Caution: Check your Credit Card Bill

[CocoKai]

Off the Pearl to Alaska and received our Credit Card statement with our final balance as well as another charge made by NCL about 3 weeks after cruise. I called NCL and was told is was a "mini bar" charge. We never touched the mini bar and never even opened the doors to look if we had one. The customer service agent removed the charge from my bill a little to readily and easy...I was surprised.

 

Warned my sister about it and had her look at her bill when it came it. Same thing, roughly the same amount and the same response from NCL.

 

Not claiming it's an easy way to bump up the bottom line but how many people would (1) notice it and (2) take the time to find the right contact to correct it.

[G'ma]

Off the Pearl to Alaska and received our Credit Card statement with our final balance as well as another charge made by NCL about 3 weeks after cruise. I called NCL and was told is was a "mini bar" charge. We never touched the mini bar and never even opened the doors to look if we had one. The customer service agent removed the charge from my bill a little to readily and easy...I was surprised.

 

Warned my sister about it and had her look at her bill when it came it. Same thing, roughly the same amount and the same response from NCL.

 

Not claiming it's an easy way to bump up the bottom line but how many people would (1) notice it and (2) take the time to find the right contact to correct it.

 

Electronic errors occur all the time. I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't go over their credit card bill when it arrives. That would be foolish.

[AFAMILY]

Electronic errors occur all the time. I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't go over their credit card bill when it arrives. That would be foolish.

 

Our onboard account showed mini-bar charges for about $12 on our last cruise even though we had all the items removed by the steward. I asked about it at the front desk before debarkation and was assured it would be removed, it never was. I figured for $12 it wasn't worth my time to try and recover it. If it had been a large amount I would have.

 

It pays to check your onboard statement as well.

 

Happy Cruising! :)

[kontraxed]

I agree that I would check the credit card bill particularly closely after a cruise. I have some thoughts on this.

 

1. I have read that when you get on the ship you can request to have the mini-bar totally emptied out. This gives you more room for your drinks and removes temptation to use those over-priced products that are stocked in there.

 

2. Was that mini-bar charge listed on the room statement that you get, while on board, prior to the end of the cruise? I think it would be frustrating to receive charges in addition to that statement after the cruise.

 

3. I hope it's not misplaced, but I have confidence that NCL would not make a practice of cheating their customers and that these were actual errors.

 

Otherwise, I hope you enjoyed your cruise!

[MrLee]

Our onboard account showed mini-bar charges for about $12 on our last cruise even though we had all the items removed by the steward. I asked about it at the front desk before debarkation and was assured it would be removed, it never was. I figured for $12 it wasn't worth my time to try and recover it. If it had been a large amount I would have.

 

It pays to check your onboard statement as well.

 

Happy Cruising! :)

 

 

I had pretty much the same thing happen last year on the repo. The first day I had the steward empty the minibar. I noticed the charge midway through and after 4 trips to the desk and a talk with the steward it was removed. When I got the final bill it was back. I also figured it wasn't worth the hassel for a couple of bucks but it did leave kind of a sour taste after the cruise. :(

[CanadianTwosome]

I was at the grocery store yesterday and my total sounded really high, so I wasn't surprised when I checked my receipt to find that there was a strange entry on it, to the tune of $20. It turned out to be a key error on the part of the cashier and so I was being charged for the $20 item instead of a $1 item. It happens, and it happens a LOT. I've never had it happen on a cruise (or after), but if it ever does, I'll take it in stride.

 

I believe very strongly in checking receipts and statements. I've worked with cash and billing many times over the years, as well as computers, and I know that errors are just too common not to. The bigger a company and the more customers they bill, especially when many of the charges are small like one drink at a time, the more possibilities for error exist. I don't think it's surprising at all that NCL customers find errors in their billing. I'll bet there are even some that find errors in their favour... they probably don't call to have them adjusted, though! :p

[noreddye]

We sailed on the Spirit in Feb 08. We were charged for not returning the "bucket" for the bucket of beer. We went to the congierge desk and they promptly removed the charge. Of course, I had to show the receipt that proved that we returned the "bucket".

[sunquest76]

While on the PoH in January, we were not allowed to debark until we had cleared up an accounting issue on our onboard account. We checked our account frequently throughout the trip and had no problems with any of the charges. Sometime between going to bed on the last night and trying to debark, a minibar charge had been added. When we went to leave, our card was swiped and a audible signal indicated that we had charges on our account. We simply went to the desk (unfortunately along with 50 other people) to clear it up. The charge was removed and we never saw it come up again. It was dealt with on the spot, although not very quickly - there were a LOT of irrate people in that line. I was a little peeved, but took it in stride since I was still on vacation and like to relax not get worked up.

[CocoKai]

Our final statement on the ship was absolutely correct. We always dump our receipts in one drawer so we have back-up info and it helps remember what we bought.

 

This charge came as a separate line item on our credit card bill and it was posted about 2.5-3 weeks after our cruise. Same story for my sister. Both of the charges were around $50-$60 each.

 

The NCL rep that we spoke to (2 different people) dropped the charge like a hot potato. Now, I haven't rechecked my card but i hope that happened.

 

I normally would have emptied the mini bar but we were in Alaska and the collapsable cooler we had on the balcony kept drinks at a sub artic temperature without ice.

[Sally Forth]

I agree that I would check the credit card bill particularly closely after a cruise. I have some thoughts on this.

 

1. I have read that when you get on the ship you can request to have the mini-bar totally emptied out. This gives you more room for your drinks and removes temptation to use those over-priced products that are stocked in there.

 

2. Was that mini-bar charge listed on the room statement that you get, while on board, prior to the end of the cruise? I think it would be frustrating to receive charges in addition to that statement after the cruise.

 

3. I hope it's not misplaced, but I have confidence that NCL would not make a practice of cheating their customers and that these were actual errors.

 

Otherwise, I hope you enjoyed your cruise!

 

On our last cruise, the Pride of Hawaii was being changed over to the Jade when we got off the boat. Two days before the end of the cruise, they emptied all the minibars. By chance, that night my sisters and I were talking about how comfortable three people would be in a cabin and tried pulling out the sofa. WOW! The steward had put all the minibar contents under the sofa. We ran over to my Mom's cabin and it was the same thing.

 

We told the steward that we knew his secret and he said the ship was getting a big big clean in LA and they didn't want the contracted cleaners to steal from the bar.

 

Viv

[salty dingo]

We told the steward that we knew his secret and he said the ship was getting a big big clean in LA and they didn't want the contracted cleaners to steal from the bar.

Oh boy, what a lame excuse! Of course, cleaners would never clean under a sofa, right? It never gets dirty under there!!

 

Looks like there is some staff pilfering going on. I hope they can nip this in the bud. We sailed on Pearl recently and so far, only the one, correct charge has shown up. We used our fridge a lot but did not take anything out of there that was not ours to begin with.

[Sally Forth]

We are very honest but were curious as to what would have happened if we had taken the little bottles of booze.

 

Viv

[terrymtex01]

We check our credit card statement like our lives depended on it. I don't honestly think most businesses do put charges on your card "in error" to make money, but I do think it happens a lot in honest errors. We went out to eat a couple of years ago at a restaurant in a small town next to the one we live in. OH MAN was it horrible. Anyway it was like $50.00+/- . No big deal. We tried it, didn't like it, went on our way. Well, the charge showed up like three or four days later on the credit card billing. Then, three or four weeks go by and the exact charge showed up again, however it was to a different company name. Looked on the internet and this company owned a trailer park in this small town we had eaten in. We went through HECK trying to get the credit card company (NCL's BOA card to be specific) to take care of it because it was showing up as being charged to the different company and they were thinking it was a different charge. When all else failed, I was going to contact the local district attorney just to see if there was anything we could do to get the restaurant to assume responsibility and get us our money back. I thought I would try and just call the restaurant and tell them what happened and that they had a dishonest person working for them. Come to find out, the week after we left the restaurant had been sold to that other company - the one that owns the trailer park- and when all of the stuff was switched over to the new company, all of the credit card charges for the week we had eaten there were put through again, supposedly in error. They said they had been working with their credit card processing vendor to get them all reversed, but mostly it was being done by people calling in like I had. They credited it right away. BOY that was the most work I had done for $50.00 in my life. LOL

[ohioNCLcruiser]

Mini Bar charges are the easiest for them to mess up. However, they are the easiest ones to remove so just come down to the front desk. They can pull up a copy of the bill and see exactly was charged and have it voided. If it shows your signature thats a different story though! If it isn't removed then it was lost somewhere in the steps

 

you present it to the receptionist-into the finance departments box-Assistant financial accountant removes it. You can skip those middle steps and wait for the on board credit desk to open and the assistant financial accountant there will remove it. Less chances of it being lost in a step.

 

Once on the last night of the cruise all these charges were suppose to be transfered from one account to another. I filled out all the paper work (almost 30 charges) and submitted it to the finance department. We will call that guest A.

 

Later that night guests B come down who are owed on board credit and for their service charges to be removed (Hotel Director, Front office manager and Housekeeping manager agreed to this) and I put in all the paper work for this to be done and put it into the Finance box.

 

Well the next morning (my last morning on the ship, was signing off that day) as guests were starting to leave the ship and head home guests A and B were in line and very upset. None of the items that needed to be corrected were and of course I got yelled at because clearly I wasn't doing my job! I told the finance person who was suppose to do it and didn't and they were sorry but they didn't have to face the guests! Lesson is try to eliminate as many middle steps as possible. Wait for the OBC desk to be opened and take it up with them!

[AFT_LOVER]

AMEX has taught us with their fraud dept doing their best. We were flying to HI and had a stop over in Houston. There we had lunch & charged it to our AMEX. The waitress comes over after takin the card & returning it with the charge slip. She needed it again since she stated the charge did not go thru, but we had the slip. Husband gave her the card & she came right back that all was OK. 3 weeks later AMEX calls asking if we made an $8000 heating & AC purchase from a Houston Tx company. We are in OH so that installation would be a joke. Her name was the same as mine but husband wasn't the same. So they had her arrested for fraud. Then she tried to by an RCCL cruise & I was charged by RCCL. They had her & my name the same, so they put thru the charge to the one they knew. Bank of America checked it out with my TA & charged them back.

 

So daily I enter all receipts on the 3 cards we have on Microsoft Money. Even air miles & cruise credits are perfect every month. Let something not add up or seem as unknown, and the credit card company checks it out.

 

Never had a bad charge from NCL as we did on other lines.

[bplazo]

I had one show up on my bill but it was only a $1.00 and it was on the morning disembarking so I just let it go. Now if it had been in the middle of the cruise I would have disputed it.

[jollycruise]

We sailed on the Spirit in Feb 08. We were charged for not returning the "bucket" for the bucket of beer. We went to the congierge desk and they promptly removed the charge. Of course, I had to show the receipt that proved that we returned the "bucket".

 

What? We got several Buckets of Beer and we never had to return any of the buckets. That's just crazy they did that to you!

[salty dingo]

guests A and B were in line and very upset. None of the items that needed to be corrected were and of course I got yelled at because clearly I wasn't doing my job! I told the finance person who was suppose to do it and didn't and they were sorry but they didn't have to face the guests!

Wow! James, I did not realize part of your job was taking the heat for other people's mistakes. That's takes a lot of backbone! Thanks for sharing!

[uppitycats]

This is not directed at anybody, just a generalized statement: I find it amazing to learn that people don't carefully check their credit card bill, or their hotel bill, or any bill, before paying it! I've learned about folks that just simply write a check and pay the minimum (or sometimes pay off the balance) without even really looking to see what was charged there! Incredible, at least to me!

 

I carefully check each entry, compare it to receipts which I keep, and only pay when I'm certain I know what I'm paying for, and that the charges are accurate. And I do that immediately upon getting the bill -- not waiting until 2 days before the bill is due, when I might be in a rush -- so I can go back and check the entry's validity.

 

Every so often I'll encounter an entry that puzzles me --to find that the company I might have done business with does their billing through some other company. Doing that to me will almost certainly lead to a dispute being made with the credit card company.

[cassrebecca]

I always bring cash and use that instead of giving a credit card. I also check my bill once a day so that I can stay on top of any problems that may come up.