Returning from marella cruise

Kint1967

Can anyone help please I recently returned home from a cruise only to find I was overdrawn in an unplanned overdraft due to tui ring fencing money then taking the full amount. I called messaged numerous times in desperation as all it would have taken was a call ,fax,or email to release the money but was just told nothing they can do I had to wait I am now in dispute with tui as they are blaming my bank what can I do as they are taking no blame what so ever I was in tears at one stage on the phone I had no money for over a week
Thanks

NoodleDoodleMan

This seems to be a relatively common problem, although I've never experienced it.

Debit card transactions ?

Were TUI entitled to take the full amount that was ring fenced, thereby putting you into the red - or were you denied access to funds they had on hold ?

Kint1967

Tui where entitledto take the money I called my bank who told me all was needed was word from tui to release the money then problem solved my bank even went as far as giving me the transaction reference numbers and exact date and times to let tui know but again they was not interested and was actually told by someone from tui that they are known for doing this to people

NoodleDoodleMan

Apologies - still not clear on the specifics. The devil is in the detail I suspect.

Was it a debit or credit card that you used to settle your onboard account ?

If it were a debit card, and there were insufficient funds to meet your final bill - was that what triggered the overdraft ? Could TUI have charged you twice and the refund has not yet been actioned ?

If a credit card, presumably that would cover the final bill, and I can't see why there should be a problem thereafter.

A visit to your bank branch would be a good move - if you can manage that.

Yes - TUI have a reputation and track record for causing this type of problem.

If you register with Cruise Critic - there are discussion Boards for each cruise line - put up a message on the dedicated Marella board and you'll get help from others who have experienced this issue.

https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/

Also, if you Google RING FENCING FUNDS ON DEBIT CARDS - there is relevant chat there.

Ganga

NoodleDoodleMan wrote: »

Apologies - still not clear on the specifics. The devil is in the detail I suspect.

Was it a debit or credit card that you used to settle your onboard account ?

If it were a debit card, and there were insufficient funds to meet your final bill - was that what triggered the overdraft ? Could TUI have charged you twice and the refund has not yet been actioned ?

If a credit card, presumably that would cover the final bill, and I can't see why there should be a problem thereafter.

A visit to your bank branch would be a good move - if you can manage that.

Yes - TUI have a reputation and track record for causing this type of problem.

If you register with Cruise Critic - there are discussion Boards for each cruise line - put up a message on the dedicated Marella board and you'll get help from others who have experienced this issue.

https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/

Also, if you Google RING FENCING FUNDS ON DEBIT CARDS - there is relevant chat there.

I took it that when the poster had gone on the cruise TUI has ringfenced money on their debit card to cover onboard spends but have taken the said amount from the persons account leaving them overdrawn.
The original poster will hopefully come back and clarify.

Kint1967

It was debit card and yes they ring fenced the money whilst we was onboard but whilst the money (the full amount we had spent)was ring fenced they also took full payment leaving my account overdrawn

NoodleDoodleMan

Essentially a double payment, as I thought might be the case.

That is out of order.

I would get down to the bank, obtain a printed statement of your account and make a formal complaint to the Financial Ombudsman.

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/

Make sure you have all your information 100% correct - and copy the bank into the correspondence.

If you go on a cruise again, best to use your credit card, now that there are no % added fee for CCs.

CL_Mallory

Similar thing has just happened to us. We went on a "cruise and stay" booked with TUI. On boarding the Marella Dream we were required to gave our bank card details (debit card) for paying the final bill. We left the ship a week later and paid the final bill in full and off we went to sacoma for our second week of holiday. However when we tried to get some money out of our bank account we were told no funds were available to withdraw and panicked. Turns out that Tui had taken the full amount of £1400 on the day we left the ship but had further payments totalling £2873 in pending mode - leaving us with available funds of minus £1,350. We contacted so many people trying to get these pending transactions removed but to no avail. We were left with no money what so ever for the remaining 7 days of our holiday and although TUI said they were investigating the issue, they basically told us it wouldn't be resolved while we were still on holiday and there was nothing at all they could do about it. We spent a week in Majorca with no money at all. On returning home we went to the local branch only to be told it was the bank's fault and not theirs. We went to the bank who told us the complete opposite. The bank phoned TUI, who admitted on loud speaker that although they were at fault, the policy is to deny any blame. Anyway, having complained to TUI they have now responded and basically said "this is how transactions work and the welcome meeting on-board the cruise would have explained this". Really? Is it acceptable to take the full amount out of someones account and leave twice as much still pending? They ruined out very expensive holiday that we saved hard for and now take no responsibility for their actions. Not sure where to go next with this but im not being fobbed off by these greedy muppets. Anyone any ideas of who/where i can get some advice on this please?
Many thanks

NoodleDoodleMan

Might have been upped in last year or so but Thomsons Cruises (as was) required a £200 payment upfront on boarding the ship, credited to your cabin account.

Some punters preferred cash down payment, others used a debit card or credit card, the latter more popular after the additional % commission was outlawed.

The drawback with the debit card option was (obviously) that you needed sufficient funds in the account to cover the £200, and to settle any purchases over and above that figure.

However, TUI can't have it both ways - they can't freeze an amount in your account and deduct the same from it as well.

This seems to be a relatively common issue with Marella.

NoodleDoodleMan

Anyone any ideas of who/where i can get some advice on this please?

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/

Backbiter

Not Marella, I know, but we had a problem with Royal Caribbean in August. We used a Prepaid MasterCard to pay our bill, and RCCL debited the card at the end of each day. At the end of the cruise they gave us our final statement, and proceeded to put a hold on the total final bill, despite having already debited the card daily. This meant we had several hundred pounds loaded onto our card for a stay in Barcelona at the end of the cruise that we could not access.
When I got home I contacted Our card holder to explain the situation. They told me it was RCCL's issue and told me to ring them. They were pretty quick to provide the codes needed to release the held funds, but as this was around the August bank holiday it took a couple of days longer. And it didn't really help as the card was loaded for overseas spending, not Uk spending.