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Black Friday System Malfunction Refunds Cruise Fare In Error Then Threatens To Cancel Cabin For Nonpayment


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I'm sharing my experience to advise the aftermath of the Black Friday System Malfunction.  As RCL is realizing their errors, they're reaching out to customers to correct "their accounting".   

A Senior Manager at Royal Caribbean shared there was a major accounting error on Royal Caribbean's part during the Black Friday Sale calling it a "System Malfunction".  It seems when a package was purchased from the cruise planner then later canceled, the money was refunded, however RCL advised the refund was allocated in error towards the cruise fare (already paid in full) instead of the cruise planner.  This resulted in the cruise fare having a "balance due".  The stateroom is now in danger of being given away for nonpayment as sailing is in a few days.  RCL insisted on my paying the almost $500 balance due, again, so their accounting error is corrected and the cabin saved.  They'll then refund the same amount from their other accounting system, in 7-10 business days correcting their error which will reflect on my credit card after I return from my sailing.    

My travel agent also advised upon further review in working with the Senior Manager the past few days, they are finding more and more clients who this happened to.

I'm extremely confused to say very the least, the reason the customer is being held accountable for correcting the accounting at RCL.

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Sorry this is impacting you this way.  BF was a sh** show for sure.  I think your specific issue is less prevalent than most, it is certainly more painful.

I think in your shoes, I would pay the $500 and let them hold it hostage to ensure your cruise.  Then I think I would also ask for some consideration for the trouble they've caused in the form of an OBC or specialty dining.

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We had similar issues with our Ovation cruise last May and my wife's with friends on Mariner in June. Had nothing to do with any particular sale, just cruise planner cancellations/repurchases after final payment. Called multiple times to get the exact same issue corrected repeatedly. They "fixed" it then they system issued the same "hey you still owe us money" email a couple days later. Ended up getting multiple bottles of wine and a little OBC but not enough to offset the time spent escalating the issue.

I agree with @Xaathat your best approach is probably to pay the difference and then have your TA fight like crazy later for additional compensation.

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1 hour ago, HeWhoWaits said:

We had similar issues with our Ovation cruise last May and my wife's with friends on Mariner in June. Had nothing to do with any particular sale, just cruise planner cancellations/repurchases after final payment. Called multiple times to get the exact same issue corrected repeatedly. They "fixed" it then they system issued the same "hey you still owe us money" email a couple days later. Ended up getting multiple bottles of wine and a little OBC but not enough to offset the time spent escalating the issue.

I agree with @Xaathat your best approach is probably to pay the difference and then have your TA fight like crazy later for additional compensation.

Thank you for sharing a similar experience.  Royal Caribbean certainly needs to do better!  The pathetic attempt of compensation is appalling and insulting.   

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I had the same sort of thing happen a year ago, cancelled and repurchased some CP items. I never even realized that not everything was refunded, I'm tracking things better now. Anyway when I went to make final payment my TA told me that Royal couldn't tell me how much it was. I knew how much and my TA agreed so that's what we paid. They then said there was still a discrepancy. Now we were past final payment and I was getting nervous about the cruise getting cancelled. A JS to Alaska that would be impossible to replace. Fortunately the amount they said I owed was less than the gratuities that I pre-paid so my cruise fare was fulling paid. Eventually it got straightened out and I may have even come out ahead due to multiple refunds of the same amount. This all had me well prepared for the BF fiasco as I kept meticulous records of everything, it may have taken several weeks but all was finalized correctly.

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16 hours ago, melmar02 said:

I have an excursion I need to cancel, and all these horror stories are making me nervous. I'm not losing our first star class room over $250 though!

 

I've canceled numerous packages/excursions and they were all processed correctly during that glitch time.  This one package, for whatever reasoning they want to use, wasn't.  It appeared on my end as refunded correctly to my credit card and canceled/refunded in the cruise planner correctly.  Then the unexpected news out of left field is feels as if they're pulling a shady deal on you like a NYC sidewalk shell game.  

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My remaining balance suddenly go up several hundred dollars for my September cruise. I called RC and they corrected the balance to original number. But 2 days later, it happened again. The balance spiked again. I messaged them on their FB messenger, they corrected the number again.

Let see for the next few days if this glitch will repeat again. I am really confused.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Had the same thing happen to me on Allure of the Sea's from Galveston on April 9th.  First indication that I got was notice from RCCL that cancelled All Access Tour on ship, Spa Massage for wife, and Voom + Stream internet package.  Notice said I would be refunded to original Credit card for purchases in 10 to 14 days....  Later my two rooms for cruise with family were cancelled.  Called travel agent, and they worked it out after talking with 7 different people at RCCL over 2 hours on phone.....Hold on it gets better....  Later I got email saying my stepsons room has a balance due of ( I can't remember how much.)  I knew this was BS cause I had my TA pay off both rooms with credit card previously.  I knew it was paid off because my Credit Card online account said RCCL had been paid balances due on both rooms....    Sad thing now is my stepson's room is on a different floor now cause they had cancelled it, and had to give me another room....  I quess my son has to pay for someone else's mistake.  Not a WOW experience this LOYAL ROYAL customer wanted..  Just so you know, this is not my first rodeo on a cruise ship.  So I am going to show up in Galveston like I have 10 times before and I hope they let me on the ship.  Lets see how it goes from there.

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