Refund nightmare!!!

[yusi50]

Hi, I hope somebody can point me in the right direction. I have sailed many many times with NCL including a Baltic cruise this year in June (btw it was amazing). In November, I booked a Mediterranean and Greece cruise for July 2021. I made a mistake and paid the entire $6500 instead of the $200 deposit. I called NCL about 3 days later when I realized the mistake (booking was done directly with NCL). NCL said there was no problem and they will going to refund the money. That's when the waiting game started. Initially, they told me it was going to be 2 weeks to get the money which, to me, is unacceptable as it is. Long story short and after at least 5 phone calls to NCL, I was transfered to their refund team today. There is a recording that says they are delayed with processing refunds by 2 weeks. I requested to speak to an agent who using the worst customer services skills possible, told me that he was taking time of his day to try to help me (said what? I thought that he was getting paid to help me) and that they only process refunds on Tuesdays and for me to keep waiting. I got no answer to the question of why was my refund not refunded in all Tuesdays from beginning of November to the end of December. At this point, I cant trust I'm getting the money specially when Tuesday is New Years Eve. It makes me lose my trust in NCL and specially worried because I have several thousands on their hands for future bookings. 

Is this an isolated issue or have other people experience similar situation? Is it any other team/person that I should contact if I dont get the refund on Tuesday ( well, I will be enjoying the Navigator of the Seas New Year's sailing next week). I dont want to put a charge back to my credit card as I feel that I will have to cancel all my bookings with NCL out of dignity (dont really want to do that as I really like NCL). 

 

 

[www3traveler]

Norwegian is in the process of refunding hundreds and hundreds of requests at the moment from canceled cruises and cruises with huge itinerary changes. Another huge one just happened yesterday.  Everything takes time.  Added to the complications, is the holidays with staff having time off.  Will take a bit to play catch up.

[yusi50]

39 minutes ago, www3traveler said:

Norwegian is in the process of refunding hundreds and hundreds of requests at the moment from canceled cruises and cruises with huge itinerary changes. Another huge one just happened yesterday.  Everything takes time.  Added to the complications, is the holidays with staff having time off.  Will take a bit to play catch up.

At this point, I will wait till I come back from vacation and see what happens. I haven't cancelled the cruise because I didn't know how it was going to affect the refund. The whole issue started at the beginning of November well before the holidays. 

[CRZR58]

NCL could process refunds quickly if they wanted to but it's in their own interests to keep your money for as long as possible. Your mistake shouldn't mean waiting weeks for a refund, but it likely will because you can't do anything about it other than continue to phone and take up their agents time. Even then, it likely won't matter. Your money will come back to you when the company decides it will and not before.

[cksv]

My refunds with NCL have always posted within a week. There’s no good reason an electronic refund should take that long, so keep calling and escalating the issue until you get your money back.

[reeinaz]

I get my $50 deposits back within a few days.

[BirdTravels]

27 minutes ago, CRZR58 said:

NCL could process refunds quickly if they wanted to but it's in their own interests to keep your money for as long as possible.

This is a uninformed, incorrect statement. 
 

The OP’s biggest problem is that they are trying to get a partial refund. It would have been infinitely easier to cancel the cruise and rebook.  The system is set up to process cancellations almost immediately. The OP is trying to get a partial refund. Those types of manual transactions

typically take up to 3 months. I am not defending this timeline, but a lot of people have to review the transaction before money is sent out. 
 

I would have just left the full payment in place. Alternately I would have cancelled and rebooked. 

Edited December 27, 2019 by BirdTravels

[Mira28]

Some sensible comments here, along with the usual insulting one(s). I feel for you. Anyone could make a mistake.
It might be best to cancel and rebook, although I get that doing so might complicate things. 
Too bad that these boards so quickly degenerate into the posting of attacks like the first response. Unnecessary. In fact, the OP acknowledged the mistake up front.

Edited December 27, 2019 by Mira28
Spelling

[thistimeplease]

It amazes me that people try and defend NCL regarding the OP's refund.  The timeline is inexcusable and if I were the OP I would cancel the cruise completely and try another cruiseline at this point.

 

[yusi50]

56 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

This is a uninformed, incorrect statement. 
 

The OP’s biggest problem is that they are trying to get a partial refund. It would have been infinitely easier to cancel the cruise and rebook.  The system is set up to process cancellations almost immediately. The OP is trying to get a partial refund. Those types of manual transactions

typically take up to 3 months. I am not defending this timeline, but a lot of people have to review the transaction before money is sent out. 
 

I would have just left the full payment in place. Alternately I would have cancelled and rebooked. 

I agree with your comment. However, they should have told me to cancel instead of attempting to do a partial refund. It was the choice of the representative when I called originally to notify them of the issue. I have been given exacts date when the refund is going to be processed a couple of times now. I have been confirmed that the refund request is in their system and I'm starting to think it is not just me, they must have a lot of frustrated clients waiting for a refund. 

[yusi50]

41 minutes ago, thistimeplease said:

It amazes me that people try and defend NCL regarding the OP's refund.  The timeline is inexcusable and if I were the OP I would cancel the cruise completely and try another cruiseline at this point.

 

Trust me, I'm seriously considering it. I have a group (10 cabins) booked for my daughter's quinceanera on the Encore and another cabin booked for June 2020. 

[Laszlo]

14 minutes ago, yusi50 said:

Trust me, I'm seriously considering it. I have a group (10 cabins) booked for my daughter's quinceanera on the Encore and another cabin booked for June 2020. 

I learn something everyday, now I know what Quinceanera is. Have a great time

[PTC DAWG]

No doubt, it’s the partial refund causing the kerfluffle. 

[SouthLyonCruiser]

Six words: travel agent, travel agent, travel agent.

 

[erdoran]

OP I made the identical mistake—booked online, was rushing thru and assumed I’d just get charged the deposit but bam! Didn’t see it was full payment!  I called NCL and they said they’d refund, it would take a week to ten days, and that’s what it took.  This was early October and no other craziness going on with them.

 

Unless you have a compelling reason NOT to cancel/rebook, that’s exactly what I’d do at this point, or certainly when you get back if no refund.  And I wouldn’t worry about it messing up your refund either, when you cancel you get it all back assuming you are before final payment.

[yusi50]

As an update, I finally received the refund from NCL. Thank you all who commented!!!

[mugtech]

3 hours ago, yusi50 said:

As an update, I finally received the refund from NCL. Thank you all who commented!!!

So they originally told you two weeks, how long did it actually take?

[fstuff1]

On 12/27/2019 at 10:51 AM, www3traveler said:

Norwegian is in the process of refunding hundreds and hundreds of requests at the moment from canceled cruises and cruises with huge itinerary changes.

Another huge one just happened yesterday.  

 

what happened?

link?

[Petoonya]

I did the same dumb thing. Made a booking with NCL intending to transfer to my agent, and instead of making deposit I paid the whole thing. It wasn't until I transferred to my agent that she caught that I'd paid in full. It did take 4 weeks to get the refund but I attribute my long wait to my own stupidity.

[julig22]

22 hours ago, fstuff1 said:

 

what happened?

link?

The Star is having issues and 2 cruises have been either changed or modified

Passengers on the Star for an April 9 cruise to the Bahamas have been moved to a similar cruise on the Dawn (reverse itinerary, Manhattan departure vs Brooklyn) and were offered refunds if they did not choose to accept the substitution.

The April 19 Transatlantic cruise was moved ahead 10 days and now leaves on April 9, with changes to the itinerary as well.  Passengers who cannot make the new dates and/or are not happy with the new itinerary have also been offered refunds and/or transfers to other TAs.

[fstuff1]

2 hours ago, julig22 said:

The Star is having issues and 2 cruises have been either changed or modified

Passengers on the Star for an April 9 cruise to the Bahamas have been moved to a similar cruise on the Dawn (reverse itinerary, Manhattan departure vs Brooklyn) and were offered refunds if they did not choose to accept the substitution.

 

The April 19 Transatlantic cruise was moved ahead 10 days and now leaves on April 9, with changes to the itinerary as well.  Passengers who cannot make the new dates and/or are not happy with the new itinerary have also been offered refunds and/or transfers to other TAs.

wow.. wonder what kind of problems the Star is having to have these major itinerary changes?

 

i just booked the 10day Dawn April 9 cruise.

i was wondering why all the IB rooms were sold out yet there were a ton of IA rooms available.

[julig22]

4 minutes ago, fstuff1 said:

wow.. wonder what kind of problems the Star is having to have these major itinerary changes?

 

i just booked the 10day Dawn April 9 cruise.

i was wondering why all the IB rooms were sold out yet there were a ton of IA rooms available.

Lots of rumors - engine or azipod.  Apparently going in for repairs (Spain?) after the TA.  Hope they get everything fixed, since I opted to move from the TA to the first cruise after the 10-day repair break.

 

Although NCL didn't handle it too well (total lack of communication), it's kinda a win for them that they had concurrent cruises on similar ships, obviously each with less than 50% sold so they could just move everyone from one to the other.  Those originally on the Star got a $50 OBC plus compensation for penalties if changing flights or hotel reservations.  Those originally on the Dawn get an extra port (Orlando, not on the original itinerary).