Credit card problems anyone?

Hello

I was wondering 1) if anyone has experienced Cunard making mistakes when charging items to one’s credit card? And 2) how Cunard generally charges items to one’s card?

I ask this because we were recently on a cruise with them. When we returned home we noticed that the entire amount of the final bill had been charged to the card (which is what we expected). In addition, however, they have also charged lots of other amounts too, some (not all) of which have been refunded. We can’t work out what on earth they are doing but it did prompt our credit card company to call us to ask what was going on. Has anyone else experienced this sort of problem? And in the event that the extra amounts are not refunded, is there a email address to contact them to sort out this problem? We don’t want to have to phone a premium rate number to sort out a problem that is not of our making. Many thanks.

At the end of every day they place a hold on your card for the amount you have spent for the day. Then they know they will get their money on the last day.

But normally you dont see those holds on your statement. So you available balance goes down but the transactions do not show up. Then some time later those holds are removed.

The problem is that they do not convert those daily holds to actual transactions. That would be better, but then you'd see loads of separate transactions instead of a single one for the total amount.

Hotels often do the same when you check in. They take your card and place a hold on it so you can put things on your room and they know if you leave without paying they will be able to get their money.

From what I've read it's common practice with most/all cruise lines.

Well in our case the various 'holds' seem to be showing on the credit card. It's incredibly annoying and confusing. Some of the amounts don't seem to match up with what we spent. Assuming all the amounts are not removed, what then?

Well in our case the various 'holds' seem to be showing on the credit card. It's incredibly annoying and confusing. Some of the amounts don't seem to match up with what we spent. Assuming all the amounts are not removed, what then?

If they don't clear off you can easily contest the charge with your bank and they'll be removed while they investigate. Obviously you'll want to hang onto your final on board statement.

Yes, so hang on to your final statement of your on-board charges and contest any others that remain after a week or so. We monitor our on-board charges by asking for a print-out of charges at the Pursers' office or Concierge. Some other cruise lines are more modern and allow you to monitor your charges on your in-suite television screen, but Cunard has not come up to speed. Luckily our credit cards have always been accurately charged for the balance owed. But I always try to stay on top of this. It's the accountant in me.

Yes, so hang on to your final statement of your on-board charges and contest any others that remain after a week or so. We monitor our on-board charges by asking for a print-out of charges at the Pursers' office or Concierge. Some other cruise lines are more modern and allow you to monitor your charges on your in-suite television screen, but Cunard has not come up to speed. Luckily our credit cards have always been accurately charged for the balance owed. But I always try to stay on top of this. It's the accountant in me.

Cunard was one of the1st lines to have accounts on Television but scraped the system when it was found to be counter productive as sales went down

Wow. Interesting and surprising story. Thanks for the info.

We always get a statement from the pursers desk the evening before disembarkation day. This lets us check at leisure that all is ok up to that time. You always get the final statement on the morning you leave the ship, but who wants to queue up at the desk then, and it always seems a long queue of hassled passengers.

As always it's easier to sort out problems on the ship.

DAVID.

In addition, if you're expecting onboard credit from the line or your travel agent, ask for an account statement by the end of the first full day. On one trip the initial statement was missing hundreds of dollars in OBC. We contacted our TA and the ship contacted shoreside and it was resolved, but late enough in the trip that we had to go looking for ways to spend the balance.

Hello

I was wondering 1) if anyone has experienced Cunard making mistakes when charging items to one’s credit card? And 2) how Cunard generally charges items to one’s card?

I ask this because we were recently on a cruise with them. When we returned home we noticed that the entire amount of the final bill had been charged to the card (which is what we expected). In addition, however, they have also charged lots of other amounts too, some (not all) of which have been refunded. We can’t work out what on earth they are doing but it did prompt our credit card company to call us to ask what was going on. Has anyone else experienced this sort of problem? And in the event that the extra amounts are not refunded, is there a email address to contact them to sort out this problem? We don’t want to have to phone a premium rate number to sort out a problem that is not of our making. Many thanks.

In answers to your questions

Not Credit Card mistakes, I have however noticed items on the stateroom account that I have not purchased.

With a normal Bank Credit card I believe that Cunard put pending holds on amounts that refer to your spending onboard. On The final account this is then shown as a Purchase and pending amounts are not taken.

The pending amounts are not usually shown on a Credit Card/ Internet Banking Statement.

email address for Cunard is

customerservices@cunard.co.uk

One of our annoyances on our TA, was that despite having the 'free drinks package' on our booking, they charged the full amount to our credit card (not a small sum! ahem) which involved some inconvenience on our last morning. We also lost a few $ due to exchange rates and credit card transaction fees (overseas margins), but not enough to make me go through the hassle of chasing Cunard for the money.

Our OBC which we purchased prior to boarding was not shown on our account when we arrived on ship, but it was rectified very quickly with the pursers office.

After disembarking, we always check the credit card account and it shows odd "pending" amounts. Wait a few days and hopefully you will have a final amount which will match the paper one you received on the last day, which then gets exchanged into Sterling at whatever the exchange rate is at the time.

Only once, we had a mischarge to our credit card and Southampton rectified it straight away over the phone - it took about a week to be returned to the credit card.

In addition, if you're expecting onboard credit from the line or your travel agent, ask for an account statement by the end of the first full day. On one trip the initial statement was missing hundreds of dollars in OBC. We contacted our TA and the ship contacted shoreside and it was resolved, but late enough in the trip that we had to go looking for ways to spend the balance.

I have just returned from cruise on Queen Victoria and this is the first time I have had mistakes on my account. Not had this problem on QE or QM2. They hadn't added my shareholders $100 on board credit, so went to the Pursers office the first morning. Requested a statement the day before departure and they had charged me twice for a spa appointment. They have refunded the amount but not the tip I added etc. Not impressed with treatment on QV.

I have just returned from cruise on Queen Victoria and this is the first time I have had mistakes on my account. Not had this problem on QE or QM2. They hadn't added my shareholders $100 on board credit, so went to the Pursers office the first morning. Requested a statement the day before departure and they had charged me twice for a spa appointment. They have refunded the amount but not the tip I added etc. Not impressed with treatment on QV.

I was on the same cruise and I too have mistakes on my account. They took one large amount which seems correct and two smaller amounts were pending, one of these has vanished and one had now come out, I've no idea what it's for. When I rang Cunard, the man answering the phone had to google how to contact someone in finance to help out! (He actually said to me on the phone I'll have to google this!) he then said the extra charge was a credit card fee and I'd been charged 1.5% for using my card onboard! I said "I don't think that's correct there's a charge like that if you pay for your cruise with a credit card but not onboard" while on the phone I went to the Cunard website and actually looked it up and it says there's no charge for using a credit card onboard. So I repeated this to him and he said, "oh I don't know finance will sort it out"

Later that day he phoned me back, saying he was from P&O he said finance said the charges were still pending, so I said "no they aren't, they were pending but now have come off" his reply was "I thought you were going to say that, you need to ring your bank!" He was actually very abrupt and rude and is the worst advisor I've ever spoken to from any line!

I asked him what the final amount charged was to see if it matched with the account delivered to my cabin and he said he didn't know so I advised him that perhaps he could ask finance to get me a copy of my final account? This was two days ago and I've not heard back. I will give them a couple more days and then dispute the charge, I'm seriously not impressed with how this guy handled himself and represented Cunard.

Hello

I was wondering 1) if anyone has experienced Cunard making mistakes when charging items to one’s credit card? And 2) how Cunard generally charges items to one’s card?

I ask this because we were recently on a cruise with them. When we returned home we noticed that the entire amount of the final bill had been charged to the card (which is what we expected). In addition, however, they have also charged lots of other amounts too, some (not all) of which have been refunded. We can’t work out what on earth they are doing but it did prompt our credit card company to call us to ask what was going on. Has anyone else experienced this sort of problem? And in the event that the extra amounts are not refunded, is there a email address to contact them to sort out this problem? We don’t want to have to phone a premium rate number to sort out a problem that is not of our making. Many thanks.

Just for clarification purposes, did you see these 'charges' on a 'printed' credit card statement or online?

The reason I ask is that on a recent Seabourn cruise I noticed a similar 'guarantee' while checking something else online.

By the time my paper statement arrived in the post this had been removed.

I had a similar thing a week or two ago at a hotel but it only took about 2 days to disappear. When I checked in they did the pre-authorisation thing. When I got home 2 days later, my available spend balance had been reduced by that amount. Then 2 days later that disappeared and it was replaced with the amount of my bill from the hotel.

So it only takes 2 or 3 days and I do wonder if Cunard don't drag their feet and then blame your bank/card company when it's actually them ?

I had a similar thing a week or two ago at a hotel but it only took about 2 days to disappear. When I checked in they did the pre-authorisation thing. When I got home 2 days later, my available spend balance had been reduced by that amount. Then 2 days later that disappeared and it was replaced with the amount of my bill from the hotel.

 

So it only takes 2 or 3 days and I do wonder if Cunard don't drag their feet and then blame your bank/card company when it's actually them ?

It usually shows pending. That is no problem

When it shows Purchase, then you know that an error has been made !

Its not rocket science.

It usually shows pending. That is no problem

When it shows Purchase, then you know that an error has been made !

Its not rocket science.

My card never shows "pending". It just reduces the available balance, but the pre-authorized payment does not actually ever show as a transaction.

My card never shows "pending". It just reduces the available balance, but the pre-authorized payment does not actually ever show as a transaction.

Mine does, Shows purchase when charged and "Pending" instead of Purchase for Authorization requests, which clears once the purchase has been entered.

Mine does, Shows purchase when charged and "Pending" instead of Purchase for Authorization requests, which clears once the purchase has been entered.

That's different to my card then. I can only "see" (if that's the right word)the pending transactions by taking the credit limit then subtracting the current outstanding balance. The difference is then the pending things.

I only have the one credit card now so that's not much of a sample I'm afraid. But it seems different issuers must do it differently.

We cruise a lot - now just have a cash acccount. Occasionally asked for a deposit - happy to hand it over!! Get it back on the last day.

Saves looking at credit card bills and not understanding what is going on and then trying to sort things out.

Without doubt, the Pursers department is the one Cunard Department that is guaranteed to screw up big time. I have had ship to shore telephone charges from the prior voyage (which I was not on) charged to my account (more than $750). I have had my charges charged to my traveling friend's account. So I don't trust them at all.

After the first day go and request a statement, determine if any problems exist and insist that the be corrected and you be given a corrected statement then, (They are also good at saying that they will take care of everything later and then don't.)

Check your statement the day before you are planning to disembark and have them correct any issues, and check the statement that comes to your suite or stateroom the morning of your arrival. Keep all copies of the statement and note any issues, so you can deal with your credit card company if the bill is incorrect.

Don't forget to tell the CC company you are traveling, where, when and how. They have software that looks for abnormalities in transaction for your accounts, and your account could get blocked or closed if they see them, and their clerks are not able to get hold of you.

In my experience Cunard has gotten boarding, and disembarking activities where they were once dreadful fixed and they are now easy. The on board service has always been brilliant. I am hopeful that after 15 voyages they will get the Pursers department fixed too.