Princess Glitch-double Charging Final Payments!!

[PrincessMelody]

I just made final payment Monday for our Crown cruise, on credit cards. Well today I notice that they double charged my final payment!! It was over 2k, and put my accounts overlimit, so I immediately called my TA, who told me that I wasn't the only one who was double charged, and that it was a "glitch" in Princess' computer system. She called Princess, and was told that they would put the money back, but didn't know how long it would take. I am absolutely livid!!:mad:

 

I wanted to give all of you who may have made a final payment in the last few days a heads up...CHECK YOUR STATEMENTS!!

[spongerob]

Thanks for the heads-up. No problems here, fortunately. I just got my CC bill and finaly payment (made June 10) only shows up once.

 

Is it faster to just dispute the charge that's in error? Just curious.

[PrincessMelody]

No problem...I hope it doesn't happen to anyone else. I am going to give Princess a reasonable amount of time to put the money back, and if they don't, then I will dispute it with the credit cards. My hubby feels that 3 business days is more than fair. So now I wait...

[Colo Cruiser]

It never comes back in the pasenger's favor does it.

 

 

Just for once wouldn't it be nice to be double under charged. :D

[PrincessMelody]

It never comes back in the pasenger's favor does it.

 

 

Just for once wouldn't it be nice to be double under charged. :D

 

You are so right!! Nothing ever comes out in the customer's favor!! I know I've never been undercharged at the grocery store, the phone company, the mechanic, etc...but it would be a nice change!!!:rolleyes:

[seattlekckckc]

How awful! Hopefully nothing will bounce, but it sounds like it is a CC rather than a Debit card - thats good atleast. I would insist that this money be put back IMMEDIATELY if not sooner!

 

I once had an overcharge that had to be credited to my cc account after a cruise was over, and it took over 3 weeks to appear. Granted, that was only $100+ dollars though, yours should (BETTER) happen alot sooner than that!!!

Casey

[PrincessMelody]

Thanks Casey. It would be nice if this were resolved quickly and easily...but I'm not holding my breath. Btw, one of the cards was a debit card, from my "vacation account" which is now overdrawn.:(

[Pam in CA]

Unfortunately, this happens all the time. Several years ago, I was at meetings for a company I worked for, which was picking up the tab at the hotel, a Sheraton. I had to give my CC for incidentals. Imagine my amazement a couple of weeks later when I discovered that the hotel had charged me for a family of 4's vacation for a week, including all of their incidentals. It came to over $1K, which at the time was a lot of money to me. I called Sheraton and they acted like I was some nut trying to get out of paying my bill. My CC company froze it so I didn't have to pay it -- but it remained on my statement, was generating interest for non-payment, and affected the amount of credit I had on the card. It took three months for Sheraton to resolve it and refund my money.

[Toto2Kansas]

This happened to us only once, but it was not Princess who did this but our forgetful TA that was the one who did the dirty deed. After finding out we had been charged twice for our final payment, it took two days to get in touch with her and it then took Princess almost two weeks to credit it back to our account.

I definitely changed TA's shortly after as I never even received an apology for her forgetfulness. I have never heard of Princess double charging, but it does happen with a TA occasionally. :(

[cactusrose]

Be sure Princess reimburses you for any overdraft charge and provides you with a letter stating that they were in error and overcharged you. This may effect your credit report and more importantly, your credit score so you need to have something to show it was in error.

[flvol77]

I just made final payment Monday for our Crown cruise, on credit cards. Well today I notice that they double charged my final payment!! It was over 2k, and put my accounts overlimit, so I immediately called my TA, who told me that I wasn't the only one who was double charged, and that it was a "glitch" in Princess' computer system. She called Princess, and was told that they would put the money back, but didn't know how long it would take. I am absolutely livid!!:mad:

 

I wanted to give all of you who may have made a final payment in the last few days a heads up...CHECK YOUR STATEMENTS!!

 

was it a posted payment?

 

 

Because the last three cruises on my charge have had 2 temp payments but when it posted it only charged my CC once.

[PrincessMelody]

Unfortunately, this happens all the time. Several years ago, I was at meetings for a company I worked for, which was picking up the tab at the hotel, a Sheraton. I had to give my CC for incidentals. Imagine my amazement a couple of weeks later when I discovered that the hotel had charged me for a family of 4's vacation for a week, including all of their incidentals. It came to over $1K, which at the time was a lot of money to me. I called Sheraton and they acted like I was some nut trying to get out of paying my bill. My CC company froze it so I didn't have to pay it -- but it remained on my statement, was generating interest for non-payment, and affected the amount of credit I had on the card. It took three months for Sheraton to resolve it and refund my money.

 

OMG!! What a nightmare!!:eek: I hope this doesn't drag out for three months!

[PrincessMelody]

This happened to us only once, but it was not Princess who did this but our forgetful TA that was the one who did the dirty deed. After finding out we had been charged twice for our final payment, it took two days to get in touch with her and it then took Princess almost two weeks to credit it back to our account.

I definitely changed TA's shortly after as I never even received an apology for her forgetfulness. I have never heard of Princess double charging, but it does happen with a TA occasionally. :(

 

I don't blame you for firing your TA. I can't believe she put you through all that without at LEAST an apology.

 

Mine was very apologetic, even though it was not her fault, and got right on the horn with Princess to try and straighten it out.

[PrincessMelody]

Be sure Princess reimburses you for any overdraft charge and provides you with a letter stating that they were in error and overcharged you. This may effect your credit report and more importantly, your credit score so you need to have something to show it was in error.

 

Thanks for the advice! I would not have thought to ask for that.

[bdjam]

Be sure Princess reimburses you for any overdraft charge and provides you with a letter stating that they were in error and overcharged you. This may effect your credit report and more importantly, your credit score so you need to have something to show it was in error.

All this should be done with the credit card issuer, not Princess. The credit card issuer reports to credit bureaus and has the ability to control those reports, Princess does not. The credit card account will not be reported until it goes past due, and the issuer can stop those reports. The credit card issuer should also be aware of what’s going on so that they can block the account from over limit fees and finance charges. Princess is under no obligation to reimburse the customer for those fees, and would do so only as a good will gesture. It is the responsibility of the credit card customer to monitor their account and to raise issues about incorrect charges with the issuer of the card.

The credit card issuer has the power here – Princess only uses the issuer as a billing agent. While they made the mistake, the customer can protect themselves by working with the credit card issuer, not the cruise line.

And right – if the mistake is widespread, it might take more than 3 days to fix. Based on credit laws, Princess probably has 30 days to rectify the mistake – so it’s prudent for the customer to deal with the issuer of the credit card.

[PrincessMelody]

All this should be done with the credit card issuer, not Princess. The credit card issuer reports to credit bureaus and has the ability to control those reports, Princess does not. The credit card account will not be reported until it goes past due, and the issuer can stop those reports. The credit card issuer should also be aware of what’s going on so that they can block the account from over limit fees and finance charges. Princess is under no obligation to reimburse the customer for those fees, and would do so only as a good will gesture. It is the responsibility of the credit card customer to monitor their account and to raise issues about incorrect charges with the issuer of the card.

 

The credit card issuer has the power here – Princess only uses the issuer as a billing agent. While they made the mistake, the customer can protect themselves by working with the credit card issuer, not the cruise line.

 

And right – if the mistake is widespread, it might take more than 3 days to fix. Based on credit laws, Princess probably has 30 days to rectify the mistake – so it’s prudent for the customer to deal with the issuer of the credit card.

 

Thanks for the advice Bdjam. I do have a question for you though. When I make the CC company aware of the error so they can block overlimit fees and finance charges (and I hope they will agree to do that), should I be disputing the charge as well at that time, or just wait for Princess to issue the credit?

 

Thanks

[FredS]

If it were me, I would immediatly send notice the CC company that I am disputing the charge. And explain what the error is. They freeze the amount right then and there is no additions of overcharges, or interest while the account is being corrected. I think you have to deal with the CC co. and with Princess and with the TA at the same time.

[TXTraveler76]

Hi,

 

This also happened to me. I paid for 3 final payments on a British Isles 10 day- each 3K+. I was charged double on 2 of them, pushing me over my credit limit. I was informed of the problem by a local theater where I was trying to purchase 7 tickets for an evenings performance. I was very embarassed to have had this problem as I am a frequent customer. I immediately called my CC company and Princess, but it was on a Saturday afternoon so I had to wait until Monday morning. We were all working on the problem via conference call as the original 3 charges were posted, the extra 2 were pending. Both Princess and my credit card assured me it would drop off within 5 days as it had not been charged double within Princess. Sure enough that Tuesday, it dropped off and I am now back to normal. I certainly did learn a lesson though, to check that CC online as often as possible. It seems it was more of a problem with the CC company rather than Princess this time.

[Boatdrill]

You are so right!! Nothing ever comes out in the customer's favor!! I know I've never been undercharged at the grocery store, the phone company, the mechanic, etc...but it would be a nice change!!!:rolleyes:

 

And if you ever were to be undercharged, would you tell them ? Or just go on your way....

[PrincessMelody]

And if you ever were to be undercharged, would you tell them ? Or just go on your way....

 

Good question...I guess it would depend on what/how much. If I got home from the grocery store and found I was undercharged by .10 on a head of lettuce, I wouldn't bother. But if it were a large amount, or if someone gave me way too much change, I would let them know...not that it would ever happen to me!!

[cactusrose]

All this should be done with the credit card issuer, not Princess. The credit card issuer reports to credit bureaus and has the ability to control those reports, Princess does not. The credit card account will not be reported until it goes past due, and the issuer can stop those reports. The credit card issuer should also be aware of what’s going on so that they can block the account from over limit fees and finance charges. Princess is under no obligation to reimburse the customer for those fees, and would do so only as a good will gesture. It is the responsibility of the credit card customer to monitor their account and to raise issues about incorrect charges with the issuer of the card.

 

The credit card issuer has the power here – Princess only uses the issuer as a billing agent. While they made the mistake, the customer can protect themselves by working with the credit card issuer, not the cruise line.

 

And right – if the mistake is widespread, it might take more than 3 days to fix. Based on credit laws, Princess probably has 30 days to rectify the mistake – so it’s prudent for the customer to deal with the issuer of the credit card.

 

Are you in the financial industry bdjam?

[WCAB]

If you put the charges in dispute be sure they understand that one payment should be honored. Would hate to see them disputing all charges and Princess cancel your booking.

 

Carol

[bdjam]

Thanks for the advice Bdjam. I do have a question for you though. When I make the CC company aware of the error so they can block overlimit fees and finance charges (and I hope they will agree to do that), should I be disputing the charge as well at that time, or just wait for Princess to issue the credit?

 

Thanks

I don’t think it makes a difference – I would think your credit card issuer would handle it as a charge that is going to be reversed and therefore would protect your credit. You may have to officially dispute the charge to get the credit protection, but when Princess credits your account, the dispute will end. It would depend on the particular credit card company’s policies for handling this kind of thing.

Are you in the financial industry bdjam?

I used to work Customer Service for a credit card company and now support company from an IT standpoint.

[PrincessMelody]

Thanks for the answer Bdjam! ;)

[abbydancer2003]

And if you ever were to be undercharged, would you tell them ? Or just go on your way....

 

I had a trip once where we changed the date, and it appeared that at either the resort or the travel agency, they double credited a previous payment. When I went in to pay more (I was paying incrementally), they told me they'd just sent a refund check for overpayment. It didn't make sense to me, and I tried to tell them, but neither my travel agent or I were in a position to get anything changed.

 

 

I suspect it was an error on the travel agencys part, so as far as the resort was concerned it was fine. My travel agent thought it was the resort's error.

 

So it does happen that things go in the customers favor (rarely) and some of us do try to fix it.

 

abby