CruisesOnly Refusal to refund "processing fee" of a cancellation made within 12 hours of reservation Wilmington, Massachusetts
I want to be refunded $24.99 and not be charged $100 for a penalty fee. This is what happened I responded to this companys advertisement, only to find out that I was ripped off. I made a reservation around 11:00 p.m. on Friday, 3/30/2012 to travel in December 2012, with the understanding that there would be no penalties for cancelling, as long as the cancellation occurred 60 days or less PRIOR the departure date; after that I would be in the penalty phase, and CruisesOnly would keep the $24.99 processing fee and Royal Caribbean Intl (RCI) would charge various percentages depending on the date of cancellation on the 59th day onwards. I called to cancel this reservation less than 12 hours later i.e., around 11:00 a.m. on Saturday 3/31/2012. They indicated that the RCI would fully refund my $200.00 with no penalties, but, much to my shock and dismay, they were going to charge me $124.99! They said they would keep the $24.99 they charged, and charge an additional $100 for a cancellation fee. Never once did the rep mention anything about an additional $100 penalty fee. They advertise as saving you lots of money, but this is simply not true. After some research, a friend found out for me, and I verified, that it would have been much cheaper to go directly to the cruise line. CruisesOnly quoted me a total of $1123 for the following: room ($932.67), insurance ($98.00), and gratuities ($93.20). RCI was shocked by these prices; CruisesOnly clearly pads their prices much more than if you just go directly to them e.g., RCI charges a flat rate of $29 per person for their Cruise Care insurance; I was told by the CruisesOnly rep that I was getting a bargain for getting the insurance @ $49 per person and that this amount increased by $10 when the total slightly increased. Again, BIG rip-off! Very slimy business practice! At the very least, customers should get the SAME price as what the cruise line is offering not more, simply for the CruisesOnly reps to get their commission (the commission was mentioned several times on my call). Im also disgusted that RCI works with such unscrupulous companies. Based on this experience, I will definitely be sharing my story and will NOT recommend CruisesOnly, under any circumstances. This weekend, Ive spoken to friends, and their recommendation is a good one dont get suckered in by slick advertisements; always go directly to the cruise line as there is no processing fee, very clear about penalties, no hassle with refunds, and definitely no padded prices. If I ever think about a cruise again, I will know who NOT to call!! Please refund my $24.99 ASAP!!! And dont even think of charging me $100.00!!!
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Operations Manager
Altamonte Springs,Florida,
United States of America
CruisesOnly
#2UPDATE Employee
Wed, April 11, 2012
CruisesOnly sincerely appreciates all feedback we receive on our products and services. We appreciate
customers who take the time to tell us how to we can better serve them.
It must have been terribly frustrating for this customer to realize that the she was going to be charged
an unexpected cancellation fee. However, the comments made by this customer are not factually accurate. All of our calls are recorded for quality assurance purposes. In turn, we were able to replay the recorded conversation between this customer and our CruisesOnly customer care representative. And, we did refund this customer her $200 deposit in full as well as waive the $100 cancellation penalty. At the end of the call, this customer sounded satisfied with the outcome. We were not aware there were still unresolved feelings of disservice.
At the end of every cruise booking, we recap the details of the booking and review the cancellation
policies for our customers. This recap includes but is not limited to:
Advising of the cruise line cancellation fees; which vary based on line
Advise that if the customer cancels between the time of the booking and time of travel, CruisesOnly will charge a $100 fee per reservation. We advise that the policies are now in effect and the cancellation policies apply immediately.
When this customer called to cancel her reservation she stated that she was never told about these
cancellation polices. In order to provide great service, and as a gesture of goodwill we overrode the fees and refunded them back to her. Please know that we strive to provide exceptional service to every customer we have the pleasure of booking a cruise vacation for. We work diligently to ensure that cancellation policies are clearly explained on each and every cruise reservation that is made with us.
CruisesOnlys mission is to provide a remarkable experience for all of our customers. In turn, we will
be reaching out this customer in order to determine if we can do anything else to make her feel satisfied.
Sincerely,
Cassandra Holland
cholland@wth.com
Operations Manager
CruisesOnly