Carnival Customer Dis-Service

[mummy]

In late 2003, I made reservations for the "Saints and Sinners" cruise this past October and made my $50 deposit using a debit card from Bank of America. In May of 2004, I reluctantly cancelled my reservation because I was buying a house and I knew that I'd still be penniless in October. :-) At the time I cancelled, I asked the travel agency to ask Carnival to issue the refund via check because I had closed my BOA account a couple of months earlier.

 

In September, I still hadn't received my refund, so I contacted the travel agency. "Carnival credited the $50 to the debit card". I contacted BOA. "No credit was received". This went back and forth until the end of October.

 

I got a letter from BOA stating that no credit was received and faxed it to both the travel agency and Carnival the beginning of November. No response from either.

 

Last week, I faxed the letter from BOA (again) to the travel agency and to Carnival.

 

An agent at the travel agency is attempting to resolve the issue, but Carnival has (thus far) refused to send a letter stating that the credit was not returned by the bank. Carnival is basically refusing to do anything.

 

I'm going to file complaints with the Miami/Dade County Consumer Protection Division, the Florida Division of Consumer Services, the Miami-Dade County Better Business Bureau, and Cruise Line International Association.

 

I'm just grateful it was only $50 and not the total "normal" deposit amount.

 

grumble.....I just want my money back.....

[selucrey]

Hey mummy, ya missed a good time on the SINsation! Hope you can make the next one.

Seems that Carnival or TA should have a record of any transactions such as wire-transfers,E-mail credits, etc. I would request a copy. Keep us up-dated!

[mummy]

I agree that Carnival should be able to produce records. Thus far, they have refused to do so. The attitude seems to be "Trust us, we *REALLY* did send you the money, but no, we're not going to prove it."

 

I do hope to be cruising in 2005.

[Cruisin' S'more]

Sorry you had to cancel your cruise, but owning a house is nice too. :D

Mummy, you have to remember that Carnival is NOT a HUGE and SUCESSFUL Cruise line. They can't afford to send you your REALLY BIG $50 refund check until they are absolutley sure that B of A did send it back (evidently needing more than a confirmation letter on their letterhead). :rolleyes: Hope everything gets straightened out real soon. :)

 

(hey Carnival...can you take a hint???)

[selucrey]

Sorry you had to cancel your cruise' date=' but owning a house is nice too. :D

Mummy, you have to remember that Carnival is [b']NOT a HUGE [/b]and SUCESSFUL Cruise line. They can't afford to send you your REALLY BIG $50 refund check until they are absolutley sure that B of A did send it back (evidently needing more than a confirmation letter on their letterhead). :rolleyes: Hope everything gets straightened out real soon. :)

 

(hey Carnival...can you take a hint???)

I like your assessment of the situation! :D

[BetterLateThannever]

Mummy,

 

Not to rain on your parade or anything, but after reading your email I couldn't help but think you may have lost perspective.

 

We're talking about $50 here..right? By all means take prudent action to recover the funds, but in the grand scheme of things try to keep in mind, it really isn't worth all that aggravation.

 

I believe in fighting for a principle as much as anyone, but I sure wouldn't let this sour me on cruising in general, or Carnival in particular.

 

Just my $.02.

[Cotton]

Jim, I agree.:rolleyes:

[colette5479]

I don't think it is as much the money as it is the principle(sp?). Think about how many times this can happen and think about how many people probably don't pursue it because the amount is so small. So where does the money go then?:confused:

 

I work in healthcare and it is not uncommon for insurance companies to hold on to monies that belong to the insured. Most people don't know they should fight for it, therefore they never get it. Same problem, different industry.

 

Just something to ponder....have a great weekend!

[steveaaaa]

In late 2003, I made reservations for the "Saints and Sinners" cruise this past October,

In September, I still hadn't received my refund,

I too had trouble with a Cruise critic group cruise:mad: .

 

It was for this up and coming Partie pirates cruise in Feb 2005 I believe. I paid with a Money order and I cancelled,my friends cancelled (also paid with MO)and 2 months ago another couple cancelled. Myself and my friends took weeks to get our deposit back from the TA. The thing that bothered me the most, was I rebooked the same cruise with another TA for another $100 cheaper than the CC group including the onboard credit, but as a Quad, I had to put up $1000.:eek:

Now I had $2000 outlayed for the same cruise. 2 weeks later I cancelled it and moved it up a month earlier for another $75 savings,but when I cancelled it the second time,I got my $$ back in 5 days.

 

I also had trouble on this Years Cruise critic group cruise (Conquestadors)getting my $50 on board credit.On board I never got it.It too 2 months and a certified letter to get it.

Steve <--Black cloud always follows me:)

[dickinson]

I hope the OP gets the $50 back as it is their money. I too would be doing all I could to get it back and would be upset if I was having trouble. Luckily it is "only" $50 instead of the normal amount but how many of us don't hesitate to call Carnival or our TA when the price goes down to save $50 and are upset if we find we have a TA who won't do it? In the grand scheme of things $50 is not much and not worth hiring a lawyer for but I would expect it back and would also expect Carnival not to give me a hard time about it. If they did I would send a certified letter with return receipt requested to Bob Dickinson explaining the situation.

[basketsiam]

I don't think it is as much the money as it is the principle(sp?). Think about how many times this can happen and think about how many people probably don't pursue it because the amount is so small. So where does the money go then?:confused:

I have to agree. Issuing a credit should not be that big of a deal. We readily expect this kind of service from our small local businesses, so why should this be so difficult from Carnival? In these days of electronic funds transfers and instant credit for purchases, credits for cancelled cruises (or any other services or merchandise) should be timely.

[steveaaaa]

I have to agree. Issuing a credit should not be that big of a deal. We readily expect this kind of service from our small local businesses, so why should this be so difficult from Carnival? In these days of electronic funds transfers and instant credit for purchases, credits for cancelled cruises (or any other services or merchandise) should be timely.

I have to disagree with you for a few reasons. The whole problem here is not CCL but the OP. The OP messed it up by cancelling his card. You are right as far as the electronic tranfers but the OP wants a check.That is what is or has messed this up. One issue that is overlooked here is fee's. Regardless of the amount of the charge there still is a transaction fee and if the funds are not returned to the source,the fee's still apply. So by CCL sending a check,they are losing the card fee's they paid plus the cost's of printing and sending a check. I also wonder what CCL's terms are with their merchant provider. I know with my CC terminals that all credits must go thru my tranz and if the receipient does not hold a valid card the credit will sit with my merchant provider in limbo. This balances my totals.Why would CCL want to do tons of research for something they did not create.

The best thing the OP could do is to dispute the charge./withdrawl with his bank. I don't understand why he has not. This is the easiest thing to do.The debit is reversed and the burden is on the other parties. I wonder if we are missing part of the story? Did the OP card get shut off? That is why he wanted a check? (closed account will still get a check from the bank when the bank receives it.Banks are audited all the time for accuracy)

Steve

[mummy]

The best thing the OP could do is to dispute the charge./withdrawl with his bank. I don't understand why he has not. This is the easiest thing to do.The debit is reversed and the burden is on the other parties. I wonder if we are missing part of the story? Did the OP card get shut off? That is why he wanted a check? (closed account will still get a check from the bank when the bank receives it.Banks are audited all the time for accuracy)

Steve

 

1. I requested and received a letter from the bank stating that the credit was not received. That letter was provided to Carnival six weeks ago.

 

2. It was not a credit card, it was a debit card. The checking account that the debit card was associated with was closed six weeks before the reservation was cancelled and approximately four months before Carnival claims that they refunded the credit (incidentally closer to 90 days than 60 days that a refund is supposed to be processed in)

 

3. Because the account was already closed, the bank did not accept the credit, and bounced the credit back to Carnival (see number 1 above). Therefore, there is no money there for the bank to cut me a check from. If anything showed up on an audit, it would be an audit of either Carnival or Carnival's bank.

 

4. A debit must be disputed within 60 days of it appearing on the original statement. The original debit was done in September 2003, so disputing the charge is not a viable solution (it would have needed to have been disputed several months before the whole credit issue came up).

 

5. So far, Carnival has come up with three different dates that they claim they issued the credit on. .

 

6. The bank will be setting up a conference call among the bank, Carnival, the travel agent, and myself as soon as I get a phone number/contact name for someone with Carnival from the travel agent. If I can get myself out of the middle between the bank and Carnival, I hope that this matter can be resolved.

 

The travel agent is being extremely helpful and is definitely working with me on this problem. I definitely wouldn't hesitate to book through them again.