Refund on Cancelled Viking Danube cruise optional excursion

[chabby101]

I, together with 9 other senior citizens, went on a Viking Danube river cruise (Vilhjalm) Budapest to Passau on Nov. 14-21.  Due to the low water levels of the Danube, our itinerary was revised, and Viking cancelled an optional tour in Budapest, for which my group paid for in advance.  We were told at the boat that we will be refunded in full, and we assumed that since we paid for this tour with our credit cards, the refund will be credited to our respective credit cards.  It has been two months since the tour was cancelled, and we have not received our refund.  My TA called Viking customer relations, and she was told that the accounting department is processing refunds for cancelled tours dating back to August 2018.  More importantly, she was told that the refund will be done through checks, and not through a credit to our credit cards.  The checks are to be mailed to our registered addresses.  When she protested, she was told that refunding our tour costs through credit card credit will entail additional costs to Viking, hence the decision to refund through checks.  I believe this is completely unfair! In my experience with all other cruise lines (Crystal, Celebrity, Princess, etc), refunds are done via the original form of payment.  I read, in a separate topic, how Viking requires full payment 18 months prior to the actual cruise.  It seems to me that Viking's corporate strategy is to hold on to customers' money for as long as possible.  In our case, it is not even Viking's money anymore, but it is still holding on to our money.

 

May I know if any one of you cool cruisers have had the same experience?

[Turtles06]

That's pretty shabby treatment.   Have you called your credit card company to complain that you did not receive the services for which you paid?  It may be too late for them to do anything, but there's no downside to making that call.

 

I hope this is resolved for you quickly.

[Host Jazzbeau]

You should be able to get it the way you prefer.  That said, I would prefer it the way Viking is doing it because I would have gotten a 3% cash rebate on my credit card and a refund would negate that.  

[mskaufman]

Interesting that they can charge your card in 30 seconds and it takes 5 months to handle a refund.

[dsw39]

It appears that Viking has a cash flow problem! We were refunded to our original credit card within 15 days by

Gate 1 for our missed excursion in August!

[Viking Cruises]

Dear @chabby101,

 

We appreciate the opportunity to respond here, and offer our sincere apologies for the refund delay you and your travel companions have encountered. 

 

It is important to us that we return your funds as quickly as possible, and kindly ask that you send your booking details to us directly at TellUs@vikingcruises.com. 

 

We look forward to connecting, and wish you and your family a wonderful year ahead! 

 

Warm regards,
Viking Cruises

 

19 hours ago, chabby101 said:

I, together with 9 other senior citizens, went on a Viking Danube river cruise (Vilhjalm) Budapest to Passau on Nov. 14-21.  Due to the low water levels of the Danube, our itinerary was revised, and Viking cancelled an optional tour in Budapest, for which my group paid for in advance.  We were told at the boat that we will be refunded in full, and we assumed that since we paid for this tour with our credit cards, the refund will be credited to our respective credit cards.  It has been two months since the tour was cancelled, and we have not received our refund.  My TA called Viking customer relations, and she was told that the accounting department is processing refunds for cancelled tours dating back to August 2018.  More importantly, she was told that the refund will be done through checks, and not through a credit to our credit cards.  The checks are to be mailed to our registered addresses.  When she protested, she was told that refunding our tour costs through credit card credit will entail additional costs to Viking, hence the decision to refund through checks.  I believe this is completely unfair! In my experience with all other cruise lines (Crystal, Celebrity, Princess, etc), refunds are done via the original form of payment.  I read, in a separate topic, how Viking requires full payment 18 months prior to the actual cruise.  It seems to me that Viking's corporate strategy is to hold on to customers' money for as long as possible.  In our case, it is not even Viking's money anymore, but it is still holding on to our money.

 

May I know if any one of you cool cruisers have had the same experience?

 

[jnew55]

Very interesting!  I am also waiting on a Viking cancelled excursion refund from 5 months ago.  I call every month and am told I will receive my check in two weeks.  Still waiting.

[Turtles06]

14 hours ago, jnew55 said:

Very interesting!  I am also waiting on a Viking cancelled excursion refund from 5 months ago.  I call every month and am told I will receive my check in two weeks.  Still waiting.

 

If you haven't already done so, you should send an email to Viking per their post number 6 above

[dogs4fun]

15 hours ago, jnew55 said:

Very interesting!  I am also waiting on a Viking cancelled excursion refund from 5 months ago.  I call every month and am told I will receive my check in two weeks.  Still waiting.

Wow - very poor customer service by Viking. What a shame!  See post #6 above - perhaps if you contact the provided email address you will finally receive the refund that was due you 5 months ago. 

Please let us know if the situation was resolved to your satisfaction.

Edited January 5, 2019 by dogs4fun

[chabby101]

Thank you for all your comments, and it seems that I am not alone in my experience. It also seems that Viking Cruises monitors the boards for negative comments; I will provide Viking Cruises my booking reference, and await its response. I will share with you how this situation unfolds.

[dolllover]

This is why a good TA is invaluable. I had a refund due to me from Avalon and only after my TA contacted them would they refund me. One of the reasons I probably won't ever use Vantage since they don't use TA's. I get more mail from them than any other company lol.

[chabby101]

Viking Cruises informed me last week that the check is in the mail.  I continued to protest that the refund should be via a credit to my credit card.  I live in the Philippines, and I expect that, if it was sent through regular snail mail, it will take weeks, if not months, to reach me.  Worse, I am concerned that the check could be lost in the mail and I won't know until several months after. 

 

I asked if this manner of getting a refund by check is in the terms and conditions of the river cruise, and I was told by the Customer Relations agent that it is not, but that it is the company's policy.  When I pressed him about the reason for this unfair policy, he said that this is to enable a paper trail.  This is hogwash, since any transaction with the credit card companies will generate a ton of paper trail (my work entails dealing with credit card companies).  It does seem to me that Viking Cruises really does try to hold on to cash for as long as possible.  Very unsatisfactory result, and just adds to a long list of negatives for cruising with Viking.  Please be warned:  refund of cancelled tours, regardless of who initiated the cancellation, will be returned via check even if you paid for the tour with a credit card.  The only conclusion I could draw from this unfair situation is that Viking will try to hold on to your cash for as long as possible.

[gnome12]

1 hour ago, chabby101 said:

Viking Cruises informed me last week that the check is in the mail.  I continued to protest that the refund should be via a credit to my credit card.  I live in the Philippines, and I expect that, if it was sent through regular snail mail, it will take weeks, if not months, to reach me.  Worse, I am concerned that the check could be lost in the mail and I won't know until several months after. 

 

I asked if this manner of getting a refund by check is in the terms and conditions of the river cruise, and I was told by the Customer Relations agent that it is not, but that it is the company's policy.  When I pressed him about the reason for this unfair policy, he said that this is to enable a paper trail.  This is hogwash, since any transaction with the credit card companies will generate a ton of paper trail (my work entails dealing with credit card companies).  It does seem to me that Viking Cruises really does try to hold on to cash for as long as possible.  Very unsatisfactory result, and just adds to a long list of negatives for cruising with Viking.  Please be warned:  refund of cancelled tours, regardless of who initiated the cancellation, will be returned via check even if you paid for the tour with a credit card.  The only conclusion I could draw from this unfair situation is that Viking will try to hold on to your cash for as long as possible.

I wonder how the credit card companies feel about this; if the card is a rewards card, the refund is supposed to be made to the card to reverse the reward.

 

Just as an aside (and I realize that you deal with credit card companies), refunds by credit card sometimes take multiple billing cycles before they are repaid, for no reason that I can discern. If they can bill you immediately they should be able to refund immediately to the credit card.

[Host Jazzbeau]

47 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

I wonder how the credit card companies feel about this; if the card is a rewards card, the refund is supposed to be made to the card to reverse the reward.

 

Just as an aside (and I realize that you deal with credit card companies), refunds by credit card sometimes take multiple billing cycles before they are repaid, for no reason that I can discern. If they can bill you immediately they should be able to refund immediately to the credit card.

 

I was CFO of a law school before retirement, so I think the situation may be a little more complicated than the second paragraph assumes.  We could process receipts immediately, and let our paperwork catch up through its normal cycle, with no risk.  But we wouldn't authorize expenditures [which a refund essentially is] until our paperwork was complete and reviewable up the chain [that was me].  I strove to sign off on the day the paperwork was presented to me, but I was told that my predecessor often let things pile up for some time.

[franski]

I do not think this is common with all cruise lines.  Our cruise to Eastern Europe was cancelled by Avalon about 72 hours before we were to leave (cancelled at 5 pm on Thursday, due to fly out on Sunday...).  Our refund was back on our credit card on Monday or Tuesday. 

 

We have an amazing TA - she even got our travel insurance refunded!!

 

Fran

[chabby101]

Thanks Fran.  Well, Viking Cruises seems to be different from other cruise lines, as I have found out to my dismay.  This will certainly impact on my future decisions regarding which cruising companies to go with.  I will certainly consider Avalon and the other cruise lines who treat their customers with better service. 

[chabby101]

To close this topic, I am relieved and happy to report that, after much discussion among Viking Cruises Customer Relations, my TA and myself, Viking Cruises agreed to refund it to me via a credit to my credit card, which I just received.