Azamara refund problems (merged)

[nigelc]

On 4/19/2020 at 3:19 PM, nordski said:

What doesn’t make sense, at least to me, is being dismissive of those of us who wish to see Azamara survive. It may be that all of us are rather dim-witted and blindly loyal but perhaps that’s who we are and why do you care?

 

Not sure that there are enough of you to keep this sinking ship afloat - people have a long memory and given that Azamara's customer base tends to be those who are happy to pay a little bit more for better service, the way in which they are being dealt with by the Head Office will not tempt them back. 

[excitedofharpenden]

8 minutes ago, nigelc said:

 

Not sure that there are enough of you to keep this sinking ship afloat - people have a long memory and given that Azamara's customer base tends to be those who are happy to pay a little bit more for better service, the way in which they are being dealt with by the Head Office will not tempt them back. 

There are currently many folk who want to see Richard Branson go bankrupt. To me it's sick. A successful man who has employed many. It's the green monster that sits on the shoulders of some and a nasty trait to have in my view. 

 

Phil 

[nigelc]

1 minute ago, excitedofharpenden said:

There are currently many folk who want to see Richard Branson go bankrupt. To me it's sick. A successful man who has employed many. It's the green monster that sits on the shoulders of some and a nasty trait to have in my view. 

 

Phil 

 

Not sure what Richard Branson has to do with Azamara and the company's current refund issues? 

[sunlover33]

35 minutes ago, nigelc said:

 

They have and I am one of 17th March people who have received a full refund. That said,  it was like pulling teeth and I do not know if the money has come from Azamara or has been paid in advance of the refund by them by my TA (I live in the UK and they are required to refund within 14 days).

Did you apply via pre small claims court letter? I have actioned  this with our TA but nothing yet although I have given them 14 days to respond so they have a further week before I go ahead and file for proceedings to recover our money. I would not have done this had they been open and honest but all we have had are lies and false promises so the trust is gone. So if I have to go to court to recover our money then so be it

[excitedofharpenden]

1 minute ago, nigelc said:

 

Not sure what Richard Branson has to do with Azamara and the company's current refund issues? 

Ok. I'll change it for you a bit. You think Azamara  deserve to fail because your aren't getting your refund?  I know a lot of people who are employed by Azamara and all have been particularly praiseworthy of how they've been looked after by the company. You want them all to lose their employment because you haven't had your refund in a timely manner?  Too bad you think like that in such a narrow way. 

 

I won't respond to you again because we will never agree, but I wanted to put my case here. 

 

Phil 

[nigelc]

1 minute ago, sunlover33 said:

Did you apply via pre small claims court letter? I have actioned  this with our TA but nothing yet although I have given them 14 days to respond so they have a further week before I go ahead and file for proceedings to recover our money. I would not have done this had they been open and honest but all we have had are lies and false promises so the trust is gone. So if I have to go to court to recover our money then so be it

 

Yes, I sent the letter and received an email saying the refund could take up to 90 days. However, I then got an call from the TA Head Office saying they were making a refund and it would be in my bank account shortly. At least going down the SCC will give you some control and they have no defence as a refund must be made within 14 days. 

[sunlover33]

On 4/19/2020 at 3:19 PM, nordski said:

What doesn’t make sense, at least to me, is being dismissive of those of us who wish to see Azamara survive. It may be that all of us are rather dim-witted and blindly loyal but perhaps that’s who we are and why do you care?

I have no problem with Azamara surviving for those who want it to, but they are not going to keep afloat do with my money. The same for Branson if he wants his company to survive let him use some of his billions to keep it afloat rather than using the money from withholding passenger fares. What some of these companies fail to see if if people do not get their refunds they will not be booking any further holidays. 

[nigelc]

2 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

Ok. I'll change it for you a bit. You think Azamara  deserve to fail because your aren't getting your refund?  I know a lot of people who are employed by Azamara and all have been particularly praiseworthy of how they've been looked after by the company. You want them all to lose their employment because you haven't had your refund in a timely manner?  Too bad you think like that in such a narrow way. 

 

I won't respond to you again because we will never agree, but I wanted to put my case here. 

 

Phil 

 

A company such as Azamara stands or falls on the way it treats its customers - you only have to read CC to see how much damage they are doing to themselves - jobs will be lost because of Azamara's management decisions and not me. 

[chromered7]

Azamara failing to repay our money is having a direct affect on us booking another cruise next year.  Not that Azamara cares , this obviously is directed at their appalling management . Azamara’s difficulties have been passed on to their customers and the longer they prevaricate only ensures many former passengers will not sail with them again. There of course will be a group that blindly excuse the many issues that Azamara continue to have but they don’t deserve or respect that support. loyalty does not appear on a balance sheet and don’t be fooled into thinking that the management really only consider you to be a number and nothing else.

[royallondon]

If all cruise lines dealt with their cancellation refunds in chronological order of sailings, would this not only be fair, but also less emotive?

 

 

[Jimmycruiser]

To all the Azamara bashers who will never cruise on AZ again because they have not received their refunds in less than 60 to 90 days. Have you checked any of the other cruise boards to see all the complaints that many have not received full refunds due including luxury lines Seabourn and Crystal? Although some have many have not. I feel sorry for those that can not wait 90 days and need the refund now. Maybe they should not have booked to begin with if now they need the money and did not budgeted for an unexpected event.
 

Since prepayment was already spent, you did not lose any money, only the opportunity to have received some future enjoyment. I believe we will get our refunds in due time so while a I am not happy I certainly can understand and won’t stress over it. AZ clearly has communicated at least to me that it may take up to 90 days to process and get my refund. I also cancelled a Crystal cruise and received the same response. This is a once in a lifetime event. 

[uktog]

What I cannot understand in these days of automation and electronic transactions why does it take up to 90 days to process a refund. 

[sunlover33]

54 minutes ago, Jimmycruiser said:

AZ clearly has communicated at least to me that it may take up to 90 days to process and get my refund. 

So pleased for you that you actually received communication, it’s more than most of us have on here. 

[hubofhockey]

56 minutes ago, Jimmycruiser said:

To all the Azamara bashers who will never cruise on AZ again because they have not received their refunds in less than 60 to 90 days. Have you checked any of the other cruise boards to see all the complaints that many have not received full refunds due including luxury lines Seabourn and Crystal? Although some have many have not. I feel sorry for those that can not wait 90 days and need the refund now. Maybe they should not have booked to begin with if now they need the money and did not budgeted for an unexpected event.
 

Since prepayment was already spent, you did not lose any money, only the opportunity to have received some future enjoyment. I believe we will get our refunds in due time so while a I am not happy I certainly can understand and won’t stress over it. AZ clearly has communicated at least to me that it may take up to 90 days to process and get my refund. I also cancelled a Crystal cruise and received the same response. This is a once in a lifetime event. 

 

Some people feel better blowing off some steam on Cruise Critic,  This pandemic is tough enough on all of us.  Azamara could have been better to me and my situation, but I'll cruise with them again some time if they have the right itinerary at the right time at the right price.  The product at sea is great.  

[Baynanno1]

1 hour ago, uktog said:

What I cannot understand in these days of automation and electronic transactions why does it take up to 90 days to process a refund. 

 

Also difficult to comprehend why refunds are not being dealt with chronologically.

And :

Why some people who cancelled their own cruises within the 90 to 61 day window have already received 50% refund & 50% FCC, while many whose cruises were among the first to be cancelled by Azamara still have nothing at all.

Edited April 22, 2020 by Baynanno1

[marinaro44]

I think all those here who are due refunds should be concerned about getting those refunds, but repeating their concern here 40+ times is unnecessary, accomplishes nothing, and eventually becomes annoying.  We got the message.  Really.

[sunlover33]

7 hours ago, marinaro44 said:

I think all those here who are due refunds should be concerned about getting those refunds, but repeating their concern here 40+ times is unnecessary, accomplishes nothing, and eventually becomes annoying.  We got the message.  Really.

I understand that if you are not waiting for a refund, have no interest in the timescale or the way Azamara are handling this process then you may find it annoying. But in that case why not just ignore this thread? For those people who need refunds back quickly for various reasons, be this financial or a growing sense of unease that this company is going under; this forum gives us the only means of communication to discuss this problem, enabling people to share what little information can be gleaned or any progress made. There is certainly nothing in the way of communication coming back from Azamara, which just serves to justify the concerns. 

[blag]

10 hours ago, Jimmycruiser said:

To all the Azamara bashers who will never cruise on AZ again because they have not received their refunds in less than 60 to 90 days. Have you checked any of the other cruise boards to see all the complaints that many have not received full refunds due including luxury lines Seabourn and Crystal? Although some have many have not. I feel sorry for those that can not wait 90 days and need the refund now. Maybe they should not have booked to begin with if now they need the money and did not budgeted for an unexpected event.
 

Since prepayment was already spent, you did not lose any money, only the opportunity to have received some future enjoyment. I believe we will get our refunds in due time so while a I am not happy I certainly can understand and won’t stress over it. AZ clearly has communicated at least to me that it may take up to 90 days to process and get my refund. I also cancelled a Crystal cruise and received the same response. This is a once in a lifetime event. 

I think you may be missing something here.

I feel that some, if not many of the people who are posting here have a serious concern that they might not get a refund. 

I won't go into the reasons why - if you follow the entire thread, you will probably gain insight. 

[Baynanno1]

1 hour ago, sunlover33 said:

I understand that if you are not waiting for a refund, have no interest in the timescale or the way Azamara are handling this process then you may find it annoying. But in that case why not just ignore this thread?

 

Indeed, nobody is forcing anyone to read this or any other thread.

[uktog]

It’s not a contest but there are many who cannot afford now to risk the sums they are owed. 
Perhaps with more openness on the ABTA/ATOL position and the processing methods many would be happy. But when you see later small claims processed ahead of larger claims people are going to vent. 
It’s got heehaw to do with loyalty other than the obvious your loyal cruisers would be more likely to return to you if they felt your process fair than someone not currently connected with you 

[Roger88]

Just now, uktog said:

It’s not a contest but there are many who cannot afford now to risk the sums they are owed. 
Perhaps with more openness on the ABTA/ATOL position and the processing methods many would be happy. But when you see later small claims processed ahead of larger claims people are going to vent. 
It’s got heehaw to do with loyalty other than the obvious your loyal cruisers would be more likely to return to you if they felt your process fair than someone not currently connected with you 

They are not going to let go money they have just collected. They will take all their time to keep them as long as needed to cover all the potential losess, pay the salaries, cover the ship maintance and etc. Its not like they wont pay you. They definitly will, but it will take a long time.

[nigelc]

13 hours ago, Jimmycruiser said:

 Although some have many have not. I feel sorry for those that can not wait 90 days and need the refund now. Maybe they should not have booked to begin with if now they need the money and did not budgeted for an unexpected event.
 

Since prepayment was already spent, you did not lose any money, only the opportunity to have received some future enjoyment. 

 

If Azamara goes out of business, those who have not received a refund are likely to lose money - it is the customers money, not Azamara's.

 

As you say in Azamara's defence, things have changed greatly since people booked their cruise. As I have said before, certainly in the UK some people have lost their jobs and need their money back now to pay bills. But if the "unexpected event" allows Azamara to push refunds back to 90 days, would it not also be fair to push back final payments by 90 days? But no, Azamara and TAs are quick off the mark requesting final balances, with the threat of loss of deposit if the date is not met. 

[sunlover33]

1 hour ago, Roger88 said:

Its not like they wont pay you. They definitly will, but it will take a long time.

I wish I had you optimism. 

[chromered7]

48 minutes ago, nigelc said:

 

If Azamara goes out of business, those who have not received a refund are likely to lose money - it is the customers money, not Azamara's.

 

As you say in Azamara's defence, things have changed greatly since people booked their cruise. As I have said before, certainly in the UK some people have lost their jobs and need their money back now to pay bills. But if the "unexpected event" allows Azamara to push refunds back to 90 days, would it not also be fair to push back final payments by 90 days? But no, Azamara and TAs are quick off the mark requesting final balances, with the threat of loss of deposit if the date is not met. 

Excellent point , if AZ want you to wait 90 days for your refund then they will have to wait longer for their final payment.  Doubt very much that they would consider waiting longer for a final payment because after all they are only a  poor cruise line.

[Grandma Cruising]

I don’t want to lock this topic as it’s of interest to many members, but it would be helpful if people only posted when they have any new information to add.