No Refund for shore excursions

[adamb3]

I am running out of ideas on how to get my money back for 2 cancelled shore excursions that I cancelled on 22nd of May😞.

 

I have called Royal Caribbean three time but I am getting nowhere.

 

Start of July I called Royal Caribbean :

Customer service said, "The refund failed we will process the refund again should be in your account within 7 working days".

 

... 7 days later no refund. so, I call them up again.

Customer service said, "Refunds take 3 weeks to process".

 

3 weeks later still no refund.

 

I have contacted them again and customer service said, "This refund will take another 45 days to process".

 

Anyone else having the same issues with refunds like this?

 

(I have been waiting for  90 days+)

Edited August 20, 2020 by adamb3

[Auntiemomo]

Dispute the charges with your credit card.  Let them fight it out.

[MeHeartCruising]

Yes,  at this point, I would dispute the charge with your credit card.  Provide them with the same details you wrote above.

[Sunshine3601]

I have received refunds of all cruise planner purchases within 2 weeks for my 5 cancelled cruises.  Surprised to hear you are still struggling with this.  Do you ask to escalate to management?

[adamb3]

39 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

I have received refunds of all cruise planner purchases within 2 weeks for my 5 cancelled cruises.  Surprised to hear you are still struggling with this.  Do you ask to escalate to management?

Yes I have and customer service refused(because they are unable to contact management...?), the only action they will do is raise another refund request.

Edited August 20, 2020 by adamb3

[BND]

Cancelled excursions and onboard activities are usually the first refunds received.  When I cancel them, I've had the money back on my card in a few days.  It's normally the easiest, quickest refund.

[bigrednole]

This is a lesson in patience. They are processing refunds. If someone tells you a timeframe, they are probably not accurate. 

[NHProud]

Firstly , good luck to you !  I’m at 127 days waiting for the refund of the remaining monies owed to me from a cruise RCG cancelled on 4/15 .  My TA has called 4 times , I e-mailed customer services and received two replies from two different people .  I reached out to management and I received back from them a text , two e-mails and a phone call .   I’m one week out from their last refund due date .   I , too , am at the end of my patience which they keep telling me : “ Be patient “ .   

 

The problem is that monies refunded have had no correlation to items charged and I have no receipt for the cruise charge.  I have contacted my cc and was told there is no expiration date for challenging a charge however don’t wait two years .  I may resort to filing a chargeback . Enough , they’ve devoted how much time to my “ case “ .  

[BND]

11 minutes ago, NHProud said:

Firstly , good luck to you !  I’m at 127 days waiting for the refund of the remaining monies owed to me from a cruise RCG cancelled on 4/15 .  My TA has called 4 times , I e-mailed customer services and received two replies from two different people .  I reached out to management and I received back from them a text , two e-mails and a phone call .   I’m one week out from their last refund due date .   I , too , am at the end of my patience which they keep telling me : “ Be patient “ .   

 

The problem is that monies refunded have had no correlation to items charged and I have no receipt for the cruise charge.  I have contacted my cc and was told there is no expiration date for challenging a charge however don’t wait two years .  I may resort to filing a chargeback . Enough , they’ve devoted how much time to my “ case “ .  

Excursion refunds are separate from cruise refunds.  We got our excursion refunds immediately.  Our cruise refunds (most) came within 35 days and then we got the last $500 or so at about 90 days.  The refunds come in multiple amounts.  Not every one will match up, but the total should be correct.  Our last refund a couple of weeks ago made up the missing amount.  This was for our May b2b that was paid in full and then cancelled by RCI.  They really mean "be patient".  Ours are just credited against a credit card we use a lot so it offset our balance for about three months.

[ONECRUISER]

3 hours ago, BND said:

Cancelled excursions and onboard activities are usually the first refunds received.  When I cancel them, I've had the money back on my card in a few days.  It's normally the easiest, quickest refund.

Agree, last month in July for my canceled on board purchases took a week. Even then only took 3 weeks for refund on 2 canceled Royal Cruises and one Cruise FCC that I canceled at same time

[yogimax]

4 hours ago, Auntiemomo said:

Dispute the charges with your credit card.  Let them fight it out.

I've only had a couple of credit card disputes but, in my experience, they take months and months to settle.  Is this best for the OP?

[karena1]

It took me forever - like 4 months - to get my tax/fees back from our April Freedom.  I finally got a supervisor to escalate after numerous phone calls.  Finally got it back early August.

[3monkeys4me]

I've only had a couple of credit card disputes but, in my experience, they take months and months to settle.  Is this best for the OP?

This probably depends heavily on the bank. I’ve only disputed a transaction twice, once for a fraudulent charge and once for a company at that didn’t deliver the product ordered. Both times my account was credited within 48 hours of the dispute even though the dispute itself took several weeks (I was notified after the disputes were settled).


Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[BND]

2 minutes ago, 3monkeys4me said:

 

 

This probably depends heavily on the bank. I’ve only disputed a transaction twice, once for a fraudulent charge and once for a company at that didn’t deliver the product ordered. Both times my account was credited within 48 hours of the dispute even though the dispute itself took several weeks (I was notified after the disputes were settled).


Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

 

The OP hasn't been refused a refund as in RCI didn't say no, so not sure a dispute is in order.  CC disputes are really meant for when you are refused a refund or never receive the product and this isn't the case, just a delay.  

Edited August 20, 2020 by BND

[pcur]

On 8/20/2020 at 12:34 PM, BND said:

The OP hasn't been refused a refund as in RCI didn't say no, so not sure a dispute is in order.  CC disputes are really meant for when you are refused a refund or never receive the product and this isn't the case, just a delay.  

 

I had a serious issue with Airbnb where they said a "negative maybe" to me for a month.  Gave me instructions to provide documentation that was impossible to provide.  Chase Bank did the charge back after I sent them all the info.  If the bank thinks the vendor is not being serious about the refund, they will do a charge back.

 

I'm guessing in the OP's case that RCCL sent some of the money to the vendor who is providing the shore excursion to RCCL, and they can't get the money back from the vendor.  

[BND]

52 minutes ago, pcur said:

 

I had a serious issue with Airbnb where they said a "negative maybe" to me for a month.  Gave me instructions to provide documentation that was impossible to provide.  Chase Bank did the charge back after I sent them all the info.  If the bank thinks the vendor is not being serious about the refund, they will do a charge back.

 

I'm guessing in the OP's case that RCCL sent some of the money to the vendor who is providing the shore excursion to RCCL, and they can't get the money back from the vendor.  

I didn't think they paid vendors until after excursions occurred because sometimes they don't.  I know they are contracted, but I doubt they get paid before it's provided.  I used to work in Gov contracts and we never paid before delivery.  That also isn't a reason to not refund something that is fully refundable.  They are separate issues. If RCI paid out, that's their problem, not the OP's.

Edited August 21, 2020 by BND

[baldilocks]

The same happened to us. We got one excursion refund to the credit card in a couple of weeks. The second refund took over two months. We were told that our credit card company had rejected the refund and that it would take the RCI resolution department to solve the problem. Strange that one refund came right through while the other took so long on the same credit card.

[pcur]

1 hour ago, baldilocks said:

The same happened to us. We got one excursion refund to the credit card in a couple of weeks. The second refund took over two months. We were told that our credit card company had rejected the refund and that it would take the RCI resolution department to solve the problem. Strange that one refund came right through while the other took so long on the same credit card.

It could be the refunds were the same amount if RCCL refunded per passenger.  If it looks like a duplicate, then the bank will reject it.

[sandancer]

I’ve recently cancelled a cruise for April next year and confidently expect to wait a long time for the deposit to be refunded. Before cancelling the cruise I cancelled a tour for the second time. I had been sent an email offering discounts on excursions etc on 30th July so I cancelled and rebooked at the lower cost and paid again by CC. By 4th August I had been refunded for the original charge. I somehow think I’ll be waiting longer than that this time. 

[LuCruise]

Cancelled our non-refundable Aug cruise on June 11.  This was before final payment, but we overpaid our deposit and had 2 cruise planner items booked

• about a month later, received FCC for the required deposit
• have not yet received refund for the cruise planner items
• have not yet received refund for additional deposit (but did receive a mystery refund for a bit more than half)

Haven't called them yet but will try soon.  Who knows, maybe issues too with our credit card company.  But having said that, we lifted and sifted a different cruise and got the cruise planner refunds back no issue a few weeks later.

[Spurschick]

On 8/20/2020 at 9:01 AM, adamb3 said:

I am running out of ideas on how to get my money back for 2 cancelled shore excursions that I cancelled on 22nd of May😞.

 

I have called Royal Caribbean three time but I am getting nowhere.

 

Start of July I called Royal Caribbean :

Customer service said, "The refund failed we will process the refund again should be in your account within 7 working days".

 

... 7 days later no refund. so, I call them up again.

Customer service said, "Refunds take 3 weeks to process".

 

3 weeks later still no refund.

 

I have contacted them again and customer service said, "This refund will take another 45 days to process".

 

Anyone else having the same issues with refunds like this?

 

(I have been waiting for  90 days+)

Try calling post cruise number. 

 

If if that doesn’t work posting on their Facebook page normally gets a prompt response.

[Ashland]

I did a L/S for my May 2021 cruise to April 2022 on July 16 and my cruise planner purchases were refunded on Aug 13th

 

[adamb3]

2 hours ago, Spurschick said:

Try calling post cruise number. 

 

If if that doesn’t work posting on their Facebook page normally gets a prompt response.

 

I have sent a private message on Royal Caribbean Facebook page hopefully I will get a reply soon.