Round 2: Don't pay for excursions with gift cards

[Eli_6]

Still no refund and tomorrow will be a week since my last convo with them wherein they said I would get the gift card refund in 5-7 days. Getting annoyed because I wanted that $600 to book the "new" excursions and I "check in" in 2 days.  Guess I will give it a couple more days...

[ontheweb]

47 minutes ago, Eli_6 said:

Still no refund and tomorrow will be a week since my last convo with them wherein they said I would get the gift card refund in 5-7 days. Getting annoyed because I wanted that $600 to book the "new" excursions and I "check in" in 2 days.  Guess I will give it a couple more days...

5-7 days often mean 5-7 business days, so weekends don't count.

[13cheermom]

I have been dealing with a partial refund to credit card and cash refund check since February.  The specialist says she has processed the refund twice now, each time stating 5-7 business days for card to be refunded, however still no refund showing up.  We are now going on 100 days and counting.🤣.  Guess their 5-7 days is different than mine. 🙃

[Eli_6]

17 hours ago, ontheweb said:

5-7 days often mean 5-7 business days, so weekends don't count.

I am sure you are correct.  Still no refund today.  Tomorrow will be 7 business days so I guess I will give it until Friday before I call. 

 

Frankly, I may just go ahead and purchase the new excursions with a credit card and then use my gift cards on the cruise to apply to my on board account to pay for incidentals.  

[mz-s]

1 hour ago, 13cheermom said:

I have been dealing with a partial refund to credit card and cash refund check since February.  The specialist says she has processed the refund twice now, each time stating 5-7 business days for card to be refunded, however still no refund showing up.  We are now going on 100 days and counting.🤣.  Guess their 5-7 days is different than mine. 🙃

 

Did you get the credit card directly from Carnival? 🤣

[Eli_6]

I am now at 7 business days and still no gift cards in my inbox. Sigh. Guess I will be calling back yet again.

[wemjam]

2 hours ago, Eli_6 said:

I am now at 7 business days and still no gift cards in my inbox. Sigh. Guess I will be calling back yet again.

Just an FYI.. I only every received an email refund gift card once.  ALL others came Fed Ex.

 

The only reason I got the one emailed was because they had sent gift card refunds back to me Fed Ex and missed the amount by like $5.  They emailed me one for the $5

[ontheweb]

3 hours ago, Eli_6 said:

I am now at 7 business days and still no gift cards in my inbox. Sigh. Guess I will be calling back yet again.

<Sigh>, I was hoping your post would say you just got the gift cards.

[Eli_6]

2 hours ago, wemjam said:

Just an FYI.. I only every received an email refund gift card once.  ALL others came Fed Ex.

 

The only reason I got the one emailed was because they had sent gift card refunds back to me Fed Ex and missed the amount by like $5.  They emailed me one for the $5

Oh geez. If they send them by mail, I probably won't get them before I leave for Europe! 

 

I was thinking they would send the same sort of card (physical card vs virtual card) as what the original card was, but that doesn't mean they will. My original cards were virtual.  I can't now recall (since it has been more than a week) what they said exactly. 

[wemjam]

11 minutes ago, Eli_6 said:

Oh geez. If they send them by mail, I probably won't get them before I leave for Europe! 

 

I was thinking they would send the same sort of card (physical card vs virtual card) as what the original card was, but that doesn't mean they will. My original cards were virtual.  I can't now recall (since it has been more than a week) what they said exactly. 

Ya sorry, mine all came back as hard cards (even though a bunch were virtual cards).

 

Took about a week and a half or so this last time.  

 

 

[Eli_6]

6 minutes ago, wemjam said:

Ya sorry, mine all came back as hard cards (even though a bunch were virtual cards).

 

Took about a week and a half or so this last time.  

 

 

Sigh. I am afraid you may be on to something. Might also explain why they told me 5-7 days.  Why would it otherwise take 5-7 days to send a virtual gift card?  

 

If they send them by mail, no telling when I will get them.  

[Eli_6]

I waited until the end of the day today to call so it would be seven FULL business days since they told me I would receive the cards within that.  I pushed the number for the fun shops.  Explained the situation to the woman on the line.  She says, "Let me transfer you." and then puts me on hold. I sat on hold for over THIRTY FREAKING MINUTES and then the call just hung up on me.  B.S.  So sick of this. I emailed my TA because this is 600 and about to leave in a week. I want that money for the cruise.  (I already paid for the new excursion on a credit card but I figure I can use that for tips and incidentals on the cruise and apply it to my on board account.)  Ridiculous.  I am starting to get really mad now.  

[wemjam]

So sorry this is happening to you.... but unfortunately sometimes these things take some time.  Cancelling this close to your cruise and expecting that it would absolutely be there before you left was hopeful at best.

 

I'm happy to have it back in 2 or 3 weeks.  It was taking 2-3 months for a while!

[Eli_6]

15 hours ago, wemjam said:

So sorry this is happening to you.... but unfortunately sometimes these things take some time.  Cancelling this close to your cruise and expecting that it would absolutely be there before you left was hopeful at best.

 

I'm happy to have it back in 2 or 3 weeks.  It was taking 2-3 months for a while!

Actually, the law is that refunds have to be processed within 30 days. (Yes, I am a lawyer, but not your lawyer. 😉 ) And I canceled more than 30 days before the excursion.  The reason I "waited" this close to the cruise was because the other excursion didn't come out until this close to the cruise. I actually waited all the way from September until March for the Mt St. Michel excursion to come out and when it didn't finally booked the Paris excursion thinking that Carnival must simply not be offering that excursion this year...then the MSM came out.   So it was not an issue of just me farting around and not taking care of something for months on end like you are depicting. 

 

As an aside, last time I had this exact same issue, I DID wait more than a 30 days to call in order to give them time to process the return.  And I still NEVER got the gift card...and I would NEVER have gotten the gift card had I not stayed on them and called over and over again. And spent hours on the phone. And emailed.  I am convinced this is the exact same situation.  And, no, it is not okay.  A person should not have to call 10+ times and spend HOURS on the phone just to get a refund.  That isn't reasonable. If you think that is reasonable, you clearly have a lot more time to waste than I do.

 

I now have both my TA and also a friend of hers at Carnival working on this as well after spending two hours on this last night and another hour on it this morning. 

 

The Carnival cheerleaders can make all the excuses that they want, but it should not be this much trouble to get a refund for a canceled excursion...especially not when all  you want to do is simply book another excursion!   

Edited May 12, 2023 by Eli_6

[wemjam]

12 minutes ago, Eli_6 said:

Actually, the law is that refunds have to be processed within 30 days. (Yes, I am a lawyer, but not your lawyer. 😉 ) And I canceled more than 30 days before the excursion.  The reason I "waited" this close to the cruise was because the other excursion didn't come out until this close to the cruise. I actually waited all the way from September until March for the Mt St. Michel excursion to come out and when it didn't finally booked the Paris excursion thinking that Carnival must simply not be offering that excursion this year...then the MSM came out.   So it was not an issue of just me farting around and not taking care of something for months on end like you are depicting. 

 

As an aside, last time I had this exact same issue, I DID wait more than a 30 days to call in order to give them time to process the return.  And I still NEVER got the gift card...and I would NEVER have gotten the gift card had I not stayed on them and called over and over again. And spent hours on the phone. And emailed.  I am convinced this is the exact same situation.  And, no, it is not okay.  A person should not have to call 10+ times and spend HOURS on the phone just to get a refund.  That isn't reasonable. If you think that is reasonable, you clearly have a lot more time to waste than I do.

 

I now have both my TA and also a friend of hers at Carnival working on this as well after spending two hours on this last night and another hour on it this morning. 

 

The Carnival cheerleaders can make all the excuses that they want, but it should not be this much trouble to get a refund for a canceled excursion...especially not when all  you want to do is simply book another excursion!   

I think you mistook what I said in my quote as that was a bit harsh.

 

I read all your posts, and I understand why you cancelled when you did.  My comment was not a criticism, just the fact.

 

You cancelled close to your cruising date (reason is your own business), because you were in such a narrow window being that close and expecting without fail that it would be back in time is overly hopeful.  That was my only point.

 

I would never have waited 30 days the first time.  If I had not had my refund in two weeks I would have been calling to inquire.  But I also think the fact that you don't have it in a week and a half and seem very upset by this is a bit knee jerk (facilitated I am sure because of your bad experience already and really wanting to have those funds to take with you).

 

 

[wemjam]

PS:  I have been in the same boat and cancelled something close to cruising for whatever reason.  When I do it though I know I likely may not have the funds by the time I sail, and just expect to use it next time

 

If it shows up, bonus - if not I am not stressing.  Not cheerleading, quite the opposite.  I have resigned myself to the fact that they are not always the most efficient organization so I lead with that expectation.

[wemjam]

OK, I had to go look it up because you said it.  For my own knowledge so I can use it as ammo if I am fighting with someone over a refund.  I know you are a lawyer, but all the legal reference I see say that states may have laws on refund time periods; however, there are no federal laws that stand on this issue.

 

So, in your state maybe it is 30 days?  Carnival flies flags from other countries to avoid a lot of the red tape, and I will bet you that would apply too.

[mz-s]

I can cancel something from pretty much any company on God's green earth and get a refund in 3-5 business days, no sweat.

 

But somehow Carnival just never processes refunds, or it takes 5 calls and a Sheriff's order, and it's the customer's fault. Incredible!

[wemjam]

1 minute ago, mz-s said:

I can cancel something from pretty much any company on God's green earth and get a refund in 3-5 business days, no sweat.

 

But somehow Carnival just never processes refunds, or it takes 5 calls and a Sheriff's order, and it's the customer's fault. Incredible!

Agreed, other than the fact that I don't think anyone has said it was the customer's fault.  It's about expectation and reality.  Reality is Carnival is not adept at processing refunds.  They are slow, make mistakes, and sometimes miss it all together.  So if you lead with that expectation, it makes for a lot less stress on yourself.

 

NOT saying I support the fact that they suck at it, but that is just the fact of life we have to deal with if we choose to do business with them.  There should be no surprise in this matter.  

[mz-s]

Speaking for myself, I rarely fool with gift cards unless I am given one as a gift obviously. I pay for everything with my credit card. And I have no qualms about filing chargebacks if need be to get my money. When Visa calls, companies pay attention. They have the power I don't have when it comes to getting companies to follow the law.

[Eli_6]

@wemjam  If a company does substantial business in a state, they are subject to the consumer laws of that state.  Flagging their ships in a different country or even being registered in a different country doesn't absolve them of that.

Frankly, with interest rates going the way they are, I think that more and more companies are going to be doing everything they can to delay payments or refunds. If you take 30 or 90 or 180 days to issue payments or a refund, your company gets to earn interest on that money for that length of time.  When you are talking about large companies, that is cumulatively a lot of money in interest for them spread out over all of their thousands (or tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands or millions) of customers.  That's why state legislatures pass various prompt pay acts, deceptive trade practice laws, etc.  

 

Is that what is going on with Carnival here?  Honestly, I don't think so. From what I am hearing from multiple different sources both on here and directly from Carnival is that it sounds like it is more an issue of incompetence/IT problems rather than purposefully holding on to refunds/payments.  But you better believe that many companies do make it a business practice to take the absolutely longest they can legally take to pay a claim or issue a refund.  Insurance companies, in particular, are notorious for this...along with denying legitimate claims knowing that most people don't have the knowledge, time, energy, or money to sue them over their wrongful denial.   

Edited May 12, 2023 by Eli_6

[Eli_6]

36 minutes ago, mz-s said:

Speaking for myself, I rarely fool with gift cards unless I am given one as a gift obviously. I pay for everything with my credit card. And I have no qualms about filing chargebacks if need be to get my money. When Visa calls, companies pay attention. They have the power I don't have when it comes to getting companies to follow the law.

I am more and more getting to that point as well because there is simply so little recourse on these gift cards that I am seriously starting to question if it is worth the ten percent it saves. It sucks because on a 7k cruise, that ten percent = $700.

 

Plus, I have even thought about the fact that I think a lot of the "benefits" I get for booking travel on some of my credit cards (like insurance) may not apply if I simply use the credit card to buy a gift card. I haven't ever looked into the issue, but I suspect that may be the case.    

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, wemjam said:

Agreed, other than the fact that I don't think anyone has said it was the customer's fault.  It's about expectation and reality.  Reality is Carnival is not adept at processing refunds.  They are slow, make mistakes, and sometimes miss it all together.  So if you lead with that expectation, it makes for a lot less stress on yourself.

 

NOT saying I support the fact that they suck at it, but that is just the fact of life we have to deal with if we choose to do business with them.  There should be no surprise in this matter.  

Somehow "they suck at it" is not a very good excuse. They should get their act together!

[ontheweb]

59 minutes ago, mz-s said:

Speaking for myself, I rarely fool with gift cards unless I am given one as a gift obviously. I pay for everything with my credit card. And I have no qualms about filing chargebacks if need be to get my money. When Visa calls, companies pay attention. They have the power I don't have when it comes to getting companies to follow the law.

That also works with American Express. It gets their attention.

[Eli_6]

OMG.  Well now this is the least of my concerns. I just read where there is a strike at Heathrow the day we are flying into London and departing for Barcelona at Heathrow. FFS.  Every.stinkin.time. I go to Europe, there is some sort of issue.  Last year it was the issue in Dover and the trains shut downs due to heat.  Now there is a strike at the airport. I think I am Europe cursed. I NEVER have ANY of these problems on US cruises.