Royal cancelled my internet & photo packages for May 7, 2023 cruise

[futuredays]

I paid for a photo package and Voom surf + stream package back in February 2023 (not a great deal, just typical pricing).  Now with our cruise in less than 2 weeks they've cancelled both of those (refunded them) but both are still offered with a heavy increase in prices.  Is there someone I can contact to follow up on why this happened?  I don't think  I should be paying the increased price if both items are still available.

[Ourusualbeach]

40 minutes ago, futuredays said:

I paid for a photo package and Voom surf + stream package back in February 2023 (not a great deal, just typical pricing).  Now with our cruise in less than 2 weeks they've cancelled both of those (refunded them) but both are still offered with a heavy increase in prices.  Is there someone I can contact to follow up on why this happened?  I don't think  I should be paying the increased price if both items are still available.

Call C&A and see if they can help.  800.526.9723

[futuredays]

Just now, Ourusualbeach said:

Call C&A and see if they can help.  800.526.9723

thanks

[Tntt]

Just curious, why did they cancel it? It would seem if it was thier fault they should not penalize you for it.

[futuredays]

11 hours ago, Tntt said:

Just curious, why did they cancel it? It would seem if it was thier fault they should not penalize you for it.

I called & they said that I had disputed the credit card charge (which I definitely did not do and my credit card has more than enough credit limit) but could not provide me with any information as to when it had been disputed and why it took 2 1/2 months for them to cancel it after the charge didn't go through.  They weren't willing to reinstate it for the price I originally paid and were basically no help.  They told me to contact my credit card (but then agreed with me when I said that wouldn't do any good now anyways since they won't do anything about the price increase).

 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

1 minute ago, futuredays said:

They weren't willing to reinstate it for the price I originally paid and were basically no help.  They told me to contact my credit card (but then agreed with me when I said that wouldn't do any good now anyways since they won't do anything about the price increase).

 

call a different department. Also, reach out through FB messenger.

[futuredays]

Just now, Itchy&Scratchy said:

call a different department. Also, reach out through FB messenger.

I will try that.  Thank you

[Pratique]

Disputed or declined? If the charge never posted to your credit card it is likely the bank declined the charge. Sometimes they do that for no apparent reason, maybe it was flagged as suspicious. My bank is good at catching fraudulent charges but every once in a while they decline a valid charge. If it was disputed then the bank should have a record of the dispute and resolution.

[Sigyn]

I would ask to speak to a supervisor. If they can't resolve it, message them through Twitter. I've had great luck that way. 

[futuredays]

5 hours ago, Pratique said:

Disputed or declined? If the charge never posted to your credit card it is likely the bank declined the charge. Sometimes they do that for no apparent reason, maybe it was flagged as suspicious. My bank is good at catching fraudulent charges but every once in a while they decline a valid charge. If it was disputed then the bank should have a record of the dispute and resolution.

They said it was disputed.  I guess I'll contact my credit card company to find out what happened.  I just don't track my credit card charges close enough to notice that it didn't get posted & then 2 1/2 months later Royal cancelled the purchase.  If Royal would have reached out (or my credit card company) then I would have paid it on another card or whatever to make sure it went through.  Anyways, I'm just frustrated with the process as I was unaware anything was wrong until I got the email that Royal had cancelled my purchase.

[futuredays]

This is their latest response:

 

"Thank you for your patience. Accounting advised that the initial payment for the packages didn’t clear. As such, the packages were cancelled, and the system marked them as a claim dispute. For that I apologize for stating it was a dispute. However, the promotional pricing time frame when you initially purchased the package, has passed. We cannot honor past pricing. We truly regret any disappointment or inconvenience this may cause."

 

I don't really know what it would even mean that the initial payment didn't clear when I most certainly had enough credit limit (we have a $50K limit on that card and always over pay it so there's more than enough credit limit).  Anyways, I also noted that they posted a charge on my credit card yesterday for the amount of the photo package that they said they were cancelling.  So I was hopeful they were reinstating it but today I got the email above.  I tried Facebook and they won't talk to me because they said this person that is emailing me will handle it.  I tried calling C&A and they won't speak to me about it either.

[Biker19]

40 minutes ago, futuredays said:

I don't really know what it would even mean that the initial payment didn't clear when I most certainly had enough credit limit 

It should be quite obvious if you were charged or not when you first bought the package - if you were never charged, not sure there's much you can do about it as you never bought it (regardless of why it didn't go through). If you were charged and then got a refund, that's different and in some cases the remedy is to ask for OBC for the diff between what you originally paid and the current price (and buy it at the current price) - RCI has allowed that in some cases. It's still not obvious what happened here.

[SG65CB]

My experience is that they contacted me when I owed money for a cruise planner purchase that was not fully paid. 

 

I purchased an internet package using OBC. Later some of the OBC mysteriously disappeared out of my account which caused the internet package to not be fully paid. They sent me an email warning me that I had purchases that were not paid for and I needed to pay or I would lose them. My cruise planner showed a balance due.

 

It seems like they would have sent you a similar email warning before cancelling the purchase. 

 

[futuredays]

1 hour ago, Biker19 said:

It should be quite obvious if you were charged or not when you first bought the package - if you were never charged, not sure there's much you can do about it as you never bought it (regardless of why it didn't go through). If you were charged and then got a refund, that's different and in some cases the remedy is to ask for OBC for the diff between what you originally paid and the current price (and buy it at the current price) - RCI has allowed that in some cases. It's still not obvious what happened here.

I went back & looked at my credit card statements & they actually hadn't put the charge through, but I had no idea and no indication from Royal that I still owed for it.  I just found out when they sent me an email saying my purchase had been cancelled and that I'd be getting a refund.  I guess I should have realized that I hadn't been charged but I really don't look at my credit card charges and so had no idea there was an issue.  If I had known I would have used another card or figured out why the other card didn't work.  Anyways, I think they should allow me to pay for my original order prior to cancelling it 2 1/2 months later when they never contacted me about it.  I just won't purchase it now at the new price so it's really just lost revenue for them and an annoyed customer.

[Biker19]

7 hours ago, futuredays said:

Anyways, I think they should allow me to pay for my original order prior to cancelling it 2 1/2 months later

You never bought it and they didn't cancel it - the message you got was some IT follow up thing that means nothing.

[futuredays]

3 hours ago, Biker19 said:

You never bought it and they didn't cancel it - the message you got was some IT follow up thing that means nothing.

I understand that my payment didn't go through, but I did order it & nobody reached out to advise that they didn't process the payment.  It was in my cruise planner as an order that was fully processed for 2 1/2 months.  It was their IT glitch that messed up my order and when their IT glitch was finally discovered it sent me an email.  They should give me an opportunity to just pay for my order.

[futuredays]

1 minute ago, futuredays said:

I understand that my payment didn't go through, but I did order it & nobody reached out to advise that they didn't process the payment.  It was in my cruise planner as an order that was fully processed for 2 1/2 months.  It was their IT glitch that messed up my order and when their IT glitch was finally discovered it sent me an email.  They should give me an opportunity to just pay for my order.

Now, I see on my credit card that they just charged it on 4/27/23 for the photo package at the price I had previously paid, and then on the same day processed a refund for that same amount.  They also refunded the internet package that the original payment was never processed for.  It seems to me that they have no clue what's going on over there.  Oh & yes, I will advise them that they refunded me for something they never charged me for in the first place.

[Pratique]

38 minutes ago, futuredays said:

It seems to me that they have no clue what's going on over there.

This.

[cruiselvr04]

There were a lot of problems like this last Black Friday.  Lots of glitches reported.  Thankfully all ours seem to stick.  
 

A NCL cruiser reported recently that their cruise was cancelled for non payment.  Come to find out it was item in their cart, not purchased, that did it.  NCL cancelled their cruise for $100 plus dollars in their cart and kept their other 4K.   They did not get to go.  NCL didn’t fix it.  All secondhand information.

 

Be careful to check your purchases go through, do not leave anything in your cart.  

[futuredays]

3 hours ago, cruiselvr04 said:

There were a lot of problems like this last Black Friday.  Lots of glitches reported.  Thankfully all ours seem to stick.  
 

A NCL cruiser reported recently that their cruise was cancelled for non payment.  Come to find out it was item in their cart, not purchased, that did it.  NCL cancelled their cruise for $100 plus dollars in their cart and kept their other 4K.   They did not get to go.  NCL didn’t fix it.  All secondhand information.

 

Be careful to check your purchases go through, do not leave anything in your cart.  

Yeah, their IT systems seem to be having issues for sure.  

[shellunderwater]

Not specifically for the OP....

 

When people ask the question "do I need a TA or can I book it by myself?"  This is one of the reasons a TA can be valuable.

Edited April 29, 2023 by shellunderwater

[ladysail2]

8 hours ago, futuredays said:

Yeah, their IT systems seem to be having issues for sure.  

Also, when I purchase something from the planner, I always get an email confirming the purchase.  I don’t always, but sometimes I check the cc just to make sure the purchase shows up.  I will now check everytime.  Charges show up on the cc in a nanosecond it seems to me.  😁

[futuredays]

13 hours ago, ladysail2 said:

Also, when I purchase something from the planner, I always get an email confirming the purchase.  I don’t always, but sometimes I check the cc just to make sure the purchase shows up.  I will now check everytime.  Charges show up on the cc in a nanosecond it seems to me.  😁

Yeah, the thing is it was posted on my cruise planner from the date of purchase until it showed "refunded" on the day they sent me the email a few days ago.  I had no reason to suspect that anything had gone wrong with my order.  I now know I should also double check my CC.

[ladysail2]

2 hours ago, futuredays said:

Yeah, the thing is it was posted on my cruise planner from the date of purchase until it showed "refunded" on the day they sent me the email a few days ago.  I had no reason to suspect that anything had gone wrong with my order.  I now know I should also double check my CC.

It’s a wise idea. I reserved a hotel room in Copenhagen a few years ago with a ‘pay now’ plan that discounted the price.  3-4 months later I show up at the hotel….sure, they have a room for me but I owe them….they never did take payment off my card. I verified it, but wasn’t planning on that $400-$500 expenditure at that time. Such is a lesson in the details.  Now I verify large purchases, and small ones should be checked too.

[futuredays]

Royal has now gotten back to me & said it was an issue with the credit card processing company and that they never even tried to process my payment.  Royal had it marked as paid as they didn't know behind the scenes that the credit card processing company did not even request payment.  So, now they're offering me $150 onboard credit IF I buy those same items again.  However, since my cruise is now only 5 days away that credit does not even cover the difference.  It seems that it's the best they're going to offer so I guess I'll just be out of pocket some $$. Lesson learned it to check your credit card I guess.