Cruise Line Refunds

minorman

badger09 said:

minorman said:

Been attempting to contact Fred Olsen cruise lines and the automated systems suggested that I should just wait for payment refund as they are overloaded at the moment.   I am now worried !  Why am I worried ? Well my travel insurance .. LEISURE GUARD ... a moneysavingexpert expert recommended supplier has contacted me to renew my policy today 7 days ahead and I find that the policy magically does not cover me if Fred Olsen goes "tits up".  Neither does it cover me for the flights I booked for Australia back in February  for November before all this covid thing kicked off as any holiday or travel booked which it is not recommended to travel by H M Gov or the Aussie Gov now or  in the future is also exempt and not covered.  To cap it all my wife was emergency  rushed into hospital yesterday and when I told them i could not review our medical conditions yet because of this she said " Ah, an undisclosed medical condition, you should have notified us, your policy is now void! "  i declined to renew the policy (that's the polite version).  Martin  pick this up !

First of all I hope your wife is OK!

A few questions: 
When is/was the cruise due to sail
Did you book direct with Fred Olsen or through an agent
How did you pay for your cruise  
Where are you up to in the process of claiming a refund from Fred Olsen

sorry for the delay but Mrs. Minorman is still very ill in hospital (not covid) and it took me a while as I am still learning how to use this forum.  Learned about bookmarks now.
Cruise was due to start on 12th March 2020.
Booked direct with fred Olsen.
Unfortunately booked with my wife's debit card so not the normal level of card protection.
Declined the voucher offer and asked for a refund a few days after them cancelling.
Still  have not had a refund as far as we are aware as I can not access my wife's bank records and certainly no letter or email received to confirm it.

Life__Goes__On

"

minorman said:

badger09 said:

minorman said:

Been attempting to contact Fred Olsen cruise lines and the automated systems suggested that I should just wait for payment refund as they are overloaded at the moment.   I am now worried !  Why am I worried ? Well my travel insurance .. LEISURE GUARD ... a moneysavingexpert expert recommended supplier has contacted me to renew my policy today 7 days ahead and I find that the policy magically does not cover me if Fred Olsen goes "tits up".  Neither does it cover me for the flights I booked for Australia back in February  for November before all this covid thing kicked off as any holiday or travel booked which it is not recommended to travel by H M Gov or the Aussie Gov now or  in the future is also exempt and not covered.  To cap it all my wife was emergency  rushed into hospital yesterday and when I told them i could not review our medical conditions yet because of this she said " Ah, an undisclosed medical condition, you should have notified us, your policy is now void! "  i declined to renew the policy (that's the polite version).  Martin  pick this up !

First of all I hope your wife is OK!

A few questions: 
When is/was the cruise due to sail
Did you book direct with Fred Olsen or through an agent
How did you pay for your cruise  
Where are you up to in the process of claiming a refund from Fred Olsen

sorry for the delay but Mrs. Minorman is still very ill in hospital (not covid) and it took me a while as I am still learning how to use this forum.  Learned about bookmarks now.
Cruise was due to start on 12th March 2020.
Booked direct with fred Olsen.
Unfortunately booked with my wife's debit card so not the normal level of card protection.
Declined the voucher offer and asked for a refund a few days after them cancelling.
Still  have not had a refund as far as we are aware as I can not access my wife's bank records and certainly no letter or email received to confirm it.

You can't do to much atm  just wait  and chase up FO. If your wife paid  on her DC then you can't do anything in regard to that, your wife would have to.
Hope your wife improves soon.

badger09

minorman said:

badger09 said:

minorman said:

Been attempting to contact Fred Olsen cruise lines and the automated systems suggested that I should just wait for payment refund as they are overloaded at the moment.   I am now worried !  Why am I worried ? Well my travel insurance .. LEISURE GUARD ... a moneysavingexpert expert recommended supplier has contacted me to renew my policy today 7 days ahead and I find that the policy magically does not cover me if Fred Olsen goes "tits up".  Neither does it cover me for the flights I booked for Australia back in February  for November before all this covid thing kicked off as any holiday or travel booked which it is not recommended to travel by H M Gov or the Aussie Gov now or  in the future is also exempt and not covered.  To cap it all my wife was emergency  rushed into hospital yesterday and when I told them i could not review our medical conditions yet because of this she said " Ah, an undisclosed medical condition, you should have notified us, your policy is now void! "  i declined to renew the policy (that's the polite version).  Martin  pick this up !

First of all I hope your wife is OK!

A few questions: 
When is/was the cruise due to sail
Did you book direct with Fred Olsen or through an agent
How did you pay for your cruise  
Where are you up to in the process of claiming a refund from Fred Olsen

sorry for the delay but Mrs. Minorman is still very ill in hospital (not covid) and it took me a while as I am still learning how to use this forum.  Learned about bookmarks now.
Cruise was due to start on 12th March 2020.
Booked direct with fred Olsen.
Unfortunately booked with my wife's debit card so not the normal level of card protection.
Declined the voucher offer and asked for a refund a few days after them cancelling.
Still  have not had a refund as far as we are aware as I can not access my wife's bank records and certainly no letter or email received to confirm it.

So sorry to hear about your wife. Posting on here is the least of your worries.

As far as I'm aware, Fred Olsen are issuing cancellation invoices once they've looked at your refund claim. I asked for refund 21st March and my cancellation invoice was dated 9th April. FOC will send it to the lead guest, as shown on your booking.

However, I gather that's just the start of their process and I've been told refund will be credited it will be 6 - 8 weeks after that. refund will be credited to the original payment method, so if that was your wife's debit card, it should appear in her account.
 

crustyoldgit

I was booked on L2005 departing on 24th April. I sent an email requesting  refund on 15th March with full details of the two payments made (deposit thankfully by credit card and balance by bank transfer) and indicated it was in order to remit refund to the bank account.

First confirmation of my request arrived on 16th April in the form of a 'cancellation invoice' followed by a voicemail on 24th April asking for bank details (which I had supplied on 15th March!). I tried calling the number supplied in the voicemail (01473 292444) but . . . . .  yep 'due to coronavirus this line is closed' !!!!  A bit of digging threw up another number which I'll share at the bottom, the call was answered within 30 secs!! She couldn't put me through to guest services but kept me on the line whilst she spoke to them and assured me they had dug up my email and had 'added the bank details to the spreadsheet'.

That was the last I've heard and certainly to date, no refund which makes a bit of a mockery of the ABTA warranty which was, pre crisis, 2 weeks. That was revised to 4 weeks but in my case it has taken more than that to even get my claim acknowledged. Am I, as other contributors have suggested, to have to wait another 8 weeks from 24th April to get my money back?

I'd be most interested to hear from Martin what he considers 'reasonable time' and at which point I can submit a claim to ABTA, my insurers or my credit card provider and in which order?

crustyoldgit

Oppps, forgot the number which is, I believe, the Ipswich switchboard 01473 292200

badger09

crustyoldgit said:

I was booked on L2005 departing on 24th April. I sent an email requesting  refund on 15th March with full details of the two payments made (deposit thankfully by credit card and balance by bank transfer) and indicated it was in order to remit refund to the bank account.

First confirmation of my request arrived on 16th April in the form of a 'cancellation invoice' followed by a voicemail on 24th April asking for bank details (which I had supplied on 15th March!). I tried calling the number supplied in the voicemail (01473 292444) but . . . . .  yep 'due to coronavirus this line is closed' !!!!  A bit of digging threw up another number which I'll share at the bottom, the call was answered within 30 secs!! She couldn't put me through to guest services but kept me on the line whilst she spoke to them and assured me they had dug up my email and had 'added the bank details to the spreadsheet'.

That was the last I've heard and certainly to date, no refund which makes a bit of a mockery of the ABTA warranty which was, pre crisis, 2 weeks. That was revised to 4 weeks but in my case it has taken more than that to even get my claim acknowledged. Am I, as other contributors have suggested, to have to wait another 8 weeks from 24th April to get my money back?

I'd be most interested to hear from Martin what he considers 'reasonable time' and at which point I can submit a claim to ABTA, my insurers or my credit card provider and in which order?

Sounds similar to my experience posted on Page 2 of this thread. The really frustrating part of the whole FOC refund experience has been inability to contact them by phone - even when they've asked you to call them on a specific number! and not knowing whether they've received your refund claim or subsequent info if they need it.

On a slightly brighter note, my husband has discovered that the refund for the deposit, paid on his since expired card, has now been credited to the bank account for which I supplied details on 14th April.
BUT
The bulk of the cost, paid on my still valid credit card, has yet to appear 7 weeks after refund claimed. There is absolutely no reason why this should have been be delayed, unless someone @  FOC has forgotten to press the relevant button.  

crustyoldgit said:

Oppps, forgot the number which is, I believe, the Ipswich switchboard 01473 292200

When did you get through on that number? 

Life__Goes__On

There is no quick fix,  you could go though your credit card, but as you paid the balance via your bank, it wouldn't be a chargeback   but a Section 75,  that will take a long while.

minorman

I don't know what is going on to be sure.  Fortunately Mrs. M is back home and hopefully recovering (she says it's safer here).  I have sorted out all her card and bank statements.  FOCL says it refunded at the end of March but no sign of the refund on any statements so far up until April 3rd but the banks might have slipped it on to the next month so waiting for the latest statements.  We live in hope.

Life__Goes__On

Hopefully you will get it soon.
Glad your wife is back home.

crustyoldgit

badger09 said:

crustyoldgit said:

Oppps, forgot the number which is, I believe, the Ipswich switchboard 01473 292200

When did you get through on that number? 

on the 24th April