Silhouette charged my Canadian Credit card in error

[drakes2]

Just got off a 10 night on Thursday November 30th from the Silhouette. Settled my account late Wednesday night in cash as I knew the FX rate is high at the moment plus I had a ton of OBC to use.  Credit card hold dropped off yesterday but today I was amazed to see a charge then a reversal of the charge at a lower exchange rate.  I called my bank and they said I would have to dispute the difference which has already been initiated.  Not talking a lot of money here but its the principle. Once an invoice has been settled in cash shouldn't the card be removed? I'm confused here maybe someone can provide insight.

[gerelmx]

The ship is handled in USCy, the difference is, as you say, in the different exchange rate on the day of charge and the day of credit. I have had this problem several times, when I register my card I tell them that I want the charges in USCy and for my bank to convert it to my local currency, but they insist on using their own exchange rate plus a commission. What I have done is pay the bill in cash on the last night of the cruise to avoid those problems.

[PTC DAWG]

Probably something in the exchange rate. How much money are we talking about? 
 

What did Celebrity have to say about it? I assume you called, we certainly can’t fix it. 

Edited December 2, 2023 by PTC DAWG

[drakes2]

4 minutes ago, gerelmx said:

What I have done is pay the bill in cash on the last night of the cruise to avoid those problems.

That's exactly what I did but they still found a way to charge my card realized their error and reversed it at the return rate. Its the fault of the guest relations agent as he should have removed the hold and forgot at least this is what I assume happened 

[drakes2]

1 minute ago, PTC DAWG said:

Probably something in the exchange rate. How much money are we talking about? 

Its very little money but that's not the point. Can you imagine how much profit they would make if this happened to every guest who settled their account then gets charged and does nothing about it. 

[If only]

8 minutes ago, drakes2 said:

Its very little money but that's not the point. Can you imagine how much profit they would make if this happened to every guest who settled their account then gets charged and does nothing about it. 

Unfortunately it’s the difference between buying & selling US $.  Good luck, had this happen before very frustrating.  

[Pinboy]

Suggestion:

Get yourself a $US Credit card and set up a bank account with $US funds.

Then, anytime you book a cruise, or are on a cruise, or purchase " another " bathing suit coverup in the Islands, everything will be charged to the card. 

( Hopefully the conversion rate will go down soon--- by 2035 ) !!!

 

 

[RTShaker]

1 hour ago, drakes2 said:

That's exactly what I did but they still found a way to charge my card realized their error and reversed it at the return rate. Its the fault of the guest relations agent as he should have removed the hold and forgot at least this is what I assume happened 

They don't control those rates. That is all on your financial institution. From Celebrity's side they do all transactions in USD, whether charge or refund, and any discrepancy is caused by the exchange rates set by your bank. That said, because the charge was in error, I think Celebrity should be responsible to pay the difference.

[Schmoe38]

2 hours ago, drakes2 said:

Just got off a 10 night on Thursday November 30th from the Silhouette. Settled my account late Wednesday night in cash as I knew the FX rate is high at the moment plus I had a ton of OBC to use.  Credit card hold dropped off yesterday but today I was amazed to see a charge then a reversal of the charge at a lower exchange rate.  I called my bank and they said I would have to dispute the difference which has already been initiated.  Not talking a lot of money here but its the principle. Once an invoice has been settled in cash shouldn't the card be removed? I'm confused here maybe someone can provide insight.

This is definitely a Celebrity issue. The charge would have been levied at the “sell” US currency rate to the client and then the correction would have been levied at the “buy” US currency from the client. There is a spread in those 2 exchange rates, the sell being the higher.

 

As this charge was done in error by Celebrity, they owe you the $$ difference on the charge amount times the difference in the two exchange rates.

 

I know the principle of the matter is on your side. Just remember, your time and effort is worth something, probably more than the dollar amount involved and the  principle, but I get it. 
 

Good Luck

 

Randy

Edited December 2, 2023 by Schmoe38

[Pinboy]

23 minutes ago, RTShaker said:

That said, because the charge was in error, I think Celebrity should be responsible to pay the difference.

I understood that the difference was very little, but the " issue " was the " principle " of it happening and best to just move on.

( Not as important as our Waiter in 2013 forgetting to bring my 3 shrimp cocktails at the same time ).

 

 

[mrgabriel]

I understand your complaint. It’s not the currency charge, it’s the fact that they charged your card after you had settled in cash. I would definitely be contacting Celebrity about that error.  I don’t think it’s a walk away issue … 

[Pinboy]

7 minutes ago, mrgabriel said:

I understand your complaint. It’s not the currency charge, it’s the fact that they charged your card after you had settled in cash. I would definitely be contacting Celebrity about that error.  I don’t think it’s a walk away issue … 

It was probably an overlap in time between GR processed the payment and Accounting activated the final billings.

Other than that, I doubt Celebrity would do anything except maybe charge back the difference.

 

[drakes2]

3 hours ago, Pinboy said:

Suggestion:

Get yourself a $US Credit card and set up a bank account with $US funds.

In 2016 I did have a USD account with my bank, TD Canada Trust. Had to keep 3K in my account at all times to avoid monthly fees. I closed the account when they raised the limit to 5K which equals 7K CAD.  Last week they announced they are letting 3000 employees go by early January.  

[Ex-Airbalancer]

12 minutes ago, drakes2 said:

In 2016 I did have a USD account with my bank, TD Canada Trust. Had to keep 3K in my account at all times to avoid monthly fees. I closed the account when they raised the limit to 5K which equals 7K CAD.  Last week they announced they are letting 3000 employees go by early January.  

I got a Brim card for traveling, no foreign fees , and a no fee card

it has a $5000 limit, you get notification on your phone everytime you use , it is tap and go

https://brimfinancial.com 

[ldubs]

1 minute ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

I got a Brim card for traveling, no foreign fees , and a no fee card

it has a $5000 limit, you get notification on your phone everytime you use , it is tap and go

https://brimfinancial.com 

 

Would not the buy/sell exchange rate still apply to that card?  I may be misunderstanding what happened, but it seems that is the issue as opposed to FX transaction fees.  

[1Virgo]

3 hours ago, Pinboy said:

Suggestion:

Get yourself a $US Credit card and set up a bank account with $US funds.

Then, anytime you book a cruise, or are on a cruise, or purchase " another " bathing suit coverup in the Islands, everything will be charged to the card. 

( Hopefully the conversion rate will go down soon--- by 2035 ) !!!

 

 

i did this years ago.  No problem since. Plus, we get a better exchange rate

[Ex-Airbalancer]

1 minute ago, ldubs said:

 

Would not the buy/sell exchange rate still apply to that card?  I may be misunderstanding what happened, but it seems that is the issue as opposed to FX transaction fees.  

Yes , but you are using the banks rate 

just giving her an option to a cheap card to carry 😁

[drakes2]

16 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

I got a Brim card for traveling, no foreign fees , and a no fee card

it has a $5000 limit, you get notification on your phone everytime you use , it is tap and go

https://brimfinancial.com 

I have a Home Trust visa no FX fees which I use for large purchases in Europe. Always worked out well.  I'm pretty sure GR onboard just made an error and system caught and reversed it and of course it would pick up the "sell" rate. 

[RD64]

As a fellow Canadian I need some clarification. I always pay off my account in full the last night of a cruise using $USD.

 

My understanding from reading this thread is that the charge came about to the difference in exchange rate from when the hold was applied to when it was removed? I have never heard of this happening before.

[drakes2]

13 minutes ago, RD64 said:

As a fellow Canadian I need some clarification. I always pay off my account in full the last night of a cruise using $USD.

 

My understanding from reading this thread is that the charge came about to the difference in exchange rate from when the hold was applied to when it was removed? I have never heard of this happening before.

I don't believe that's what happened as the hold dropped off yesterday so I figured all was good intil this morning I saw a posted charge to my credit card then a reversal.  I did notice the GR staff took a long time to complete my transaction  which was actually very simple not sure what he input into the system. Its just human error happens a lot but still frustrating.  

[RD64]

Thank you for the clarification and bringing this to our attention. And yes, mistakes do happen, so it is always wise to check your statement regularly.

[Fly and Sail]

FWIW, I often see issues like this happening if guests wait until the very last moment of the final day to settle accounts in cash. Try to do this during the daytime or even a day earlier if possible.

 

You could use NOVA Credit or Amex Global Transfer to get a real U.S. credit card and TD has a U.S. banking arm that that you can open a checking account with.

[drakes2]

2 hours ago, RD64 said:

Thank you for the clarification and bringing this to our attention. And yes, mistakes do happen, so it is always wise to check your statement regularly.

My statement was correct and I paid it the day before debarking ship but GR forgot to remove my credit card from the system. It was reversed immediately but at the selling rate. It will be rectified by Tuesday. As a side note I took a screen shot of the charges from my bank and the Celebrity agent said I received back more than I paid until I explained how to read the charges. 

[Pinboy]

1 hour ago, RD64 said:

so it is always wise to check your statement regularly.

Here's a procedure that worked every time since we provide a $US TD Visa credit card at check-in:

Because we don't book All Included ( non-drinkers, don't use much wifi ) the Gratuities are added to our account every day.

Every few days check our Account on the tv and again on the last night.

Luckily, we never had a problem.

Now you got me thinking ( again ) about that FREE 5 minute massage that cost me $357 by the time she let me go !!!!!

( LOL-- from time to time there was a charge or three that I was toooo scared to ask  " you know who " about--- but, I had a " feeling " they were legitimate ). 

 

[drakes2]

3 hours ago, Pinboy said:

 

Now you got me thinking ( again ) about that FREE 5 minute massage that cost me $357

The Free 5 minutes massages are now reduced to 2 minutes any more than that is $2 a minute.  Total rip off they had an offer for $179 plus 20% for 75 minutes instead of 55 but would not let me get the Elite plus discount.  That was on the Silly last week.