refunds

[Honey49]

Having trouble with Cruise 1st re refund for cruise in September 2020. Any ideas anyone?

[Aus Traveller]

7 hours ago, Honey49 said:

Having trouble with Cruise 1st re refund for cruise in September 2020. Any ideas anyone?

Which cruise line was the cruise with? I suggest you phone them and mention that you haven't received your refund. Ask if they have given the money to the TA. Cruise 1st say that they have a delay in refunding. All the best.

[jland]

Honey49, last year I and many others had the same problem with this company. I searched until I found the name of their MD, Carl Frier. A quick email to 

carlfrier@cruise1st.com.au and our money was returned within 5 days.

Not sure if he is still at this company, if your email bounces back let me know and I will give you another name and email address. Good luck.

[NSWP]

I had dealings with that mob a few years ago as I booked a couple of P&O UK cruises with them, from Australia I could not book direct with P&O UK.  At that time they were British owned, their hq was up in the north of England.  The Aussie branch might be Aussie owned now, not sure. They were ok to deal with.

[Bubbeh]

If all else fails and you've paid using a credit card from one of the big 4, you could try requesting a charge back to your card.  Good luck.

[Aus Traveller]

12 minutes ago, Bubbeh said:

If all else fails and you've paid using a credit card from one of the big 4, you could try requesting a charge back to your card.  Good luck.

I wondered about charge back on the CC (if a CC was used), but there is a time limit on when you can claim.

[MicCanberra]

We have had numerous bookings that have subsequently been cancelled, and some were with Cruise 1st, they will provide a refund but it is depending on the cruise line, as some are better than others in their time frames for refunds.

[Aus Traveller]

4 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

We have had numerous bookings that have subsequently been cancelled, and some were with Cruise 1st, they will provide a refund but it is depending on the cruise line, as some are better than others in their time frames for refunds.

We had a few cruises booked through Cruise1st that we cancelled. We got our refunds, but it took a while, even after (in one case) Princess advised that they had sent our refund to the TA weeks earlier.

[jland]

Unfortunately this company wanted to hold my money for 12 weeks after they had received my refund from the cruise company. I would not allow that, I was terrified they would go bankrupt. Even more so once job keeper ends, I think that will be the end of many more TAs.

[LittleFish1976]

2 hours ago, jland said:

Unfortunately this company wanted to hold my money for 12 weeks after they had received my refund from the cruise company. I would not allow that, I was terrified they would go bankrupt. Even more so once job keeper ends, I think that will be the end of many more TAs.

Do the charge back through the credit card company, in that case, asap so you don't miss the cut-off. Don't lose any more time.

[Aus Traveller]

10 minutes ago, LittleFish1976 said:

Do the charge back through the credit card company, in that case, asap so you don't miss the cut-off. Don't lose any more time.

The limit is 75 to 120 days from the original transaction to claim a charge back on a credit card payment. The cruise was to be in September 2020, so the OP would be beyond that window.

Edited February 5, 2021 by Aus Traveller

[LittleFish1976]

3 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

The limit is 75 to 120 days from the original transaction to claim a charge back on a credit card payment. The cruise was to be in September 2020, so the OP would be beyond that window.

Oh that's a shame. Back to chasing the cruise company and the TA then.

[OzKiwiJJ]

Just now, Aus Traveller said:

The limit is 75 to 120 days from the original transaction to claim a charge back on a credit card payment. It is likely the OP is beyond that window.

It depends on the credit card company. We were able to claim back two final payments that had been made almost a year before but couldn't claim the deposit. That was 28 Degrees Mastercard. We phoned them about the chargeback and they were very helpful.

[Balsam12]

OK... I'm in a similar situation, waiting on a refund for a cruise that was cancelled in September.

 

I booked through a travel agent, so the cruise line won't talk to me. I can't believe a word my TA says, so I lodged a complaint with Consumer Protection in my own state.

Basically, the TA tells me the cruise line has issued a credit instead of a cash refund, and that it will take a further 60 days to get a cash refund. I have had nothing to confirm this. Consumer Protection have spoken to the cruise lie and actually confirmed this, but the cruise line have given an undertaking that the cash refund would be issued within three weeks.

 

This is the last time I will ever deal with a travel agent. There is no way to know if they are telling you the truth.

 

As for credit card chargebacks, I work with them in my line of business, and 180 days is the cut off for most things. There may be exceptions, but for the transactions I deal with, 180 days is the limit.

[MicCanberra]

6 weeks down to 3 weeks, sounds like Consumer protection have given them a hurry up.

[cruisingaussies]

On 2/5/2021 at 10:25 AM, jland said:

Honey49, last year I and many others had the same problem with this company. I searched until I found the name of their MD, Carl Frier. A quick email to 

carlfrier@cruise1st.com.au and our money was returned within 5 days.

Not sure if he is still at this company, if your email bounces back let me know and I will give you another name and email address. Good luck.

Hi there

We're still waiting for the refund of our deposit from Cruise1st, we know that they have had our money refunded from Celebrity Cruises since at least 16 November 2020.

It's now 22 weeks since the refund was requested and their website advises delays of up to 20 weeks.

I had my email to Carl Frier returned, so would really appreciate it if you have another contact?

Thanks.

[NSWP]

The ta is holding your deposit or spent it. Good luck.

[jland]

On 2/19/2021 at 12:53 PM, cruisingaussies said:

Hi there

We're still waiting for the refund of our deposit from Cruise1st, we know that they have had our money refunded from Celebrity Cruises since at least 16 November 2020.

It's now 22 weeks since the refund was requested and their website advises delays of up to 20 weeks.

I had my email to Carl Frier returned, so would really appreciate it if you have another contact?

Thanks.

A thousand apologies the correct email has a full stop between the first and second name. To make sure I have the address correct this time I have sent an email which he did receive. carl.frier@ cruise1st.com.au

I’m sorry my lack of attention to detail has caused you problems. As he is in charge try him first if no luck get back to me and I will give you another email address. Good luck.

[cruisingaussies]

On 2/20/2021 at 1:44 PM, jland said:

A thousand apologies the correct email has a full stop between the first and second name. To make sure I have the address correct this time I have sent an email which he did receive. carl.frier@ cruise1st.com.au

I’m sorry my lack of attention to detail has caused you problems. As he is in charge try him first if no luck get back to me and I will give you another email address. Good luck.

No need to apologise, I appreciate your help.  I had a reply after sending to the address you gave above and received this automated reply:

 

"I will be out of the office and have intermitent access to email. for anything urgent please text me on +61424165884. Regards Carl"

 

Which sounds a bit odd.  When I Googled I found him on Linkedin which states he left cruise1st in March 2020.  When were you in touch with him?

 

I Googled Managing Director cruise1st and can't find a replacement for him.  Could be that there isn't one, but there must still be someone acting as MD or in a similar capacity.

[MMDown Under]

On 2/19/2021 at 11:53 AM, cruisingaussies said:

Hi there

We're still waiting for the refund of our deposit from Cruise1st, we know that they have had our money refunded from Celebrity Cruises since at least 16 November 2020.

It's now 22 weeks since the refund was requested and their website advises delays of up to 20 weeks.

I had my email to Carl Frier returned, so would really appreciate it if you have another contact?

Thanks.

Sorry to hear that you haven't received a refund from your TA, despite Celebrity Cruises refunding money to TA since at least 16 November 2020.  Whilst I understand cruise lines want you to deal direct with TAs not the cruise lines, they can't just wipe their hands of the non refund of your cruise fare by the TA.  Who would use a TA in the future, if this is the case?

[jland]

15 hours ago, cruisingaussies said:

No need to apologise, I appreciate your help.  I had a reply after sending to the address you gave above and received this automated reply:

 

"I will be out of the office and have intermitent access to email. for anything urgent please text me on +61424165884. Regards Carl"

 

Which sounds a bit odd.  When I Googled I found him on Linkedin which states he left cruise1st in March 2020.  When were you in touch with him?

 

I Googled Managing Director cruise1st and can't find a replacement for him.  Could be that there isn't one, but there must still be someone acting as MD or in a similar capacity.

I think you got the response you did because you emailed Carl Frier on the weekend, try again later today. Cruise cancellations started after March 2020 so he was definitely working there August/ September time when I emailed him. I cannot remember exactly when,  I will have a look at my credit card statement later today to see the exact date I got my refund.

[MicCanberra]

Good luck.

[NSWP]

21 hours ago, cruisingaussies said:

No need to apologise, I appreciate your help.  I had a reply after sending to the address you gave above and received this automated reply:

 

"I will be out of the office and have intermitent access to email. for anything urgent please text me on +61424165884. Regards Carl"

 

Which sounds a bit odd.  When I Googled I found him on Linkedin which states he left cruise1st in March 2020.  When were you in touch with him?

 

I Googled Managing Director cruise1st and can't find a replacement for him.  Could be that there isn't one, but there must still be someone acting as MD or in a similar capacity.

So did you ring Carl on ye olde Alcapone? 61424165884?

[MMDown Under]

12 minutes ago, NSWP said:

So did you ring Carl on ye olde Alcapone? 61424165884?

Or text?

[cruisingaussies]

On 2/22/2021 at 7:46 AM, jland said:

I think you got the response you did because you emailed Carl Frier on the weekend, try again later today. Cruise cancellations started after March 2020 so he was definitely working there August/ September time when I emailed him. I cannot remember exactly when,  I will have a look at my credit card statement later today to see the exact date I got my refund.

Thanks, good idea.  I re-sent the message this morning and so far, no auto reply.  Fingers crossed he's got the message.

 

If I don't get anything back in a day or two I'll try sending a text.