Coronavirus - Travel impacts II

[Sunset]

Thanks for the info! We were looking for somewhere to stop between Las Vegas and Bryce canyon and Valley of Fire State Park looks perfect. We did hear that about Zion and are planning with that in mind.

We enjoyed Valley of Fire.

Next time I go to Bryce Canyon, I'll take my car inside, instead of the shuttle, as we missed the last shuttle bus out, and had quite an adventure

 

[ugeauxgirl]

We enjoyed Valley of Fire.

Next time I go to Bryce Canyon, I'll take my car inside, instead of the shuttle, as we missed the last shuttle bus out, and had quite an adventure

We all liked Valley of Fire too. We kept expecting Wile E Coyote and the roadrunner to come around a bend in the road. And I love petroglyphs.

 

[Gearhead Jim]

We enjoyed Valley of Fire.

Next time I go to Bryce Canyon, I'll take my car inside, instead of the shuttle, as we missed the last shuttle bus out, and had quite an adventure

That should be a good story. Details?

 

[UnrealizedPotential]

Travel Impact? My flight to Europe was cancelled that was scheduled for August. Most of Europe does not want Americans right now and so it's tough . I will wait until my credit card is credited back the amount and then see how it looks. I wonder if I can go to Europe this year.

Things are still very uncertain .

 

[Teacher Terry]

Told my son to check to see if our Europe flight was canceled for August. That would be good news.

 

[jollystomper]

Between May and August we have several family graduations and weddings occurring, all in states that have declared a state of emergency.

I am thinking not so much of us, but with the increasing amount of discouragement for/prohibition of large gatherings, how that will impact travel, particularly in May or June, for these types of events. I am not anticipating the spread and associated level of concern/panic to be diminished by then.

Two graduations cancelled in May, so associated travel cancelled.

Nephew's wedding in TN this month will only be for local immediately family on both sides that have been in physical contact with each other already. Originally planned for 300-400 guests with family coming from all over, now to be about 50-60.

Another nephew's wedding in NJ in August has been scaled down to just immediate family on both sides.

In both cases they are hoping in 2021 to have family celebrations for the 2020 weddings. We'll just save these travel dollars for then.

 

[Gearhead Jim]

We had been planning to cancel our Italy trip with Blue Roads, in September. They would have given us a future travel credit for the $400 we put down as a deposit, but we're not sure how useful that will be. Or even if Blue Roads will exist next year.

This week, we discovered they had "postponed" our trip and they offered us the credit again. But the "Terms on Conditions" on their website say we get a full refund if they cancel, and postponed with no agreement on date equals cancelled, to me.

We sent them an email and received no reply yet. The US phone number we used before, is dead. The phone number listed on their website is apparently in another country but doesn't match anything we know, and we can't get through on it.

So the big question is, what will happen if we dispute the charge on our credit card? The deposit was charged on the card many months ago, so I'm not confident.
What have others been experiencing with card disputes?

 

[Sunset]

....

So the big question is, what will happen if we dispute the charge on our credit card? The deposit was charged on the card many months ago, so I'm not confident.
What have others been experiencing with card disputes?

I disputed Princess cruise charge approx $4,500 as they didn't give me a refund within 10 days as I was told I would get.

That was my reason: didn't get the refund.

The Credit card company has given me the money, temporarily. That took about 2 weeks to happen. So if the cruise line cannot prove they refunded me, or that they don't have to refund me, then I get to keep the money.
The seller (cruise line) has 60 days to object.

Actually they owe me more for the trip, but the rest was paid long ago, so that was the best I could do, it is now approaching 90 days I'm waiting for the 10 day refund of the full amount.

 

[Sunset]

Gearhead Jim:

Take snapshots or downloads of the provider's terms and conditions to have proof, because they can always change their website.
Princess changed their website on refunds !

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

Gearhead Jim:

Take snapshots or downloads of the provider's terms and conditions to have proof, because they can always change their website.
Princess changed their website on refunds !

Sometimes you can use the Internet Archive to show what was on a given page on a given day in the past. For example: https://web.archive.org/web/2019*/https://www.princesscruises.de/en/terms-conditions

Of course, that page wasn't archived very often, but they usually crawl most pages within a few days, so it may be that it didn't change very often, and they missed the one change you were talking about.

 

[sengsational]

Good info on capturing and researching T's&C's!

As I mentioned earlier in the thread, the CC dispute process worked for me on several credit card accounts and several unresponsive vendors.

And it even worked with a charge that was made more than 60 days before the dispute.

I thought the vendor got one over on me: they kept from formally cancelling until just over 60 days after the last payment was made, even though the destination government had shut down air travel. But I didn't feel I had a case to dispute until they cancelled and didn't offer a refund. Then, finally, they cancelled, but a few days past the 60 days since last payment.

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

Yes, I found with USAA they were very flexible about their supposed limit to dispute a charge, as long as I hadn't actually used the item or service I paid for in the interim, like with airfares or subscriptions, or items with very long delivery times. If you want to try a chargeback, try to point out the travel still hasn't been taken and/or that the provider cancelled when you initially submit it.

 

[athena53]

There is a lot of hostile buzz about Overseas Adventure Travel and refunds. If the stories are to be believed, they changed their refund policy and applied it retroactively to past payments. They are using "Force Majeure' to justify their actions. Supposedly, they also rescheduled people moving them from a 2020 tour to a 2021 tour without any input from the customer.

I guess most of its customers didn't include trying to get their money back as part of the 'Adventure' they signed up for.

I wanted to add an update to this- their most recent e-mail in reply to my inquiry is that they're still working on processing refunds and hope to be done by the end of this month. I'd be OK with a credit but cash is even better. I really like this company and hope to do more tours with them. Will post when I get a final resolution.

 

[Chuckanut]

Gearhead Jim:

Take snapshots or downloads of the provider's terms and conditions to have proof, because they can always change their website.
Princess changed their website on refunds !

+1

I noticed that one outfit I am having trouble with changed their refund time from 7 business days, to 7-10 business days, and now doesn't mention a time limit at all in their latest email to me.

OTOH, Rick Steves gave me a full refund within a week.

Who do you think has the best chance of getting a chunk of my future travel business?

 

[sengsational]

Any Big Credit Balances?

One of my cards has a $1,500 balance (that they owe me), due to refunds. Interest rates, what they are (or are not) makes me not care. In the past, I've had CC issuers send a check, spontaneously. Since I used those charges to get to the signup bonus, I'm not complaining. I had spent the points before any of this, so my point balance is negative.



Just a weird situation all around. To be fair, I plan to use the card on travel again, some day, even though the spending will be associated with negative rewards, hehehe!

 

[Sunset]

One of my cards has a $1,500 balance (that they owe me), due to refunds. Interest rates, what they are (or are not) makes me not care. In the past, I've had CC issuers send a check, spontaneously. Since I used those charges to get to the signup bonus, I'm not complaining. I had spent the points before any of this, so my point balance is negative.

Just a weird situation all around. To be fair, I plan to use the card on travel again, some day, even though the spending will be associated with negative rewards, hehehe!

I have a similar situation, the travel CC where I have "temporarily" won my dispute has a credit of about $4,800 on it due to some other small refunds.

Now I owe or at least have a reward point balance of -$500 worth of rewards.

Frankly it's a weird situation, not sure what will happen, but I anticipate they will deduct the point value from actual money at some point.

 

[Lagniappe]

I wanted to add an update to this- their most recent e-mail in reply to my inquiry is that they're still working on processing refunds and hope to be done by the end of this month. I'd be OK with a credit but cash is even better. I really like this company and hope to do more tours with them. Will post when I get a final resolution.

I was one of the people who was feeling hostile toward OAG. My April 30 Egypt trip was cancelled and I was told I would be issued a refund. Instead I was re-booked on a trip next year, on a date that does not work for me. When I called I was told that they changed their policy retroactively. Based on the NY Times article someone posted a link to here, I filed a complaint with the State of Massachusetts. I received a full refund last Friday!

 

[explanade]

I was one of the people who was feeling hostile toward OAG. My April 30 Egypt trip was cancelled and I was told I would be issued a refund. Instead I was re-booked on a trip next year, on a date that does not work for me. When I called I was told that they changed their policy retroactively. Based on the NY Times article someone posted a link to here, I filed a complaint with the State of Massachusetts. I received a full refund last Friday!

They just picked arbitrary dates for you as opposed to give you at least a credit with some flexibility on when you can use it?

What is the full name of the company?

 

[Lagniappe]

Overseas Adventure Travel.

They picked dates close to the original, but a year later. I was originally going April 30-March 21, they rebooked April 2. I have a family obligation then and couldn't make it. You could change the date, but when I tried to do that the single rooms (they have a limited number of single bookings) were all taken.

 

[braumeister]

IIRC, OAT got a ton of bad reviews based on their cancellation/refund policy this year. It was already pretty strict, but then they decided to make it even stricter, and then make the new rules retroactive.

It has been a good company, and we had a wonderful trip with them last year in Ireland, but apparently their profit margin was small and they were hit much harder by COVID-19 than they ever imagined.

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

Um...I am not a lawyer, but I read up on legal issues quite a bit, and I am pretty sure you are not allowed to make retroactive, unilateral changes to a contract, like retroactively changing your T&C. They would need to offer to release you from the contract, which would mean a full refund, or get your consent to the new contract. Consent can sometimes be implied, like renewing/not canceling, but this is not an ongoing relationship like a bank or credit card account, or a subscription service, this is a sale for a specific thing, the terms of which were already agreed upon.

 

[ElizabethT]

Well, it took three months, but we just received an $1800 refund from Norwegian Airlines for a flight they drastically changed, which meant I had the legal right to cancel for a full refund. Three full months, plus the assistance of my bank when I lodged a dispute after two full months of waiting.

Norwegian, please be assured that I see you, and will refrain from ever booking with you again.

Those companies that made it easy? I will rebook with you as soon as I possibly can. Thank you.

 

[Brat]

I see that Carnival is planning to sell several ships to raise cash... but who would be the buyers?

 

[dixter]

got and email today from SouthWest Airlines... they are going to start flying back to Cabo on July 1.... we'll see how that goes... I spent Jan in Cabo... would like to go back again

 

[dixter]

I see that Carnival is planning to sell several ships to raise cash... but who would be the buyers?

Razor Blade companies...