Cunard payment frustration (AU)

[MelbTone]

I'm booked (direct with Cunard) on a January cruise so, as expected, the balance due date has come round. Cunard helpfully send me a reminder that this is so. What it doesn't show is any payment information though here in Australia virtually any request for payment includes a BSB (bank sort code) and account number, or, for larger firms, a BPay number and reference.

 

So I phone up Cunard. If I want to pay by card, debit card in my case, they want to charge me 1.25% (of course we're talking several thousand dollars) although the cost to them will be a fraction of this (when I had my own business in UK we were charged a flat 35p for debit card transactions). After an email and three phone calls I finally get the required information to pay by bank transfer. Totally unnecessary waste of my time though the amount saved justifies it. I may be too cynical but can't help thinking it's a ruse to get the extra when people just swallow the card fee. Anyone else had this experience or does everyone else go through a TA?

[sfred]

I share your disappointment, MelbTone.  The only straightforward payment method (card) is the one that attracts surcharge. 

 

Are you able to share the BSB/account info you received from Cunard?  How do they associate the funds transfer with your booking?  Booking reference number?

[LittleFish1976]

I also have final payments due next week. Same situation! I was planning to just ring Cunard and pay over the phone - the credit card surcharge hadn't occurred to me!

[MelbTone]

Today, having been given the details over the phone yesterday and paid, they email me a flyer:

 

Credit or debit card
The easiest way to make a payment is by credit or debit card. You can do this by calling our Customer Sales
& Service team on 13 24 41 in Australia or on 0800 543 431 if you are calling in New Zealand. The payment
will be applied to your booking on the spot and a new booking confirmation showing your updated balance
will be emailed to you.
When paying your deposit by credit or debit card, you can also set up an auto-charge so that when it is time
to make your final payment, it is automatically charged to your credit or debit card, without needing to
contact us again. Paying for your voyage couldn’t be easier!
We accept Visa, MasterCard, and AmericanExpress (excluding pre-paid cards).
Please note a 1.1% service fee applies to Visa and MasterCard transactions; whilst AmericanExpress will
incur 2.3% service fee (subject to change). There is no fee for debit card transactions.

 

The last (my emphasis) is not what I was told over the phone. Followed by ....

 

Direct deposit into our bank account
You can make a payment by making a deposit directly into our ANZ bank account or by transferring funds
from your bank account into ours. When doing this, please use your 6 digit alpha-numeric Cunard Line
booking reference as your payment reference  ... [account info follows which I won't post here]. 

 

Original point stands: just put the payment info on the reminder and save all this messing around.

[luckymal]

On 10/11/2019 at 12:10 AM, LittleFish1976 said:

I also have final payments due next week. Same situation! I was planning to just ring Cunard and pay over the phone - the credit card surcharge hadn't occurred to me!

 

You can pay Debit Card no problem.  

Our  last cruise which we completed this week, we payed the balance by credit card to our T/A no extra charges. companies are not allowed by law to add on extra charges now.🍷🥃

[exlondoner]

13 hours ago, luckymal said:

 

You can pay Debit Card no problem.  

Our  last cruise which we completed this week, we payed the balance by credit card to our T/A no extra charges. companies are not allowed by law to add on extra charges now.🍷🥃

 

The change in the law about credit cards applies to the UK. Australia does not seem to have legislated thus.

[Bigmike911]

On 10/13/2019 at 4:21 AM, exlondoner said:

 

The change in the law about credit cards applies to the UK. Australia does not seem to have legislated thus.

Rules for Debit/Credit cards can vary by country of issue and country of use, and by processing network.  In the US the processing fee, the merchant discount and other fees are paid by the business not charged to the consumer. Back in the dark ages, when a small team of us were creating the BankAmericard, which is Visa's grandparent, the reasoning we sold merchants was that the card would give them more business. Which turned out to be correct and the credit card business prospered. In those days the merchant fees were in the 5% range. The merchant discount covered the costs of processing the transaction in the event the customer chose to pay in full every month. 

[LittleFish1976]

On 10/13/2019 at 8:21 PM, exlondoner said:

 

The change in the law about credit cards applies to the UK. Australia does not seem to have legislated thus.

 

Correct.

[Ric_L]

In January of this year I booked a cruise on the QE direct with Cunard.

On 9th October I received the Final Payment Notice which is due by 22nd November but no information was provided on how to make the payment!

What company in the world, apart from Cunard, sends a final payment notice but fails to provide any information on how to make the payment!

On 10th October I sent an email to cunard.aspac@carnivalaustralia.com and another email to them on 22nd October asking for the payment details and I have still not received a reply.

On 13th November I sent a third email to cunard.aspac@carnivalaustralia.com only this time I also sent a Cc to customerservices@cunard.co.uk. Cunard UK replied:

"I note that your booking has been made in AUD. Your query will therefore need to be answered by our Australian Office:
Cunard Australia: 00 61 2 8424 8800
Email: cunard.aspac@carnivalaustralia.com
I have forwarded your email for you."

I have made multiple calls to (02) 8424 8800 and each time the number is engaged. There is no outgoing message, no queue until my call is taken, and no provision to leave a voice message.

I did a Google search which brought up Cunard's My Account website so I logged in and I can see  the final amount owing and a button to click on to make the payment online by credit or debit card - but it is for UK residents use only. You will get an error message if you try to make the payment. There is no equivalent Cunard website to make the payment in Australia.

The telephone number 13 24 41 will connect you to the Cunard Call Centre in the Philippines but they are not allowed to connect you to the Cunard Australia Office or give out their telephone number.

[TowandaUK]

I’m in the UK. As you have said- In My Cunard there is a link in the booking summary section to pay your balance online (for bookings made directly with Cunard). Most annoying that the link doesn’t work in Oz. 

Edited November 15, 2023 by TowandaUK
Edit

[Host Hattie]

This more recent thread might help, although the poster didn't specify the number they called. 

 

 

 

[MelbTone]

I don't understand why Cunard should make it so hard for its Australian customers like me. My balance is due Sunday, but I would quite happily have paid last week so as to be on top of things. I also realised that the credit card on file has expired: you might have thought that Cunard would have picked this up with an impending payment due, but no. I had to phone the call centre and after the usual delay got the card updated. We'll see if the payment now goes out on time.

[BrisbaneR]

This thread has alerted me to some of the frustrations we have in Oz. I also have a payment due shortly but have given up on the credit card link and also want to avoid expensive phone calls to the UK.  So I emailed Cunard and asked for their direct transfer banking details.. I hope this might help in the future.....

 

Here are our details to make a bank transfer, please quote your booking reference in the narrative:-

Account Name: CARNIVAL PLC

IBAN: GB11 RBOS 1604 0020 1051 88

IBAN BIC (SWIFT): RBOS GB 2L

Sort Code: 16-04-00

Account No.: 20105188

 

 

 

 

[maggielou362]

I live in Sydney and used this number:

132441 

It's only attended Monday to Friday.

I paid using a debit card so there was no card fee.

I spoke to a very polite and helpful person.

Perhaps this information is a bit too late for you though if you have already arranged for credit card payment.

Edited November 18, 2023 by maggielou362

[daisybel]

A good cruise travel agent will do all the payments for you to save all the worry . Most cruise specialists are members of CLIA and are constantly training with the cruise lines in order to keep up to date with everything relating to cruises 

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