Warning Re: Final Payment Charges

[skellis]

Last Friday I gave my TA my final payment authorization with my mastercard linked to my bank account. (It was not my TA's fault). There was more than enough money in the account to cover the payment. Except that Princess charged my account twice for the final payment (according to Citibank). It took me almost two hours on Saturday to get Citibank to reverse the second charge and waive the overdraft fees resulting from Princess charging over $2000 in addition to the final payment. I then called my TA who tried to deal with the problem.

 

Princess did not call him back for nearly 3 work days. the TA was able to get authorization for me to speak to a customer service supervisor, but the Customer service representative who failed to timely return the TA'S call refused to let me talk to the supervisor. He then told me that the error was the bank's that it happened all the time,and they would have eventually reversed the charge. He said it was no big deal, and that it could happen if someone accidentally hit the button two times. He also indicated that I wasn't entitled to any compensation for the problem they caused and I could not take it up to the next level. I argued that he should consider the impact on an elite passenger, or indeed any passenger, by this cavalier treatment. He said he would call me back.

 

I called my TA and he arranged for me to speak to another supervisor today. She also said it was no big deal and that someone probably forgot to take off a preauthorization and that also happens "all the time".

She made her only offer of $150 on board credit, and said that it would be split between me and my traveling companion (we are unrelated) and she said that's how they do it. She was not apologetic in the least, and seemed not to care if I was satisfied or came back to Princess.

 

The moral of the story is.

 

DO :eek:NOT MAKE PAYMENT TO PRINCESS WITH BANK ACCOUNT CONNECTED CREDIT CARDS. PAY WITH A CHECK OR OTHER METHOD SO THEY WON'T TAKE AND USE YOUR MONEY,OR LIMIT YOUR USE OF YOUR OWN MONEY BECAUSE THIS "HAPPENS ALL THE TIME".

[Pam in CA]

Hmm.... that's interesting. I haven't heard of a double payment but I have heard of a bank that "accidentally" debited an account twice for the same charge. Hope this works out for you but is one reason why I pay only with a protected credit card and not use a debit card.

[rdsqrl]

Wait, let me get this straight: your bank refunded your money, and waived the overdraft charges, and Princess gave you a $75 OBC for your trouble, and you're still pissed off? What did you hope to gain from demanding to talk to all those supervisors? I hate to sound like a member of the Zombie Princess Cheerleading Squad but come on -- it got resolved, you're not out any money, mistakes happen.

[Toto2Kansas]

I had this happen when my TA actually charged my credit card twice for my final payment, to the tune of over $12,000. First time I have heard of Princess doing this though. Let's just say that I don't use that TA anymore. :(

[resstation]

This just happened to me. Princess put a hold on the money AND put the charge through as well so the authorization (essentially a double charge) caused FIVE overdraft fees and a load of trouble for almost six days. I didn't call Princess. I called the bank and they eventually reversed the charges once the authorization was lifted and they knew how many overdrafts were charged.

 

I can't believe you made such a huge deal of it AND wanted compensation. That's hilarious. Was it stressful? You bet, but come on. Please, the TA deserves the $75! (And you're right, I bet the people you spoke to at Princess didn't much care if you would be back).

[PrincessMelody]

I had a similar situation with my final payment. My agency sent an urgent email at the time final payment was due in mid July saying that the card I had on file had declined, and that I needed to call with an alternate method of payment. So I called and gave them another credit card and the charge went through fine. I found out the next day that the first card was not declined, but had gone through. So they ended up charging my final payment (over $700) on two cards. I called them and they admitted the mistake, saying they were unaware that the first card went through...but they still have not refunded me. So I had to dispute one of the charges with my credit card. Still waiting for the investigation to be resolved. What a major pain...the agency has handled this so poorly. Wish I could name them here...they are a major online agency.:(

[resstation]

I had a similar situation with my final payment. My agency sent an urgent email at the time final payment was due in mid July saying that the card I had on file had declined, and that I needed to call with an alternate method of payment. So I called and gave them another credit card and the charge went through fine. I found out the next day that the first card was not declined, but had gone through. So they ended up charging my final payment (over $700) on two cards. I called them and they admitted the mistake, saying they were unaware that the first card went through...but they still have not refunded me. So I had to dispute one of the charges with my credit card. Still waiting for the investigation to be resolved. What a major pain...the agency has handled this so poorly. Wish I could name them here...they are a major online agency.:(

 

If its a major online agency they make payments day in and day out. If the card had showed "declined", that is what they are going to tell you. Its not like they enjoy this either. Your issue is with Princess and your credit card company-UNLESS you are saying that the online agency charged your card twice (their name is on the charge, not Princess). In that case, they are absolutely at fault because cc charges can EASILY be removed.

[Toto2Kansas]

If its a major online agency they make payments day in and day out. If the card had showed "declined", that is what they are going to tell you. Its not like they enjoy this either. Your issue is with Princess and your credit card company-UNLESS you are saying that the online agency charged your card twice (their name is on the charge, not Princess). In that case, they are absolutely at fault because cc charges can EASILY be removed.

 

Actually, when my TA authorized final payment TWICE some time ago, each charge showed up as being made by Princess on my credit card. What happened with us is we authorized final payment before we left on another cruise, a little over a week earlier than needed, then when final payment date came along, the TA screwed up and forgot they had already made the payment, so they did it again. But both charges showed they were made by Princess even though my TA admitted she was the one that made the mistake.

[Av8tor]

If its a major online agency they make payments day in and day out. If the card had showed "declined", that is what they are going to tell you. Its not like they enjoy this either. Your issue is with Princess and your credit card company-UNLESS you are saying that the online agency charged your card twice (their name is on the charge, not Princess). In that case, they are absolutely at fault because cc charges can EASILY be removed.

 

Sorry Resstation, some on-line agencies, such as the one I've booked with, actually have Princess charge the credit card rather than list their company as the vendor. This is for the passenger's protection so if the agency "happens" to go bankrupt, Princess still gets "their" money and the passengers get their cruises.

 

Now if Princess goes bankrupt, that's a whole different siruation...;)

 

 

Paul

[Go-Bucks!]

I also had a similar problem last year. Back in 2003, I booked a last minute cruise with an online TA and paid with my debit card. Everything was fine.

 

Fast forward 4 years: I used the same large, online TA but this time I was booking with a friend and I told them to charge the entire final payment to her credit card. I gave them the cc number and they said "No problem." A week later, on July 3, I was looking at my checking acct. online and discovered a negative balance and a bunch of overdraft charges!! I also saw an entry for the amount of my friends and my cruise! I immediately called the TA and what had happened is that they had kept my debit card number in their files for 4 years and used that instead of the credit card number I gave them! But they refused to do anything about it because they said Princess already had the money - not them.

 

Well, I disputed this with my bank so they could deal with Princess and the TA. The bank gave me back the money and voided all the overdraft charges ($400 worth). But because it was the day before July 4th, I was without any money for several days while it got straightened out after the holiday. And I had holiday plans that called for needing money. I didn't get any compensation or apology from the TA, but I didn't care. I just tell people never to use them.

 

It was a big hassle, but the lessons learned were: 1) I made sure that the TA got my debit card out of their system (I hope); and 2) NEVER, EVER use a debit card for online or over-the-phone purchases. I always use a credit card now. If a mistake is made on a credit card, it's a minor problem. If you're checking acct. is wiped out, it's a major problem! :eek:

[skellis]

rdsqrl

I don't know what your time and peace of mind are worth, but I had better things to do with my time than deal with the bank and Princess. When they tell me "it happens all the time" and seem very nonchalant about other people's money being held because of their mistakes, then I want to speak to a supervisor. When that is compounded with a total lack of concern about "customer service" and the consequences of their actions, as longtime Princess passenger (this is Princess cruise 27), and the fact that my billing (based on my advanced education) rate is $200 per hour, then yes I expect them to correct the problem immediately (on Saturday) and not delay for six days. Had I not been proactive they still would have money that doesn't belong to them.

 

On a larger prospective, apparently the use of "other people's money" by Princess is so ubiquitous that it is clear that unless it costs their bottom line Princess will not repair the problem.

 

If you want to let other people/companies hold on to your money without legal or other justification Please post your bank account number and I am sure there would be plenty of volunteers to use it or earn interest or otherwise benefit from your money.

[PrincessMelody]

If its a major online agency they make payments day in and day out. If the card had showed "declined", that is what they are going to tell you. Its not like they enjoy this either. Your issue is with Princess and your credit card company-UNLESS you are saying that the online agency charged your card twice (their name is on the charge, not Princess). In that case, they are absolutely at fault because cc charges can EASILY be removed.

 

The TA ran the charge through Princess, so the charge shows up on both cards as "Princess Cruise Passage". But I believe it is the TA's error, because they are the one who led me to believe the first card was declined, when in fact it was immediately charged.

 

It doesn't really matter to me at this point who made the mistake...the TA or Princess. I just want my money back. The bottom line for me is that the agency handled this poorly. They didn't return calls, and were no help to me at all. I certainly will not be booking with this agency again. I've had other issues with this agency unrelated to this one as well.

 

I faxed the second cc company evidence of duplicate charges on both cards, so hopefully they will take care of it and refund the charge.

[ByteXman]

Quote:

 

But I believe it is the TA's error, because they are the one who led me to believe the first card was declined, when in fact it was immediately charged.

 

Whenever a credit charge is declined you should immediately call your credit card 1-800 number and find out why. Someone may have stolen your cc number and maxed it out.

 

Mike

[spongerob]

Sorry this happened. Charges are placed directly with Princess by most TA's (see what happens when they aren't!) so the problem could be anywhere. Both sides have plausible deniability. The moral of the story is, debit cards or cards linked directly to bank accounts and cruising do not mix. In this day and age of ID theft, it's not a risk I'm willing to take.

[SheltieLady]

Sometimes it not the company or the bank but the processing company the banks use this happened to me about a year or so ago. I show dogs and was doing a online entry using my debit card everything when thru normal they showed they only took the one charge, check my bank and two charges had been taken out. To make a long story short it turned out the processing company my bank used double charged everyone that used there debit or credit on that practular day. Within a matter of days we were all notified by the bank that they had changed processing companies and were all issued new debit and credit cards.

 

 

Christine

[yorky]

Another thread from someone with too much time on their hands. Mistakes happen,that's life. Have you never made one in your life?

[Woodmnky]

Skellis - I am sorry that this happened to you. I can understand that when money goes missing from your checking account without your consent that this can be very stressfull (ie - do I have enought money left for ensentials or bills that are coming out).

I can also imagine how much time that you spent trying to get this resolved.

So, unlike some others, I will not chastise you for wanting compensations.

However, I would consider $150 to be sufficient compensation, but would expect a sincere apology - which it does not appear that you received.

[cherylandtk]

Skellis--You've learned the Big Ugly lesson regarding the use of debit cards, in this case it just happened to be Princess, and you are quite miffed with them. What everyone else is saying is it could have been any other company. It happens with MANY companies, not just Princess. So if you don't want your time spent on resolving this sort of issue again, do not use your debit card in this manner. As Beachyfe said "2) NEVER, EVER use a debit card for online or over-the-phone purchases. I always use a credit card now. "

[yorky]

Skellis - I am sorry that this happened to you. I can understand that when money goes missing from your checking account without your consent that this can be very stressfull (ie - do I have enought money left for ensentials or bills that are coming out).

I can also imagine how much time that you spent trying to get this resolved.

So, unlike some others, I will not chastise you for wanting compensations.

However, I would consider $150 to be sufficient compensation, but would expect a sincere apology - which it does not appear that you received.

 

Sadly America has led the way in people expecting compensation for everything that happens in life regardless of how small the incident.If only people would except that we are all human and make mistakes the way they used to do the world would be a better place and we would not live in this huge blame culture that we do now.

 

So no sorry I don't have a lot of sympathy for someone that feels they have to state how much they earn on a hourly basis to justify how valuable their time is.

 

There are many people in the world having to suffer with far bigger issues than a mistaken double click of a keyboard that was never going to leave the poster out of pocket in the long run anyway.

[resstation]

rdsqrl

On a larger prospective, apparently the use of "other people's money" by Princess is so ubiquitous that it is clear that unless it costs their bottom line Princess will not repair the problem.

 

Here's the problem... if everyone demanded compensation, it would not end up costing Princess a dime -- but the price of cruising would go up for all of US. Princess (or any other cruise line for that matter) will not just absorb such costs. Fuel prices went up, who's paying the cruise lines for it? We are.

 

So, please, lets keep the ridiculous demands for compensation to situations where they are merited.

[cdngrl]

it really is too bad the squeeky wheel gets the grease. those who complain long and loudly enough get compensated.

those of us who know stuff happens and quietly go about our business are the majority. too bad we don't 'reward' the easy-going cruisers! i can be soooooooo nice!!

[Rollexx]

I'm confused.. in your OP you say you made your final payment on a Fri. and on Sat. you had the overcharge and overdraft fees reversed. Then you mention a 6 day delay?? Delay of what?

[willysgrandma]

Skellis--You've learned the Big Ugly lesson regarding the use of debit cards, in this case it just happened to be Princess, and you are quite miffed with them. What everyone else is saying is it could have been any other company. It happens with MANY companies, not just Princess. So if you don't want your time spent on resolving this sort of issue again, do not use your debit card in this manner. As Beachyfe said "2) NEVER, EVER use a debit card for online or over-the-phone purchases. I always use a credit card now. "

 

As a former banker, I won't use my debit card for ANY travel - cruise, hotel or car rental. Hotels and car rental companies run your c.c. through and place a hold on your account for predetermined amounts. If that hold hasn't cleared by the time the actual final charge goes through, you can have a double hold placed on your checking account balance and bounce checks until the first hold falls off.

 

I pay for travel with a c.c. and then transfer the money immediately from my checking account to the c.c. so I have a statement with a zero balance.

 

And having had my debit card lifted three years ago at a gas station and my account being drained and my bank not putting the money back for 10 days, I NEVER use it for gas. With the amount of credit card fraud going on now, I'd rather have someone steal c.c. info than my debit card info. It is a lot easier to dispute c.c. fraud than debit card fraud.