Refunds from Oceania

[Paulchili]

38 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

I saw on some other forums  people were disputing the charge with their CC  then got  a credit  back to their card

Did the cruise line approve the disputed  charge or  did the CC  just give the money back & let the cruise line suck up the amount??

 

So that is why  I am confused  of course these days of inactivity my brain might be suffering 😉

 

 

I think what the CC does is give you temporary credit for the disputed charge - not a refund. If the charge is outstanding, they will not charge interest on it until the case is resolved. If the vendor repays the money the dispute is ended and your temporary credit withdrawn.

[LHT28]

Just now, Paulchili said:

I think what the CC does is give you temporary credit for the disputed charge - not a refund. If the charge is outstanding, they will not charge interest on it until the case is resolved. If the vendor repays the money the dispute is ended and your temporary credit withdrawn.

interesting

I also saw someone posted that they had the funds from the CC transferred to their bank account

Guess they could take the money & run  LOL

[Cruseforme]

13 minutes ago, OldCOB said:

Here's what our email said copied and pasted:

TRAVELERS ASSURANCE PROGRAM

NO-PENALTY CANCELLATIONS + BEST PRICE GUARANTEE

 

Guests and Travel Partners can now have total peace of mind knowing that should they need to cancel, for any reason, they will not lose a dollar. Guests may cancel up to 48 hours prior to cruise departure and will receive a Future Cruise Credit equal to 100% of the cruise fare paid.

 

Additionally, consumers and travel advisors can book with confidence knowing that up to day of sailing, should there be another applicable Oceania Cruises public promotion that offers a better value through amenities or price, they may take advantage of that promotional offer and/or price.

 

PROGRAM APPLICABILITY AND CONDITIONS:

 

NO-PENALTY CANCELLATIONS

 

• Cancel for any reason up to 48 hours prior to departure and receive a Future Cruise Credit equal to 100% of the cruise fare paid

   

• Valid for all existing reservations for voyages departing from March 10, 2020 through September 30, 2020

   

• Valid for all new reservations through May 31st for voyages departing from March 10, 2020 through September 30, 2020

   

• Future Cruise Credit is valid for redemption for one year from date of issue for travel departing no later than December 31, 2022

There's nothing in their to indicate payment in full is required to get a credit.

I stand corrected.   Yours has no mention of payment in full.   Hmmmmm.   I do agree that you should discuss this thoroughly with your TA, and have them pushback to Oceania.   Even my Regent cancelation notice (just checked it also, different month scheduled), says paid in full.   Dispute with CC company.  

Edited April 21, 2020 by Cruseforme

[LHT28]

11 minutes ago, OldCOB said:

See text pasted from Oceania email above.

The text does not say when you booked  or FP date

 

What date was your final payment due?

 

[OldCOB]

What does that have to do with anything?

[royallondon]

I received the exact same worded email as OldCOB from O on the 4 April.  I too, have been denied a deposit refund or FCC for a cruise in September despite forwarding O’s original Traveler Assistant  Program  email to our TA.
 

Oceania have clearly changed the wording to include “paid in full” recently.

Perhaps O thinks this will encourage more people to pay the final payment where as the original wording just encouraged people to cancel prior to final payment.

 

I appreciate these are difficult times for everyone but honesty and transparency should always be a given.

 

Regards.

 

 

[OldCOB]

I think they did change the original wording. Given the significant hit their parent company's stock took over the last several weeks they probably are trying to hand on to anything they can.  We won't be back with Oceania unless they give us the credit, not a refund, a credit IAW what their email said.

 

As you said, times are difficult, but that doesn't mean you throw honesty out the window. I spent over 20 years in the USN, primarily in submarines. Honesty was a requirement, not a suggestion.

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, OldCOB said:

What does that have to do with anything?

The difference  is  if Final payment date was  March 6th  or there abouts  & you did not pay   then there is no claim as your booking would have been cancelled  with no refund

[OldCOB]

All payments were up to date. This is a non-issue.

[AAS]

If you paid by credit card, and are not happy with refund timeliness, you have a recourse: dispute the original charge.  You will get an immediate "temporary refund".  The CC company, travel agent, and Oceania can take as long as they want to resolve the matter.  In the meantime, you have the charge-back.  Let the CC company, TA, and O work it out.... but you have the amount back.  The CC company has MUCH more leverage that you do!!!  Make sure, however, that you know the exact amount of the refund, as confirmed by O and TA.  Then dispute that amount of the original charge.

[LHT28]

23 minutes ago, OldCOB said:

All payments were up to date. This is a non-issue.

So you paid the deposit  then cancelled & want a credit for the full cruise fare ???

 

Just trying to understand the issue

[OldCOB]

No, I do not want a credit for the full cruise fare. Please tell me what in the world made you think that so I can clarify.  Good grief!

[OldCOB]

Already disputed charge with CC company.

[LHT28]

3 minutes ago, OldCOB said:

Already disputed charge with CC company.

Then no further discussion is required 😎

Keep well

[Paulchili]

46 minutes ago, OldCOB said:

Already disputed charge with CC company.

What did they say?

[OldCOB]

Credited my account and they’re looking into it. 

[Paulchili]

23 minutes ago, OldCOB said:

Credited my account and they’re looking into it. 

Thank you.

Please let us know how it ends.

[jo-b]

These are the UK T&Cs from O site 

Terms & Conditions | Oceania Cruises.pdf

In the UK we no longer get charged a fee fro using a credit card so can pay for cruises using a CC. However some TAs will take part payments etc in advance and the pay the cruise company but normally when you pay it goes straight to the Cruise company.

 

However these are not normal times and basically we are being told by O yes you can have a refund but it will take 90 days. We cancelled a May cruise on 9 march and are still waiting, TA is chasing. 

 

ABTA rules are that we should get refund in 14 days but more and more companies are not meeting this or are issuing credit notes. ABTA are asking for a change to the law to make these credit notes legal and backed by them if the companies go out of business. The government has given no aid to the sector yet, and customers are basically "loaning" money to their holiday companies wittingly ot unwittingly .

[Flatbush Flyer]

On 4/21/2020 at 1:38 PM, Paulchili said:

I think what the CC does is give you temporary credit for the disputed charge - not a refund. If the charge is outstanding, they will not charge interest on it until the case is resolved. If the vendor repays the money the dispute is ended and your temporary credit withdrawn.

At least with Chase Visa accounts, you can go online and find the original charge in your statements. Unless it's older (my Philippine Airlines tix purchase more about 9 months old), there is a "dispute this charge" button that takes you to the needed form. Or you can call the number on your card and start the dispute that way (particularly if it's older). You then submit the form and upload support docs. If your docs evidence a reasonable dispute, Chase will give you a provisional credit while they contact the vendor who will have 30 days to challenge the dispute.

FWIW, right now Chase is yet another somewhat overwhelmed company and the online "secure messaging" they use has some glitches they're working on. I ran into a problem with my uploaded PDFs disappearing at their end and it finally took a combo of snail mail and an excellent Chase billing supervisor to put the temp credit on my account yesterday - almost 2 weeks after I started the dispute.

BTW, Philippine Airlines is not unlike many businesses right now that almost immediately acknowledge a refund due to you but then take an unreasonable amount of time to make the refund happen.

And, related to this, all the hoops we had to jump through with changed/canceled flights since mid-February has taught me that, despite possibly more expensive ticketing, United Airlines' web and phone service is far better than any other airlines with which we had to deal (including Lufthansa).

That said,  even when the tix prices look great, I recommend steering clear of Philippine Airlines and Egyptian Air.

 

[Paulchili]

1 hour ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

That said,  even when the tix prices look great, I recommend steering clear of Philippine Airlines and Egyptian Air

Maybe it's just me but I would have never even considered either airline for a number of reasons.

OTOH, I have read good things about Ethiopian Airlines but not sure I would book with them 🙂

That said, I hope things will work out well for you.

Edited April 24, 2020 by Paulchili

[Flatbush Flyer]

1 hour ago, Paulchili said:

Maybe it's just me but I would have never even considered either airline for a number of reasons.

OTOH, I have read good things about Ethiopian Airlines but not sure I would book with them 🙂

That said, I hope things will work out well for you.

On disembarakation from changed itinerary on March 4, Egypt Air was the only way to "get out of Dodge" that day from Dubai to to Frankfurt (via Cairo) for Lufthansa direct to SFO. (Used UA points too)

As for Philippine Air, I gave in to the bizclass price difference (SFO-MNL-SIN and NRT-MNL-SFO) with P.A.L. at $3k pp while UA et al. were averaging $7-8k pp. This was for our now cancelled ATW May segments.

 

FWIW:

 

Bottom line for a s*itload of time and paperwork regarding our two Covid-19 affected cruises:

 

Nautica in February -itinerary changes: 50% refund + 25% FCC (book & cruise by 12/31/20- will be used for this November's cruise and will carryover if O cancels though replacement must be booked pre-12/31/20 for 2021 cruise).

 

Insignia in May -O cancelled: 100% refund + 25% FCC (book by 2/10/21 for cruise through mid-2022). May also use for this November cruise since FCCs are combinable.

 

Both expected O refunds (multiple credits on multiple CCs) posted to our accounts within 7 days. DIY air "change vs cancel fees" definition worked out with O for cancelled May cruise 👍

 

DIY return Cathay air tix from SIN -SFO in March needed to be canceled since Nautica went to Dubai instead. TA we used for pre-cruise Safari (and all air for the trip) secured refund for unused return tix. But we're still waiting for the bank transfer from quarantined Safari outfit (very reputable so I am not worried).

 

Nationwide insurance claim submitted for missed Nautica port (weather not Covid-19). Hopefully, we'll get $500 since missed ports are in their normal coverage. Will also claim some "delay" items. (Every little bit helps!)

 

Different DIY comprehensive travel policy for May cruise (April Co.) transferred to November cruise.

 

Annual subscription start date for MedJet Assist start transferred from this May to this November.

 

All related ground transport, hotels, etc cancelled without penalties.

 

All-in-all, except for the value of my time birddogging it all, we'll come out pretty good. I wish the same for everyone else!

 

Of course, if O cancels our November 2020 cruise (or January 2021 one), I'll need to be back on phone and computer - oh well.

 

 

 

[Paulchili]

FF - I admire you persistence and tenacity - I guess that is what it takes. It also helps that we have all this time on our hands now 🙂

Good for you.

[clo]

On 4/21/2020 at 9:16 AM, Paulchili said:

Why don't you try disputing the charge with your credit card company?

This.

[clo]

3 hours ago, Paulchili said:

Maybe it's just me but I would have never even considered either airline for a number of reasons.

 

Why?

[clo]

2 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

All-in-all, except for the value of my time birddogging it all, we'll come out pretty good. I wish the same for everyone else!

 

The Norwegian coastal cruise in March that got canceled was part of a bigger itinerary. Hotels, airbnb, trains, etc. Except for the train from Paris to Versailles we got everything back - oops, still waiting for Norwegian Air. It was tiring and Bob jumped in when I ran out of steam. But, hey, our time was worth nothing.