Unused Cruise Credits become "Unclaimed Property"

[AtlantaCruiser72]

The normal process for Princess (which is part of the Holland America Group within Carnival, and which shares some of the corporate structures) automatically sends a check when the credit card refund fails.

 

Even though HAL and Princess are both within the same "group" their processes and business practices couldn't more different from one another.  I have a feeling that someone in HAL management determined that it was cheaper to farm this out to a 3rd party for a flat fee, rather than clear the backlog in-house paying their own staff to track all these folks down, try and charge-back credit cards, mail checks, etc.   The 3rd party agency will most likely only reimburse in the form of a check, again saving HAL $ on CC charge-back fees

 

They probably did one massive data transfer of names addresses and amounts to the agency and said -  you deal with it ......  at the end of the contract term HAL will most likely reimburse them for the amount of the funds actually disbursed and write everything else off.

Edited March 24, 2019 by AtlantaCruiser72

[RuthC]

18 hours ago, bennybear said:

I am surprised by the blame the victim.

Victim? OP is no 'victim' here. OP left money beyond the 'use by' date, and now HAL is making an effort to get it back to him. True, HAL is using another company to process the details, but it was HAL who initiated the refund.
And OP is finding fault with that??? If he wanted the money so badly, he should have asked for it himself.

[bennybear]

 I guess I am just surprised that people blamed the OP for not having the same credit card.   Like this made it his fault.  I really  think that HAL could have tried  an email or letter.  

[AtlantaCruiser72]

3 minutes ago, bennybear said:

 I guess I am just surprised that people blamed the OP for not having the same credit card.   Like this made it his fault.  I really  think that HAL could have tried  an email or letter.  

 

They did send a letter - albeit through a third party who is handling setting these accounts for them

[RuthC]

37 minutes ago, bennybear said:

 I guess I am just surprised that people blamed the OP for not having the same credit card.   Like this made it his fault.

I must have missed the posts where people 'blamed' the OP for not having the same credit card. He was 'blamed' for getting all bent out of shape over minor details.
He's getting back money he never asked for, and complaining about the procedure used to do it.

[rkacruiser]

This thought just came to mind.  Maybe there is a downside to booking these future cruise deposits unless one is fairly sure that those deposits will be applied to another cruise in the relatively near future.  Memories of what one did or did not do are "funny" at times.  This becomes particularly true if one makes more than one Future Cruise Deposit on a cruise line and makes additional ones on different cruise lines.  Yes, I do keep my paper documentations of what I my book on HAL.  But, Princess as an example, does not supply such paper documentation aboard ship.  It's e-mailed to one.  What happens if the e-mail is not received and printed?  Given the amount of "water over the dam" that occurs in all of our lives, if these Future Cruise Deposits are not promptly used soon after we return from our cruise, I can understand how such deposits could be forgotten.

 

Even so, it is the responsibility of the cruise line to return the money deposited within the time frame specified when one paid the deposit.

[Jammu2]

File under: no good deed goes unpunished.