NCL Onboard Charges - Post Cruise Billing Issue

[TheRameres]

I'm new to the forums, so I apologize if this isn't the correct place to post my question.

 

My wife and I took our honeymoon last October '07 on the Norwegian Gem. 7 day Mediterranean cruise. We took excursions at every port, and had them charged to our account. When we got back to Barcelona, we were told that the AMEX we had tied to the account would be charged for any onboard charges.

 

When we got back to the U.S., I noticed a couple of weeks later we hadn't been charged yet. Considering we made around $1300 worth of charges, I contacted NCL to find out what was going on. I was told that I would be contacted within 5 business days with an update. After 6 business days, I called again, and was told to wait 10 business days. After 12 business days, I called again, and was told that there was no record of those charges, and my outstanding balance was $0. I said I had not yet seen those charges on my AMEX card, but was told I owed nothing.

 

Over the weekend I received a letter dated May 22 with the word "FINAL" on it. It basically states that NCL has been attempting to obtain authorization for the $1300 worth of charges, and that if I don't settle the amount within 30 days a collection agency would be sent after me. I contacted AMEX to see if they've been declining charges, and they stated that they have no record of NCL attempting to make charges as far back as August '07.

 

I contacted the person who sent the letter, and they were only able to send me a payment authorization form to fill out and fax in. She gave me the following number to call to file a complaint about why I'm receiving a final notice on payment when this is the first time I've been contacted. The number is 1-866-525-1164. The woman on the phone I spoke to gave me an address to send in a formal complaint, and said I would be contacted within 10 business days.

 

My question is (now that I've finally finished the book), has anyone that's cruised with NCL had this kind of experience? Also, the number I called, if I send a letter to the following address:

 

Attention: Customer Relations Department

7665 Corporate Center Drive

Miami, FL 33126

 

will someone actually contact me? As a consumer, do I have any sort of rights? The paperwork they sent me shows my address and phone number. I don't understand why I'm receiving a final notice saying they've been attempting to obtain authorization, if this is the first I'm hearing about it, and AMEX tells me there haven't been any charges.

 

I'm not disputing the charges, and I'm absolutely willilng to pay them, but I also don't want to be blown off as soon as they receive payment. We had an experience with the airline with lost luggage, and after being blown off by them, I don't want to have a similar experience.:(

 

Any advice or inside contact information would be much appreciated!

[paintedshawl]

so sorry you've had this problem. Anytime we've cruised with NCL, we've always gotten a copy of our shipboard account bill the day before we disembark. Was this provided to you prior to leaving the ship?

[ZoneHPH]

and i thought they won't begin disembarking until all on board accounts were paid...or something like that (in addition to customs clearance).

[bluesea777]

Maybe NCL had been entering incorrect credit card number to obtain authorization.

 

AMEX cards have different number of digits to the VISA and MC cards. Also, I think, AMEX has an extra security digit or something like that.

[bluesea777]

Have you used the AMEX card since the cruise? Is the card still good?

[drkq]

Does NCL take an imprint of your charge card when you check in at boarding time?

 

Something is weird...

 

I have always gotten a billing statement at the end of the cruise with informaton about payment rendered via my charge card.

 

I wonder if they charged your bill to someone else, by mistake, and it finally caught up with NCL now.

[TheRameres]

Thanks for all the responses. The woman I spoke gave me the last 4 numbers of the card they charged, and they matched up with mine. This is the same card we used to pay for the cruise (minus onboard charges) before we left. No problems with the card since. In fact we used it to pay for the hotel in Barcelona before/after the cruise.

 

On the Invoice they sent me, which lists all the onboard charges, it says that the balance is $0 and that the $1300 was put on the AMEX.

[Gwenbeth]

While on our Alaskan cruise a few years ago we had a difficulty with our credit card declining charges, but they caught it within two days into the trip. (We just had to call the company directly and tell them we were on a cruise- they thought someone had stolen our card). I find it interesting that this didn't happen to you as well, if the problem was on your CC company's end anyway. This leads me to suspect the problem is with Onboard Accounts, and not with Amex. We had something similar happen last year after our Hawaii cruise (I know, NCLA, but I suspect the two companies aren't quite so removed, especially in their customer service skills). We paid our bill in full, and then six months later got a letter from a collection agency in Florida saying we still owed nearly $200. When I contacted NCLA, they claimed they had repeatedly tried to get a hold of us, but could only name one time a letter was sent and at no time was e-mail notification or telephone calls attempted. I found out an accounting error had occurred resulting in the money owed, so I did send it in, but I was upset that they had not tried to get in touch with me before turning it over to collection. The rep I worked with apologized and stated that steps had been put in place to prevent such a thing from happening again, but I must admit I was less than impressed with the situation.

[garycarla]

Seems like some sort of billing snafu. Something with the data they had to conect with AMEX was off, maybe a digit, maybe an expire date, who knows. Not a big issue at all.

 

Not sure what kind of "rights" you are asking about since all they want is for it be paid. No extra charges or fees or anything, right?

 

Give them your AMEX number - AGAIN and let them charge it.

 

Case closed.

 

Right?

 

By the way, the FINAL notice and collection stuff is probably standard stuff, since they are used to getting their money before you leave. And, they thought they did. AMEX may well not show any rejects on your account, because it never connected to your account.

[TheRameres]

While on our Alaskan cruise a few years ago we had a difficulty with our credit card declining charges, but they caught it within two days into the trip. (We just had to call the company directly and tell them we were on a cruise- they thought someone had stolen our card).

 

We actually did have something like this happen while we were cruising- we got letters on our doors a few times saying the card kept getting declined. However, anytime I went down to the accounts desk, and they would check my card, it went through okay and they could never explain what was happening. I also called AMEX beforehand and told them I'd be on a cruise out of the country, and so they shouldn't decline any charges.

 

The two cases are probably somehow related.

[TheRameres]

Not sure what kind of "rights" you are asking about since all they want is for it be paid. No extra charges or fees or anything, right?

 

I'll admit, I may be expecting too much- but after US Airways lost ALL our luggage to/from Barcelona, they gave us 2 $200 vouchers as an apology. I'm not sure if NCL has a history of something like this. IMHO, it's a bit of a slap in the face to get a letter saying they're going to send a collection agency after me if I don't pay a charge I thought had been taken care over 6 months ago, have them tell me it's a final notice, and not have been contacted once about a declined charge. Definitely makes me not want to cruise with them again if they treat customers like this.

[Toyz711]

we had a problem on our last cruise..it was the credit card company's fault...

we had called them, before the cruise, told them to mark our account so that we would not have problems. about mid-way through, we got a notice that they charges were being denied.

we found that the ship had put the 1st hold on our account, when we got over that amount (which is easy to do when 2 people are using the same card) and the ship had put another hold on the account. the holds were fine, but when they went to charge the account, it was denied.

we called from the ship (customer service supplied the phone), found out the card company had another hold on the card..they said it was from NCL..but NCL records should us the records and they had only requested 2 hold. to make is worse, the card company said they had a fraud alert on our card.

we had to tell the card company a thing or 2, then had NCL close out the bill and put the rest of the week on another card.

sometimes it's NCL, but sometimes it's the card company..too many chances for the wrong button to get pushed.

[borntocruz]

I'll admit, I may be expecting too much- but after US Airways lost ALL our luggage to/from Barcelona, they gave us 2 $200 vouchers as an apology. I'm not sure if NCL has a history of something like this. IMHO, it's a bit of a slap in the face to get a letter saying they're going to send a collection agency after me if I don't pay a charge I thought had been taken care over 6 months ago, have them tell me it's a final notice, and not have been contacted once about a declined charge. Definitely makes me not want to cruise with them again if they treat customers like this.

 

I agree, you may be expecting too much. Lost luggage/vouchers is different from this situation IMHO. I would also be insulted by the threat of a collection agency coming after me. If you really feel it's worth your time, why don't you ask for a written explanation and apology. Who knows if you will get even that. Look at it this way, you had the use of that $$$ for a few extra months. Good luck.

[TallGuy and the Redhead]

There's a billing issue, somewhere between NCL and your credit card... not sure where the snafu lies. 8 months after your cruise, you have been contacted by NCL (by most likely a form letter) asking you to pay up. Mildly irritating at best.

But now you want them to give you something? along the lines of a $200 voucher like for the lost luggage?

Really?

 

I mean really??:confused:

[TheRameres]

There's a billing issue, somewhere between NCL and your credit card... not sure where the snafu lies. 8 months after your cruise, you have been contacted by NCL (by most likely a form letter) asking you to pay up. Mildly irritating at best.

But now you want them to give you something? along the lines of a $200 voucher like for the lost luggage?

Really?

 

I mean really??:confused:

 

It's the fact that letter says they made several attempts to make authorization on the card, but after being denied, that they're sending a final notice with the threat of collection agency. If the card had been denied, then they should have contacted me by phone/letter back in November, or even December. Not 7 months after the first denied charge. That's not the kind of service you expect when you're paying thousands of dollars. I'm not trying to be a gold-digger; I'm just asking if NCL has a history of trying to make it up to the customer other than "Oops, my bad."

[Cruzin2paradise09]

Thanks for all the responses. The woman I spoke gave me the last 4 numbers of the card they charged, and they matched up with mine. This is the same card we used to pay for the cruise (minus onboard charges) before we left. No problems with the card since. In fact we used it to pay for the hotel in Barcelona before/after the cruise.

 

On the Invoice they sent me, which lists all the onboard charges, it says that the balance is $0 and that the $1300 was put on the AMEX.

 

Maybe the problem isn't with the last 4 numbers?

 

Someone else said "Give them your AMEX number - AGAIN and let them charge it."

 

I agree - if you are 'willing' to pay, then pay. Stuff happens. People make mistakes!

[watchdiva]

I would think an apology would be sufficient - if the fault does indeed lie with NCL. If the fault lies with AMEX, would you expect them to issue a credit to your account to "make it up to you" for receiving the NCL letter?

 

I've been an AMEX holder over 20 years (both personal and corporate) and believe me when I tell you AMEX can/does screw up............the problem is getting anyone of their side to admit the screw up and correct it!

 

Did you contact AMEX at any time between the end of your cruise (Oct 07) and now (May 08), or did you just inquire with NCL? If you did in fact contact AMEX in the intervening 6-7 month time period, what did they advise you to do?

[Salt air hair]

I agree with OP, it certainly would be infuriating to receive a "Final Notice" letter on something that you never had a clue about in the first place. As one poster mentioned it was probably an entry snafu, but for whatever reason the companies immediately put the red flag on you rather than saying "We messed up our billing and your charges will be processed now as quickly as possible". Certainly not a life altering event, but annoying non the less. As far as OP looking for something for nothing, I think he just wants a resonable explaination of what happen.

[TheRameres]

I would think an apology would be sufficient - if the fault does indeed lie with NCL. If the fault lies with AMEX, would you expect them to issue a credit to your account to "make it up to you" for receiving the NCL letter?

 

I've been an AMEX holder over 20 years (both personal and corporate) and believe me when I tell you AMEX can/does screw up............the problem is getting anyone of their side to admit the screw up and correct it!

 

Did you contact AMEX at any time between the end of your cruise (Oct 07) and now (May 08), or did you just inquire with NCL? If you did in fact contact AMEX in the intervening 6-7 month time period, what did they advise you to do?

 

I contacted AMEX again today to make sure that they didn't have any charge whatsoever from NCL, and they confirmed there was nothing pending/on hold/declined/etc. They went ahead and put in a preapproval for the amount NCL says we owe, so once I send in the payment form they emailed me there should be no reason whatsoever that it gets declined.

 

And no, I wouldn't expect for AMEX to send me a new card. But an explanation of what broke down in the process and an apology from someone with a window view would be nice.

[TheRameres]

I agree with OP, it certainly would be infuriating to receive a "Final Notice" letter on something that you never had a clue about in the first place. As one poster mentioned it was probably an entry snafu, but for whatever reason the companies immediately put the red flag on you rather than saying "We messed up our billing and your charges will be processed now as quickly as possible". Certainly not a life altering event, but annoying non the less. As far as OP looking for something for nothing, I think he just wants a resonable explaination of what happen.

 

Thank you!

[TallGuy and the Redhead]

"I'm not trying to be a gold-digger; I'm just asking if NCL has a history of trying to make it up to the customer other than "Oops, my bad."

"I'll admit, I may be expecting too much- but after US Airways lost ALL our luggage to/from Barcelona, they gave us 2 $200 vouchers as an apology. I'm not sure if NCL has a history of something like this."

Please forgive me for misunderstanding your previous posts. It was just my interpretation that you wanted to know if you should expect NCL to "make it up to you" for NOT charging your card for the excursions.

I will admit that dealing with customer service on these types of issues can be infuriating. Somebody probably wrote down a number wrong or something. To get a FINAL NOTICE on something you tried several times previously to pay can make you want to pull your hair out. But, who should say sorry? The customer collections agent just doing his/her job and following up and trying to get payment? The original person who took down the wrong information? The Head Honcho CEO of NCL?

Where you really lost my sympathy is the "what should I expect to get from NCL? As if they owe you something!

 

I'm just tired of reading things like "a cabin steward walked into my room while I was sleeping! I didn't hear him knock and I didn't lock the door or put out a DND sign! Then my boyfriend videotaped someone grabbing my butt!" NCL OWES ME!

"NCL didn't charge my credit card for excursions I took 8 months ago, then sent me a letter asking me to pay! I deserve to get something for that!"

 

Can dealing with this kind of stuff be frustrating? Sure. Do you deserve to be compensated for it? No.

[CruisnGram]

The OP should definitely 1) pay the bill and 2) send a letter to NCL explaining exactly what happened, and how upset he was at not being notified prior to receiving information that a collection agency was taken over. This is poor customer service on NCL's fault. And honestly, he will most likely receive something from NCL as an apology.

 

I don't tell this story often as my DD was actually embarrassed. But here goes (she doesn't read these boards :D )

 

On our recent Sun cruise, DD and DSIL received no towel animals all week. Now, before anyone goes saying "big deal, deal with it", I want to say that although they had their 9 month old son with them, and wanted pics with the towel animals, they didn't mention it to anyone, including the rest of us. I also found out later that the overall service from their stewards was really lacking. Not enough clean towels, no ice, etc. On the last night before the end of the cruise, she was in my cabin with me and our steward came in with a towel animal for us. DD made the comment about how cute it was and then casually said that they hadn't received any their entire cruise (they were on a different floor and had different stewards). Our steward was very surprised and said that NCL requires them to do towel animals at least 3 times per cruise and that my DD should complain. She said "no way" and that was the end of it while onboard.

 

When we arrived at home, I encouraged her to write a quick note to NCL, letting them know that they loved the cruise but wanted to inform them that the stewards for her cabin had done a less then wonderful job and to include the fact that they hadn't received any towel animals. It was my opinion that NCL would want to know that stewards were not following their "rules". So, she did indeed write a letter. It was a nice letter, telling them what a great time they had, how much they enjoyed their first NCL cruise etc. And it also included the reason for the letter...the less then great room stewards they had.

 

She figured that was the end of it and was very surprised to receive a very nice letter from NCL along with a $200 credit towards their next cruise. Sorry this was so long but the point is, the OP may very well get some compensation once he explains his situation to NCL.

[bluesea777]

Thanks for all the responses. The woman I spoke gave me the last 4 numbers of the card they charged, and they matched up with mine. This is the same card we used to pay for the cruise (minus onboard charges) before we left. No problems with the card since. In fact we used it to pay for the hotel in Barcelona before/after the cruise.

 

On the Invoice they sent me, which lists all the onboard charges, it says that the balance is $0 and that the $1300 was put on the AMEX.

 

 

Last 4 numbers??? Was the WHOLE thing correct?

 

Last month a computer repair company screwed up by charging us some hundred dollars (which we paid via debit card) and they now wanted to give back. So we gave them our bank account number to them (it's okay here) so they could transfer money to it. A week later they called to say the bank rejected the account number they gave them saying it was not valid. So we asked what account number did they put down - it turned out to be incorrect by a couple of digits.

 

So maybe NCL did not have the whole correct thing??

 

Makes me wonder why the AMEX cards aren't as widely accepted as the VISA and MC cards. AMEX travellers Cheques too.

[garycarla]

Last 4 numbers??? Was the WHOLE thing correct?..... So maybe NCL did not have the whole correct thing??...

 

Exactly. I think something was wrong, other than the last 4 digits.

 

 

As to why AMEX is not always accepted... the rate they charge is often higher than VISA and MC.

[McDebbie]

In the beginning of the post the OP said he contacted NCL TWICE that he had not been charged. Yes, I think I would have been a little put out also to get a "final notice" months later. He tried to do the right thing, they blew him off TWICE and frankly, I would be a bit pissy about handing over my credit card number again. He agrees he owes it but he tried to take care of it and yes, I think they at least owe him an apology for screwing up when he tried to tell them about it.

 

My mother and aunt had a situation on Costa, aunt's CC was from a credit union and although it was fine to pay for the cruise somehow it wouldn't work for the on board charges. They got the call/letter to come down to the purser and wanted another credit card. Aunt didn't have one so they wanted to charge everything to my mother's card who was in the same room. When she protested the purser told her to contest it with the CC company which she did and they made Costa take those charges off my mother's card. So they ended up eating those charges even though my aunt was ready and willing to pay for them. And by the way, none of the merchants in any of their ports had a problem with aunt's credit card.