Question
Just wanted to let everyone know about my bad experience with the card. My travel agent charged me for the ENTIRE amount of my Hawaii cruise, over $2000, and not the $500 deposit. She ran my credit card thru without asking me how much I wanted to pay. (now she's saying she asked me and I didn't say anything). LIE Anyway, I called CB to put the overcharge in dispute. The billing/dispute and the CS supervisors would not contact NCL for me and also would not put the overcharge in dispute which would have restore my credit line. So now I am at the mercy of a lying,inexperienced travel agent and a big cruise line waiting for the credit on my card. I'm going on a trip this weekend and I need all available credit on my card to earn all my airline miles. I cannot afford to charge a $2000 cruise .Once all the miles I want to earn from this card on my AA account, this CB account will be CLOSED. You can count on that.
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What was CitiBanks reason for not allowing the overcharge to be disputed?
If you charge a $100 meal at a restaurant and they in turn charge $150 to your card, they don't have a leg to stand on, and the credit card company would have no probelm with that dispute.
Do you have more details?
Mike
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Mike, This past Saturday, I booked a Hawaii cruise for 1-2003. The agent asked for my credit card number and I gave her the AA MC. She didn't ask if I wanted to put down the deposit. She just ran it thru their system. Then just before I hung up with her, I said you put the $500 deposit on my card.right? She said No I put the whole cruise amt 2300.00. She said she thought I wanted to pay for the whole thing. I told her no and gave her my BIG list of reasons. Anyway, she called NCL and they couldn't cancel the transaction because their accting dept was only open Mon-Friday. She said she would call Monday. I called Citibank and they said the authorization was on my account for the 2300.00. I asked them to take if off and explained the mistake. They said no, that NCL had to take it off.
Sunday, I checked my CB acct on the computer, my credit limit had been decreased by 2300.00. Monday, I called NCL accting. They wouldn't talk to me because I didn't book the cruise thru them. I called the travel agent company manager. She said she called NCL and they hadn't received the paper work but she assured me NCL would credit my acct. I told her again all my reasons why I needed I didn't want to pay for the whole amt.
Today, the charge for the cruise was on my online billing statement.
So, I called the credit card co. CB. I explained the situation. I requested a billing dispute. The CSR called the Billing Dispute dept. They won't let you speak directly to that dept unless the Billing Dispute give their approval for them to transfer the call and their approval of the Billing Dispute transaction.
The CSR told me no. She started being rude and very confusing. I hung up on her.
I called CB Cust service again. They called B/D dept again. The CSR gave me their B/D decision. The decision: As soon as I gave the agent my CC number, I was authorizing the transaction no matter what the charge. I told her I was not asked how much I wanted to pay and I assumed the agent would put only the $500 deposit. The CB csr said because I gave the agent my card number the agent could charge the full amount or the $500 deposit amt to my card. Since the total charge (2300)was correct, there was no billing dispute. I told her I didn't want the total bill paid. I only wanted to pay $500 She said sorry.
I called back and spoke with a CB supervisor who told me the same info again.
I called the booking agent again and she said she spoke with NCL who said my acct would be credited tomorrow. She said she would call me. We'll see
Thats my story about Citibank. They should have put the charge in dispute so I wouldn't have to worry about my credit limit and could enjoy my vacation next week. Once a transaction is put into dispute, your credit limit is restored to what it was before the disputed transaction got put on your acct.
So here I sit waiting for this mess to be straightened out, wondering if I'll have enough credit to use on My alaska cruise next week.
Our CB acct will be closed as soon as I get the AA miles I need.
[This message has been edited by wannaflymore (edited 05-07-2002).]
[This message has been edited by wannaflymore (edited 05-07-2002).]
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Wow what a saga! Firstly you cannot dispute a charge that doesn't exist. It was an authorization. As soon as the charge posted, I would have contacted Citibank and filed a dispute "I have a $2300 charge on my card, however only $500 was supposed to be charged. I would like to dispute $1800, as an overcharge." However again, the conditional credit that CB sometimes issues, may take 2-4 business days to post.
Otherwise I may have requested a credit line increase to offset the charge. Additionally another option, I have had the merchant in some instances to actually contact Citibank directly to lift the authorization, thus replenishing the available credit.
Last tip, never provided credit card details until you've settled the charge amount upfront!!!
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Exactly. I did call CB about the authorization and requested a cancellation of the authorization. They said no. NCL had to do it. NCl accting wasn't open on Saturday. On Monday, the accting dept said they did not have my paperwork and they couldn't cancel the authorization. I did everything I could.
I called Cust Service TWICE and requested a dispute of the $1800 overcharge. They said no. Yes, I was stupid for not making sure the agent was charging me correctly. I may have to increase my credit line before my trip. But CB posted my latest pmt and my credit limit has increased because of my pmt. I don't want to increase my credit limit because we're going to buy a house and I want to keep my credit low on my credit report.
I just hoped I have helped all of you in some way. Just don't laugh at my mistakes, just pray my credit card gets straightened out, ok.
CB will never get any more of my business because they won't help customers-customers who need and request help in difficult situations.
[This message has been edited by wannaflymore (edited 05-07-2002).]
[This message has been edited by wannaflymore (edited 05-07-2002).]
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Sorry about your current circumstance Wannaflymore. Given the situation, it sounds like CB could have been more helpful and understanding.
It sound like they are following thier "rulebook" with no flexibility.
Thanks for posting this for now I know:
If I have a charge I would like to dispute or defer until a pending credit gets applied, maybe I won't be so honest with CB. Knowing thier policy now, I'll just tell them that the charge was not authorized and mark it in dispute. The "dispute" will have likely been "resolved" by the time I am ready to pay the bill.
I know the above is unethical, but look at what happened to wannaflymore with his honesty to CB. He explained to them exactly what happened and they would not aid in a reasonable, but unique situation.
I hope there is still a chance this will clear up for you satisfactorily wannaflymore.
Mike
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My understanding of telephone charges is that the merchant bears all the risk in the absence of a signed charge slip and an approval code.
I would take the hard line with Citi that you told the agent to bill $500 not $2300 and insist on getting the charge credited or the transaction voided.
I too have gotten similar non-responsive service from Citi and you just have to keep pushing.
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My understanding of the Visa and Master Card International policies is that disputed charges are taken off the account only after the investigation has been completed. Unlike Amex or Diners charge cards where they take the disputed amount off immidiately until the dispute is settled with the merchant.
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Citibank was correct in not letting you dispute the authorization. No one lets you dispute authorizations.
I don't know about Visa or MC, but AmEx won't dispute charges until your statement period closes.
I don't really understand why Citibank wouldn't dispute the charge though. Maybe I'm missing something or perhaps there is an intracacy about the rules I'm not familiar with.
d
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Citibank was proper in not allowing you to dispute an authorization. You cannot dispute an authorization with any Visa / MC bank. After some time, it will clear on it's own unless the merchant releases it first.
Your rights with the bank don't start with the phone call. In order to formally dispute a charge, you must put it in writing. My suggestion: write a letter of dispute and send it to Citibank. If you are in a rush, use FedEx or see if you can fax to them.
Another thought: if you have their World Card, your spending line should be above your credit line -- so you'd have that spending power. See if you can switch to that product before your trip.
------------------
On the road, In the air,
I enjoy travel, From here to there.
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One other thing to please keep in mind, you cannot "dispute" a transaction until you have been BILLED for it. I do NOT mean billed as in, it showed up on accountonline.com as posted to your account, (this is a seperate issue from the "authorization" issue, which is also correct, you can't dispute an authorization). I mean Citibank must "bill" you before you can dispute a charge (i.e. your monthly billing date comes and a statement is issued). I know this from personal experience.. in monitoring my cards online like you, I saw fraudulent charges and called Citibank (also happened with AmEx) and learned this lesson. Technically there is nothing to dispute because they have not billed you for it yet. I wanted to mention this and hopefully not add to your irritation but so you can plan how you may have to use another mile-earning card for your trip in case the credit does not come through for you right away. I'm still positive you will be able to put this behind you and have a wonderful trip (plus good stories to tell!). Let us know how it turns out.
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Ask Citibank to switch you to their "World" AA Mastercard. This product allows over the limit spending, and you'll still get your miles.
If you don't want to do that, Ask Citibank for a $2500 increase in your credit line. If you've had the account for more than 6 months and you pay your bills on time, they should approve it on the spot.
As the others have stated, I wouldn't cancel the card. No other visa or mastercard issuer would have acted any differently. I would obviously not use the same travel agent to book your cruises in the future. Give http://www.cruise411.com a try. They discount more than pretty much anyone I've seen, and they've given me great customer service.
[This message has been edited by skofarrell (edited 05-09-2002).]
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wannaflymore:
I think the "horror" of your story lies with your travel agent, not with Citibank.
Put yourself in Citibank's shoes for minute. Suppose you were in the credit card business. You grant a card to someone and determine that their credit limit should be, say, $5,000 (I'm just picking a number). That individual charges the card up to the limit, then calls you and says one of the charges is bogus. Would you grant that person additional credit just on their word? Probably not - not if you were any kind of business person.
I hope you can get this resolved so as not to spoil your trip. I think you need to be busting the chops of the travel agent (and the travel agency) to get this credited ASAP. Then be looking for another travel agent.
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Originally posted by singlemalt:
Put yourself in Citibank's shoes for minute. Suppose you were in the credit card business. You grant a card to someone and determine that their credit limit should be, say, $5,000 (I'm just picking a number). That individual charges the card up to the limit, then calls you and says one of the charges is bogus. Would you grant that person additional credit just on their word? Probably not - not if you were any kind of business person.
That's actually very common - people claiming charges are bogus to "extend" their credit limits.
d
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Update- I found out today NCL requested a refund for me yesterday which they said should post in 48-72 hrs to my account. Also CB put a conditional dispute on my account yesterday. Don't ask me how I convinced them cause I'm not going to say yet. But I have my credit limit restored by the cond. dispute and I'm waiting for the refund to show up on my account.
No I'll not use that agent again but I got the cruise a great price and a very nice room. The agent is really nice. I think she was nervous when she was doing my reservation. I don't know. We had a conference call with NCL today about the refund.
But I have learned my lesson the hard way. Always tell the person FIRST how much you want to pay.
Thanks everyone for your comments.
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Originally posted by Flyaway:
My understanding of the Visa and Master Card International policies is that disputed charges are taken off the account only after the investigation has been completed. Unlike Amex or Diners charge cards where they take the disputed amount off immidiately until the dispute is settled with the merchant.
Not my experience. Ive had HSBC Visa cards with very high credit limits for 4-5 years now and am glad to report that their response to disputes is excellent. They immediately took the disputed charges off my bill and then ran the investigation. Im horrified that Citibank act in this manner, especially since I now have a AAdvantage Platinum World Mastercard with a high credit limit thats issued here in the USA.
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I was upset too. Normally I would not have asked for a dispute so soon. But I did, since we are you know going on the Alaska cruise and I do plan to take a lot of cruise shore excursions, etc. (We're going on a helicopter, land on a Alaskan glacier, and walk around on it. That costs quite a bit of money)
I pay my balance off every month on the card too. I have never been late. I have other credit cards I can use but I want to get my airline miles. Because I pay an annual fee to use the CB card and the Diners Club, I expect better customer service than the no fee cards.
[This message has been edited by wannaflymore (edited 05-09-2002).]
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wannaflymore:
Glad to hear it all worked out for you. If you have any room left on that card, you may want to look at getting cash advances from the casino to get more miles. According to Racefan6 (check near the bottom of the thread), Norwegian treats them as purchases which get added to your tab (which I imagine will be charged to your card)
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum1/HTML/006440.html
Easy miles if you have the room.
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I think singlemalt has hit the nail on the head....this is not really a cruise line issue at all....only somewhat a Citibank issue....but 98.9% a travel agenCY problem.
Glad this all worked out for you.
[This message has been edited by ILUVCITIBANK (edited 05-09-2002).]
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Thanks a lot singlemalt. I'll be sure to check into the cash advance "purchase" Make CB pay me back for all my stress in airline miles.
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My refund finally got credited to my acct while I was in Alaska. I charged all I needed on my trip and did not exceed my credit limit. Just thought I would let everyone know. Had a great trip. It was nice and cold there. Saw 5 mooses and hundreds of eagles.