Refunds

[Lolapebb]

Hi

Has anyone experienced a difficult time receiving a refund from Celebrity cruise line?

I keep getting the run around. I was told to wait 30 days. Then wait another 7 days, now told to wait another 7 to 10 days.  I was told there is nothing I can do but wait. Which I have been since May.
Looking for Kind advice.

Thanks

[jelayne]

What is the refund from?   Refund of deposit, cancellation of a booking after final payment, covid isolation?

If you booked with a TA they should be able to assist in getting the refund processed.  

[Cruise Gopher]

Need more info on what kind of refund. Celebrity is back to quick processing of refunds, they only take a couple days now. 

[Baynanno1]

Waiting months for refund of deposits (on fully refundable fares).

Constantly being told "it's in the system"

 

Maybe currently only taking a couple of days now, the backlog has been shoved into a corner and forgotten? Or maybe refunds happen faster in one area of the world than another?

[drakes2]

37 minutes ago, Baynanno1 said:

Waiting months for refund of deposits (on fully refundable fares).

Constantly being told "it's in the system"

Your best bet is to initiate a credit card chargeback if your paid by CC.  You will have access to your funds immediately and the bank can then deal with it. Several months is too long. 

[NutsAboutGolf]

1 hour ago, drakes2 said:

Your best bet is to initiate a credit card chargeback if your paid by CC.  You will have access to your funds immediately and the bank can then deal with it. Several months is too long. 

Always a risk of getting blacklisted if doing a chargeback but for those who are done with celebrity it doesn’t matter 

[Lolapebb]

Thank you for your responses.

The refund is for my return flight home. We missed our flights(booked through celebrity) because there were too many ships in port and they would not let anyone off the ship for hours. This caused major delays for everyone.

[Cruise Gopher]

19 minutes ago, Lolapebb said:

Thank you for your responses.

The refund is for my return flight home. We missed our flights(booked through celebrity) because there were too many ships in port and they would not let anyone off the ship for hours. This caused major delays for everyone.

Yikes that sounds like a huge headache, no wonder it’s taking so long. I can imagine there is lots of internal finger pointing going on at Celebrity for this. 
 

The only thing I can suggest is to keep trying to escalate and speak with a supervisor. I hope you can get your refund soon!

[Jim_Iain]

2 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

Always a risk of getting blacklisted if doing a chargeback but for those who are done with celebrity it doesn’t matter 

They don't blacklist you.   I can speak from experience.    I disputed charges for an Upgrade that was awarded 2 days prior to the shut down.    The charge back was not contested and was a lot faster than it too to get the FCC for the cancelled cruises.

 

 

[Arizona Wildcat]

1 hour ago, Lolapebb said:

Thank you for your responses.

The refund is for my return flight home. We missed our flights(booked through celebrity) because there were too many ships in port and they would not let anyone off the ship for hours. This caused major delays for everyone.

So your issue is about an airline flight. Yes.  How did you get home?  Did you let FBC know about the issue at the time?  FWIW it has taken me up to 4 months to get refunds.

 

 

[jelayne]

If the flight was missed because t many ships in port caused a delay in disembarking  I’m confused as to why Celebrity would be expected to refund the flight.
 

We missed our flight home a few years ago due to a equipment issue at the port that delayed debarkation for 2 ships. The airline got us on a later flight and cost us about $150 which our travel insurance covered.  It would have never crossed my mind to request a refund from the cruise line.

[drakes2]

11 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

Always a risk of getting blacklisted if doing a chargeback but for those who are done with celebrity it doesn’t matter 

Blacklisted!  Why, its the guests money they're holding back.  If it were me they can blacklist me all they want there's other cruise lines out there.  In fact I've booked a western Caribbean with Princess for January as Celebrity's price too high and I've sailed exclusively with Celebrity since 2013. 

[drakes2]

9 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

The charge back was not contested and was a lot faster than it too to get the FCC for the cancelled cruises.

You sound a lot like me.  I've done several CC chargebacks mostly pertaining to cruises and flights during covid and got my money back that way. Why waste time on the phone when the bank can do all the work for you. 

[drakes2]

9 hours ago, Cruise Gopher said:

The only thing I can suggest is to keep trying to escalate and speak with a supervisor. I hope you can get your refund soon

A credit card chargeback is easier and much quicker. Keep in mind you have to initiate the chargeback within 90 days of it being posted to your account and merchant has 60 days to respond.  

[NutsAboutGolf]

12 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

They don't blacklist you.   I can speak from experience.    I disputed charges for an Upgrade that was awarded 2 days prior to the shut down.    The charge back was not contested and was a lot faster than it too to get the FCC for the cancelled cruises.

 

 

 

2 hours ago, drakes2 said:

A credit card chargeback is easier and much quicker. Keep in mind you have to initiate the chargeback within 90 days of it being posted to your account and merchant has 60 days to respond.  

 

I did say "risk" and every chargeback situation can be different.  A cousin of mine did a chargeback (pre-pandemic) for Princess and was blacklisted.

[drakes2]

33 minutes ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

 

I did say "risk" and every chargeback situation can be different.  A cousin of mine did a chargeback (pre-pandemic) for Princess and was blacklisted.

Yes you did.  I guess it has to be a legitimate chargeback. I know in the cases of refunds for cruises and related flights mine were definitely legit.   The advantage is one has immediate access to their money and the bank handles all correspondence with the merchant's bank. 

[Jim_Iain]

Depending on when the booking was made many credit cards limit a "Disputed Transaction" to 3 months from date of payment.    I guess the word charge back is not correct as you dispute the transaction and then the Vendor has a certain number of days to either provide proof of legitimate charge or the transaction is charged back.

 

 

[drakes2]

2 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Depending on when the booking was made many credit cards limit a "Disputed Transaction" to 3 months from date of payment.    I guess the word charge back is not correct as you dispute the transaction and then the Vendor has a certain number of days to either provide proof of legitimate charge or the transaction is charged back.

 

 

My Canadian bank is 90 days to dispute a transaction and merchant has 60 days to respond otherwise the credit stays.  In one case unrelated to cruising I disputed a charge and amount credited to my account 2 days later. A few weeks after merchant also credited me so I alerted my bank and they clawed back the money. It was a simple process. 

[NutsAboutGolf]

1 hour ago, drakes2 said:

Yes you did.  I guess it has to be a legitimate chargeback. I know in the cases of refunds for cruises and related flights mine were definitely legit.   The advantage is one has immediate access to their money and the bank handles all correspondence with the merchant's bank. 

 

45 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Depending on when the booking was made many credit cards limit a "Disputed Transaction" to 3 months from date of payment.    I guess the word charge back is not correct as you dispute the transaction and then the Vendor has a certain number of days to either provide proof of legitimate charge or the transaction is charged back.

 

 

100% agree and it should be stated a charge back is a blanket term.  Generally a dispute is when you reach out to your lender to dispute the charge, sometimes the lender will ask you follow up questions.  The lender reaches out to the company who charged the card asking for evidence/their side and gives them a deadline.  If they don’t respond by the deadline the lender pulls back the funds and gives them back to you; aka a charge back.

 

So we do have some datapoints that if you are waiting for a refund then if you do a charge back then X won’t blacklist  you.

[drakes2]

17 minutes ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

100% agree and it should be stated a charge back is a blanket term.  Generally a dispute is when you reach out to your lender to dispute the charge, sometimes the lender will ask you follow up questions.  The lender reaches out to the company who charged the card asking for evidence/their side and gives them a deadline.  If they don’t respond by the deadline the lender pulls back the funds and gives them back to you; aka a charge back.

 

So we do have some datapoints that if you are waiting for a refund then if you do a charge back then X won’t blacklist  you.

What I like about it is my bank credits the amount to my card in about 2 business days then they telll me to follow up in a couple weeks. Sometimes it gets resolved immediately sometines I wait out the 60 days but in the meantime I have access to the funds.  Funny story about chargeback: last November 2021 I sent an xmas parcel airmail to my grandkids in Europe. Supposed to receive 10 business days.  Christmas came and went no parcel received after numerous calls to Canada post they said lost in mail so I did a chargeback for the amount paid to mail parcel.  February 6th the kids got their Xmas parcel and I basically got free shipping which was expensive. I highly doubt Canada Post even responded to the query. 😆