Unauthorised Charges *again*

[wolfcathorse]

1 hour ago, Host Clarea said:

 

Starting to come around to that point of view.

RCI has been doing ghost charges for years. I first saw it in 2006. Finally, after tiring of calling to have it removed we decided to do cash account. FWIW, cash account is the only way to sail.

[Crism]

ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS audit your credit card statements!

[*twinkle*]

Just now, wolfcathorse said:

RCI has been doing ghost charges for years. I first saw it in 2006. Finally, after tiring of calling to have it removed we decided to do cash account. FWIW, cash account is the only way to sail.

Yes, I agree. I think this is 3rd or 4th time this has happened to us. We are sailing again on Wednesday, so will make it a cash account. Hadn’t thought of that. Doh!

[grapau27]

11 minutes ago, *twinkle* said:

Yes, I agree. I think this is 3rd or 4th time this has happened to us. We are sailing again on Wednesday, so will make it a cash account. Hadn’t thought of that. Doh!

Hope you have a fantastic cruise on Wednesday.

[BecciBoo]

At the risk of being thought extremely tight, my hubby watches all our accounts daily, whether on ship or off; like a hawk circling a varmit!  Nothing gets past him!  We routinely have some charge or other removed.  Usually just a mistake by them.

[Beav1279]

22 minutes ago, BecciBoo said:

At the risk of being thought extremely tight, my hubby watches all our accounts daily, whether on ship or off; like a hawk circling a varmit!  Nothing gets past him!  We routinely have some charge or other removed.  Usually just a mistake by them.

My husband is the same! But he works in finance, so it's something he actually *likes* to do... I enjoy having no worries about the bills!

I've only been on 3 cruises but we've never had a phantom charge to our account... but all of your stories make me think a cash account might be the way to go.

[Vlgg731]

My husband has our accounts marked that they notify him if I charge something on AMEX.  He has sent me a text more than once asking what I bought to make sure I was the one using it.  Interesting enough, on one of his cards someone had used the number to make a purchase and he sent me a text and I told him to report it.  I wasn't even on that card. 

 

[twangster]

30+ cruises and never a ghost charge.

 

Amazing how everyone knows Royal IT is terrible and when ever anything wonky occurs every one writes its off as bad IT but in this case it's supposedly a decade old conspiracy and intentional fraud.  

 

I do know a waiter in the MDR who recently was charging my drinks to my account using my name.  Turns out someone else with the same last name got some of those charges by mistake.  He explained it to me on the last night when he asked for my card.  That wasn't fraud but a mistake from using my name and not swiping my card.

[Clarea]

56 minutes ago, wolfcathorse said:

RCI has been doing ghost charges for years. I first saw it in 2006. Finally, after tiring of calling to have it removed we decided to do cash account. FWIW, cash account is the only way to sail.

 

I thought that once Royal stopped stocking  the minibars, this sort of intentional/incompetent "mistake" would disappear, but it appears I underestimated Royal.

[mugtech]

So if your onboard account bill is $500 and you use the CC with 2% rewards, that is $10 for using the card.  We have never had post cruise charges, corrected some charges on board, have earned hundreds of dollars using CC instead of cash.

[bobmacliberty]

This may or may not be an IT problem, but I blame whoever is in charge of hotel operations corporately (since it seems to happen on multiple ships).  I stay in hotels a lot, from large corporate hotels to small mom and pop places around the world, and only remember once having an incorrect charge in a hotel (someone else staying the same night with the same name as me).  It's happened a couple of times to me on a Royal ship.

[AnnaNicole]

It happened to us several times on cruises.   I believe it is too often to not be purposeful to some extent.   I have a similar problem with grocery stores.   They have sale and/or BOGO items appear as regular price on the receipt - almost every darn week!  I have to watch at checkout to make sure I am paying the right price.   Mistakes are never in my favor.

[newport dave]

Always keep a copy of your final statement.  If any extra charges appear on your CC afterwards, just challenge them with your credit card issuer and provide them with a copy of your final bill.  They will then stop all payments to the cruise line, the cruise line will soon amend the amount, as they don't want to lose the entire amount..

[CasinoCruzGirl]

We were just on the Allure. I had a cash account bought something and new I had $22 left available. We were star class and had dinner in Izumi with a couple. The next day I checked my account I owed $93. I was like huh?  Turned out they put the other couples meals on our account. I have no idea why but they did end up taking it off 

[not-enough-cruising]

1 hour ago, mugtech said:

So if your onboard account bill is $500 and you use the CC with 2% rewards, that is $10 for using the card.  We have never had post cruise charges, corrected some charges on board, have earned hundreds of dollars using CC instead of cash.

I reconcile my cash account with my rewards CC, so I get all the benefits, but they do not have my CC on file to charge post departure. 

[brillohead]

6 hours ago, Heather1972 said:

You wouldn't believe how many times I've had drinks show up on my accounts that NO ONE in my family purchased. Heck I just figured it out.. 4 out of 19 cruises. Every time it has been a fight to get the charges removed with multiple visits to guest services. I am convinced it's little amounts so they think people won't say anything. Trust me, I say something! 

 

I've had drinks charged to my account from Silk dining room when I was assigned to American Icon.  I stopped at Guest Services and just mentioned that I had charges that I didn't make, and they were taken off without any problem at all.  

I even tried explaining to the person that I don't even drink alcohol (the charges were for wine) and I don't even use that dining room, and he didn't even care -- just removed the charges, easy peasy.


 

[Mr. Candyman]

6 hours ago, Vlgg731 said:

My husband has our accounts marked that they notify him if I charge something on AMEX.  He has sent me a text more than once asking what I bought to make sure I was the one using it.  Interesting enough, on one of his cards someone had used the number to make a purchase and he sent me a text and I told him to report it.  I wasn't even on that card. 

 

I do the same thing when my wife has my credit cards.  What about submitting a credit card that you have the feature of locking/unlocking?  I planned on doing this on our next sailing but wasn't sure if it'd cause an issue

[leight]

7 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

I reconcile my cash account with my rewards CC, so I get all the benefits, but they do not have my CC on file to charge post departure. 

Would you mind explaining how to do this?

[Ourusualbeach]

5 minutes ago, leight said:

Would you mind explaining how to do this?

You set up your account as a cash account.  On a 7 day cruise Royal will allow you to charge up to $500 before requiring you to pay down your balance. You can pay down your balance with cash, debit or credit cards.  If you use a debit card or credit card it is a once time authorization and your card will not be automatically used by Royal again as you only authorized it for a one time use.  

[cello56]

We had an erroneous charge on our Jewel cruise last winter. It was for a drink in the dining room while we were eating at Chops. I went to guest services and they asked me if I was sure my husband hadn't had a drink without me. They made me feel like I was trying to scam them. I had them look up our Chops dining time, and then they agreed that the charge could not be ours. Left the Guest Services counter with a bad taste. Nothing like trying to tell a guest they are lying. 

[Ocean Boy]

12 hours ago, h20skibum said:

That seems to be standard anymore.  Same thing happened to us last cruise, where a “gangway beverage” that we didn’t purchase, showed up after we disembarked. 

 

We didn’t bother, since it was a small amount, but maybe this is a new strategy. 

RCI won't let someone off the ship no matter how small an amount he may owe. Why would you let them have what is not rightfully theirs?

[Mikew0805]

9 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

RCI won't let someone off the ship no matter how small an amount he may owe. Why would you let them have what is not rightfully theirs?

I couldn't agree more with this!! 👍

 

 

[not-enough-cruising]

1 hour ago, Ourusualbeach said:

You set up your account as a cash account.  On a 7 day cruise Royal will allow you to charge up to $500 before requiring you to pay down your balance. You can pay down your balance with cash, debit or credit cards.  If you use a debit card or credit card it is a once time authorization and your card will not be automatically used by Royal again as you only authorized it for a one time use.  

Exactly, but before authorizing the charge look at your invoice.  I often find errors 

[okeytaco]

We've never done a cash account and never had bogus charges but maybe we've just been lucky.  If we set up a cash account then do we have to go stand in that long long long line the last day at Customer Service in order to settle up?  I might rather wrangle with them over the phone after I get home if there are any "late" appearing charges.  Could someone enlighten me on how you settle up?

[frank808]

17 hours ago, blackshirt said:

Well, I’ve never had any charges appear post cruise, 16 cruises. So if it is a strategy, they don’t target everyone. I’ve had bogus charges appear while onboard and gotten them removed but never post cruise, knock on wood.

Same thing for us.  After the first cruise, went with cash account.  35 cruises later and have never had a mysterious charge appear after getting off the ship 😃   Works for us.