Damn online booking failures make me mad

[6666oz]

Just tried to make an online booking for a cruise in first time suite, at a popular website which will remain anonymous for now, got right to end and it refused my credit card, I know my CC works, of course there is nobody answering the phone this time of night, there better be somebody at their office tomorrow , public holiday or not, :mad:

Edited December 27, 2015 by 6666oz

[CruiserBruce]

As we are not allowed to name or discuss travel agencies on Cruise Critic, I suspect the problem website will remain anonymous for quite some time.

[cme2c]

Not wishing to let the anonymous website off the hook, but have you checked with your bank? Banks will sometimes bar some sites from taking their cards. It has happened to me (not with a cruise, and not naming any bank!!)

[icat2000]

Just use another card if you have one. Have you checked whether the site takes other forms of payment. Alternatively, look around and see if another online agency has the same pricing and book through them. Have you checked whether you can get the same price through the cruiseline?

 

And your post would probably be deleted if you name the agency as its against the rules and they are tough on this rule.

Edited December 27, 2015 by icat2000

[dizzy1948]

Just tried to make an online booking for a cruise in first time suite, at a popular website which will remain anonymous for now, got right to end and it refused my credit card, I know my CC works, of course there is nobody answering the phone this time of night, there better be somebody at their office tomorrow , public holiday or not, :mad:

 

It happened to me once - and I wasn't happy. I rang the online agent - and the booking was there - without the payment. So they processed the payment over the phone. It was very frustrating - plenty of money to pay - so that wasn't the issue. The issue lay with the bank and it's processing at that time on that day.

A phone call should fix it all. Do let us all know how you go. I made mention once of bad service from an online agent - that posting "disappeared" so be careful. :eek:

Edited December 27, 2015 by dizzy1948

[6666oz]

Two hours on hold so far with announcements saying progressing in cue , I dont hold much hope getting this sorted out today, I reckon they have today off as public holiday.

 

Yes checked with bank all ok there, Yes the cruise is on other websites.

Never had a CC declined before, will give it another couple of hours on hold.

 

Just use another card if you have one

Yep will be trying that if I get answered

 

I guess the moral of the story is dont do online bookings out of business hours.

looking at their T&C says USE OF THE SITE IS AT YOUR RISK

Edited December 28, 2015 by 6666oz

[dizzy1948]

Two hours on hold so far with announcements saying progressing in cue , I dont hold much hope getting this sorted out today, I reckon they have today off as public holiday.

 

Yes checked with bank all ok there, Yes the cruise is on other websites.

Never had a CC declined before, will give it another couple of hours on hold.

 

I guess the moral of the story is dont do online bookings out of business hours.

looking at their T&C says USE OF THE SITE IS AT YOUR RISK

 

Sounds like it is "closed" for the public holiday. They could have "closed" their online bookings payment processing down for the public holiday's as well. If so - the good news is no one is getting a booking processed. :p

Edited December 28, 2015 by dizzy1948

[The_Big_M]

It happened to me once - and I wasn't happy. I rang the online agent - and the booking was there - without the payment. So they processed the payment over the phone. It was very frustrating - plenty of money to pay - so that wasn't the issue. The issue lay with the bank and it's processing at that time on that day.

 

Agreed. More of an issue with international bookings e.g. when booking trains or purchases overseas, but has happened locally too.

 

Even registered the other day for MasterPass and they reported my account had been locked - even though it wasn't created yet! So yes, online glitches abound, and it's not necessarily (or in my experience frequently) the merchant's fault.

Edited December 28, 2015 by The_Big_M

[6666oz]

After 3 hours on hold, the music on hold stopped and the call dropped out, :mad:

 

so rang the cruise line direct, I knew that they could not take payment as the cruise was booked through a website, but the booking is in their system, with payment pending.

 

But they understood the situation and have "protected" the booking from being auto cancelled at least for today.

[6666oz]

online glitches abound

In 2014 I booked our 2 cruises with a human sitting at a desk talking face to face, that worked fine, last 2 were online ,we have become so dependent on todays technology, which is great when it works properly, gotta have a back up plan for when it fails :D

Edited December 28, 2015 by 6666oz

[The_Big_M]

In 2014 I booked our 2 cruises with a human sitting at a desk talking face to face, that worked fine, last 2 were online ,we have become so dependent on todays technology, which is great when it works properly, gotta have a back up plan for when it fails :D

 

I booked a cruise onboard with the FCC face to face in 2014.

 

He told me to come back the next day and try then as the system was down (but not meant to be) and they were closing the office shortly.

 

Fortunately, the cabin I was after was still available the next day...

[goodycruising]

I feel for you. We tried to book direct with a cruise company online a short while back. It would not take my credit card details, and I tried three, and they all have had no issues before or since.

 

We tried to ring to make payment (like it said we should, after telling us our credit card was the problem), as luckily the time was during the limited open hours. The fellow could not see my booking, and tried to sell me the room I had sitting there awaiting a deposit. The trouble was he wanted about $800 (or something silly like that) extra.

 

Over the next day and a half we saw three out of the four cabins (that we were looking at to suit or requirements) disappear from the available cabins on another site we check out for vacant cabins. Eventually we got our cabin and it took the booking payment.

 

The price never changed, and this is for a cruise in 2017.

 

It is annoying, but sometimes it can be worth closing the computer, using a different browser, clear the cache? Hope it all works out ok anyhow.

[6666oz]

I got this mess with my CC sorted, it was error in their system.

 

The moral of the story is book online during business hours, so if anything goes wrong you can talk to somebody.