RCI dollar billing on UK credit card

[TommyTV]

:( Hi Everyone.

We're from the UK, and have just been on NoS from Southampton, UK. Well despite me highlighting the 'credit card company exchanges dollars', and verbally telling the check-out to bill me in dollars, they still billed my credit card in £UK, using their own exchange rate rather than the more favourable credit card exchange rate. Why don't they listen!!!! I'll tell you why.

The sum involved was only small, about $11 difference in their favour, but if there were 1500 couples on this ship averaging say $20 each, that's a lot of money. I've a good mind to complain to the credit card company and put a query on the amount so they have to wait till it's cleared up. Does anyone know who I complain to at RCI, or is it just not worth the effort for such a small sum? Let me know what you think.

Cheers

Martin and Pauline

[emdia43]

Yes it's worth a phone call to Customer Service and ask them to adjust it. The annoyance factor would get to me too.

[Mydnite]

Yes, def say something, otherwisenthey wil think it is alright. I am going in September, and want to be billed in $ as I have a $ account, I will be majorly peeved if they charge me in £.

[Pootle]

:( Hi Everyone.

We're from the UK, and have just been on NoS from Southampton, UK. Well despite me highlighting the 'credit card company exchanges dollars', and verbally telling the check-out to bill me in dollars, they still billed my credit card in £UK, using their own exchange rate rather than the more favourable credit card exchange rate. Why don't they listen!!!! I'll tell you why.

The sum involved was only small, about $11 difference in their favour, but if there were 1500 couples on this ship averaging say $20 each, that's a lot of money. I've a good mind to complain to the credit card company and put a query on the amount so they have to wait till it's cleared up. Does anyone know who I complain to at RCI, or is it just not worth the effort for such a small sum? Let me know what you think.

Cheers

Martin and Pauline

 

Yep, they did that to me after I had been on Adventure back in August.

 

I wrote a letter of complaint to their UK customer services address and lo and behold, two weeks later I received £100 future cruise credit for me and the DH. Hurrah for RCI!

 

The address I used was:-

 

Complaints Dept.

Royal Caribbean International

Aviator Park

Building 2, Station Road

Addlestone,

Surrey, KT15 2PG

[FL_Cruiser64]

:( Hi Everyone.

We're from the UK, and have just been on NoS from Southampton, UK. Well despite me highlighting the 'credit card company exchanges dollars', and verbally telling the check-out to bill me in dollars, they still billed my credit card in £UK, using their own exchange rate rather than the more favourable credit card exchange rate. Why don't they listen!!!! I'll tell you why.

The sum involved was only small, about $11 difference in their favour, but if there were 1500 couples on this ship averaging say $20 each, that's a lot of money. I've a good mind to complain to the credit card company and put a query on the amount so they have to wait till it's cleared up. Does anyone know who I complain to at RCI, or is it just not worth the effort for such a small sum? Let me know what you think.

Cheers

Martin and Pauline

 

I don't know how cruise companies work but I can give you a little insight in companies accepting foreign (for us foreign) currency. When a contract involves multiple undetermined charges over a period of time (which is pretty much cruise ship like) then I set the exchange rate at the beginning of the contract based on that day exchange rate. I usually renegotiate the exchange rate (also set in contract) if the exchange rate changes by 25%. Then the customer either receives a refund or I have to increase my base rate. You have to find out from RCI how they handle foreign exchanges on credit cards attached to the Sea Pass.

 

Even if RCI has a total different policy it is depending on the Clearing bank (which processes the credit cards for RCI) what exchange rate is being used. They may frequently adjust but have a cut off for each day. So it doesn't matter if the rate went up or down. They may also have fees by their clearing bank included which do not show up extra. You never get the advertised rate. No matter where you exchange your money. The least you will have to pay is an exchange fee. So while searching the internet for the best exchange rate, once you go and exchange it it is a totally different tune.

 

There is many things involved with foreign currency exchange but I don't see it worthwhile to complain for $11. What you should do is, next time just exchange the money and pay cash if you feel a cruise line is ripping you off. And for your peace of mind send them your question how the exchange is being calculated.

[FL_Cruiser64]

Yes, def say something, otherwisenthey wil think it is alright. I am going in September, and want to be billed in $ as I have a $ account, I will be majorly peeved if they charge me in £.

 

If you are using a credit card which accepts dollars RCI will charge you in dollars. A lot of foreign banks don't do it. In your case it is the bank's responsibility to either exchange the dollars or just keep it as dollars.

 

Would be interesting to know if your CC charges you extra for paying out in dollars.

[little britain]

:( Hi Everyone.

We're from the UK, and have just been on NoS from Southampton, UK. Well despite me highlighting the 'credit card company exchanges dollars', and verbally telling the check-out to bill me in dollars, they still billed my credit card in £UK, using their own exchange rate rather than the more favourable credit card exchange rate. Why don't they listen!!!! I'll tell you why.

The sum involved was only small, about $11 difference in their favour, but if there were 1500 couples on this ship averaging say $20 each, that's a lot of money. I've a good mind to complain to the credit card company and put a query on the amount so they have to wait till it's cleared up. Does anyone know who I complain to at RCI, or is it just not worth the effort for such a small sum? Let me know what you think.

Cheers

Martin and Pauline

Hey TommyTV - how are you!!? Yes, this happened to me too! :rolleyes: It was a very small sum so I let it ride - despite having got the highlighter out to indicate how I wanted to be billed!!!! Some one has given you the address and the phone number is 01932 834330

Until we cruise again...!!

[Moeve]

Do you still have your sea pass account from the last morning? Have a look and see what it says on the bottom. If it is not what you wanted you should have had the change it before you left the ship. I have gone to making a copy of my online registration to argue the point before I even leave the ship!!!

 

What you should do is make a copy of the account and your credit card account and send them both expressing your displeasure about the rip off.

 

It happens soo often I already have a letter saved and all I have to do is change the details everytime

[uktraveller]

I think they routinely ignore the requests to be billed in USD because it happened to us too! We had time to contact the desk and get them to change it before we left the ship but it is soo annoying! If people keep complaining they might eventually take notice of that little ticked box. Well we can hope!

[Mydnite]

If you are using a credit card which accepts dollars RCI will charge you in dollars. A lot of foreign banks don't do it. In your case it is the bank's responsibility to either exchange the dollars or just keep it as dollars.

 

Would be interesting to know if your CC charges you extra for paying out in dollars.

 

 

I will not be charged for paying in dollars from that card, as it is a dollar account, it holds dollars and has a balance in dollars, it is not my everyday account. It is not a usual situation.

 

However, in the UK nearly all banks will allow transaction in foreign currencies and they simply convert it when it hits the account.

 

Many CC's in the UK will make a charge for converting dollar charges into sterling, but it can often be a lower charge than is suffered if the cruise line does it due to the converison rates used.

 

I know it is only $11 and that alone may not be worth complaining about. But, if you have said to RCI to charge you in $, then that is what they should do. For one passenger this may be only $11, but depending on exchange rate movements etc this can add up to more. It is not the amount, it is the fact that went against your instructions, and a principle.

 

That said, complaining and bringing t to their attention can be done nicely, that is what I would do, bring it to there attention in a nice way, but they need to know.

[madforcruising]

I don't know how cruise companies work but I can give you a little insight in companies accepting foreign (for us foreign) currency. When a contract involves multiple undetermined charges over a period of time (which is pretty much cruise ship like) then I set the exchange rate at the beginning of the contract based on that day exchange rate. I usually renegotiate the exchange rate (also set in contract) if the exchange rate changes by 25%. Then the customer either receives a refund or I have to increase my base rate. You have to find out from RCI how they handle foreign exchanges on credit cards attached to the Sea Pass.

 

Even if RCI has a total different policy it is depending on the Clearing bank (which processes the credit cards for RCI) what exchange rate is being used. They may frequently adjust but have a cut off for each day. So it doesn't matter if the rate went up or down. They may also have fees by their clearing bank included which do not show up extra. You never get the advertised rate. No matter where you exchange your money. The least you will have to pay is an exchange fee. So while searching the internet for the best exchange rate, once you go and exchange it it is a totally different tune.

 

There is many things involved with foreign currency exchange but I don't see it worthwhile to complain for $11. What you should do is, next time just exchange the money and pay cash if you feel a cruise line is ripping you off. And for your peace of mind send them your question how the exchange is being calculated.

 

 

But the point you miss here is that RCCL ask at check-in / when setting up the set sail pass which way passengers want to be billed. For people using non US billed credit cards they offer the option to be either billed in USD and let the passengers credit card make the exchange or to let RCCL make the exchange and bill the Credit card in Euro/British Pound....

 

So the question here is not how the exchange rate is calculated, but why they didn´t follow the guests wish which was expressed upon check-in, after they offered the choice.

 

 

To the OP,

I had this happen both ways and as it usually was just a minor difference I just let it go.

[TommyTV]

Hi everyone, especially Little Britain! Hope you too are well.

What simply happened was my end of cruise bill showed a balance of $941. I therefore assumed that my credit card would be billed as instructed in $US. The credit card company then does the exchange, showing the exchange rate used to 5 decimal places. In this instance I luckily had another transaction on the CC statement for the same day in $US which the CC company showed the exchange rate used. The RCI entry was in £UK. A quick calculation gave me the $11.00 benefit to RCI.

As I said, it's not the money, it's the fact they didn't listen, a case of selective deafness!

Cheers

Martin & Pauline

[heathermk57]

Hi. This happened to us once. I just went to the purser's desk and asked for it to be changed, which it was without any problems at all.

[Silver smurfer]

Hi all,

 

RCCi did it to me!

 

I got a warning from a previous cruiser who bought shore trips pre cruise in UK £ which were then converted to US$ on the sea pass card and then converted back to UK £ for her credit card - she paid in UK £ considerably more than quoted when she booked the shore trips! Nearly 10% more!

 

When embarking I specifically signed the form to be charged in US $ albeit my card is originally from the UK and I am charged in UK £, the RCCI staff even asked me to sign a waiver statement saying I was prepared to accept any charges from my credit card issuer for doing the conversion!

 

On going-home day I got my sea pass statement and guess what - RCCI had converted the US $ using a very low exchange rate into UK £. I visited guest relations who told me "it was the way the computer does it , but no worry I would be charged in dollars as requested" - she even signed the document to that effect! Guess what, I was charged in UK £ !!!!

 

I contacted customer relations down at Gatwick and each time the representative told me she did not understand and would ring me back , but never did.

 

In the end I went to my credit card issuer who referred to the RCCI scheme as a scam! They had many examples and as the card issuer agent said, "it may only be £10-20 but when it happens to 1,000s of UK customers - it is a nice little earner". Fortunately, my credit card issuer calculated and refunded the difference (£18 in my case) and said they would reclaim it from RCCI. I hope they did.

 

Whilst it may sound petty, RCCI will never do it to me again as i will never cruise with them again.

 

Silver - London UK.

[Pootle]

USE SNAIL MAIL AND WRITE TO THEM!!!!!

 

I learned long ago ringing them is of no use whatsoever, however if you put pen to paper and write to them I have so far found I tend to get a coherant response.

[Moeve]

Those of you with European or UK booking numbers BEWARE when booking shore excursions ahead of time. You are not able to book those US prices!!! They RCCL/ X will book them at the much higher € or Pound sterling prices. If you wait till you get onboard you can also book the US $ rate.

 

 

The worse the US$ rate gets the bigger the rip off right now and the more annoyed I am getting. Just an example. We booked the Mercury for down under the day bookings opened (around 13 months ago). In the mean time our Euro price has stayed at what ever you booked at BUT due to the depreciation (15 - 20%) of the US$ we are basically now paying the equivilant of a balcony cabin but only getting an outside.....

 

Since I am already paying a premium I am sure as hell not going to let them get just 1 penny more than than they are entitled to. I won't leave the ship anymore unless those onboard charges are correctly posted to my credit card.

[BobBeaSea]

Unfortunately this is nothing new, it's done as a matter of routine to every non American onboard. You can check mark the little box on your Setsail on line check-in to your heart's content, you can visit the Guest Relations desk a couple of times during your sailing, expressing your desire to have your SeaPass bill presented in U.S. funds...nothing doing, zip, nada, it ain't going to happen.

 

This is a fair sized profit centre for RCI and they won't willingly give it up. They also know very few people want to argue about it on disembarkation morning. RCI isn't alone in doing this, I would think all the mass market lines have a habit of converting your bill to your home currency against your wishes. Cruise lines seem to be the only vacation destination that does this. Land resorts certainly don't do it.

[standby 06.30]

This was done to us on the Rcl Nav in Jan, I have internet banking so I put it into dispute and it was sorted.

 

In August we were with Carnival the day before we left I went down to customer relations to confirm that I wanted to be billed in $, they told me it was company policy to convert $ to £, they could not give me any other reason to do this, other than the reason I gave them "profit".

 

I then saw the purser on the morning of departure and it was only when I phoned my bank in front of him (first direct 24hr banking) and instructed them to put any transaction from Carnival in £ into dispute that he got a form out and filled it in stating payment in dollars, this after having been told twice it could not be done!

 

I have posted this warning about this twice before.

 

But the temptation for them to nickle and dime people from Europe must be to big for them to resist, with the $ so weak and more and more people from Europe sailing out of the US it is big bucks.regards

[Pootle]

I would also point out beware of any excursions you book before leaving the UK.

You will pay for these in £ if booked here at home, however if the trip is cancelled for any reason (as one of ours was due to Hurricane Dean) RCI will only refund your Sea Pass account in $ and point blank refuse to do a direct repayment in the original currency used to your card. Due to this, from now on I will just decide what trips I want to go on before I leave home and then book them on board.

More people really should start complaining about this - if you just roll over and let them rub your belly every time they are never going to change their policy!

[Moeve]

It does work - sometimes and I have really only gotten nailed once when RCCL tried the trick of putting it through RCCL UK in Pounds Sterling - in effect changing USD to Pond Sterling and then Pound Sterling to Euro. Here in Europe you cannot just call the CC Company and dispute the charges. You basically have to go to the police and have them charged with fraud but becuase the sum is normally nominal and courts are jam packed these sort of things are closed because they are not important enough.

[uktraveller]

I would also point out beware of any excursions you book before leaving the UK.

 

You will pay for these in £ if booked here at home, however if the trip is cancelled for any reason (as one of ours was due to Hurricane Dean) RCI will only refund your SeaPass account in $ and point blank refuse to do a direct repayment in the original currency used to your card. Due to this, from now on I will just decide what trips I want to go on before I leave home and then book them on board.

 

More people really should start complaining about this - if you just roll over and let them rub your belly every time they are never going to change their policy!

 

 

That's outrageous!

[clivep]

RCCL also did it to me!

 

When embarking I specifically signed the form to be charged in US $ as my Nationwide credit card does not charge ANY commission within the exchange rate.

 

On the day of disembarkation my sea pass statement showed that they were converting to UK £. I visited guest relations who corrected this and indeed I did get charged in $.

 

I have just returned from a Celebrity cruise and guess what... they also take no notice of what you select on your embarkation form. The end of cruise statement read "If you hold a credit card issued outside the United States and elected to have your charges converted, the following rates will be used..." but failed to state whether or not they they had paid any attention to your election so it was not until after we got back home that we found we were billed in £. Not only that, but they also used a worse exchange rate than that quoted on the bottom of the statement.

 

We are going on a RCCL cruise tomorrow and we'll see if they can get it right this time.

[Elizanessie]

Hi Clive :D

 

I would suggest you use a highlighter on the part about your choice of how you want onboard account charged to your CC ...and perhaps mention it when checking in and even go so far as to request something in writing?

 

Hope you have a wonderful time on the Legend :D

[FionaMG]

Hi everyone.

 

I'm totally hopeless where currency conversion is concerned. I can't get my brain around it all, so help me out here please. I will be cruising in a couple of weeks. My credit card is in euros. On my setsail pass (assuming RCI pay attention, which seems to be the problem in this case) is it better for me to choose option A - pay in the currency of my card and use RCI's currency conversion or B - have my credit card issuer convert? I know my cc issuer makes a small charge but really I'm thinking about how much effect the euro/dollar exchange rate will have and I just can't work out which would be more advantageous (to me, as opposed to RCI, of course!) :confused:

 

Thanks.

[Azhure]

I think they routinely ignore the requests to be billed in USD because it happened to us too! We had time to contact the desk and get them to change it before we left the ship but it is soo annoying! If people keep complaining they might eventually take notice of that little ticked box. Well we can hope!

 

I totally agree, if we don't dispute these "minor" costs, they will never get it. I have never had any other company outside Canada use their own exchange rates. When ever I order something, it is charged in the currency of the country and I (or my CC company) take care of any exchange rates.

As someone else pointed out. $11 is not a lot, but multiply that by the number of cruisers, and it adds up!