More azamara nonsense

I just cancelled 3 tours on Azamara because I have booked private tours. On each cancellation I got the following:

 

Dear Guest,

 

Your order has been cancelled. Please print this page for your records.

 

The credit card *********** to which the order was charged will be credited 199.00 USD within two billing cycles.

 

 

The above is one of the three I cancelled. All were the same. One or two billing cycles means they will not be giving me my money back on my CC for 30 to 60 Days.

 

 

So that means then using the work around for OBC once you pay on your CC and then cancel and use OBC on the ship you have to wait 30 to 60 days to get your money back as well.

 

 

This is not fair. Where is all the interest going that Azamara is making on all these CC charges both with the work around and with holding money for cancelled tours for 30 to 60 days while I already paid the bill? When you add up cancellations and work around money that is a lot of money.

 

 

Kathy

Edited November 7, 2017 by Host Grandma Cruising

I have never had a refund take longer than 5 business days to appear, often much faster.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

On the ship the refund comes back to your account as refundable onboard credit and is back on your credit card account about three days after disembarking unless of course you spent it onboard!

I did cancel a prepaid excursion once it did take about 21 days to appear on my card however no way of knowing if that was a delay at my non US card provider - that can sometimes happen for us.

When I did this my refunds appeared as credits in my card account almost immediately. This was a US credit card.

Azamara is giving you a window as they do not know your billing period. if i cancel on certain date from home it might not show until the next period.

not a huge deal

Azamara is giving you a window as they do not know your billing period. if i cancel on certain date from home it might not show until the next period.

not a huge deal

Right. The answer is: It all depends.

 

Similar thread on the Windstar board: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2548226

 

Three posters so far reported their experiences getting a refund: "right away;" "10 business days;" "2 months."

[quote=rabin1;54493331

This is not fair. Where is all the interest going that Azamara is making on all these CC charges both with the work around and with holding money for cancelled tours for 30 to 60 days while I already paid the bill? When you add up cancellations and work around money that is a lot of money.

Kathy

 

Interest???? Have you seen the interest rates for the past several years? I'm sure RCCL's cost to process your refund is greater than any interest they might earn on your money.

I was due a refund from MSC not long ago and it only took me four phone calls and seven weeks to get my money. During that time our Canadian dollar gained a fair bit so I lost extra due to the exchange rate from usd and the delay.

Another thing to consider is when you will actually "see" it. Since it may actually take a few (1-3) business days for actual processing, if the credit is requested close to the day your monthly statement closes and you don't look online, then it will take two statements (billing cycles) before you see it. If you look at your account online, you will see it within a day or two after it is posted to the CC company.

 

Lawyers force language that covers worst-case scenarios (in many instances) so that a customer can't say "You promised it would be posted within 5 days but I didn't see it for almost 60". Too many people won't look at the date it was posted, just note that it took two statements to "see".

 

I hope the OP comes back and reports on the actual dates of the e-mail and posting to the CC. If it truly takes AZ almost 60 days, I will be extremely surprised (and disappointed). I'd like to start a pool on when it happens and I pick no later than Nov 14.

Another thing to consider is when you will actually "see" it. Since it may actually take a few (1-3) business days for actual processing, if the credit is requested close to the day your monthly statement closes and you don't look online, then it will take two statements (billing cycles) before you see it. If you look at your account online, you will see it within a day or two after it is posted to the CC company.

 

Lawyers force language that covers worst-case scenarios (in many instances) so that a customer can't say "You promised it would be posted within 5 days but I didn't see it for almost 60". Too many people won't look at the date it was posted, just note that it took two statements to "see".

 

I hope the OP comes back and reports on the actual dates of the e-mail and posting to the CC. If it truly takes AZ almost 60 days, I will be extremely surprised (and disappointed). I'd like to start a pool on when it happens and I pick no later than Nov 14.

 

Bob

I haven't replied back because I did not want to get into a battle with someone and be reprimanded. I only cut and paste what Azamara said. YOU have given the most accurate account as to what may or may not happen. I own a business so I know how things work and see it in me credit card additions and subtractions every day in my BUSINESS. There were really three separate credits and three separate cancellations done on the same day. Most credit card companies depend which are always outsourced by any company does it this way. I will use Chase bank here as an example because that is who I use for my business. This is the procedure. First I initiate the credit to Chase Bank the bank then usually only takes 3 days max to take it out of my business account. Now how long before they actually give the money to my customer should not take any longer than that as they now have the funds back. If I charge a customer it is put into my business account within max 2 days as the consumers account is debited that night.. So if it is done properly a person should receive the refund no longer than 5 days. The three key words are if done properly & apparenlty with Azamara one never knows. Secondly as you stated depending on a persons billing cycle and you can check your credit card every day as you wish.

 

As of the writing of this post I have not received anything however it is only the third business day as banks don;t count weekends so start your pool............................lol

 

Kathy

Edited November 8, 2017 by rabin1

Kathy,

 

Thanks for confirming my assumption on the process. I did assume that the CC processor would credit the refund overnight after receiving the funds from the provider. If you cancelled, as I think you did, on Monday, my estimate was 5 business days or one calendar week. Your post was just after midnight, Monday.

 

Given the technology, I don't see why there is any delay in your posting the refund and it being set up for overnight processing, but when you are working with millions of dollars, even a tiny fraction of a percent can mount up to a nice addition to the bottom line so a one-day lag might generate a noticeable cash bonus.

 

I use Citi Bank and I know that things like this sit in my "Pending" area for at least 24 hours and I have seen it there for 2-3 days.

Kathy,

 

Thanks for confirming my assumption on the process. I did assume that the CC processor would credit the refund overnight after receiving the funds from the provider. If you cancelled, as I think you did, on Monday, my estimate was 5 business days or one calendar week. Your post was just after midnight, Monday.

 

Given the technology, I don't see why there is any delay in your posting the refund and it being set up for overnight processing, but when you are working with millions of dollars, even a tiny fraction of a percent can mount up to a nice addition to the bottom line so a one-day lag might generate a noticeable cash bonus.

 

I use Citi Bank and I know that things like this sit in my "Pending" area for at least 24 hours and I have seen it there for 2-3 days.

 

Bob

One other thing that could affect this is when the merchant settles their account for the day. I try if I have done any transactions to do it manually before 5pm. If I forget or don;t the credit card company does it automatically usually by 8 or 9 pm. Bottom line is they are done nightly whether credited or charged assuming they were entered into the banks system.. It is the banks that fiddle around in most cases which as you suggest. is a nice addition to their bottom line. The real question in this instance is when did Azamara enter it for credit..................

 

Kathy

Bob

One other thing that could affect this is when the merchant settles their account for the day. I try if I have done any transactions to do it manually before 5pm. If I forget or don;t the credit card company does it automatically usually by 8 or 9 pm. Bottom line is they are done nightly whether credited or charged assuming they were entered into the banks system.. It is the banks that fiddle around in most cases which as you suggest. is a nice addition to their bottom line. The real question in this instance is when did Azamara enter it for credit..................

 

Kathy

I worked with mainframe computers for years and had several banks for customers. Almost all of them started their daily batch processing of transactions posted during the day at midnight. I know that for a fact because I was never allowed to do any service between 11:30 and 3:00 AM that would impede processing.What I don't (know (and never knew) is if they ran transaction through a pending process such as checks deposited held for 1-2 business days. This was well before the internet and on-line banking so it would have been easy for them to float the money, and I suspect they did.

 

And you may never know exactly when the sent it to the CC company. But if it shows up online on your account, you can figure it was between 1 -3 days. I would be interested to know once you finally see it, if you don't mind.

It's just a CYA thing Azamara says in case it takes that long. It never does IME.

So not really ‘more nonsense’ then, just commercial reality in covering their back!

Edited November 8, 2017 by Azamarajunkie
Spelling

I worked with mainframe computers for years and had several banks for customers. Almost all of them started their daily batch processing of transactions posted during the day at midnight. I know that for a fact because I was never allowed to do any service between 11:30 and 3:00 AM that would impede processing.What I don't (know (and never knew) is if they ran transaction through a pending process such as checks deposited held for 1-2 business days. This was well before the internet and on-line banking so it would have been easy for them to float the money, and I suspect they did.

 

And you may never know exactly when the sent it to the CC company. But if it shows up online on your account, you can figure it was between 1 -3 days. I would be interested to know once you finally see it, if you don't mind.

 

Bob

I promise I will post when I receive the money back.

Thanks for being so nice

Kathy

Bob

 

I promise I will post when I receive the money back.

 

Thanks for being so nice

 

Kathy

 

 

If it takes more than 5 business days, you should complain to your credit card company, not Azamara.

If it takes more than 5 business days, you should complain to your credit card company, not Azamara.

 

Please READ my posts 10 & 12. You are not correct.

 

Kathy

If it takes more than 5 business days, you should complain to your credit card company, not Azamara.

Correct!

My example of longer was an issue with a non US card provider.

Rabin there are also other dates that confuse the issue such as the date they process the transaction which may appear to be later but the transaction will be backdated to comply with industry wide processing deadlines.

Billing cycles are irrelevant it’s the date it is entered as being the transaction date which may not be the actual transaction date that matters.

Returning to any onboard refunds none of them in any event will be processed until the end of the cruise even if you cancel an excursion on Day 1.

I'm not taking sides on this issue, but it is very hard for me to assume that Azamara's home office is efficient at processing refunds. They sure do just about everything else poorly most of the time.

 

The OP probably over-reacted a bit on seeing the "up to 60 days" message. But I would expect that Azamara would process the refund within a week and the overall process from there would add from 1-3 business days. But either one could easily take a little longer. So to arbitrarily place the blame for any period over 5 days on either party is wrong.

I'm not taking sides on this issue, but it is very hard for me to assume that Azamara's home office is efficient at processing refunds. They sure do just about everything else poorly most of the time.

 

The OP probably over-reacted a bit on seeing the "up to 60 days" message. But I would expect that Azamara would process the refund within a week and the overall process from there would add from 1-3 business days. But either one could easily take a little longer. So to arbitrarily place the blame for any period over 5 days on either party is wrong.

 

Bob

Once again you are correct. I may have over reacted to what Azamara sent to me. Since me doing business with my business with Chase Bank for 25 years is apparently not correct per some posters I am going to bow out of this discussion. I would love for you to know when I get the refund however I am not going to post on this thread any longer.

 

Again thank you for being so kind and nice.

 

Have a great evening

 

Kathy