HAL/BarclayUS VISA credit card

[captrobert]

April 2023, stayed one night at La Quinta by Wyndham at 2620 North 26th Avenue, Hollywood, FL 33020. Checked out, boarded HAL’s flagship m/s Rotterdam. Cruised to New York City before departing for Europe. At NYC learned La Quinta added a $250 dollar charge. Filed a dispute. HAL/BarclayUS said they would investigate. We are non-smokers, left hotel room in presentable fashion. My naval career was as a public health professional, which included advocating against tobacco use. Was later advised HAL/BarclayUS would do nothing. The $250 dollar charge remained. No further explanation offered.  Paid the disputed fee. Vowed never to stay at another Florida La Quinta. Strike One for HAL/BarclayUS!
Over the years, tens of thousands of dollars have been spent using HAL/BarclayUS VISA. Last October, booked the Australia cruise (Jan 2024). Called HAL/BarclayUS, exchanged 25,000 points for five (5) beverage cards, each card valued at $50 dollars. After boarding m/s Volendam at San Diego, went to Guest Services with HAL/BarclayUS email and a confirmation number for five (5) beverage cards. Guest Services said they could not issue beverage cards. Few days past, met with the beverage manager, an employee we have known for years. He took my grievance, consulted with his seniors at Seattle. But he too was powerless to render beverage cards. Felt bad for him since his history has always been, ‘satisfy the customer.’  Strike Two!

While filling in the online pre-cruise information, discovered the VISA card would expire prior to the end of our cruise. Contacted HAL/BarclayUS. Was told new cards will arrive prior to our departure, which did not happen.

HAL/BarclayUS VISA cards expired: February 29, 2024. So, we used a different VISA card. Upon returning to Texas (March 8, 2024) discovered in the accumulated mail the new HAL/BarclayUS VISA cards and elected not to activate these new HAL/BarclayUS VISA cards.

To my surprise MagicJack (a computer-based telephone service) submitted a bill to HAL/BarclayUS dated: March 1, 2024 ($49.77) claimed an Auto-Pay authorized debit. Have not used MagicJack in six, seven years. Never initiated Auto-Pay. HAL/BarclayUS should have declined MagicJack’s claim since the VISA card had expired. Again, new VISA cards were never activated. HAL/BarclayUS applied (April 9, 2024) a late payment fee of $29 dollars. So, HAL/BarclayUS wants a $78.77 payment. Strike Three! You’re Out!
Repeated calls to MagicJack and HAL/BarclayUS customer services trying to resolve an illegal billing were routed to the Philippines. Seems HAL/BarclayUS and MagicJack have call centers in the PI. Operators were polite but trained to delay inquiries. One stated decision to offer refunds are made by their seniors. Seniors were unavailable. MagicJack finally did send an email indicating they withdrew the $49.77 bill. HAL/BarclayUS has acknowledged MagicJack’s $49.77 reversal but feels entitled to a $29.00 late fee. We owe HAL/BarclayUS and MagicJack nothing. We maintain FICO scores near or in excess of 800. We are done with HAL/BarclayUS Visa. Maybe, you should be too? - Capt. Robert W.

[Mary229]

Did you ever talk to La Quinta?  You do get a second bite at the apple, so if you can work it out with them you still have a chance to overturn the charge. 
 

If Barclays treated you badly stay away from all of their credit cards.  HAL doesn’t administer the card ,the bank does.

 

I had a similar problem with another bank, I closed the account once it was straightened out and never used that bank again. 

[Big Dawg CC]

Barclays is the worst!  Without any notice or warning, Barclays closed both of my wife's credit cards and all three of my credit cards, including the HAL card.  My wife and I had Barclays cards for nearly 10 years.  Due to the account closures, Barclays cancelled all of our Holland America points - nearly 700,000 - depriving us of the ability to redeem them for more than $15,000 in credit towards Holland America cruises.  Complaints to Barclays and various bank regulators got us nowhere.  We just moved on and, like you, continue to warn others about their unfair practices.

[Stateroom_Sailor]

I am not impressed with BarclayUS, we just canceled our Wyndham Business Earner card.  Luckily I never had a chargeback issue.  I have had excellent customer service with Capital One and American Express.  If someone is fighting a chargeback, they at least give me an opportunity to provide evidence.  

 

You can do a lot better with a Capital One Venture card, earning 2% on everything, and use it to erase travel expense (including partial).  Chase did make a mess of a chargeback for me last year, so I don't use their card for everything, but many of their cards have lucrative earnings on travel expense and offer free travel protections.  

 

Lastly, we were loyal to La Quinta for about a decade, starting around 2010, before the Wyndham acquisition.  The product, the rewards, and the customer service are not what they once were.  I think IHG is a better alternative, and their card is decent for general travel.    

 

 

[Mary229]

2 minutes ago, Stateroom_Sailor said:

Lastly, we were loyal to La Quinta for about a decade, starting around 2010, before the Wyndham acquisition

I so agree.  Being in the southwest we used them often buy

tWyndham let them run down to the point where they are a hard pass for us.  

Edited April 23 by Mary229

[alwaysfrantic]

You would so much more value from a Chase Sapphire card, Reserve or Preferred. Your 25000 points for $250 beverage card could have been a RT ticket to Hawaii. And, Chase protects you.  Fraud is handled immediately.  They provide $10,000 per person of travel insurance per trip, lounge access and if if book travel through their portal each point is worth 1.5. 

[CNSJ]

Totally agree with Frantic!  You will do many times better with Chase Sapphire Reserve.  Three points per dollar on all travel....including cruises no matter who you book them with.  

 

As for the Magic Jack, has a similar issue when I was issued a new card number.  Barclays should work this out.  Chase bends over backwards to help when I have any issues.

 

 

[LAFFNVEGAS]

I have been in the consumer finance industry for well over 40 years, in the late 80's early 90's Barclays tried to be part of the credit card industry and failed. But they wanted to stay with it so in the mid 90's they were one of the first to start issuing credit cards with extremely high interest and high fees to those with marginal credit. They took off, they issued lots of card to those with less than perfect credit and those who had no credit. There whole outlook in treating customers changed. Those in the banking and finance industry basically looked down to those with the Barclays card. But Barclay's was making money from the high interest rates and numerous fees they charged, by around 2002 to 2003 they were starting to suffer with charge off from this client base and their fees could not outrun the loss so they needed to expand their portfolio of better quality credit which was when they started to go to corporations such as Holland America and Princess to offer a Co Branded card. Twenty years later Barclays now mostly has co branded cards with many corporations but they still charge a higher rate of interest, have high fees and their customer service and mentality is the same as they are treating their 2nd chance customer that continues delinquency patterns.

There are many companies that have left them for this reason. Apple used them as their co-branded card but left Barclays in 2020 unfortunately Goldman Sachs is not working out for them. Unknown where Apple will turn to with GS pulling out (rumor it could be Chase). Other cruise lines such as Norwegian use Bank of America, B of A is on the strict side with credit and credit scoring so some NCL passengers complain about not getting approved. I do have their card and quite easy to use for my earned credit with no hassle. For my HAL cruises I use my Capital One Venture X unless I am trying to build miles on my Citi American Airlines card.

Barclays unfortunately is not a good bank /card issuer for Holland America but it has been close to 20 years they have been using them.I do strongly feel HAL would be better to cut ties with Barclays.

[Haljo1935]

On 4/23/2024 at 6:34 PM, Big Dawg CC said:

Barclays is the worst!  Without any notice or warning, Barclays closed both of my wife's credit cards and all three of my credit cards, including the HAL card.  My wife and I had Barclays cards for nearly 10 years.  Due to the account closures, Barclays cancelled all of our Holland America points - nearly 700,000 - depriving us of the ability to redeem them for more than $15,000 in credit towards Holland America cruises.  Complaints to Barclays and various bank regulators got us nowhere.  We just moved on and, like you, continue to warn others about their unfair practices.

Similar thing happened to BFF w/her Barclay's Princess card. That's a lot of cruise credits to lose.

[Stateroom_Sailor]

On 4/28/2024 at 12:32 PM, LAFFNVEGAS said:

 Other cruise lines such as Norwegian use Bank of America, B of A is on the strict side with credit and credit scoring so some NCL passengers complain about not getting approved. I do have their card and quite easy to use for my earned credit with no hassle. For my HAL cruises I use my Capital One Venture X unless I am trying to build miles on my Citi American Airlines card.

Barclays unfortunately is not a good bank /card issuer for Holland America but it has been close to 20 years they have been using them.I do strongly feel HAL would be better to cut ties with Barclays.

 

Great options, as well as the above mentioned Chase Sapphire Reserve / Preferred.  The Capital One Venture X is the simplest to use, break even with 1 hotel or car rental booking per year through their portal, and get some premium credit card perks.

 

Personally, I am now using BILT for 2X on travel.  Any charges made on the first of the month boost to 4X.  In the past 3 years, American Airlines was a transfer partner, which I unfortunately missed out on.  Alaska is its replacement, which we've recently switched loyalty to anyways.  If I value American, Alaskan, or Hyatt points at 2 cents, and do final payment on the 1st of any month, that's the equivalent of earning 8% back on your cruise.

 

Another niche option is the US Altitude Reserve, which earns 3X on all mobile wallet purchases, or 3% cash back.  If you charge travel on your mobile wallet, you can cancel those charges with a 50% boost, essentially earning 4.5% back.  I am not sure if that would be directly useful towards a cruise, but for tours, car rentals, hotels, and theme parks that one might pair with their cruise. 

 

 

 

 

 

[CNSJ]

Everyone looks for their own best "deal" 

 

My strategy is based on hotel points being more useful than airmiles.  That's because airlines fly specific routes and the availability of reward flight reductions is so hit and miss.  With major hotel chains (Hilton/Marriott/Hyatt/IHG) as examples, you can usually find a hotel in most cities around the world, and then use points for the room.  

 

I find very good value in booking travel related (cruises/tours/parking/car rentals) with Chase Sapphire Reserve.  At 3 points per "travel" dollar, which I convert to Hyatt points (worth about 1.7 cents each per many websites)  I get more than a five percent return. (also, when you book Hyatt rooms with points you don't pay 'resort fees'.

 

If I buy AARP gift cards to pay for HAL items, I use another no fee Chase card that nets 1.25 points per dollar, using the same plan to convert tot Hyatt points (1.25 x 1.7 = 2.125% return), plus the 10% (now only 8%) savings from AARP gift cards.  I pay a portion of cruise fare with Chase Sapphire for the travel insurance protection.

 

With the cost of cruising going up, we need to find ways to save when we can.

 

 

 

 

[Mary229]

Just now, CNSJ said:

Everyone looks for their own best "deal" 

 

My strategy is based on hotel points being more useful than airmiles.  That's because airlines fly specific routes and the availability of reward flight reductions is so hit and miss.  With major hotel chains (Hilton/Marriott/Hyatt/IHG) as examples, you can usually find a hotel in most cities around the world, and then use points for the room.  

 

I find very good value in booking travel related (cruises/tours/parking/car rentals) with Chase Sapphire Reserve.  At 3 points per "travel" dollar, which I convert to Hyatt points (worth about 1.7 cents each per many websites)  I get more than a five percent return. (also, when you book Hyatt rooms with points you don't pay 'resort fees'.

 

If I buy AARP gift cards to pay for HAL items, I use another no fee Chase card that nets 1.25 points per dollar, using the same plan to convert tot Hyatt points (1.25 x 1.7 = 2.125% return), plus the 10% (now only 8%) savings from AARP gift cards.  I pay a portion of cruise fare with Chase Sapphire for the travel insurance protection.

 

With the cost of cruising going up, we need to find ways to save when we can.

 

 

 

 

I find the hotel points requirements on Chase are usually lower than converting.  I do like the Chase cards.