Concern about Refunds for Items Pre-Purchased Ahead of Sailing

[Bill G]

Hi Friends -- my first Royal Caribbean cruise is in under one week aboard Independence of the Seas.  I'm excited especially since my first Royal Caribbean cruise was originally planned during the first summer of Covid.

 

But I'm also concerned (somewhat exasperated) about an aspect of my cruise planning experience thus far.  I wanted to gather feedback from anyone who may have had a similar experience when cancelling a drink package (or other items pre-purchased ahead of sailing).

 

Summary:

• 4/25/22:  Purchased refreshment package using my credit card.
• 4/26/22:  Cancelled refreshment package -- received e-mail stating refund was issued to my credit card.
• 5/29/22:  Approx one month passed -- while reconciling my monthly transactions, I realized no refund was issued to my credit card.
• 5/30/22:  Called Royal Caribbean to inquire -- agent advised me he would contact accounting department for a transaction number and that I should call back in 7-10 business days for that transaction number.
• 5/31/22:  Called my bank to determine if the bank could see anything about a refund on their end.  They recommended disputing the charge, and so I disputed the charge.
• 6/11/22:  Called Royal Caribbean to follow-up -- agent provided me transaction number, and while doing so the agent also revealed last four digits of the credit card to which the refund was issued.  The refund was not issued to my credit card.  I explained this concern to the Royal Caribbean agent.
• 6/12/22:  Asked a member of my traveling party what the last four of her credit card is.  Last four of girlfriend's credit card matched the last four provided to me by Royal Caribbean.  Also confirmed a credit was, in fact, issued to this other credit card.
• 6/18/22:  Called Royal Caribbean to follow-up and request some form of service recovery for the company's mistake and, importantly, for the time I spent trying to understand that the refund was issued to a different credit card belonging to my girlfriend.  Request for service recovery was denied by Royal Caribbean since a refund was issued (albeit to the wrong credit card).  Asked to speak with a supervisor.  Request was granted and call was dropped during call transfer.  Moments later I received a call from Royal Caribbean -- nothing heard from other end after I answered call.  Call dropped.  Feeling a bit exasperated at this point.

 

1.  Has anyone had a similar experience with a refund being issued to a credit card other than that card to which the refund e-mail indicated the refund would be issued?

2.  Is it reasonable for me to think the time I spent trying to understand what happened (and for the mistake Royal Caribbean made) is worth some form of compensation?

3.  Does anyone recommend a more effective means of obtaining some form of compensation other than contacting Royal Caribbean at 800-327-6700?

 

Sorry for the long message -- thought it would be prudent to share relevant details to communicate the time I spent trying to figure out what happened.  Thanks for anyone who can provide constructive feedback.

[SpeedNoodles]

Since the restart (and pre-Covid), I've always received my refund within 5 business days.  During Covid it was an entirely different matter.  That being said, it does happen to some people.  I don't think you'll get anywhere trying to get something for your time.

[HeWhoWaits]

32 minutes ago, Bill G said:

Has anyone had a similar experience with a refund being issued to a credit card other than that card to which the refund e-mail indicated the refund would be issued?

We've had refunds issued to a different card that was used with Royal, but never to someone NOT on our reservation. For example, we typically use one card to pay for the cruise itself and a different card for Cruise Planner purchases. We've had CP refunds issue to the cruise card instead of the "original form of payment."

[Moby Dick]

The cruise industry has made itself fairly bullet proof (legally harmless).  My wife has a lawyer who actually specializes in suing cruise lines (that's not what she has him for) and he says that it's almost impossible to successfully sue a cruise line (don't know if I actually believe that.  But, I'm not a big fan of lawyers anyway, and that after 20 years in Law Enforcement), EXCEPT for trips & falls (injuries) & things like food poisoning.  So, I believe, that getting a cruise line like Royal to pay you for your time is like pi$$ing against the wind, regardless of what a lawyer says.  But, you'll get nothing if you don't try!

[Pooch]

Did your GF not notice she had a credit from RCCL that didn’t belong to her?

[sleepy425]

During the COVID shutdown I had refunds for port fees and onboard purchases sent to cards that were not used for that particular purchase.  My dad and I had a cruise together and we had quite a time sorting out all of our refunds to make sure it was all correct. It's like Royal had a list of any card I've ever used with them and just randomly picked one to refund to. 

[Bill G]

12 hours ago, Pooch said:

Did your GF not notice she had a credit from RCCL that didn’t belong to her?

Thanks for your question, Pooch.

In fact, our cruise itinerary changed at around the same time as I cancelled the beverage package. As a result of the itinerary change, my girlfriend cancelled our Chops+1 dining package because the new schedule didn’t line up quite as cleanly as the original itinerary based on what we are planning to do for each day of the cruise.

Unfortunately, the refund for the dining package came back in multiple refund transactions, and so the transaction to refund the beverage package to a different credit card than the one used to make the purchase got mixed in among the dining package refund transactions and, frankly, missed.

With that said, if I sent you an email saying I refunded you $162 to credit card ending in 1234, then wouldn’t your expectation be that $162 is refunded to credit card ending in 1234 and not credit card ending in 7890?

Perhaps the more fundamental question I’m pursuing to is why should I as a customer have to chase down what happened to my refunded money?

This refund business practice employed by Royal Caribbean doesn’t seem like a very sound one to me.

Thoughts?

Thanks, Bill

[Pooch]

May be what we should expect but not what seems to happen with Royal.  As you seemed to have done, after a couple of weeks, I would have disputed the charge with my CC company and let them deal with it.

[Dad2Cue]

On 6/18/2022 at 1:22 PM, Bill G said:

1.  Has anyone had a similar experience with a refund being issued to a credit card other than that card to which the refund e-mail indicated the refund would be issued?

It has happened to me but never to a credit card that wasn't mine.  I just check all my credit cards to see where the refund went.  I have learned with Royal you need to expect the unexpected.  I don't get too bent out of shape about it. 

I believe they have a weird accounting system. 

During Covid, I was told all the refunds were being done manually.   I have used different credit cards but the refund amounts never matched anything remotely close to the "original payment method".  Cruise planner purchases were consistently correct but not all the time.

I somewhat enjoy catching their mistakes when it isn't in my favor.  I just call and ask someone if it is correct.  They usually acknowledge the mistake and correct it with another mistake in my favor -- then I say it must be correct and I don't say anything!

[Spang1974]

Unfortunately I had Royal refund a FCC (they did this without me asking for a refund) of over $2000 (yes thousand) to the wrong person's card, several emails, phone calls, and chat session ensued to no reasonable solution other than having to pay the balance of our cruise again.