RCI Lost my gift certificates!!!

[mvanstone]

My fiance and I have been saving up gift certificates for over a year in anticipation of our honeymoon in June 2013, a Mediterranean cruise. On April 22, while on our third RCI cruise together, we booked next year's honeymoon and were told that we needed to mail in paper gift certificates we received from our credit card rewards. We did this upon arriving home and have been given the runaround ever since.

 

We sent in $600 of paper certificates ($200 from Chase Rewards and $400 from Citi Thank You Rewards) along with $350 of online certs. The online ones posted normally, but we struggled seeing the paper certs applied to our balance online. We called two weeks after sending them and were told that $200 (the Chase Rewards) had posted and we just couldn't see it yet. Within a week, those were posted. So we called again and were told the other $400 had been applied, but again, had not posted to our online invoice. We were told to call back in a week. I did so, on 6/4, and was told again that the $400 had been applied but we couldn't see it. This time, they said they would call me back with a resolution. After not hearing back, I called again yesterday and was told there is no record of the missing $400 and that unless I can produce the numbers from the certs (which I had to mail in) I would be out that $400.

 

Now before some people post lecturing about how I should have made copies, I know I should have, but I didn't in our excitement over booking our honeymoon. Has anyone had a similar experience? Or perhaps some advice on how to find this $400? I'm baffled because it was sent in the same envelope as the $200 that did post!!

 

Any help is appreciated. Thanks!!

[terpfan101]

That stinks. I still don't understand why RCCL hasn't moved away from the paper certificates that need to be sent in. They should have a spot when booking to enter the certificate number much like a gift card works on say amazon.com. When I went on the Enchantment last August I was looking into trying to use some rewards points from this program at work through Hallmark for the RCCL gift certificate, but since I was booking so close to final payment and had to mail them in, they wouldn't have arrived in time to get applied.

 

Anyway I would think you could call Citi since they issued the vouchers and ask them if they have record of the numbers. I would think that they would. Perhaps try getting them involved someway. Good luck!

[mvanstone]

Thanks for the advice...just got off the phone with Citi and they don't have information on the specific certificates other than that they were mailed. And their rewards are given as cash, so they can't replace it either.

 

Fingers crossed that royal caribbean can figure out what they did with the certificates!!

[Laulipop]

I'm curious about the citi thank you rewards... I am still 5 months from final payment and saw the GC on the Thank You website, but they say they can only be applied to new bookings, not as payment for an existing reservation.. Could that be part of the problem?

[PLEIKU68]

My fiance and I have been saving up gift certificates for over a year in anticipation of our honeymoon in June 2013, a Mediterranean cruise. On April 22, while on our third RCI cruise together, we booked next year's honeymoon and were told that we needed to mail in paper gift certificates we received from our credit card rewards. We did this upon arriving home and have been given the runaround ever since.

 

We sent in $600 of paper certificates ($200 from Chase Rewards and $400 from Citi Thank You Rewards) along with $350 of online certs. The online ones posted normally, but we struggled seeing the paper certs applied to our balance online. We called two weeks after sending them and were told that $200 (the Chase Rewards) had posted and we just couldn't see it yet. Within a week, those were posted. So we called again and were told the other $400 had been applied, but again, had not posted to our online invoice. We were told to call back in a week. I did so, on 6/4, and was told again that the $400 had been applied but we couldn't see it. This time, they said they would call me back with a resolution. After not hearing back, I called again yesterday and was told there is no record of the missing $400 and that unless I can produce the numbers from the certs (which I had to mail in) I would be out that $400.

 

Now before some people post lecturing about how I should have made copies, I know I should have, but I didn't in our excitement over booking our honeymoon. Has anyone had a similar experience? Or perhaps some advice on how to find this $400? I'm baffled because it was sent in the same envelope as the $200 that did post!!

 

Any help is appreciated. Thanks!!

 

 

 

 

Call the Resolutions Desk, explain your problem.:eek:

[sunkissed212]

You've probably already checked this but I'll mention it anyway in case you haven't. Check the 'Amount Paid' on your (PDF) confirmation. I had a $100 Thank You certificate from Citi as well. I mailed it in (along with some other certs) and I easily saw the other amounts taken off online, but not the $100. I called and after a few minutes of discussion with the representative, she said it had been applied as a payment. I made the original $500 deposit at time of booking, but now my amount paid reads $600 since they added the $100 certificate there. I made sure they sent me a PDF showing that since I still don't 'see' it reflected online. Good luck! I hope it gets straightened out!

[wwcruisers]

Mvanstone -- did you by any chance make copies of the certificates before you mailed them? If not, can you get copies from the original providers?. Back when the RC Visa program used paper certificates, we always made front-and-back copies of everything we sent in (and usually sent it by some sort of traceable mail). Hope you are able to get this resolved soon.

[jennmaybe]

I also have a Citi Thank you card. Straight from their site:

 

 

• Description
  

Swim with stingrays in the sapphire-hued waters of the Caribbean. Scale a rock wall 200 feet above the ocean. Navigate a dogsled over Alaska's frozen tundra. This is Royal Caribbean International. And this is the beginning of the journey to the most exciting adventures of your life.

Certificates cannot be applied to existing reservations, shipboard credit, excursions or gratuities and can only be used toward new cruise bookings made directly through Royal Caribbean International. See terms and conditions for more details.

 

Not sure if you are trying to mail these in after your reservation or not. Without copies or mailing it certified, you may be out these certificates.

[wwcruisers]

Whoops, here again -- not enough coffee, prior to posting! :o

OP -- when I re-read your post, I saw that you had not made copies of the cert's prior to mailing them. But, have you called the bank yet, to see if they can send you another copy, or at least give you the number from the cert they sent you? Good luck, and please let us know how this turns out for you! :cool:

[Laulipop]

Jennmaybe - That's the clause I was referring to -- curious that some people may be able to apply them!?

[jennmaybe]

Jennmaybe - That's the clause I was referring to -- curious that some people may be able to apply them!?

 

Yeah, I know---after I saw your post, I went to check it out because I just booked our cruise on Monday for next April. I'm thinking of trying to apply some of my points to our cruise. It is sort of a new booking :);)

 

I'm curious to see if she gets them applied---I hope she comes back to let us know.

[jarz85]

Whoops, here again -- not enough coffee, prior to posting! :o

OP -- when I re-read your post, I saw that you had not made copies of the cert's prior to mailing them. But, have you called the bank yet, to see if they can send you another copy, or at least give you the number from the cert they sent you? Good luck, and please let us know how this turns out for you! :cool:

 

 

You REALLY need more coffee or need to read all the posts...

[mvanstone]

Thanks everyone for the tips.

 

I called Citi and they could not provide the original certs.

 

But I guess enough phone calls paid off in the end. Over the weekend I saw a $336 payment on my reservation and, after explaining that it would kind of hard to get a $36 cert, I found out that this is the missing $400, but it will take a little longer to process the entire amount.

 

As for the "only on new bookings" language, I asked several RCI people before getting the certs, and they will apply them toward an existing reservation. We plan on getting more as we get more rewards points, so we made sure to check. Plus, when we did the onboard booking, they wouldn't let us use the certs. They still needed to be mailed in and applied to an existing reservation.

 

Thanks again, everyone!!