Are we the only one who hasn't received refund?

[MoniMommy]

8 hours ago, LINDAE3213 said:

as an update to my post yesterday.    

1) got generic email back from executive order saying sorry -- we are busy but refund is coming.  asked more questions for details and info in writing but got nothing back.

 

2) called 800 # service this morning and asked agent to tell me what he sees on each reservation - he explained that April 6th date on my cxld Freedom cruise is just the date my refund was given to Accounting Dept as approved to be refunded...... this has nothing to do with processing my credit back to my credit card.  And my Empress deposit refund ( cxld 3/24)  was showing April 13th as approved to be refunded to Accounting dept

 

3) called Capital One and asked a lot of questions -- he explained that refunds are posted within 24 hours so there is no way Royal processed anything to them on April 6th as it would have shown within a day.  ( see pt 2 above - the refund was not processed yet to the credit card company just processed internally within Royal )  Then I spoke with disputes and they explained it is not worth doing as it takes them 90 days to seek resolution back from Royal before they finalize things -- yes they would credit me immediately but it creates more chaos as already discussed on this board.

 

4) I asked my TA to get me something in writing with my reservation #'s, amounts and dates of return for my 4 reservation #'s  - 2 Freedom March 2020 and 2 Empress May 2021 and she said they won't put anything in writing but they assured her they would return my Empress deposit in another week or so and my Freedom money by May.

 

I think they would have been better off telling everyone 90 days and surprising us with 60 days on the refunds.

It is better to over deliver then over promise.

 

For now the entire way they are handling it has disgusted me.   After 23 cruises, my time with RCCL is over.

 

 I just emailed my TA again to please cancel my Oasis refundable deposit for Oct 2020.  It is only $400 for 3 cabins and it will probably take til July to get that money back but mentally I am done. 

 

 I just can't do business with a company that treats me poorly.  I need honest communication even if it is bad news.. not sorry we can tell you stuff on the phone but we won't put it in writing. .....to me that is shady.

 

Ironically enough -- my plumber over charged me last week -- I emailed them on Sat - they checked the bill, confirmed the overpayment (sales tax calculation error )  and said they would process a refund -- it came yesterday.. 3 business days

 

 

I called today. I am waiting on my refund for the deposit on a September cruise that I canceled. She said it was posted on April 11 and it's up to the bank to credit my account. That set didn't sound right but I wanted to believe her. I paid with a Capital One Credit Card. So based on this post she is obviously lying.  They are using my money as an interest free loan. If they wanted to pay me intrest, I would gladly let them keep it. 

[rolloman]

Interesting...when I called they said we processed it but we have not given the bank the money so they can return to you. I was like..when do you expect to give me my money since it is well past your deadline? She said I can't answer that. Pathetic.....Hey Royal....how about creating a new perk for D+ and above.....priority refund? 

[detilliondl]

I called Royal today and told them I had not received our port fees and taxes back for two sailings (Symphony March 14 which Royal cancelled and Anthem May 29 which I cancelled; also 2 cabins for each sailing).  Since thirty days had passed I should have received the credit back to our credit cards.  She said the first sailing was reprocessed due to an error and would require an addition 30 business days (not calendar days) and the second sailing had been credited back to our credit card on April 10th.  I had already called our bank to see if there were any pending credits and they said no.  They also indicated they post all credits within 24 hrs. of receiving them.  I called Royal back and they tried to blame our bank.  Several times the representative said it would be up to my bank to find the credit.  So what now?  After 20 plus cruises, I am disappointed in Royal Caribbean to say the least.  I plan on waiting till next week and see if the credit shows up on our card.  If not, I will be calling them back.  

[ARandomTraveler]

23 minutes ago, rolloman said:

Interesting...when I called they said we processed it but we have not given the bank the money so they can return to you. I was like..when do you expect to give me my money since it is well past your deadline? She said I can't answer that. Pathetic.....Hey Royal....how about creating a new perk for D+ and above.....priority refund? 

That sounds similar to what I was told. My refund was “processed” but not sent back yet. 

[Coralc]

We have until August to decide about final payment....but I don't think we want to give them anymore money. We may just take the loss on the deposit and vouchers for the airfare if the flights aren't cancelled or changed. The travel insurance isn't going to help if they are stalling until after final payment to cancel cruises. 

[JosieCat-MN]

I am only looking to get back my deposit and upgrade cost - about $242, so not nearly a much as many of you.  I called again on Tuesday, because I cancelled on 3/19, and still hadn't seen it.

 

I was told that it was processed on Saturday (4/11) so it would be another 2 weeks probably until I will see it.

 

I guess I don't get the entire credit/refund process, and this isn't just on cruises, but on everything.  With the technology today, and the fact that they can get money out of your account literally within seconds, why are we supposed to tolerate that it takes 7-10 days (or in this case, months) to get that money back.  Why is that?  I've never understood that.

 

Edited April 17, 2020 by JosieCat-MN

[rolloman]

In reality they are keeping as much money on their books as they can. One reason is it helps them borrow and another similar reason is they need to report 1st quarter earnings to shareholders and the bigger the number of cash on hand creates the illusion they are better off financially than they actually are. Meanwhile this practice they are conducting of keeping money which does not belong to them is nothing short of theft. 

[Milwaukee Eight]

9 hours ago, rolloman said:

Hey Royal....how about creating a new perk for D+ and above.....priority refund? 

And it shows up again.....  I’m D+ so we should have priority over everyone else for a refund.  You realize how that sounds when so many haven’t received their refund. You mentioned pathetic. I actually agree with you. 
 

In my opinion 

[onthewater51]

We are in a similar place as others here.  We called on 3/14 and cancelled our 4/19 trip.  
 

We called RCCL this morning and told our taxes and fees were refunded on 4/6 & 4/11.   Nothing has shown up on our credit card so we called the card company.

 

 They are only taking urgent calls due to Covid, so we  had to ask our question via a secure email.  The response will be at least one week

 

As for the FCC, RCCL said we will receive an email for that by 4/30

 

One other thing if anyone can clarify this,...

 

when we cancelled we were told we had until  the end of 2021 to book and must sail by  December 2022.  This rep said that was incorrect and we had to sail by April 2022, which   would be years from the original sail date 

 

Thanks

Bob

[BP99]

3 hours ago, rolloman said:

In reality they are keeping as much money on their books as they can. One reason is it helps them borrow and another similar reason is they need to report 1st quarter earnings to shareholders and the bigger the number of cash on hand creates the illusion they are better off financially than they actually are. Meanwhile this practice they are conducting of keeping money which does not belong to them is nothing short of theft. 

TOTALLY agree with you! Well stated!

[dodgestang]

13 hours ago, Balsam12 said:

If you have another cruise already booked with deposit paid,

 

 

This is sound logic (at least to me) the only issue I am seeing is.....I have a final payment due in 19 days......and they still haven't issued my FCC for a sailing they cancelled when they announced they would not be sailing until May 11......so roughly 30 days ago now I suppose.

[Midwestgal]

Maybe a change.org would get them moving? Might be something to think about that or let’s flood social media with complaints 

[BP99]

12 hours ago, detilliondl said:

I called Royal today and told them I had not received our port fees and taxes back for two sailings (Symphony March 14 which Royal cancelled and Anthem May 29 which I cancelled; also 2 cabins for each sailing).  Since thirty days had passed I should have received the credit back to our credit cards.  She said the first sailing was reprocessed due to an error and would require an addition 30 business days (not calendar days) and the second sailing had been credited back to our credit card on April 10th.  I had already called our bank to see if there were any pending credits and they said no.  They also indicated they post all credits within 24 hrs. of receiving them.  I called Royal back and they tried to blame our bank.  Several times the representative said it would be up to my bank to find the credit.  So what now?  After 20 plus cruises, I am disappointed in Royal Caribbean to say the least.  I plan on waiting till next week and see if the credit shows up on our card.  If not, I will be calling them back.  

"require an addition 30 business days (not calendar days)"

When they bill you it's 24/7. Why should it be business days?? now!

Their online refund for the 100% cash refund will be given in 30 days (or now 45 days with the recent online cancel form) and DOES NOT say business  days. 

I've recently seen a post (RCL or Celebrity-which is owned by RCL, not sure) that

their computers couldn't handle the amount of refunds and they decided

to do refunds only once a week. I have no further info on this and if it's FAKE 

or not. However, they have MANY other excuses to NOT give you a refund.

Very creative!!

[MoniMommy]

I am going to give it another week and then do a credit card dispute. If Royal were saying they will issue a refund in X  days, I would wait since a credit card dispute takes 90 days. But royal is telling me that they issued the refund to Capital One (she even told me the last 4 digits of card number) and that the bank is holding it. If that is true, which I doubt, I don't see any alternatives. According to Royal its not a matter of waiting for it to be refunded. Their position is that it has been refunded. So I need Capital One to investigate where it went.

 

If cruising becomes safer again, and Royal is still in business, I would like to use my $900 FCC. I know that cruise lines sometimes ban those who so credit card disputes. But I'll have to take that chance. I also feel if they go bankrupt, it's a good idea to dispute sooner rather than later.

[steveru621]

On 4/15/2020 at 4:16 PM, mafig said:

 

What about those whose credit card has a limit of 60, or 100 days to file a dispute?

I don't think they should be concerned about creating more work for RCCL.

 

 

 

A non-delivery dispute clock starts the day of the cruise.  Payment dates will not influence your dispute.

 

That said you do have a point for the future.

[steveru621]

1 hour ago, MoniMommy said:

I am going to give it another week and then do a credit card dispute. If Royal were saying they will issue a refund in X  days, I would wait since a credit card dispute takes 90 days. But royal is telling me that they issued the refund to Capital One (she even told me the last 4 digits of card number) and that the bank is holding it. If that is true, which I doubt, I don't see any alternatives. According to Royal its not a matter of waiting for it to be refunded. Their position is that it has been refunded. So I need Capital One to investigate where it went.

 

If cruising becomes safer again, and Royal is still in business, I would like to use my $900 FCC. I know that cruise lines sometimes ban those who so credit card disputes. But I'll have to take that chance. I also feel if they go bankrupt, it's a good idea to dispute sooner rather than later.

 

 

Banks holding on to credits are a myth perpetuated by merchants.  Every posting is electronic and not reviewed by a bank employee.  I can't imagine how many employees a bank would need to review every credit submitted electronically. A submitted credit should post within one business day.

 

[Iamcruzin]

15 hours ago, rolloman said:

Interesting...when I called they said we processed it but we have not given the bank the money so they can return to you. I was like..when do you expect to give me my money since it is well past your deadline? She said I can't answer that. Pathetic.....Hey Royal....how about creating a new perk for D+ and above.....priority refund? 

Sadly they have you roped in with on board benefits.  They know you will be back so they can afford to treat you poorly.  If anything they will give the first time cruiser priority thinking they don't want to discourage them from future bookings by not returning their money.  With that said, they can't seem to figure out how much of a refund or FCC people should get let alone their loyalty status.

Edited April 17, 2020 by Iamcruzin

[20165]

26 minutes ago, steveru621 said:

 

A non-delivery dispute clock starts the day of the cruise.  Payment dates will not influence your dispute.

 

That said you do have a point for the future.

Ah, thats good to know. I was also worried about that.  our payment was more than 90 days ago, but our sail date wasn't until June.  Thanks

Edited April 17, 2020 by 20165

[KelSny1011]

15 hours ago, rolloman said:

Hey Royal....how about creating a new perk for D+ and above.....priority refund? 

How about they just process refunds in the order they were received.  

[coaster]

2 minutes ago, KelSny1011 said:

How about they just process refunds in the order they were received.  

 

If the whole point of the delays is to save cash, I would think the smaller refunds would be the priority.

[MoniMommy]

29 minutes ago, steveru621 said:

 

 

Banks holding on to credits are a myth perpetuated by merchants.  Every posting is electronic and not reviewed by a bank employee.  I can't imagine how many employees a bank would need to review every credit submitted electronically. A submitted credit should post within one business day.

 

So it kind of seems like they have no intention of giving the refund. I was told they posted it to the bank on April 11th and that I need to contact the bank. Does this mean that they have no intention of giving refunds but rather just intend to string customers along until they file for bankruptcy protection?

[Garyjames220]

16 minutes ago, MoniMommy said:

So it kind of seems like they have no intention of giving the refund. I was told they posted it to the bank on April 11th and that I need to contact the bank. Does this mean that they have no intention of giving refunds but rather just intend to string customers along until they file for bankruptcy protection?

 

But why have the issued some refunds to customers if they were thinking in going bankrupt 

Edited April 17, 2020 by Garyjames220

[ECCruise]

Others have touched on this, but anyone who knows anything about how credit card processing will tell you:

If they say it has been turned over to the credit card company and you don't see it in 24 hours, they are lying.  When they close their batch each night (which they definitely would do since that is how they get the credit card money that is coming IN) and your refund has been processed, you get it the next day.  No ifs, ands or buts.

They are sitting on your dough, plain and simple.

I've got the problem with both Azamara and Celebrity playing this game.

[Jonbiloh]

Spent two hours on the phone today hoping to get some insight into the new ETA on processing refunds (I am past 30 days on full payments for a cruise canceled by RCL 32 days ago). 

 

The first agent hung up on me, despite my polite request for more information, saying that I just have to be patient.

 

The second agent forwarded me to a supervisor who said refunds will take an additional 45 days (calendar not business). 

 

Getting very difficult to not call BOA and dispute the transactions... I did that three days ago for $2000 worth of hotel reservations associated with my May 3rd cruise and within 24 hours I had the credits. This, after trying for weeks to reach someone at Orbitz (they are only taking calls from customers with travel within 72 hours and the system auto disconnects you). 

[dodgestang]

6 minutes ago, Jonbiloh said:

Getting very difficult to not call BOA and dispute the transactions...

 

I think A LOT of people are calling CC to disputes charges....I called my CC just because I wanted to check to see if any refunds had been processed and the phone tree told me several times about the unusually high call volume 😉