CHEATED OUT OF OBC FROM HOLLAND AMERICA

[richrhon1]

We booked our Nieuw Statendam cruise for 1/7/2023 on 5/31/2022.  At the time we booked there was a $350 OBC applied to our invoice(Cruise Line Promotion Offer Onboard Credit $350.00 USD).  We checked our statement that evening and noticed that there was only a $150.00 credit applied and immediately went down to Guest Services to question this.  Sent the Guest Services department our email showing our booking who forwarded it to the Accounting department at HA headquarters.  We received a call from GS that they were not going to honor the OBC as the deal had changed in 7/22 and they were not obligated to honor the original OBC.  Got in touch with my Cruise agent(CNM) who went to bat for us with HA.  Subsequently, HA added another $150 to our OBC, which still did not meet the original OBC on my invoice.  Our agent said that they have exhausted all avenues with HA and they were going to issue us a check for the $50 difference.  We hope to have that soon.

This went on the whole week and was still not resolved by the time we left the ship on the 14th.  Along with other issues, such as food quality, etc., we will not be sailing with HA in the near future.  

[Hobby3333]

You hate to deal with issues while you are on a cruise.  Currently my TA is in contact with HAL with a question concerning OBC   We don’t sail until July and should have this resolved soon.   I keep referring back to my booking that I made on the ship while in Alaska.   Everything looks good on my TA’s side but not on Hollands end.  To HAL’s credit they are working on it.   I am just glad I saved all emails from HAL and original booking invoice.

[richrhon1]

We had everything documented and yet HA would not live up to their commitment even after presenting them with original documents.  I hope your resolution works in your favor

[albingirl]

So, if I get this straight, you let a 200 dollar difference on obc ruin your cruise.What a drag. Going back and forth to guest services all week would have given me a heart attack. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[richrhon1]

For sure didn't ruin my cruise but $200 is $200.  Wasn't like we spent hours dealing with it for sure but had emails going back and forth. Still had a good time.  Love our balcony in Stateroom 7107.  Huge balcony and great location on ship.    Weather was great.  

 

[Crazy For Cats]

@albingirlin my world $200 is a significant sum of money to leave on the table.  While I’d still enjoy the cruise it would make me hesitant to book with them again.

 

@richrhon1 I’d have a similar reaction as you.  Plenty of places to spend my vacation dollars.

[albingirl]

2 minutes ago, Crazy For Cats said:

@albingirlin my world $200 is a significant sum of money to leave on the table.  While I’d still enjoy the cruise it would make me hesitant to book with them again.

 

@richrhon1 I’d have a similar reaction as you.  Plenty of places to spend my vacation dollars.

And, I never said it wasn't a significant amount of money.  Nor did I say they should leave it on the table.  But, I do think it caused some angst and it's too bad that it had the potential of ruining a cruise.  Who wants to stand in front of guest services or have many emails going on?  Not me.

[richrhon1]

@albingirlthe $200 did make us question how we were going to spend our money on the ship as it is a substantial amount, as you said, for us as well.

@Crazy For CatsI wouldn't say it caused us any "angst" as you put it but it did make us question how HA does business, especially for someone who has been on 3 cruises with them now along with the other couple we were with who have also been on 3 cruises with them.  They lost our business along with the other couple.  

 

[CruiserN1]

I had a similar thing happen on my last X cruise. Ultimately it was an error made by the corporate office at X in their agreement with my TA (which wasn't CNM) about $100 bonus OBC. Seems like corporate makes deals with TA who have a large volume of bookings to award extra OBC from corporate. It "fell off" my booking somehow. It took a bunch of emails, but TA sent me a check in the end. I wouldn't fault guest services on the ship because they are not able to fix it since it isn't showing on their end. If you enjoy HAL, you might re-think boycotting them over this incident. 

[Crazy For Cats]

21 minutes ago, richrhon1 said:

@albingirlthe $200 did make us question how we were going to spend our money on the ship as it is a substantial amount, as you said, for us as well.

@Crazy For CatsI wouldn't say it caused us any "angst" as you put it but it did make us question how HA does business, especially for someone who has been on 3 cruises with them now along with the other couple we were with who have also been on 3 cruises with them.  They lost our business along with the other couple.  

 

The angst wasn’t from me, it was the other person you quoted.  
I’d be hesitant to book again if HAL did this to me.  

[albingirl]

4 minutes ago, Crazy For Cats said:

The angst wasn’t from me, it was the other person you quoted.  
I’d be hesitant to book again if HAL did this to me.  

ok, got it.  I was mistaken, sorry.  Yeah, I hate going in circles with HAL on occasion, too.

[Mary229]

I always examine the original HAL invoice carefully and carry that with me. Now are you looking at that or a travel agent invoice.  I encountered this difference recently when dotting Is for an upcoming cruise. 

[0106]

One thing I always pay attention to are the words “up to” xxx dollars of OBC.  Using $350 as an example,  the offer may read “up to” $350 in OBC but that only applies to long cruises.  A 7 day cruise may only give you $50 weeks of OBC.  If you read quickly, you may think that you are getting more than the actual offer.

 

I am not suggestions this is what happened to the OP.  I am just pointing out the importance of closely reading OBC offers.

[richrhon1]

@0106This definitely was not the way the invoice was written.  There was no "up to" on the invoice.  Clearly stated CruiseLine Promotion $350 OBC. 

[Mary229]

39 minutes ago, richrhon1 said:

@0106This definitely was not the way the invoice was written.  There was no "up to" on the invoice.  Clearly stated CruiseLine Promotion $350 OBC. 

That is not what HAL puts on their invoice, it sounds like an offer your agency was offering/promising.  HAL simply puts  a line item directly below the fare with the words onboard credit.  I have seen no 7 day cruises with a $350 OBC from HAL but have seen those kinds of offers promoted on agency websites.  

Edited January 18, 2023 by Mary229

[colbe]

48 minutes ago, richrhon1 said:

@0106This definitely was not the way the invoice was written.  There was no "up to" on the invoice.  Clearly stated CruiseLine Promotion $350 OBC. 

Was this invoice from your agent or from HAL?.

[0106]

2 hours ago, 0106 said:

I am not suggestions this is what happened to the OP.  I am just pointing out the importance of closely reading OBC offers.

Based on people quoting my post, I need to restate, the purpose was not to question the OPs situation.  It was simply to state the importance of reading the OBC offers closely. 

[NotLikeBelleRosen,IHope]

Had there been a price reduction that OP or their TA took advantage of? Benefits would have changed.

[Mary229]

25 minutes ago, 0106 said:

Based on people quoting my post, I need to restate, the purpose was not to question the OPs situation.  It was simply to state the importance of reading the OBC offers closely. 

We were quoting the OP who happened to address you in the quoted text 

[Laminator]

3 hours ago, Mary229 said:

That is not what HAL puts on their invoice, it sounds like an offer your agency was offering/promising.  HAL simply puts  a line item directly below the fare with the words onboard credit.  I have seen no 7 day cruises with a $350 OBC from HAL but have seen those kinds of offers promoted on agency websites.  

That is true. There is more to this story. I believe the poster booked thru an agency! Or may have seen an agency offer and then booked thru HAL without realizing the offers do not necessarily follow. If HAL was declining OBC there would be 100 posts a week about it on here. 

 

 

Edited January 19, 2023 by Laminator

[Guest ldtr]

The first thing rhat comes to mind is if there were any changes to the booking. Any change will usually mean a change to terms in force at the time of the change, no matter what terms were in place with the original booking.

 

A little unclear from the OPs comments if the meaning was that the program that included that offer ended on a specific date or if their was a change to his booking on that date that resulted in the change of terms.

 

I have never herd of HAL or for that matter changing existing bookings because a program end, but have seen plenty of examples where the amount of obc in a booking has changed due to any change made to the booking by the passenger or their TA

[richrhon1]

@Blackduck59This is from my Final Payment invoice from my agent.

"Notes to Customer

·       Your booking has an instant discount compliments of CNM, and Holland's $350 on board credit. Please note, this booking is under a Non Refundable Deposit Program. CNM never charges any fees. Thank you for your business!"

No changes were ever made to our booking at all.  In all our cruises that we have booked with CNM, all OBC's were honored.  Obviously HA knew they were somewhat in the wrong since they did issue another $150 after CNM consulted with them.  We are still waiting for the additional $50 based on what was agreed upon when the booking was made.  Not sure what more I should have watched for when getting the Final payment invoice

[mfanderso]

I had something like this happen to me recently. We booked a cruise for June 2024 and my TA sent me the HAL Confirmation which showed $700 OBC. I had to contact HAL to get my husband’s military OBC sorted out. A few weeks later my TA sent me a new HAL confirmation and the OBC had been reduced to $500. It should have been $800 since the military OBC had been added. My TA contacted HAL and they added $150 that had been left off but refused to add the other $150 because there had been a change in offers. We had made no changes to the booking at all. My TA is giving us the missing $150. 

[richrhon1]

@mfandersosorry to hear you are going through a similar issue but happy that you're TA is stepping up to cover the difference.  Thank you to your husband for his service.  

 

 

[Blackduck59]

58 minutes ago, richrhon1 said:

@Blackduck59This is from my Final Payment invoice from my agent.

"Notes to Customer

·       Your booking has an instant discount compliments of CNM, and Holland's $350 on board credit. Please note, this booking is under a Non Refundable Deposit Program. CNM never charges any fees. Thank you for your business!"

No changes were ever made to our booking at all.  In all our cruises that we have booked with CNM, all OBC's were honored.  Obviously HA knew they were somewhat in the wrong since they did issue another $150 after CNM consulted with them.  We are still waiting for the additional $50 based on what was agreed upon when the booking was made.  Not sure what more I should have watched for when getting the Final payment invoice

Thanks for the clarification, I'm sorry that you feel "cheated". Just a question, was that OBC the thing that made a go or no go in purchasing the cruise? I look at OBC as a bonus, found money if you will, it isn't the make or break for my cruise purchase.