caution re: online payments

[newfreedoms]

Word of caution about an online payment situation I encountered. I selected our cruise, cabin and made our deposit online. No problem whatsoever.

 

Then a week or so before our final payment was due, I went online and chose to 'make a payment' and paid it off (I thought). After submitting the payment, it came back with "Thank You for your payment". I went in a day or so later and nothing had changed on my balance and it wasn't on my credit card.

 

So I did it again, same thing happened and then I noticed on the thank you page it didn't give me any type of payment confirmation #.

 

I called and paid over the phone. The person was very nice, but her only explanation didn't fly. She said once you call and make any arrangements or changes over the phone to your online booking, then you cannot return to using the online services for paying, and vice-versa.

 

I told her she was the first phone call I had made and that I had worked strictly online to that point. So there really wasn't a good explanation. It's just a concern if their computer system 'acts' as though you have successfully made your payment, rather than stating it didn't go through (doesn't even need to give me a reason).

[halos]

Thanks for the Heads-Up. :)

[dawnc]

Something similar happened to me just this past spring. I was using an online TA also. About a week before final payment was due I paid the balance online. Just like you, it came back and said my balance was $0 but it hadn't shown up on my card statement several days later. About 2 days before final payment was due, it still wasn't on my card, but my balance was showing back on the TA's website. I was worried at that point and called them to find out what was going on. They told me that my card was denied, but couldn't tell me why. Now I was worried because I had twice what I needed to make the payment available to me. I call the card people and find out that the amount I was trying to pay was over the daily limit of card use, something I didn't know about since my DH had opened the card and I never saw any paperwork on it. I ended up having to use 2 different cards to make the final payment so I wouldn't go over the daily use limit.

It was slightly different than your situation, but something to keep an eye on for anyone using an online agency. Now I have all our cards policies in hand so I know what I can do with each of them. I even found out that one of our cards has automatic travel insurance when you pay for travel with it.

Dawn

[litig8rij]

...and found out that the only way to make final payment was via phone. mind you, when i made my deposit online, no one or nothing mentioned that final payment had to be made over the phone. i called the ta to change my dining time and happened to ask about final payment. thankfully, i was calling the week before final payment was due. i wonder how many people have lost their deposits because they attempted to pay online and didn't realize that the payment hadn't gone through...:rolleyes:

[newfreedoms]

That is my concern also, litig8rij. If I hadn't gone back to double check, I would not have known I missed my deadline. I was able to take care of it by phone on the next to the last day. And I had booked all of this directly on Carnival.com!

 

I also think I attempted to make one other small payment earlier that didn't show up. Because my notes said that on 8/28 I had made a small payment, and then I reduced my payoff balance by that amount.

 

When I logged in to pay my balance, I remember thinking it odd that it was actually still the original payoff amount. At the time I decided I had not actually made that payment and my notes were wrong. Now I think the notes were correct, but it didn't go through.

 

I just want to put a reminder in our thoughts for future online bookings, because believe me that I'm not trashing them. The only person I dealt with was great and everything else has gone smoothly. (This is our first cruise )

[litig8rij]

we're sailing on the ecstacy in december. you must post a review when you get back so we know what to expect. this is our 2nd cruise - 1st with the kidlets:)