Think twice about a chargeback...

[drsel]

I think the OP is an agent herself.
note what she said about 'we' and 'our' commission

 "We work on commission only, and that money comes AFTER you travel.  We have had no income for the past two months and probably won’t for the rest of the year, now we have to give Our commission back AND possibly be on the hook for thousands of dollars we don’t have."

[drsel]

Are Travel agents allowed to post on these boards?

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, drsel said:

Are Travel agents allowed to post on these boards?

Yes. Obviously they cannot advertise, but there are I am sure others on these boards who have identified themselves as agents.

[drsel]

 

 

 

I think the OP is an agent herself.

 "We work on commission only, and that money comes AFTER you travel.  We have had no income for the past two months and probably won’t for the rest of the year, now we have to give Our commission back AND possibly be on the hook for thousands of dollars we don’t have."

I guess this is a plea on behalf of all Cruise agents, requesting you not to ask for your money back from the cruise line, nor file a dispute with your credit card /bank; so that they can retain their commission on all cruises cancelled due to Covid

 

 

 

[voljeep]

2 minutes ago, drsel said:

 

 

 

 

I guess this is a plea on behalf of all Cruise agents, requesting you not to ask for your money back from the cruise line, nor file a dispute with your credit card /bank; so that they can retain their commission on all cruises cancelled due to Covid

 

 

 

more than just commission as it has been posted here that 'some TA's' take their customers charge cards , create the charge to themselves / their TA account , then later send that monies to Princess from the TA account , I.e. not a direct charge from Princess to the cruisers account 

 

then a chargeback would go against the TA's account and the TA would have to deal with Princess to get "their" money back from the cancellation ... at least that's the way I read the posts 

[drsel]

I thought this system was only in place for P&O cruises, where the US travel agent accepts payment in US dollars into his company account and then wires the money to P&O in British pounds

 

 

[drsel]

For all the American Cruise lines like Princess, Royal Caribbean Norwegian and Carnival, where the cruise fare is in US dollars, the payment has to go directly to the cruise line.

If the travel agent is transferring money to his personal account, then you should avoid such a travel agent.

[drsel]

I thought this system was only in place for P&O cruises, where the US travel agent accepts payment in US dollars into his company account and then wires the money to P&O in British pounds
 
 

My giant US travel agent told me that the deposit is directly paid to all the cruise lines, except for P&O, where they have to follow this system because of currency conversion.

[iancal]

I have no doubt that the cruise lines have been purposely dragging their feet on refunds.  If I had a refund due I certainly would have gone the credit card dispute route.

 

I have no doubt that cruise lines are purposely being very slow to cancel cruises that they know will not happen.  Their goal is two fold. To hold on to existing customer monies.  To ensure that customers are committed to cruising vs deciding to spend those dollars on other items.

 

I was advised in late March that I had a credit due from TUI.  TUI is a huge UK company with 18 billion pounds turnover.  They operate  cruises, AI's, packaged vacations, hotels internationally.

 

On or about April 1 I had a note, to my surprise, that we were entitled to  a credit.  Two weeks later we got a note saying that a credit note was being processed.   Two weeks later ,30 days from our original notice, we rec'd the credit note.

 

So, three communications and  a credit not issued within 30 days  of advice.   TUI is probably seven or eight times larger that Princess in terms of revenue and customers.

[roxievegas]

We used a 'big box store" travel agency to book our cruise that was cancelled.  I heard nothing from them and it was impossible to get through to them.  I went directly to the cruise line website to put in a refund request.  A week later I received an email from the travel agency saying that I needed to put in for a refund.  So I went to their website and again requested a refund.  I heard nothing for 90 days from either company.  I disputed the charges with credit card and have my full refund.  I could careless about the travel agency and I don't plan to use them again.  There may be agency's out there that were working with their clients to get their money back, but that wasn't mine.  

 

[drsel]

My giant US travel agent was extremely efficient and fast and acted in my best interest.

 

They knew that any money given to Cruise lines is going to get stuck for 3-4 months.

So, they smartly kept my deposit with them, instead of giving it to the cruise line.

But still my booking was confirmed and clearly seen as confirmed on the website of the cruise line.

 

So when the cruise line sold the ship I was sailing on, the TA refunded my money almost immediately,

after I informed them about the ship being sold and requested for a refund.

 

I received the credit back in my credit card in just 6 days flat! No fees whatsoever.

 

Having said that, I still don't recommend anyone trusting a small time Cruise agent with their money.

Because many small time agents may go out of business very soon.

 

 

 

[d9704011]

58 minutes ago, drsel said:

They knew that any money given to Cruise lines is going to get stuck for 3-4 months.

So, they smartly kept my deposit with them, instead of giving it to the cruise line.

But still my booking was confirmed and clearly seen as confirmed on the website of the cruise line.

Fabulous foresight on the part of your TA.  So, I guess the giant travel agency funded the deposit out of their pocket to protect your interests or was it a case of no money being exchanged to confirm the booking?

[drsel]

It was the latter

[sallylynne]

I am going to agree and disagree with you.
 
First - agree. If you do dispute the charge, your agent will be hurt due to the commission.
 
Second - disagree. Princess agents have routinely worked from home before and taken credit card payments with out any problems. They have even done cancellations and refunds have been issued. If they are smart - they are setup with a VPN which should make the agent feel like they are "in the office". Princess has created this problem. With them being less than direct on the process and not answering our questions, they look guilty of not wanting to issue refunds. Maybe they do and maybe they don't want to issue refunds but their silence in this matter is making people feel uneasy. 
 
I have reluctantly not disputed but honestly, my patience and confidence in Princess no longer exists. Princess has not assured me of anything. I may be making a call to my credit card company on Monday.
 
I feel like I have been patient enough in this process. I was first told 30 days, then 60 days and I am probably close to 70 days now. This is unreasonable when other travel companies I have dealt with have refunded my money quickly (and they also have mass refunds to process).
 
 

I am at 140 days for the remainder of my money and all of my FCC


Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[ontheweb]

6 hours ago, sallylynne said:

I am at 140 days for the remainder of my money and all of my FCC


Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Well before that point, I would have disputed. We got everything back (deposit plus excursion) about a week before 3 months. I was going to consider the dispute option after 3 months.

[drsel]

The travel agent who started this thread appears to have disappeared.

No one seems to agree with her.

Everyone prefers to get their money back