Black Friday credit card charges DISAPPEARED !!!

[Vlad]

6 minutes ago, Dad2Cue said:

As long as cruise planner still shows my items in my purchase history ... I'm not too worried.  Maybe I should be worried ... However, if the temporary authorizations disappear but my purchase history stays the same ... I will be glad.  I don't know how to feel about it yet.

I got an email confirming my purchase.  

Yes, same here, not too worried, but somewhat... 

Purchase history showing all booked and cruise planner. Reservation email and credit card charge was almost right after purchase. 

Just very strange with credit card, authorization holds after purchase, 99.99% of times become credit card charges and not disappeare! 

That's my experience with online purchases. Done it probably hundreds of times or thousands... 

[FionaMG]

4 hours ago, TXcruzer said:

If your travel agent is charging your card for your fare and not Royal directly, that’s a whole different concern.  

 

4 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

^^^THIS BIG TIME^^^

Any credible TA should not be charging you directly. The charges should show up as Royal Caribbean on your credit card. This is a whole other shady issue....yikes.

 

4 hours ago, SpeedNoodles said:

Agreed.  I don't believe they are allowed to just pick the fare that they want to charge. 

While I realise that this is a cause for concern in North America, it depends on the market. Here in Europe (or at least in the UK and Portugal, which are the two I have personal experience of) the system is different. The customer pays the travel agent, not the cruise line (unless they booked direct). The travel agent is billed by the cruise line for all of the relevant payments in the payment period in question (often monthly but different agencies can have different agreements). Consequently, the credit card charge is shown as being to the TA and not the cruise line. There's nothing shady about it on this side of the pond, just a different way of working.

[Vlad]

Hey guys, any updates? 

My charges are still missing from the credit card, after pending hold disappeared... 

[Dad2Cue]

38 minutes ago, Vlad said:

Hey guys, any updates? 

My charges are still missing from the credit card, after pending hold disappeared... 

My pending charges on my credit card disappeared overnight.  My purchases in cruise planner are unchanged.  Ethically ... I probably should say something but eventually I will forget about it as long as my purchases remain.

I think I will wait a week or two and see what happens.

[Vlad]

14 minutes ago, Dad2Cue said:

My pending charges on my credit card disappeared overnight.  My purchases in cruise planner are unchanged.  Ethically ... I probably should say something but eventually I will forget about it as long as my purchases remain.

I think I will wait a week or two and see what happens.

Yes, you have exactly same problem now. I can't decide what to do if anything either.... 

[Dad2Cue]

13 minutes ago, Vlad said:

Yes, you have exactly same problem now. I can't decide what to do if anything either.... 

I cancelled something and bought it back for 50% off.  Both transactions happened within minutes of each other.   The refund posted within two days.  The repurchase part of the deal seems to have disappeared.  It is hard to complain about something like that.  In the past, I needed  to wait for a month for a refund to happen.  I guess I can wait that long for the purchase transaction to happen.  As long as they don't say I never purchased it.

[Vlad]

6 minutes ago, Dad2Cue said:

I cancelled something and bought it back for 50% off.  Both transactions happened within minutes of each other.   The refund posted within two days.  The repurchase part of the deal seems to have disappeared.  It is hard to complain about something like that.  In the past, I needed  to wait for a month for a refund to happen.  I guess I can wait that long for the purchase transaction to happen.  As long as they don't say I never purchased it.

Yes, seems like at this moment refunds are working like they should, like in the stores. 3 business days... 

Of course, not saying comp main, just worrying that transactions are complete. Since after credit card transaction is processed, there's long reference # attached to it. Since transaction isn't processed, there's no reference #. 

All we have to go on to is initial order #. 

And who knows, Royal may later just cancel them all and say that credit card denied them all. 

All will end up with this purchases, and of course without 50% or less discounts. 

[Dad2Cue]

4 minutes ago, Vlad said:

All will end up with this purchases, and of course without 50% or less discounts.

Except my item was sold out when I traded it in.   Then it had one available when I repurchased it.  It was slick and smooth and I was feeling good about it.  Since I repurchased the last one ... what happens if Royal says I didn't purchase it?

[Starrynight0154]

Everything is the same for me, pending charges still are missing. I have email confirmations and screenshots of everything in case it escalates. My plan is to wait a few more days. When I log into the website reservations still show they are booked, so I’m not too concerned. 

[jbrinkm]

I went ahead and contacted Chase about these charges. They said that they were originally approved on the 9th but then Royal cancelled the transactions. My 2 missing charges on the card are still active and valid in the cruise planner. So then I called Royal and got through right away. He checked my planner and said my transactions were fine but I pushed a little, telling him that I do NOT have these charges on my card and I don't want anything cancelled later. He went (somewhere), came back, and said the credit charges should appear by the end of the day. I guess we'll see 

[JohnK6404]

OK, here's my update... As mentioned previously, on the evening of 11/8 I cancelled one previously purchased CP item, rebooked it at the lower sale price, and purchased 5 other items. The credit from the cancellation hit my Chase VISA within a couple of days with 11/9 as the transaction date. None of the 6 purchases from that evening have posted or appeared as pending on my Chase VISA.

I called Royal Caribbean via the Crown & Anchor number (800-526-9723) and got through immediately. The rep confirmed all 6 items were in "Approved" status in their system (vs. "Pending") and I should have absolutely nothing to worry about... They of course suggested I call Chase to find out why these charges have not posted to my account.

I called Chase and they explained all 6 transactions are showing as "Approved" in their system (not declined), but have not posted because Royal has not "Collected" the funds electronically to date. Only after the funds are collected by Royal, and the transaction is fully completed, will the charges post to the credit card.

I called back RC... the CS rep had no idea what I was referring to and just explained that everything is proper/approved in their system and I have nothing to worry about...

So, Chase explained the posting "issue", but Royal CS apparently could not offer anything further.

I'll just wait a few more days and call back if these funds are not collected by Royal. 

[Vlad]

12 minutes ago, jbrinkm said:

I went ahead and contacted Chase about these charges. They said that they were originally approved on the 9th but then Royal cancelled the transactions. My 2 missing charges on the card are still active and valid in the cruise planner. So then I called Royal and got through right away. He checked my planner and said my transactions were fine but I pushed a little, telling him that I do NOT have these charges on my card and I don't want anything cancelled later. He went (somewhere), came back, and said the credit charges should appear by the end of the day. I guess we'll see 

Now, that's completely different story now. Maybe I should call as well. Also Chase. 

[Vlad]

3 minutes ago, JohnK6404 said:

OK, here's my update... As mentioned previously, on the evening of 11/8 I cancelled one previously purchased CP item, rebooked it at the lower sale price, and purchased 5 other items. The credit from the cancellation hit my Chase VISA within a couple of days with 11/9 as the transaction date. None of the 6 purchases from that evening have posted or appeared as pending on my Chase VISA.

I called Royal Caribbean via the Crown & Anchor number (800-526-9723) and got through immediately. The rep confirmed all 6 items were in "Approved" status in their system (vs. "Pending") and I should have absolutely nothing to worry about... They of course suggested I call Chase to find out why these charges have not posted to my account.

I called Chase and they explained all 6 transactions are showing as "Approved" in their system (not declined), but have not posted because Royal has not "Collected" the funds electronically to date. Only after the funds are collected by Royal, and the transaction is fully completed, will the charges post to the credit card.

I called back RC... the CS rep had no idea what I was referring to and just explained that everything is proper/approved in their system and I have nothing to worry about...

So, Chase explained the posting "issue", but Royal CS apparently could not offer anything further.

I'll just wait a few more days and call back if these funds are not collected by Royal. 

But in your case, the charges never appeared on credit card as pending? 

Correct? 

Mine was pending, and then after about 3-4 days disappeared. 

[jbrinkm]

1 minute ago, Vlad said:

Now, that's completely different story now. Maybe I should call as well. Also Chase. 

So I wonder if some of this is wording - my rep said "cancelled" the transaction but @JohnK6404's rep said not yet "collected". I'm hoping John's rep is right and that the charges just reappear soon. 

[Vlad]

2 minutes ago, jbrinkm said:

So I wonder if some of this is wording - my rep said "cancelled" the transaction but @JohnK6404's rep said not yet "collected". I'm hoping John's rep is right and that the charges just reappear soon. 

Maybe it's just wording, 

I'm aware that the charge must be collected, or whatever it's called. 

Amazon does it all the time, sometimes card gets authorized, but it only goes through after you receive the shipment 

And royal does it when you on a cruise. My card gets authorizations almost every day, but they slowly disappear one by one and only one total charge for the cruise goes through to the card afterwards. 

[JohnK6404]

13 minutes ago, Vlad said:

But in your case, the charges never appeared on credit card as pending? 

Correct? 

Mine was pending, and then after about 3-4 days disappeared. 

Not sure if they ever showed as pending transactions... I did not check for 2-3 days (when I checked to confirm the credit for the cancellation).

[Vlad]

Just now, JohnK6404 said:

Not sure if they ever showed as pending transactions... I did not check for 2-3 days (when I checked to confirm the credit for the cancellation).

I see... 

I get notified right away from chase app by notification on the cell phone when I get online transaction charged to my account. So I basically know right away 

[JohnK6404]

19 minutes ago, jbrinkm said:

So I wonder if some of this is wording - my rep said "cancelled" the transaction but @JohnK6404's rep said not yet "collected". I'm hoping John's rep is right and that the charges just reappear soon. 

A similar issue occurred a few years ago and the explanation sounds familiar. Apparently, the process is: (1) Royal submits charges to CC, (2) CC confirms either approved or declined, and finally (3) Royal electronically "collects" the funds from the CC. 

Chase claims I'm stuck in step 3 right now... Royal has not reached out to collect after Chase verified/approved the amount(s).

[JohnK6404]

5 minutes ago, Vlad said:

I see... 

I get notified right away from chase app by notification on the cell phone when I get online transaction charged to my account. So I basically know right away 

I should set that up! LOL! I have it set for deposits/withdrawals on my other accounts, should set that up for my CC's! 

[Vlad]

23 minutes ago, JohnK6404 said:

A similar issue occurred a few years ago and the explanation sounds familiar. Apparently, the process is: (1) Royal submits charges to CC, (2) CC confirms either approved or declined, and finally (3) Royal electronically "collects" the funds from the CC. 

Chase claims I'm stuck in step 3 right now... Royal has not reached out to collect after Chase verified/approved the amount(s).

Yes, exactly. That's about what happens. 

So you thinking should wait and see? Or I should call Royal and ask? 

Without calling my Chase card, I know 100% that credit card have nothing to do with it. Since it approved 2 transactions when Royal charged the card seconds after purchase made. 

[JohnK6404]

11 minutes ago, Vlad said:

Yes, exactly. That's about what happens. 

So you thinking should wait and see? Or I should call Royal and ask? 

Without calling my Chase card, I know 100% that credit card have nothing to do with it. Since it approved 2 transactions when Royal charged the card seconds after purchase made. 

I'm going to wait and see for now...  

[jbrinkm]

26 minutes ago, JohnK6404 said:

I'm going to wait and see for now...  

Me too!

[Vlad]

6 minutes ago, jbrinkm said:

Me too!

Please let us know, especially me ASAP

If no changes. I might try to call Royal in the beginning of next week. 

[TXcruzer]

Seems like Chase bank is the common denominator.  

I made about $1200 worth of cruise planner purchases on Nov, 9.  All the transactions appear on my American Express statement as posted on the 9th.  Also cancelled about $500 worth of purchases the same day, all refunds show as posted on Nov 10th.

[Vlad]

5 minutes ago, TXcruzer said:

Seems like Chase bank is the common denominator.  

I made about $1200 worth of cruise planner purchases on Nov, 9.  All the transactions appear on my American Express statement as posted on the 9th.  Also cancelled about $500 worth of purchases the same day, all refunds show as posted on Nov 10th.

Not sure, if it's related to chase, since chase holds a lot of cards, my is Amazon. 

I'm thinking it's more related if it was purchased on the 8th. Received my confirmation email shortly after. However in order history on website, it says that order made on the 9th. And had order from 2 separate cruises. 

I've placed another order on 11th, same credit card, and 3 days later it was processed normally. 

[Shanethegriff]

Our pending charges are now showing as confirmed charges on my Visa account. 

[Dad2Cue]

1 hour ago, Vlad said:

Not sure, if it's related to chase

My card was Bank of America.  I know the "temporary authorizations" on my credit card originally said Nov 8th.  My email confirmations also say Nov 8th.

I noticed the date on the temporary authorizations before they disappeared somehow changed to Nov 9th which seemed strange because the transactions in question happened on Nov 8th.

I also thought it was strange for it to be a "temporary authorization."  All my other purchases that processed normally just had a transaction date.

[Starrynight0154]

My Hideaway Beach rebooking from 2 days ago already posted. Still nothing is showing on my credit card for 11/8 purchases. This is a Fidelity Visa card. 

[BRY7]

bought on 10 Nov, nothing out of the ordinary. posted on my credit card

[Starrynight0154]

9 hours ago, jbrinkm said:

I went ahead and contacted Chase about these charges. They said that they were originally approved on the 9th but then Royal cancelled the transactions. My 2 missing charges on the card are still active and valid in the cruise planner. So then I called Royal and got through right away. He checked my planner and said my transactions were fine but I pushed a little, telling him that I do NOT have these charges on my card and I don't want anything cancelled later. He went (somewhere), came back, and said the credit charges should appear by the end of the day. I guess we'll see 

Did your credit card finally get charged?

[Vlad]

18 hours ago, jbrinkm said:

I went ahead and contacted Chase about these charges. They said that they were originally approved on the 9th but then Royal cancelled the transactions. My 2 missing charges on the card are still active and valid in the cruise planner. So then I called Royal and got through right away. He checked my planner and said my transactions were fine but I pushed a little, telling him that I do NOT have these charges on my card and I don't want anything cancelled later. He went (somewhere), came back, and said the credit charges should appear by the end of the day. I guess we'll see 

Wondering same thing, did the charges appeared back on the card, like Royal rep told you they will? 

[jbrinkm]

15 hours ago, Starrynight0154 said:

Did your credit card finally get charged?

7 hours ago, Vlad said:

Wondering same thing, did the charges appeared back on the card, like Royal rep told you they will? 

Nope! (sorry for delay - I was busy away from computer all day...)

Reservations still intact. I think I'll call Royal again on Monday. I don't think the rep I talked to knew what he was doing.

 

[Vlad]

17 minutes ago, jbrinkm said:

Nope! (sorry for delay - I was busy away from computer all day...)

Reservations still intact. I think I'll call Royal again on Monday. I don't think the rep I talked to knew what he was doing.

 

Appreciate if you let us, know then. 

I'm really concerned. Free is good. 

But cruise and reservations that I've made, a lot of them, are more important. 

Thanks 

[Starrynight0154]

1 hour ago, jbrinkm said:

Nope! (sorry for delay - I was busy away from computer all day...)

Reservations still intact. I think I'll call Royal again on Monday. I don't think the rep I talked to knew what he was doing.

 

Neither did the rep I talked to. It’s really hit or miss with their customer service ability or willingness to help resolve issues. 

[Mark_A]

the purchases I made on the 8th are no longer on my card.  the ones I made on the 9th have cleared and posted to my card 

[Vlad]

1 minute ago, Mark_A said:

the purchases I made on the 8th are no longer on my card.  the ones I made on the 9th have cleared and posted to my card 

Hi Mark, welcome to this thread. 

So it's definitely something to do with the 8th. Hopefully, it won't ruin the cruise or purchases itself if not fixed. 

So far, I have no idea what to do. Royal is saying it's booked, credit card saying it was approved, and it's merchant who haven't finalized transactions. 

[Starrynight0154]

1 hour ago, Mark_A said:

the purchases I made on the 8th are no longer on my card.  the ones I made on the 9th have cleared and posted to my card 

We all either get free cruise planner stuff or get our entire cruise cancelled. Welcome to the club

[Mark_A]

yup - I am expecting it to hit eventually - maybe post cruise   

[Vlad]

Anyone tried or thought, canceling something, maybe 1 item. And rebooking right afterwards? 

It can only be done now, while sale still active 

[squatopus]

On 11/15/2023 at 11:06 AM, SpeedNoodles said:

Me. This happened to me.  30 days prior to sailing (after final payment date) because of an issue with a cruise planner issue (everything was paid on my end - something was weird with their system).  It was super fun.

Thank you for sharing this here, and earlier.  Just had the same thing happen to me with a cruise planner issue, although lucky my cruise wasn't cancelled.  

Side notes:

• I only used my AMEX to pay for the original booking deposit; the remaining charges (cruise + cruise planner) have been on a MasterCard.  
• This was before RC's final payment due of 12/4, and before my cruise was paid in full on 11/15.

I had an existing excursion paid and reserved (from September 2023), but found a sale during the Black Friday deals.  Cancelled the excursion on 11/12, and re-purchased the excursion on 11/12 at the lower price. 

On 11/16 and 11/17, I received two separate refunds on the AMEX for the excursion cancelled on 11/12, which was paid for on the MC.  

I got an email on 11/18 from RC indicating I had an outstanding balance due.  So I log in wondering what the issue was, since I made final payment on 11/15.  First screen shows the "You don't have a balance due".

But then when I went to "Make a Payment" page, there is a balance owed:

Low and behold, it's the same amount as the refunded excursion.

Long story short - 3 calls to RC (one on 11/18 and two on 11/19), I finally found a rep that understood what was happening.  He escalated it to the resolutions department for a while, and had to call me back.  He admitted it was an RC issue behind the scenes, that the refund from cruise planner was showing on the cruise balance somehow, and they were 'working' to correct the system issue.  30 minutes after he called be back, I received an updated $0 balance email PDF, and everything online shows the $0 balance.  

I've got another excursion paid for in Nassau, but want to cancel and do something else, but now I'm worried that it's going to cause this problem all over again.

Thank goodness I keep check on this stuff - who knows what the end result would have been!