just in case

[BlewWater]

On 8/31/2020 at 11:06 PM, Texas Tillie said:

 

Crystal is not currently taking any deposits or other payments for any future cruises. They stopped a few weeks ago.

 

Patty

Where did you find this information?

[Texas Tillie]

46 minutes ago, BlewWater said:

Where did you find this information?

 

It has been discussed here on Cruise Critic, but I don't remember which thread. Also, through emails and texts I've received from Crystal friends. Can someone please point me to the correct thread??

 

Patty

[Helenewe]

On 8/31/2020 at 11:20 AM, MightyQuinn said:

 

Lord Haw Haw, I really hope it works for you.  I remember you were so gracious when I posted about receiving our Crystal refund back in June.  At that time, you mentioned you had been waiting a similar timeframe and were hoping for the same result.  But alas no.  On the positive side, it seems that doing a merchant charge back does get a speedy resolution.  Best of luck!

 

On 8/31/2020 at 11:20 AM, MightyQuinn said:

 

Lord Haw Haw, I really hope it works for you.  I remember you were so gracious when I posted about receiving our Crystal refund back in June.  At that time, you mentioned you had been waiting a similar timeframe and were hoping for the same result.  But alas no.  On the positive side, it seems that doing a merchant charge back does get a speedy resolution.  Best of luck!

 

On 8/31/2020 at 11:20 AM, MightyQuinn said:

 

Lord Haw Haw, I really hope it works for you.  I remember you were so gracious when I posted about receiving our Crystal refund back in June.  At that time, you mentioned you had been waiting a similar timeframe and were hoping for the same result.  But alas no.  On the positive side, it seems that doing a merchant charge back does get a speedy resolution.  Best of luck!

 

[Helenewe]

It's obvious from all these replies that essentially we're all in the same boat. Crystal is probably trying to stay alive. If they do get an influx of cash, they will survive and probably get busy issuing refunds. If not, it's bankruptcy. I did file a fraud complaint with my credit card and am waiting to see if they will take any action. I'm at over 150 days...I was told that March 19th was processed but this apparently is not true since someone wrote about March 18th not refunded. 

[Santonio]

Asking for a refund via CC is not always viable as has been pointed out.  Chase BA will not file a dispute with Crystal on my behalf because the charge for the deposit is 2 years old.  So suggesting that we go through our CC is not always possible.  Who knows this when getting a credit card that a travel charge that has not been used will not be refunded/disputed through the CC and that you are at the mercy of, in this case, Crystal to refund without the benefit of a dispute.

[CruisySusie]

I finally filed a dispute with AmEx just now. They are applying a temporary credit to my account right now which they tell me will become permanent on 11/20 unless Crystal responds to them showing they do not owe me.  After 11/20 I can request that AmEx send me a check for the entire amount. So unless I’m mistaken it seems AmEx will cover me if Crystal does not. Greatly relieved as I am paid in full for 3 cabins!

[crickette]

2 hours ago, Texas Tillie said:

 

It has been discussed here on Cruise Critic, but I don't remember which thread. Also, through emails and texts I've received from Crystal friends. Can someone please point me to the correct thread??

 

Patty

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2758972-cruise-critic-news-the-company-is-not-going-out-of-business-crystal-cruises-reassures-future-guests/

[TER777]

4 hours ago, BlewWater said:

Where did you find this information?

It’s all over the Crystal website. 

[docmark]

Started dispute with Chase Visa 2 days ago(Cancelled cruise by Crystal last week of MAY) , and was told today "temporary credit" will be posted in one week.  Credit will be only for final payment, deposit supposedly "too far back"

[Benita]

1 hour ago, docmark said:

Started dispute with Chase Visa 2 days ago(Cancelled cruise by Crystal last week of MAY) , and was told today "temporary credit" will be posted in one week.  Credit will be only for final payment, deposit supposedly "too far back"

Chase told me the charge needs to be made in the past 536 days before the dispute is accepted. They would not take a case if the charge was made before that time. 

[docmark]

15 minutes ago, Benita said:

Chase told me the charge needs to be made in the past 536 days before the dispute is accepted. They would not take a case if the charge was made before that time. 

My deposit  apparently didn't qualify , paid on 1/2/19

[Benita]

11 minutes ago, docmark said:

My deposit  apparently didn't qualify , paid on 1/2/19

Unfortunately, that is further back than the allowable time. Did you make a final payment and if so, when?

Edited September 3, 2020 by Benita

[docmark]

1 minute ago, Benita said:

Unfortunately, that is further back than the allowable time. Did you make a final payment and if so, when?

Yes, 10/7/19, and I was told by Chase that a "credit"  for that amount will be posted in one week 

[Benita]

5 minutes ago, docmark said:

Yes, 10/7/19, and I was told by Chase that a "credit"  for that amount will be posted in one week 

Chase told me that, too and it was posted later that day. They notified Crystal , who gave a refund a few days later. Chase then removed the temporary credit.

Although your deposit was too far back to dispute, Crystal still owes it to you, so you may see it eventually. Crystal is up to mid March in giving refunds.

Edited September 3, 2020 by Benita
Added info

[docmark]

Scheduled for 8/19/20.

Yes, I hope to recover my deposit from crystal. Thanks

[tipsygirl]

I  cancelled a Crystal Cruise for September 2021 on August 10th and filed a dispute with my CC company last week. I received a call from Chase this morning asking for additional information. The two questions I was asked were was the cancellation due to CoronaVirus concerns, and what was the refund policy at the time I booked the cruise. I replied “yes” on the virus issue. Regarding the refund policy I stated that I did not recall any written policy regarding time to receive a refund, but that. Crystal had since posted information that hopefully refunds would be received in 90 days.i also stated that prior to this year refunds for cancellations had been received within a few weeks.My TA has since verified that she could not locate any policy for time to receive refunds for the time of my booking .

I thought the agent’s focus on the refund policy at the time of booking was interesting. 

Chase is in the. process of contacting Crystal and the agent said to expect a response in about 10 days

 

[katieaz]

15 hours ago, Thecat123 said:

 

I agree with Stickman there are other reasons not to

I have never paid for any type of holiday with a bank card as my TA and others charge 3%? for using a bank card here. Always pay cash and which after reading here and other cruise sites on CC I think I might be paying with a bank card in the future as a just in case

You may ask your agent to process your credit card directly with the cruise supplier and their is no fee.  The credit transaction does not typically go through the agent, fyi.