​😱​​😱​Couple charged $100,000 for dinner on Symphony​😱​​😱​

[livingonthebeach]

It was reported by our local news that a couple dining at Jamie's Italian was mistakenly charged $98,638.93. It was discovered when they tried to buy something at port and their Amex was declined.  RCI reversed the charge but it still appeared on their card.  Imagine if they only brought one card?  I don't think this was their case but I'm always nervous about something like this happening so I always bring more than one card, especially when traveling far. 

 

I guess the take away here is always check your onboard account, don't use a debit card and bring more than one credit card. What a nightmare!  

 

https://www.local10.com/news/local/2022/09/14/couple-charged-nearly-100000-for-dinner-onboard-cruise-from-fort-lauderdale/

 

 

[Biker19]

Just now, livingonthebeach said:

I guess the take away here is always check your onboard account, don't use a debit card and bring more than one credit card.

Or, change to a cash account.

[livingonthebeach]

Just now, Biker19 said:

Or, change to a cash account.

 

Yes, good point. 

[Ptroxx]

Can I still keep the points I got though.  Lol. 

[island lady]

When the fiasco of "accidentally" charging for small items in the fridge (when they used to stock it with soda, beer, water etc.) was happening constantly AFTER the completion of the cruise....I started setting up my sea pass card as cash accounts.  Those stocked fridges and water have since gone away.  I am now back to CC on account.  

 

I have learned to carry a second card now, since my regular Visa card hit a skimmer in a gas station pump at the beginning of a trip...suddenly without CC for that trip.  

 

RCI Visa, with it's no annual fee is our second card.  Has worked great for us.  🙂 

[topnole]

1 hour ago, livingonthebeach said:

It was reported by our local news that a couple dining at Jamie's Italian was mistakenly charged $98,638.93. It was discovered when they tried to buy something at port and their Amex was declined.  RCI reversed the charge but it still appeared on their card.  Imagine if they only brought one card?  I don't think this was their case but I'm always nervous about something like this happening so I always bring more than one card, especially when traveling far. 

 

I guess the take away here is always check your onboard account, don't use a debit card and bring more than one credit card. What a nightmare!  

 

https://www.local10.com/news/local/2022/09/14/couple-charged-nearly-100000-for-dinner-onboard-cruise-from-fort-lauderdale/

 

 

Lots of reasons to always bring more than one card on any trip.  And always plan for contingencies when traveling out of country.  
 

Not too many years back the banks recommended you let them know when you were traveling. I traveled quite a bit internationally back then and always followed their recommendation.  One cruise my account gets frozen mid cruise.  I find out from the bartender while at the pub at night.  Took a while to get it sorted at guest services which was rather inconvenient because I was thirsty and enjoying those beers.  😂😂
 

It was the darn bank doing it over fraud concerns even after I told them exactly what I was doing.  Always have a second CC ready.  We switched to my wife’s CC, but she didn’t notify them since we figured we would never use her card.  Of course her card worked fine for all the charges.  Lol.  We each had a back up too, but luckily the problem didn’t arise again.  

Edited September 16, 2022 by topnole

[reallyitsmema]

1 hour ago, livingonthebeach said:

It was reported by our local news that a couple dining at Jamie's Italian was mistakenly charged $98,638.93. It was discovered when they tried to buy something at port and their Amex was declined.  RCI reversed the charge but it still appeared on their card.  Imagine if they only brought one card?  I don't think this was their case but I'm always nervous about something like this happening so I always bring more than one card, especially when traveling far. 

 

I guess the take away here is always check your onboard account, don't use a debit card and bring more than one credit card. What a nightmare!  

 

https://www.local10.com/news/local/2022/09/14/couple-charged-nearly-100000-for-dinner-onboard-cruise-from-fort-lauderdale/

 

 

 

The charge was made in error and was reversed on their onboard account the next day but the credit card authorization had been processed overnight.  The article says they spent hours on the phone with the cruise line after their cruise but they didn't say anything about calling American Express.  My first call would have been to American Express while on the ship to see if they could expedite the removal of the authorization.  I would have followed up with a call immediately after the cruise line processed payment at the end of the cruise.

 

We use one credit card to purchase the cruise and use for onboard expenses.  That card comes with us on the cruise and stays in the safe the entire time and not used for anything else on the way to the cruise, during the cruise or on the way home.  My DH and I each bring a different credit card for any purchases we make on the way to the cruise, in port,  or on the way home from the cruise.  If one of us loses their credit card or has it stolen, we at least have the other's card to cover any purchases.

 

Mistakes happen.  Hopefully, the people involved in this have learned to check their onboard account before going to bed at night.

[tampadee]

Our credit card company cancelled our card in the middle of a cruise because of suspicion of fraud!

We were so glad they we had another card.

[MandyMooToo]

1 hour ago, reallyitsmema said:

 

The charge was made in error and was reversed on their onboard account the next day but the credit card authorization had been processed overnight.  The article says they spent hours on the phone with the cruise line after their cruise but they didn't say anything about calling American Express.  My first call would have been to American Express while on the ship to see if they could expedite the removal of the authorization.  I would have followed up with a call immediately after the cruise line processed payment at the end of the cruise.

 

 

This!! Royal cannot expedite removing that hold/charge, it is up to the banking institution/credit card company.  They were wasting their time calling Royal.

[rudeney]

From my experiences with AMEX, they can (or won't) do anything with pending charges.  I've had fraudulent charges show in pending and they made me wait until it went through to dispute them.  I also have what was supposed to be a ~$5,000 charge keyed in by the vendor with an extra zero, making it ~$50,000.  The vendor caught it and reversed it, but it still showed as pending with AMEX.  I called and again was told they can't do anything with pending charges, but it was no worries because I still had plenty of "spending ability" even with amount being on hold.  I ran a business for many years and spent several hundred thousand dollars a year on my personal AMEX.  They once told me that I had no "spending patterns" so I'd never have any issues with using my card for whatever or wherever.  And I never have.  

[ATG]

We had a notification of possible fraud the night before we boarded in Port Canaveral.  We had driven from SC that day.  The card had been used at a Dominos in Pennsylvania.  The fraud person I talked to asked if we had stopped in Pennsylvania on our way from SC to Florida.  Obviously, geography wasn’t his best subject in school.

 

Luckily, we had another card.

 

[crewsweeper]

18 minutes ago, ATG said:

We had a notification of possible fraud the night before we boarded in Port Canaveral.  We had driven from SC that day.  The card had been used at a Dominos in Pennsylvania.  The fraud person I talked to asked if we had stopped in Pennsylvania on our way from SC to Florida.  Obviously, geography wasn’t his best subject in school.

 

Luckily, we had another card.

 

similar story.  Had a call from my company accounting asking if I had dinner at an exclusive Hawaiian steak house the night before and charged it to my company credit card.  I live in Florida.  Meal was paid with a physical card.  I had mine in my wallet.

 

But original post is why we check the  charges on the check at specialty restaurants and bars before signing.

[meadowlander]

No reporting on how the couple was dressed! Very disappointed.👔👗

Edited September 16, 2022 by meadowlander

[moposh]

I don't know how it went through.  Didn't AmEx think that's a lot for them to charge, they don't usually charge that much?  Does AmEx have credit limits?

 

I use my BOA RCI cc.  I also have another card with no foreign transaction fee that I use in port.

 

One time in Puerto Vallarta, we were using the BOA RCI card when it didn't go through.  Fortunately we had another card.  BOA thought the charges were fraudulent.  When we got back to the ship we called BOA and had them take the freeze off.

 

I used to tell my bank when I was going away.  I don't do that anymore.  

[moposh]

12 minutes ago, crewsweeper said:

But original post is why we check the  charges on the check at specialty restaurants and bars before signing.

I believe the mistake was made when putting in the tip by staff so customer would have signed and approved the charge.  

[Husky1987]

To be fair, the meat plank is pretty good.

[John Reid]

Did the total include the mandatory 18% gratuity?

[rudeney]

3 hours ago, crewsweeper said:

But original post is why we check the  charges on the check at specialty restaurants and bars before signing.

 

It sounds like this was done after the check was signed when the gratuity was being entered into the POS system.  The crew member though he was keying in his POS password, but was actually on the gratuity field for the check.  The passenger would not have seen this as a lot of times it's a manger that goes back through the day's checks to record the added gratuities.  

 

3 hours ago, moposh said:

I don't know how it went through.  Didn't AmEx think that's a lot for them to charge, they don't usually charge that much?  Does AmEx have credit limits?

 

AMEX is a little different than most cards.  Although they do offer "pay over time" features, it's not really a "credit" card but a "charge" card that you pay in full each month.  Because of this, they have (in their words) "no preset spending limit".  They use what is called a "total exposure amount" which is what they allow you to charge before freezing your card.  And even  if you do reach that limit, you can call and if you have a good reason, they will increase your exposure limit.  Of course most people would not have a $100,000+ level of exposure, but many people who manage businesses might certainly have that level if they use their card for work-related expenses.  

[reallyitsmema]

18 minutes ago, rudeney said:

 

It sounds like this was done after the check was signed when the gratuity was being entered into the POS system.  The crew member though he was keying in his POS password, but was actually on the gratuity field for the check.  The passenger would not have seen this as a lot of times it's a manger that goes back through the day's checks to record the added gratuities.  

 

 

AMEX is a little different than most cards.  Although they do offer "pay over time" features, it's not really a "credit" card but a "charge" card that you pay in full each month.  Because of this, they have (in their words) "no preset spending limit".  They use what is called a "total exposure amount" which is what they allow you to charge before freezing your card.  And even  if you do reach that limit, you can call and if you have a good reason, they will increase your exposure limit.  Of course most people would not have a $100,000+ level of exposure, but many people who manage businesses might certainly have that level if they use their card for work-related expenses.  

 

That is not true of all there cards, some do have limits.

[rudeney]

Just now, reallyitsmema said:

 

That is not true of all there cards, some do have limits.

 

You are correct - AMEX does have some credit cards, but I can't imagine anyone with a $100,000 limit actually using that much credit.  The interest would be killer!  That's why I use my standard AMEX gold charge card which gets paid in full each month.  They do offer some "pay over time" features, but I never use those - I abhor paying interest!

[pasodancer]

Last year (with prior coordination w/ AMEX and the car dealer), I was able to purchase a new car on my AMEX Card - which I paid off as soon as the bill came in.  Love those points!!!

 

[rudeney]

12 minutes ago, pasodancer said:

Last year (with prior coordination w/ AMEX and the car dealer), I was able to purchase a new car on my AMEX Card - which I paid off as soon as the bill came in.  Love those points!!!

 

 

That is surprising.  Because of the vendor fees they pay (over 3%) most car dealers won't let you charge a car.  Some will let you charge a few thousand.  Years ago, I worked at a Mercedes-Benz dealership as a factory liaison and they would let customers charge up to $5,000. Usually that was for a deposit on a special order vehicle.  They were making about 8% of MSRP as gross profit, so a 3% hit for paying card fees was not going to happen.  Of course they gladly took cards for parts and service - they have easily 100% markup in those areas.    

[reallyitsmema]

17 minutes ago, pasodancer said:

Last year (with prior coordination w/ AMEX and the car dealer), I was able to purchase a new car on my AMEX Card - which I paid off as soon as the bill came in.  Love those points!!!

 

 

Some colleges allow you to pay tuition with a credit card, my son's school didn't but the three schools my sister's kids went to did.  Points paid for flights to go visit 😄 

[mek]

18 minutes ago, pasodancer said:

Last year (with prior coordination w/ AMEX and the car dealer), I was able to purchase a new car on my AMEX Card - which I paid off as soon as the bill came in.  Love those points!!!

 

We pay cash for our cars and several times I've tied doing that, but the dealerships have always told us that they will only allow 5K to be put on a card.  Too bad - I would also love the points.

[poocher]

1 hour ago, reallyitsmema said:

 

Some colleges allow you to pay tuition with a credit card, my son's school didn't but the three schools my sister's kids went to did.  Points paid for flights to go visit 😄 

My daughter’s did back in the day with no fee to do so.  Paid for a Disney vacation with the points!