Unusual refund order when status match processed for fully paid cruise

[MisterBill99]

I recently booked my first Virgin cruise through a TA who sold me a MNVV to use. I qualified for the Match and Sea More Program, so I submitted it after booking, but forgot about the 10% discount and paid for the cruise in full before it was processed.  The TA called and got them to process it and give me the discount, which was supposed to be $380. I had paid for the cruise across two credit cards to maximize my rebate, but only saw an $80 credit hit, and it was on the first card that I had used (I had charged $500 to it because I get 5% on the first $500 of the most used category each statement cycle). The TA called VV, and it turns out that the other $300 went to the card she had used to pay for the MNVV. Fortunately, she is going to send it to me, but I found it odd that they refunded to the first forms of payment rather than the last.

 

So basically, they refunded the first $380 paid rather than the last $380. Very confusing, and probably not the best approach, given how many TA's sell MNVV. My TA appears to be honorable, but there probably are situations where the TA refuses to give the sailor the $300.

 

Moral to the story is that I should have held off paying in full until the 10% hit.

Edited October 14, 2023 by MisterBill99

[cantgetin]

VV has had some of the most creative accounting I've ever seen thru the years.  Fortunately they straightened out most of it.....Good that you have an honest TA.

 

[MisterBill99]

6 minutes ago, cantgetin said:

VV has had some of the most creative accounting I've ever seen thru the years.  Fortunately they straightened out most of it.....Good that you have an honest TA.

 

 

It just seems odd that they'd effectively refund the MNVV for an overpayment. Very poor practice. 

[CruisingWalter]

10 hours ago, MisterBill99 said:

It just seems odd that they'd effectively refund the MNVV for an overpayment. Very poor practice. 

 

Not odd or poor practice at all.

 

The payment processing system is fully automated, no human intervention. When a refund is issued, the system automatically starts with the primary form of payment. In this case, it was the TA's credit card that made the first payment for the cruise. That was credited with a refund and then the rest of the refund was credited to the second form of payment.  It's the same process for most every cruise line, primary card refunded first, secondary card refunded second and so on.

 

This is why I prefer to work with TAs who purchase the MNVVs for their clients using the client's own credit cards. You never run into an issue like this because the money is all from one source, not two. 

[MisterBill99]

4 hours ago, CruisingWalter said:

 

Not odd or poor practice at all.

 

The payment processing system is fully automated, no human intervention. When a refund is issued, the system automatically starts with the primary form of payment. In this case, it was the TA's credit card that made the first payment for the cruise. That was credited with a refund and then the rest of the refund was credited to the second form of payment.  It's the same process for most every cruise line, primary card refunded first, secondary card refunded second and so on.

 

This is why I prefer to work with TAs who purchase the MNVVs for their clients using the client's own credit cards. You never run into an issue like this because the money is all from one source, not two. 

 

If they are refunding an overpayment, they should start refunding from the last payment method used.  There is much less of a chance of the card no longer being valid, if doing it that way.

 

As for TA's who buy the MNVV using the customer's credit card, that is a great idea if time allows and there was a plan to do so when the agent was on the ship (I would have preferred it, since I lost out on my credit card rebate for the $300 purchase doing it this way). But many of them buy extras to sell to clients who come to them after the cruise, and VV knows that. My TA was at home when she booked my cruise, which happened to be the night that the September promotion was ending, before prices went up the following day.

 

Ironically, their refunding it to the TA's card instead of mine means that I actually do get the rebate on that initial $300, since the TA will refund me via PayPal, the same way I had paid her.