MSC Stole my Money

[RedgeToo]

5 hours ago, 8420PR said:

Did you pay the money to your TA or directly to MSC?  Just hold your TA accountable and hassle them until you get the refund - that is their job!

Directly to MSC

[RedgeToo]

1 hour ago, Nikita4 said:

You must solve the problem on the ship, then you have a refund within some hours. After the cruise its to late. Is nessecary to control den bill on bord an solve the problems on board.

All our canceld oder changed excursions we have a refund within 12 hours on the ship. The concierge made all things for us, also the money from the visas we get back within 12 hours.
I never had problems with MSC an refund, also for the canceled April 2020 cruise, we had a refund within some weeks. But we always are in den YC.

MSC had promised the refund would be made to my credit card prior to the day I embarked in Barcelona on 24th December 2022.

 

An electronic refund should be practically instantaneous, subject to banks holding onto the cash for a few days so they can extract their pound of flesh.

 

I left it for 17 days before posting this. 

[Nikita4]

Not a refund to the credit card but a refund to your board account. We always receive the refund on the ship to the board account.
Only the refund of the April 2020 cruise we received back tot the credit card, but it was some thousands of Euros.
You speak of 100 Dollars, that ist not a lot. Wait some weeks and the next time you have to react direkt on board with your account.

[RedgeToo]

9 minutes ago, Nikita4 said:

Not a refund to the credit card but a refund to your board account. We always receive the refund on the ship to the board account.
Only the refund of the April 2020 cruise we received back tot the credit card, but it was some thousands of Euros.
You speak of 100 Dollars, that ist not a lot. Wait some weeks and the next time you have to react direkt on board with your account.

MSC offered the refund to my credit card or OBC

 

I chose my credit card as I already had my packages booked and paid for

[haolenate]

Seems like a very bad experience for you - especially if it takes you THAT long to reach your travel agent.   I wish I could help - in the States, MSC has made a "wall" between them and Italy, and we have a good relationship with the US team and things tend to be a bit more smoother.   But I can tell you the amount of bureaucratic vomit MSC makes us go thru isn't pleasant.

I wish I could give you more advice, but knowing 1. Germans over-engineer everything and love their processes and 2. the Italian office tends to work on "their" time --- it may be a bit before you see anything.

 

And fwiw, I'm still waiting, 5 months, for a promised refund from Holland America from issues in August.  

[RedgeToo]

2 minutes ago, haolenate said:

Seems like a very bad experience for you - especially if it takes you THAT long to reach your travel agent.   I wish I could help - in the States, MSC has made a "wall" between them and Italy, and we have a good relationship with the US team and things tend to be a bit more smoother.   But I can tell you the amount of bureaucratic vomit MSC makes us go thru isn't pleasant.

I wish I could give you more advice, but knowing 1. Germans over-engineer everything and love their processes and 2. the Italian office tends to work on "their" time --- it may be a bit before you see anything.

 

And fwiw, I'm still waiting, 5 months, for a promised refund from Holland America from issues in August.  

Thanks,

The TA isn't an issue, I'd book with them again, it's MSC who are expected to respond in 10-16 weeks

 

[emmas gran]

I’m confused as to your booking through MSC Germany, where is your T A? I doubt Antonio can help as he deals with MSC UK

[RedgeToo]

21 hours ago, emmas gran said:

I’m confused as to your booking through MSC Germany, where is your T A? I doubt Antonio can help as he deals with MSC UK

I use *****.com as they have really good prices for solos. As such ***** is my TA.

 

MSC, however, insist that ***** users pay MSC direct - don't ask me why I don't know.

 

I paid my deposit and my final invoice directly to MSC as required by MSC. I then spotted I'd been overcharged (yes, I should have checked before paying the invoice but I wasn't expecting to be overcharged by a big company).

 

I wrote to my TA to say I'd been overcharged and my TA wrote to MSC. MSC wrote back within a couple of days and confirmed they had overcharged me and gave me the choice of OBC or a refund of the overcharge to my credit card.

 

I chose my credit card and MSC confirmed via my TA that the refund would take place on 24th December 2022.

 

The refund didn't happen

 

I wrote to my TA and to MSC saying I didn't receive my refund

 

My TA wrote back saying they had also written to MSC and MSC usually responds between 10-16 weeks!

 

Is that clearer?

 

[ciskadeg]

We paid the excursions for our upcoming cruise twice. I called MSC 3 times and every time they will send an email to get the money back to our credit card. It's been a month now and still no refund on our credit card☺️ I keep calling till we get it back😡 

[RedgeToo]

9 minutes ago, ciskadeg said:

We paid the excursions for our upcoming cruise twice. I called MSC 3 times and every time they will send an email to get the money back to our credit card. It's been a month now and still no refund on our credit card☺️ I keep calling till we get it back😡 

It'll cost you more in phones calls!

 

It's a shame really because I like the MSC offering, if only they advertised solo meet ups in their daily calendar it would be great

 

As things stand, I'll not be an MSC regular

[Morgsmom]

If you made the mistake and over paid, technically MSC didn't steal your money. They just accepted the extra... 🙂  Anyhooo, I agree with other posters who say that once you get off the ship you have very little recourse.  I would have pushed the issue during the cruise.

I am wondering, however, if any of the issue has to do with you booking through the German site.  Are you in Germany? 

[emmas gran]

The OP still hasn't said where his TA is all he states is ****.com and booking is through MSC Germany!!

His profile says he is UK, 

[RedgeToo]

1 minute ago, emmas gran said:

The OP still hasn't said where his TA is all he states is ****.com and booking is through MSC Germany!!

His profile says he is UK, 

It seems I am not allowed to state who my TA is due to CC rules - fair enough

 

They are a well-known, online, purveyor of cruises that I have used several times with no issues. The TA is based in Germany and I've never had an issue with the TA, quite the opposite

[RedgeToo]

10 hours ago, Morgsmom said:

If you made the mistake and over paid, technically MSC didn't steal your money. They just accepted the extra... 🙂  Anyhooo, I agree with other posters who say that once you get off the ship you have very little recourse.  I would have pushed the issue during the cruise.

I am wondering, however, if any of the issue has to do with you booking through the German site.  Are you in Germany? 

Good point, although technically MSC invoiced me too much. The mistake I made was not checking the invoice

 

The issue has nothing to do with booking through a German website. I have nothing but praise for my online TA. If MSC take 10-16 weeks to respond to the TA, what can they do?

 

BTW, I appreciate all advice/ help from all commenters

[kernow]

A quick google shows the Managing director for MSC Germany is Christian Hein, why not try emailing his office. As mentioned already it always works with the UK office for anything serious.

[Fitzget]

On 1/10/2023 at 11:32 AM, Homosassa said:

This procedure is explained in the ticket contract and terms and conditions that your friend agreed to when booking the cruise.

 

If a passenger is left solo in a double cabin because of one of the passenger's cancellation or "no show," a single supplement will be changed to the remaining passenger.

 

In your friend's case, the additional $75 was the cost of the single supplement hat remained after the friend cancelled.

 

By the way, other cruise lines have now added similar terms to their ticket contracts.

That is actually wrong. The single supplement does not apply when two people have paid. In this case, she was charged a cancelation fee equal to her brother's cruise fare of $289. A $75 single supplement on top of that should not have been charged. But we worked it out with customer service and her money was supposedly refunded. We'll see if they actually do. 

[RedgeToo]

9 hours ago, kernow said:

A quick google shows the Managing director for MSC Germany is Christian Hein, why not try emailing his office. As mentioned already it always works with the UK office for anything serious.

Thank you, I've already emailed the German customer services. If anyone has Hein's email address I'd be very grateful

 

DM please

[RedgeToo]

14 minutes ago, RedgeToo said:

Thank you, I've already emailed the German customer services. If anyone has Hein's email address I'd be very grateful

 

DM please

It's ok, I found a way of contacting the CEO

Thanks for the idea

 

[8420PR]

14 hours ago, RedgeToo said:

It seems I am not allowed to state who my TA is due to CC rules - fair enough

 

They are a well-known, online, purveyor of cruises that I have used several times with no issues. The TA is based in Germany and I've never had an issue with the TA, quite the opposite

Resolving these issues should be exactly what you hold the TA accountable for!  Otherwise what are they doing for their 16% commission?

 

Some examples from my experience: 

example 1:  For a cruise cancelled by MSC on 27th Sept, the refund was received on my credit card on 18th November.  This was booked directly with MSC.

example 2:  I realized I had overpaid for a cruise (the voyagers club discount was not included) on 16th December, and the refund was received on my card on the 5th January.  This was booked with (and paid to) a travel agent.

[RedgeToo]

7 hours ago, 8420PR said:

Resolving these issues should be exactly what you hold the TA accountable for!  Otherwise what are they doing for their 16% commission?

 

Some examples from my experience: 

example 1:  For a cruise cancelled by MSC on 27th Sept, the refund was received on my credit card on 18th November.  This was booked directly with MSC.

example 2:  I realized I had overpaid for a cruise (the voyagers club discount was not included) on 16th December, and the refund was received on my card on the 5th January.  This was booked with (and paid to) a travel agent.

I agree.

 

My TA told me they normally received a response from MSC between 10-16 weeks

[SeaShark]

6 hours ago, RedgeToo said:

I agree.

 

My TA told me they normally received a response from MSC between 10-16 weeks

 

What you have to ask is how long until they receive a response when it is not "normally"?

[styles27]

We had a $150 credit before cruising. I phoned MSC and took the offer to have it applied as an OBC $75 x2 for our Divina cruise we just got off of today. 
 

Once we boarded I scanned my cruise card at one of the many kiosks. It only showed one $75 credit. 
Headed down to Customer Service with my printed out paperwork showing we each had a $75 OBC and the gentleman was quickly able to post the other credit immediately. 
 

I knew if we left the ship without sorting this out we would probably not see that money again.  
Unfortunately their land based customer service is horrible. 
 

If I were you I would call MSC directly. Forget the TA.
If any TA told me it takes 10-16 weeks to hear back from MSC I would fire that agent. 
That is an unacceptable response.
They should call MSC as many times as it takes to get this escalated. Not settle for “oh it takes months to hear back from them.”  That’s BS. 
 

 

[GPPhilly]

11 hours ago, RedgeToo said:

I agree.

 

My TA told me they normally received a response from MSC between 10-16 weeks

Then I think your TA is not persistent enough or needs to find a better contact at MSC.  I have 2 TA friends that would never accept 10-16 weeks for a response

[RedgeToo]

5 hours ago, SeaShark said:

 

What you have to ask is how long until they receive a response when it is not "normally"?

I'm not sure there is anything normal about MSC customer services

[RedgeToo]

My TA isn't at fault, MSC are at fault for not refunding the money as agreed between my TA and MSC

 

Interestingly, I chased MSC yesterday and contacted the CEO and the response I got was:

 

The refund is currently in process. Due to the immense effort involved in reimbursement all affected bookings we ask for your patience and understanding that refunds currently taking more time.

 

Makes me think there is more than just me that's been overcharged