Debit Card Overcharged on Crown Princess Cruise

[Cruising Photographer]

I want to make everyone aware of a situation that happened to me on the Crown Princess 7/26/06. My wife and I had 2 visa debit gift cards for $125 each. We went to the pursers desk to make a payment on our onboard accounts. When she first ran the cards, she came back and told us that we didn't have $125 available credit on the card. So we told her to run them for $100.00 each. They went through and we were credited $100 each on our onboard accounts.... BUT... when we got home, we checked the balance on the cards and found that Princess had actulally charged our debit cards $115.00 each!!! (and there was a remaining balance of $10. on the card). This wasn't for a cash advance, casino money, etc... WE WERE OVERCHARGED FOR PAYING A PORTION OF OUR BILL EARLY!!!

We filed a report with Princess customer relations yesterday and are waiting to hear back from them. I am hoping that they correct this error without having to dispute the charge with the credit card company. I'll keep you posted on this.

 

Until this happened, I was very pleased with our Princess cruise. I am writing this to remind you to check your credit card statements, your gift debit card statements, etc... Don't assume they are the same as what you signed for...:eek:

 

With all the good things I've had to say about Princess, I hope they correct this and quickly. Please!

[West Coast]

BUT... when we got home, we checked the balance on the cards and found that Princess had actulally charged our debit cards $115.00 each!!!

 

How much is written on the little chargex slip you actually signed when you authorized/signed for the transaction at the Pursers desk?

 

If it says $100 and you were debited $115 then I think you should have no problem filing a dispute with the credit card company.

[MercedMike]

 

Until this happened, I was very pleased with our Princess cruise. I am writing this to remind you to check your credit card statements, your gift debit card statements, etc... Don't assume they are the same as what you signed for...:eek:

 

 

Of course that is excellent advice in every sort of situation. It really has nothing to do with cruising in particular.

 

I certainly trust you are not letting this small mistake ruin a wonderful cruise for you!

[Coral]

I agree - it shoud be the number that you signed on the piece of paper.

 

This could also be an error with the bank. Errors happen - don't let this ruin your trip. I would just find the piece of paper you signed and fax a copy to the bank.

[shay1]

We were on Carnival Valor in May. We received our final statement and it agreed with all our charges.

 

When we got home and received our credit card statement we found that Carnival tried to over charge our cc account by $50.

 

We had to send a copy of our sail & sign statement showing what our final charges were.

 

There is no excuse for Carnival to have made this mistake. It makes you wonder how often these items go through.

 

While we were on board they tried to add a charge to our sign & sign statement by our room steward for a bottle of water that we NEVER used. When we first arrived we left our room steward a note that we did not want the bottle water to please remove from our suite, he did. We did get this removed from our bill, but it did take them a couple of days to do it.

 

That is why it is importand to check your accounts while on board several times in case charges are on that do not belong to you. Keep your receipts to compare to your sail & sign statement too.

 

Always keep your final sail & sign statement to make sure no fantom charges are placed on your cc account.

[Carolyn R]

If this is a Visa gift card vs a debit card linked to your bank account you should check the conditions of the card. Very often the card itself imposes a fee when you use it. I saw a program on CNN on this, making people aware that they should read the small print on gift cards before purchasing them.

[brn2crz]

If this is a Visa gift card vs a debit card linked to your bank account you should check the conditions of the card. Very often the card itself imposes a fee when you use it. I saw a program on CNN on this, making people aware that they should read the small print on gift cards before purchasing them.

 

exactly what I was thinking...Sometimes they also,loose value..

 

I do think they OP said they verified the value when they returned hopwever.

[muffydawg]

I work for a company that issues Prepaid Visa and MasterCards and I used to work for a merchant credit card processor. A previous poster was spot on about checking the terms and conditions of your gift card/prepaid card. There are transaction fees (per authorization/purchase), activation fees, fees for calling a toll free number to check your balance and foreign currency conversion fees. What might have been a $100 authorization could easliy turn into $115 being deducted from the card balance once additional fees are factored in.

 

However, as consumers we have rights regarding unauthorized deductions/charges, even on gift/ prepaid cards. These rights would also be spelled out in the card T&C's. You have 10 days from the day you verbally reported the error to the bank to put your dispute in writing and have it received by the issuer of your card. You also have 60 days from the date the statement was mailed/ provided to notice the error and report it. All receipt copies you have will help decide the dispute...please preserve your dispute rights and obtain a copy of the banks' dispute form and mail it and your receipts to the bank ASAP.

[rebeccalouise]

debit cards. I don't know why but this happens all the time with Debit cards. The companies issuing the cards automatically tack on 15% tip on these cards-when they are used in my restuarant. We get complaints all the time- it is the debit card company at fault. Contact them.

[Host CJSKIDS]

debit cards. I don't know why but this happens all the time with Debit cards. The companies issuing the cards automatically tack on 15% tip on these cards-when they are used in my restuarant. We get complaints all the time- it is the debit card company at fault. Contact them.

 

Debit cards, gift cards and credit cards all usually get the 15% gratuity tacked on when used in a restaurant. Some of the debit gift cards are now coming with a printed page explaining how when you use them this happens in restuarants, I just got one last week from Sprint.

 

Since the cards they used weren't debit cards really, but a debit gift card they may have been a fee involved. The OP should really call the issuer of the card and find out if they are the ones who charged the extra $15 for fees or if the extra charge came from Princess.

[LonghornKJK]

That would also explain why the card didn't work when they tried it for $125 -- the 15 percent "tip" would put it over the limit.

[granitegal]

I wonder if there just isn't an easy answer. What about putting cash on your account? Wouldn't that solve the problem? I did that last year on my NCL cruise and if I went over, I just had to put more on, but the cruise before that... was my first cruise and used my debit card of all things. My account was messed up for a month. I really don't want to use my credit card, but I don't know. Good luck with your fight.

[ewheelock]

using your credit card is the best thing to do. You just pay the bill when you get home and it all turns out the same. Then when and if you have an overage you can just dispute it with your cc company.

[Cruising Photographer]

We did sign for $100. debit per card, not $115, and I have the slips to prove it, so I don't think I'll have a problem with the credit. I faxed all this information to customer relations @ Princess Friday. I'll give them a week to resolve the problem. If they don't, I'll foward all the information to the debit card company and they'll resolve it with Princess.

 

It hasn't "ruined" my cruise, but has left me a little disappointed with Princess. Everything else was so good on the cruise. If they resolve this, I'll be thrilled with Princess again. If not,... I'll still enjoy cruising, just not with Princess.

[bdjam]

You should deal with the debit card issuer, not Princess. They can dispute the charge immediately and Princess will have 30 days to either produce proof that it is correct or rectify it. Your debit card issuer has business processes to handle incorrect billing by service providers and they are equipped to handle these situations. Princess is a cruise line who made an error in your billing – more than likely waiting for the cruise line to correct it will become frustrating.

Same thing goes for credit cards - talk to the issuer if there's errors - they have the mechanisms in place to protect your credit and make sure the charges are appropriately investigated. The service provider does not.

[Crosboro]

It always amazes me how quick some people are to put the blame on a company before even waiting to see what caused the error. You got back on 7/26, filed a complaint with Princess yesterday, and then rushed to tell eveyone on here how Princess tried to rip you off. You couldn't wait to see how it turned out and what went wrong before placing blame?

[Cruising Photographer]

This was a definite payment to Princess for $115.00. It wasn't a fee by the credit card, etc.

I faxed all the information to Princess and will give them a week to correct the problem. If not, then I'll contact the issuing bank where I'm sure I will receive credit for the amount deducted without my authorization.

 

As for cruising, this hasn't ruined my cruise, but I want others to be aware of this so that it doesn't happen to them.

[Cruising Photographer]

GOOD NEWS!!! CREDIT RECEIVED!!!!

 

We did foward all the information to Princess and received a credit on our debit cards for $15.00 each. I can now say that I am 100% satisfied with our cruise.

I read through all the comments above and want to thank you for all yor suggenstions & comments. Princess is a Great Cruise Line and I recommend them highly.

I just want to encourage everyone to double check your statements, especially when using a gift/debit card. Don't assume that what you signed for is the amount you were charged.

[Jstringers]

It is important to understand that there is a vast difference between using a debit card and using a credit card. A credit card is a revolving account where the consumer is not required to pay in full every month. A debit card is linking to an account where the consumer can only use the debit card up to the ammount in the account.

 

When you use a debit card a hold is place upon the account for the ammount of the purchase (some restaurants put a hold on for an extra 15% to cover tip.) The hold DOES NOT take money out of the account. However the funds covered by the hold are not accessable to the card holder during the hold period, even if the hold is at error. The card is not charged until the batch is settled (request for funding) this ussually happens at the end of a business's day. Holds remain on the account for up to 3 business days or until funds are requested. Remeber that holds can cause you to be overdrawn and you a responsible for over drafting your account.

 

Many hotels and cruise companies will put large holds on cardsto make sure that there are funds available to pay the final bill. There is no way for them to distinguish between a credit and a debit card. I have seen many instances where peoples entire bank account is being held for a possible hotel charge.

 

Please underestand the difference between a debit and a credit card. The difference between a hold and funding. AND....

 

NEVER USE A DEBIT CARD TO SECURE YOU ON BOARD CHARGES OR A HOTEL ROOM, if you want access to 100% of your checking account.

[Pam in CA]

Jim, glad to hear this has been resolved.

 

As others have said, there are often problems with hidden or "fine print" charges on gift cards. In MA, there's been an ongoing investigation of the Simon Gift Card (Simon malls are big around here) where an amount is debited every single month that the card isn't used. This is illegal in MA and there have been numerous exposes and warnings but so far, Simon Gift Cards continue to debit the gift. A young woman I know received one as a Christmas gift from a family she baby-sat for. Within 18 months, there was almost nothing left on the card although she'd never used it.