Grrrrr NCL charged us for mini bar scotch!!

[Jldevlin]

On our Panama cruise in February we had the room steward empty our mini fridge for our own items. We bought a bottle of rum from bon voyage and loads of buckets of beer. Our bill was up to date when we left the ship and all was good we thought. Until March when we get a charge from them for $ 25. So after 2 hours on the phone with 3 different people .. we find out that 2 mini bottles of scotch are missing and they did not know who used them so they charged us!!

Now hubby is ticked ..we dont drink it lol .... oh sorry sir we will have it removed ... 2 weeks later there is no refund ... another half hour on the phone ... sorry sir we will have it removed ...and you guessed it .. still not refunded.

 

So he emailed Mr Sheehan last week ... and yep ... nothing .. so he is on the phone again ... timing it because it is now a game lol ...it is not alot of money but he is newly retired and has the time lol.

 

We should not have to do this for 2 months .... I feel bad for the ones that have bigger issues with larger amounts of money if they have to go through this .... It was a great cruise tho ....without the scotch !!!!

[johnql]

Why not just dispute the charge through your cc company? Let the cc company fight your battle.

[Love my butler]

On our Panama cruise in February we had the room steward empty our mini fridge for our own items. We bought a bottle of rum from bon voyage and loads of buckets of beer. Our bill was up to date when we left the ship and all was good we thought. Until March when we get a charge from them for $ 25. So after 2 hours on the phone with 3 different people .. we find out that 2 mini bottles of scotch are missing and they did not know who used them so they charged us!!

Now hubby is ticked ..we dont drink it lol .... oh sorry sir we will have it removed ... 2 weeks later there is no refund ... another half hour on the phone ... sorry sir we will have it removed ...and you guessed it .. still not refunded.

 

So he emailed Mr Sheehan last week ... and yep ... nothing .. so he is on the phone again ... timing it because it is now a game lol ...it is not alot of money but he is newly retired and has the time lol.

 

We should not have to do this for 2 months .... I feel bad for the ones that have bigger issues with larger amounts of money if they have to go through this .... It was a great cruise tho ....without the scotch !!!!

 

Welcome to NCL customer 'service'. Deny and delay is the name of the game. Takes forever to speak to someone on the phone and then when you do the buck gets passed around and nothing seems to get accomplished. The goal is to wear you down until you just give up.

[Jldevlin]

Welcome to NCL customer 'service'. Deny and delay is the name of the game. Takes forever to speak to someone on the phone and then when you do the buck gets passed around and nothing seems to get accomplished. The goal is to wear you down until you just give up.

 

..yeah this is what it seems to be lol .... the one handling it is sick ... no the one handling it is not here anymore ... I love NCL .... never a bad cruise .... and this is not a huge issue .. I just had to vent a little ..... grrrrrrr. And he does not want to deal with the credit card company for this. They randomly picked someone to charge and we won!!!!! Ohhh they just told him it will be refunded!!!!!! yay lol

[SissasMomE]

On our Panama cruise in February we had the room steward empty our mini fridge for our own items. We bought a bottle of rum from bon voyage and loads of buckets of beer. Our bill was up to date when we left the ship and all was good we thought. Until March when we get a charge from them for $ 25. So after 2 hours on the phone with 3 different people .. we find out that 2 mini bottles of scotch are missing and they did not know who used them so they charged us!!

Now hubby is ticked ..we dont drink it lol .... oh sorry sir we will have it removed ... 2 weeks later there is no refund ... another half hour on the phone ... sorry sir we will have it removed ...and you guessed it .. still not refunded.

 

So he emailed Mr Sheehan last week ... and yep ... nothing .. so he is on the phone again ... timing it because it is now a game lol ...it is not alot of money but he is newly retired and has the time lol.

 

We should not have to do this for 2 months .... I feel bad for the ones that have bigger issues with larger amounts of money if they have to go through this .... It was a great cruise tho ....without the scotch !!!!

 

Just dispute it. I wouldn't even bother with all of that back and forth. Dispute it with the credit card company as an unauthorized charge.

[johnql]

And he does not want to deal with the credit card company for this.

I guess I just don't understand this. He'd rather deal with NCL, going back and forward with no resolution? No thanks.

[SissasMomE]

I guess I just don't understand this. He'd rather deal with NCL, going back and forward with no resolution? No thanks.

 

I agree. I wouldn't have even bothered to call NCL. Just dispute it and be done!

[carol54]

On our Panama cruise in February we had the room steward empty our mini fridge for our own items. We bought a bottle of rum from bon voyage and loads of buckets of beer. Our bill was up to date when we left the ship and all was good we thought. Until March when we get a charge from them for $ 25. So after 2 hours on the phone with 3 different people .. we find out that 2 mini bottles of scotch are missing and they did not know who used them so they charged us!!

Now hubby is ticked ..we dont drink it lol .... oh sorry sir we will have it removed ... 2 weeks later there is no refund ... another half hour on the phone ... sorry sir we will have it removed ...and you guessed it .. still not refunded.

 

So he emailed Mr Sheehan last week ... and yep ... nothing .. so he is on the phone again ... timing it because it is now a game lol ...it is not alot of money but he is newly retired and has the time lol.

 

We should not have to do this for 2 months .... I feel bad for the ones that have bigger issues with larger amounts of money if they have to go through this .... It was a great cruise tho ....without the scotch !!!!

 

Try posting on NCL's Facebook page. They seem to be more responsive through that venue.

[ColinIllinois]

That's unfortunate but not sure I would have wasted all that much of my time and effort for 25 bucks. I've got better things to do with my time and energy.

 

 

Like others stated, just dispute it with CC. Credit Card, not Cruise Critic. :D

[kdzkatz]

I am with all those that have given you the common sense approach.....let your cc company deal with it. They are professionals at it and WILL get results. If you decide to continue trying to deal with them directly then I would say he was looking for a hobby in retirement vs trying to get results :p

[rbrugler]

Your husband knows how to head towards a heart attack by getting all worked up over this. Yes, a refund is in order. Two weeks or even a month is not out of line to wait for one, but the credit card company would handle it with no stress. Tell him you love him too much for this to go on.

[kcwingwalker]

Definitely let the credit card company handle it. Stress free and great results. To this day I don't have the nerve to use my AmEx in a Best B*y store! But we were the winners and Best B*y lost big time. Did you know that if a company (per their terms with AmEx) does not respond in a timely manner to AmEx not only do you get a full refund but you get to keep the merchandise....................love it:)

[rajones007]

For $25 I wouldn't bother wasting a dispute on your credit card. You only have so many per year, usually one or two. (Amex might give a few more, I'm not sure about them). I'd only dispute a charge if it was for somewhat more money.

 

CC issuers usually don't tell you that you have a limited number of disputes until you actually attempt to do one. That's why they strongly encourage you to solve it on your own. Don't believe me? Try and do one. This is a perfect example of people abusing the privilege and ruining it for the rest of us.

 

(The OP is in Canada. I know that as of ~2 years ago BMO, TD, and RBC had a limit of 1 or 2 disputes per year. I would guess and say that there's a 99.9% chance that Scotia and CIBC have similar limits. And the smaller CC issuers are probably even more strict than the big banks.)

[calex]

More important, how big is a mini bottle? Are you talking about the 50ml minature bottles? If so, what scotch costs $12.50 each on NCL for a tiny one shot bottle?

[kcwingwalker]

For $25 I wouldn't bother wasting a dispute on your credit card. You only have so many per year, usually one or two. (Amex might give a few more, I'm not sure about them). I'd only dispute a charge if it was for somewhat more money.

 

CC issuers usually don't tell you that you have a limited number of disputes until you actually attempt to do one. That's why they strongly encourage you to solve it on your own. Don't believe me? Try and do one. This is a perfect example of people abusing the privilege and ruining it for the rest of us.

 

(The OP is in Canada. I know that as of ~2 years ago BMO, TD, and RBC had a limit of 1 or 2 disputes per year. I would guess and say that there's a 99.9% chance that Scotia and CIBC have similar limits. And the smaller CC issuers are probably even more strict than the big banks.)

 

You make a good point and I'm glad you mentioned it. You really should not overdue it on the disputes. In our case it was the first dispute we had in almost 40 years. I'm glad we waited for the big one. Disputing a malfunctioning toaster is not worth it, but when a state of the art home theater is not what was promised that's a different story.

[Out to sea!]

No input on the financial aspect but in the future, you can do what I do and just empty the fridge yourself. I put all the bottles and cans on a shelf and then put them back in the morning I leave. That way there I know everything that was there when I arrived was there when I left.

[calex]

In the United States, the disputed transaction is covered by the Fair Credit Billing Act and there does not appear to be a limit on the number of billing error disputes per year in the US.

 

But there is a credit card dispute time limit. The written dispute letter has to be received by your creditor within 60 days after the first bill was generated which showed the error. Since the OP states this issue has been going on for two months, they appear to be outside the 60 day time fence required to start a credit card dispute in the US. Maybe things are a little different up North...

[graphicguy]

My Visa and my AMEX have never limited my disputes. I had 6 disputes going one post Christmas buying binge. All were taken care of with no fuss. If the charge is wrong, it's wrong. CC company needs to know so they can fix it for you. Don't wear yourself out on this.

[B6ConMe]

Being a Canadian and using one of the major banks there is 1 stipulation that might be a problem:

 

Dispute a charge through Online Banking if:

•The transaction was not authorized

•The charge was for an incorrect amount

•You were charged for the same transaction twice

•You do not recognize the charge

•You have cancelled a service and are still being charged

•You did not receive merchandise associated with the charge and your attempts to resolve the matter with the merchant have been unsuccessful

 

Review your monthly statement

Disputed items must be reported within 30 days of the statement date.

 

It sounds like it's fairly similar to those in your country.

[Sauer-kraut]

Why don't people inventory the stuff first!! We did that on the SUN and found that a can of pop was missing. We pointed it out right away to the steward so we wouldn't be charged.

 

Your steward team might not be the same ones who take over after your cruise, so if something is missing of course they are going to charge whom ever was in the stateroom.

[Jldevlin]

Why don't people inventory the stuff first!! We did that on the SUN and found that a can of pop was missing. We pointed it out right away to the steward so we wouldn't be charged.

 

Your steward team might not be the same ones who take over after your cruise, so if something is missing of course they are going to charge whom ever was in the stateroom.

But how would you know one or two bottles of scotch were missing at the beginning of the cruise??? We asked him to empty it and we were right there when he did. He put them above the fridge and that is where they stayed for 14 days. It is not a big deal ... like I said I feel bad for people who have issues bigger than this and have to deal with customer service...

[Sauer-kraut]

But how would you know one or two bottles of scotch were missing at the beginning of the cruise??? We asked him to empty it and we were right there when he did. He put them above the fridge and that is where they stayed for 14 days. It is not a big deal ... like I said I feel bad for people who have issues bigger than this and have to deal with customer service...

 

There is a list right there in the fridge, with the quantity of each item that is in the mini bar as well as the snacks that are in one of the cupboards. Just a quick glance and you can see if something is missing.

[Jldevlin]

There is a list right there in the fridge, with the quantity of each item that is in the mini bar as well as the snacks that are in one of the cupboards. Just a quick glance and you can see if something is missing.

 

Ha !!!! you learn something new everyday lol .... We have never bought one single thing out of the mini bar so we have never seen this ..... 13 cruises and we have managed to avoid it .....we are looking at a 5 day from Vancouver to LA in Sept. and I will be looking for the list now !!

[don't-use-real-name]

The only thing worse than a missing bottle out of the mini-fridge is the damage to rental car !

Egads these foul folks are out to make a buck anyway they can get away with !

YES ! Don't wait to use a credit card "Charge Back" - make an issue out of it and of course publish it here at Cruise Critic and other travel periodicals !

AND not getting anywhere with the front office - send a registered letter requiring signature to the CEO at corporate headquarters !

Got an ombudsman service through your newspaper USE IT !

Declare WAR on unauthorized charges - cause a stink - incite a rebellion/insurrection !

On your next cruise take all the goodies out of the mini-fridge and take them

down to the Registration Desk and have them inventoried right then and there !

Get their attention so it doesn't happen again to anyone !

 

IDEA - After you get settled into your cabin have the cabin steward bring a menu of items that you would like to stock in the fridge - NONE would be pleasant option !

[johnql]

Ha !!!! you learn something new everyday lol .... We have never bought one single thing out of the mini bar so we have never seen this ..... 13 cruises and we have managed to avoid it .....we are looking at a 5 day from Vancouver to LA in Sept. and I will be looking for the list now !!

Here's what you'll be looking for. Sometimes you'll find the form inside the room service menu booklet.