I booked a Cruise through Priceline for and 8 Day western carribean cruise for me and my parents. I charged the deposit to my debit card, and then we all were to pay our own way. The Final payment was due by 4/19/10, so on 4/16/10 my father paid the remaining amount with his debit card online which was $1390. A few days later I go to withdraw money from the ATM for my account and I see that I am overdrawn for almost $1600. I call priceline and speak to one of the agents, and she says that she see the payment and verifys that it is my dad's debit card. Then she calls carnival, and they said that beacuse the payment sent was "future payment" that they charged my account instead because they had my account information on file. I never authorized any other charges for my parents cabin on my account. Carnival agreed to reverse the charge which takes 24/48 hours. In the mean time my checking account is overdrawn, I have no access to any money, and carnival is refusing to pay any overdraft fee I incur because of their mistake. They also refuse to speak with me directly because I booked through a travel agent, and will not speak to me about this matter unless I have my tavel agent on the phone with me. I filed complaints with every agency I can possibly could, but they need to take acocuntability for what they did. They should be paying the overdraft fees, and I feel I derserve more than them referring me back to my travel agent.
EDitor's Suggestions on how to get your money back!
gisellet
Fords,#2Author of original report
Thu, April 22, 2010
So after talking to about 5 different people at my bank, they finally removed the overdraft fees caused by the unauthorized charge for Carnival. However, I still have no real explanation as to why carnival charged my account without permission. They refuse to talk to me, and will only speak to my travel agent (priceline) or they said I can speak to them but I would have to call with my travel agent on 3 way. I have never been treated so badly by any organization. I worked in customer service for over 10 years, and you just don't treat customers this way. Last time I checked Carnival unlawfully took money from my checking account and caused a substatinal amount of chaos in my life, not priceline, so they should be talking to me directly. The only reason I am not canceling this vacation is because I won't be able to get my deposit back. I will never ever cruise with carnival again!!! People please beware...they have the worst customer service I have ever experienced in my life!!!
gisellet
Fords,#3Author of original report
Wed, April 21, 2010
I called my bank and the first person I spoke to said that if I had carnival fax something on their letter head to release the funds to my bank, then once that fax was recieved and processed the funds would be released within 15 mins. I called back a few hours later to follow up with my bank and the person that I spoke to said that carnival did fax a letter to release the funds, but it was denied by my bank because according to my bank this was no longer a pending transaction and they said carnival already had the funds. I spoke to a bank supervisor and she said the only thing I could possiblly do is file a dispute with my bank about the charge which takes 7-10 days and just wait on the refund from carnival. In the mean time I have no money, and Carnival will not pay the overdraft fees for the unauthorized charge that was made. They also refuse to speak to me directly. I really want them to explain to me what happened, and I want them to pay for my overdraft fees. I also feel I deserve some sort of apology and/ reconcialliation for the damage they have caused.