Holland America Lost & Found

[IBM Sweathog]

Has anyone had a successful return of a lost object on the ship?  We left the Eurodam on Oct 7th and immediately noticed that I left my small computer tablet in our cabin.  While still in Seattle, I contacted Holland's Travel Services, who assured me that they would follow up and they would be back to me within days whether or not they found the tablet.  After not getting any response for a week, I found a form online for lost items and filled it out and submitted it.  Later that same day, I received a response from an organization, "Chargerback.Com" who informed me that my tablet was found and I needed to give them a credit card to have it shipped back to me.  After waiting another week with no shipping/tracking information, I contacted Chargerback who advised me that they only take the money and I need to contact Holland to get a status on the tablet.  I called Holland's Travel Services and they transferred me to Princess Guest Services!  They spent a half hour trying to find a phone number for me to call, but could not come up with one.  I called Holland Travel Services again and they kept me on hold for over an hour and a half, occassionally breaking in to tell me they were still trying to find a phone number to call without success.  Has anyone had an experience trying to recover a lost object and eventually had it returned to them?  Why they did not call me upon finding it in our cabin is frustrating because they have our cell phone and email id's on file.  We stayed overnight in Seattle and could have Ubered back to the pier had they contacted me.

[Seasick Sailor]

I lost one of my diamond earrings onboard Rotterdam last year.

I checked Daily at the lost and found. Nothing sadly. I was told to write to

guestrelations@hollandamerica.com after our cruise and the earring was never found.

The charger back is so hit and miss, bad reviews and outrageous cost to ship items found. Have you tried calling them at (800) 515-4860 

[IBM Sweathog]

40 minutes ago, Seasick Sailor said:

I lost one of my diamond earrings onboard Rotterdam last year.

I checked Daily at the lost and found. Nothing sadly. I was told to write to

guestrelations@hollandamerica.com after our cruise and the earring was never found.

The charger back is so hit and miss, bad reviews and outrageous cost to ship items found. Have you tried calling them at (800) 515-4860 

I wrote to Chargerback and their reply was, "we do not have a direct involvement in recovery and return of your item."  After I submitted the lost & found form, a reply from Chargerback said the item was found.  Thanks for the phone number, I may call them with low expectations of finding out anything of use.

[KAKcruiser]

Is Chargerback a legitimate company?  Is it connected to Holland America?

[richwmn]

6 hours ago, KAKcruiser said:

Is Chargerback a legitimate company?  Is it connected to Holland America?

from a quick search

From Chargerback

"Chargerback provides a state of the art PCI compliant cloud-based technology solution to assist airlines, hotels and all sizes, cruise lines, casinos, amusement parks, and public spaces with the management of the lost and found process from start to finish. Chargerback adds efficiency, consistency and accountability to the entire process for both staff and customers."

Looking at the Google Reviews, they are almost all negative, although the company has an A+ rating with BBB

https://venturebeat.com/business/people-lose-stuff-chargerbacks-uses-technology-to-help-them-find-it/

 

[KAKcruiser]

Thanks.  Something didn't sound right about this but it does look legitimate.

[ORTravelGal]

This didn’t happen on a cruise ship but since the info someone posted above indicates airlines use this company as well, I thought I’d share that a family member of mine left their laptop computer in the seat back pocket of a Delta plane and it took many phone calls but they did finally get the computer back. It took right at six weeks. Hopefully you’ll have a similar (or even faster) experience. 

[oaktreerb]

I lost my hat getting off a tender in Alaska.  I didn’t know I lost it until I got to my stateroom.  I went to guest services the next day and they had it.  I think the crew grabbed it and turned it in.  Cheap hat but a one of a kind item.

 

A small computer tablet should have been forwarded to Guest Services by the stateroom attendant with the stateroom # attached.   Too bad you didn’t know it was missing until you disembarked.   

 

Chargerback sounds like a scam.  There are plenty of companies with a BBB A+ rating that operate like scams.  I dealt with one recently.

 

Sorry that happened to you.  

 

[IBM Sweathog]

1 hour ago, oaktreerb said:

e next day and they had it.  I think the crew grabbed it and turned it in.  Cheap hat but a one of

Holland America uses Chargerback for their lost and found process, so no, it's not a scam.  Chargerback may not be the greatest contact for lost items, but it is all we have.  And, as I noted, had Guest Services contacted me via cell phone after getting my tablet, I would have gone to the pier and picked it back up.  They (Eurodam) had my email and phone numbers, no excuse why they did not contact me after the tablet was found and knowing the cabin number.  Whatever their process is, it moves at the speed of a sloth so likely I won't see the tablet for months, if ever.

[rothbury]

BBB ratings are a scam.  The companies pay a fee to BBB to use their name.  The more you pay to BBB the higher your ratings will be.

[IBM Sweathog]

Much to my surprise, the lost tablet showed up this morning via Fed Ex.  Why it took almost a full month to return my tablet is something I will never understand.  At least it was returned unharmed.

[KAKcruiser]

I can't believe you really got it back.  Great news.

[LeftcoastBC]

I left a clearly marked Cane on the Koningsdam in May.  Used the lost and found like that HAL has.  They reported after several other emails of "Nothing yet" to me that they could not locate it.  Just for fun and something to do recently on a non busy time at the front desk after 4 days at sea from Hawaii I took the matter up with the front desk and they checked the Lost and found right then and there.  I could learn of no other info from the limited english speaking Guest services agent. So who knows what they actually  do at the end of a cruise with found objects.  It was not in BB Kings either where I left it 🙂

[Eeprof]

A little late in commenting but was disembarked for a medical emergency on very short notice. 3 stewards throwing all of our stuff in the suitcases. Well, they missed some items. But they showed up and through this rip-off of a company, wanted to charge me $400 to ship. I really like those $200 running shoes but not enough to pay 2x to get them back. There is no way that using the slow boat back to the US (they basically say they don’t know how long it will take) would cost that much so I don’t think that this company is legit. A+ rating. Ha!

[Sea42]

12 hours ago, Eeprof said:

A little late in commenting but was disembarked for a medical emergency on very short notice. 3 stewards throwing all of our stuff in the suitcases. Well, they missed some items. But they showed up and through this rip-off of a company, wanted to charge me $400 to ship. I really like those $200 running shoes but not enough to pay 2x to get them back. There is no way that using the slow boat back to the US (they basically say they don’t know how long it will take) would cost that much so I don’t think that this company is legit. A+ rating. Ha!

Maybe your travel insurance would cover the shipping costs.

[*Miss G*]

13 hours ago, Eeprof said:

A little late in commenting but was disembarked for a medical emergency on very short notice. 3 stewards throwing all of our stuff in the suitcases. Well, they missed some items. But they showed up and through this rip-off of a company, wanted to charge me $400 to ship. I really like those $200 running shoes but not enough to pay 2x to get them back. There is no way that using the slow boat back to the US (they basically say they don’t know how long it will take) would cost that much so I don’t think that this company is legit. A+ rating. Ha!

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic!  I would put it back on HAL to absorb the cost since they are the ones who took responsibility for packing your belongings.

[Eeprof]

Great ideas! Unfortunately, travel insurance does not cover this. But you made me check. I think I'll reach out to HAL Family Assist since they have been pretty helpful so far.

Thank you!

[Tampa Girl]

15 minutes ago, Eeprof said:

Great ideas! Unfortunately, travel insurance does not cover this. But you made me check. I think I'll reach out to HAL Family Assist since they have been pretty helpful so far.

Thank you!

 

Was  the $400 for everything that was shipped or just the few items that HAL missed?  If for only the latter, I would agree that HAL should pay for it.  But if it was for everything that was shipped, why would you think that you should not have to pay for the mailing?  That was not HAL's fault; and if insurance does not cover it, then, unfortunately, it is one of the risks that we take when we cruise.  

[Eeprof]

The $400 was for basically my running shoes and a couple of t-shirts - the shoes are relatively expensive, new and hard to find and one of the t-shirts was a custom gift from my daughter. We got most of our stuff in the suitcases. The cash value of the stuff is not even $400 but I looked online and I get it that shipping overseas can be expensive but not this expensive for such a small package. If it was all of our stuff, that would be a different story. $400 would be a bargain.

[Petronillus]

On 10/26/2023 at 6:33 AM, richwmn said:

from a quick search

From Chargerback

"Chargerback provides a state of the art PCI compliant cloud-based technology solution to assist airlines, hotels and all sizes, cruise lines, casinos, amusement parks, and public spaces with the management of the lost and found process from start to finish. Chargerback adds efficiency, consistency and accountability to the entire process for both staff and customers."

 

On 10/26/2023 at 10:42 PM, IBM Sweathog said:

Holland America uses Chargerback for their lost and found process, so no, it's not a scam.  

 

Putting these two points together, I say that since it appears clear that ChargerBack (1) does not in manage the lost-and-found process from start to finish and (2) shirks accountability, it is indeed a scam. And shame on HAL for hiding behind it!

[rj59]

I had the same experience after leaving an e-reader on a plane. They send everything to a 3rd-party service, since they just have too much to do on embarkation days, and so an item left behind isn't going to have any priority,  In my case, the cost of shipping it back wasn't worth it, so I just declined. The same thing happened on Westerdam last week, where I left an e-reader in the dining room. I had to make 3 trips to the front desk over 2 days, and each person checked a different place, but it was finally found. You have to figure that stewards find lots of things, and it's all going to be dropped off the ship and left for someone else to deal with, who will take a fee for returning the things for those interested, and then they can resell anything unclaimed.