section 75 - cruise facilities

[begentle]

Hi Guys, hope you can shed some light on my options. I've hit a dead end with the credit card company

 

 

I booked a cruise in feb 14 on the phone. a major reason why I chose that particular cruise liner was due to the facilities they provide for children. I went at great length with the booking person on what they provide and whether my child would be accepted. I knew that the policy of the cruise liner was that the child must be 3 and my child was going to be 3 weeks shy of the 3rd b'day. the booking person exact words were 'the policy is from 3 but given that she is potty trained and that she is so close to her 3rd birthday you should speak to the staff on board' As I know how americans (this was an American ship) are 'computer says no sort of people' I asked what would happen if my child is not accepted to the kids club and the booking person responded 'you will have to be present with your child '.

 

 

this was not a problem for me as I had experienced another liner where the policy was 2 years and we simply had to be in the kids club whilst our child was entertained by the staff with the other children.

 

 

within an hour of going on board and having visited the kids club it transpired that not only was our child not going to be accepted in the kids club but that our only 'option' was to stay in a separate room (away from the kids club) which is apparently designated for under 3's with staff not even allowed to enter that particular room!

 

 

now, for those of you who think this is trivial, all the family was honestly looking forward to this cruise so that we can have a break from our child who, whilst lovely requires constant interaction and loves to interact with children CONSTANTLY. we really felt that this well earned holiday was completely ruined particularly when our daughter was constantly telling us 'lets go to the kids club' and we had to constantly tell her that it is closed.

 

 

anyway, to cut a long story short we made a very strong complaint on board that very day and it took 4 days of arguing with them to finally get them to put in writing that there is no way she is going to be accepted based on their policy and that 'you were misinformed by your estate agent.'

 

 

on my return I immediately put a formal complaint and the rep I spoke to (on booking) tried phoned to attempt to sweet talk me. I was having none of it and requested she puts everything in writing and explain why she told me one thing which transpired to be completely false. She told me that she will look into it and I even have a few e mails going to & fro to tell me that she's taking care of it and will get back to me (their policy 28 days). I waited patiently for them to reply to no avail. when I was (after about 1 month) that they were not going to address my complaint I made a section 75 claim with the credit card company.

 

 

MBNA took it 'seriously' and spent 3 months investigating it (in that time they froze the interest on the balance) and giving me a call periodically telling me that they are still looking into it as the cruise company did not provide them with the required information.

 

 

finally this week I received a letter from mbna stating that they have investigate the matter and ruled against a refund after the cruise company informed them that they had heard back my conversation at time of booking and that the cruise company are satisfied that the rep had informed me correctly about the facilities provided for children and that they are not willing to accept liability.

 

 

Now I am quite lost as to my next step! It would definitely help receiving a copy of the recordings but I need to get this money back quick (£4.5K) and I can already see this taking for ever to get a resolution. I'm happy to go to court but should it be against mbna, or mbna & cruise company? and I would need to proof what was said in the conversation?!

 

 

your informed insight and various opinions would be greatly appreciated. I hate it when big companies play games with people who save hard to spend their hard earned money!!!

 

 

thanks in advance

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Hi Welcome to CAG,

 

 

I find it hard to see that this is a "section 75" matter.

 

 

If you take any action it would I think have to be against the cruise company/travel agent.

 

 

You and the family have had the holiday, so why are you seeking the refund of £4.5K, you may get a small " gesture of goodwill"

 

 

in regard to the lack of access to the "kids club" but I find it hard to see why you would be offered a full refund.

[silverfox1961]

Hi

As I know how americans (this was an American ship) are 'computer says no sort of people' I asked what would happen if my child is not accepted to the kids club and the booking person responded 'you will have to be present with your child '.

 

If that statement was in writing then you 'may' have had a (very small) case but if (as I suspect) this information was told to you verbally then I can't see any way out of this.

 

You knew the kids club was for over 3s and your daughter was not going to reach that age on the ship so you took the chance. Just because a different liner had a different policy makes no difference in this case. There are very good reasons for these rules as if they did 'turn a blind eye' on this occasion and something happened, the crew of the ship become liable and not the insurers

 

If you choose to pursue this, I feel you will be on the losing side. Sorry if that is not what you want to hear but it is my opinion and you are more than welcome to get other opinions.

[begentle]

I agree that a full refund will be stretching it however I made it very clear at time of booking that our main reason for booking the holiday was the kids facilities and the fact that we did not have any such facilities spoilt our holiday to a very big extent. had we known that we will not have any kids facilities we would have booked something different and definitely not spent 4.5K (2.5K of that was because we had a child) as we could have easily gone for a cheaper room category or arranged to get 2 rooms (4 pax) which would still have worked out cheaper than the 4.5K we paid.

 

 

as an outsider (without experience of our daughter) this may sound really trivial but we needed the kids facilities to get a bit of a break

[begentle]

to silverfox, I agree that not having anything in writing is bad and I get it that you would think this is a small/trivial matter. however I know what was discussed over the phone with the rep as I made it a condition of going ahead that there are kids facilities available and that under 3's could still enjoy the kids facilities by having 1 parent present which was definitely not the case here. before we book a holiday we research the destination and the kids facilities thoroughly and hence why we feel so betrayed as we were expecting one thing and found completely another.

 

 

do you have any idea how I can compel them to disclose the recording? I am very inclined to go ahead with this (even if there is only a small chance) as I am very clear in what I questioned the rep about and what answers I got which were completely different in reality. this is like going for a 5 star hotel and finding that you ended up in a £20/night bb.

[rebel11]

You could consider sending the cruise company a SAR request, they have 40 days to respond, it will cost £10. See what they send you. State that you want telephone logs etc. See if you can move it forward from there.

[begentle]

hi rebel, thanks for that. is there anything u would suggest I do with the credit card company? i know what there is on the recording which will prove me right. can i take mbna to small claims. by the time this will be heard (8 months down my way) i will have got hold of recordings (hopefully) and I'm pretty sure the cruise company would make an offer if they realize I'm proceeding with this

[rebel11]

You need to get the evidence before you do anything else.

 

hi rebel, thanks for that. is there anything u would suggest I do with the credit card company? i know what there is on the recording which will prove me right. can i take mbna to small claims. by the time this will be heard (8 months down my way) i will have got hold of recordings (hopefully) and I'm pretty sure the cruise company would make an offer if they realize I'm proceeding with this

[begentle]

that will postpone this matter another 2 months?! and its been going on already for 4?! grrrr

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

that will postpone this matter another 2 months?! and its been going on already for 4?! grrrr

I think you might "possibly " get a gesture of a couple of hundred pounds, but I cannot see how there is any claim for more.

 

 

If parents do not want to be "troubled by their children " perhaps a different type of holiday would have been better.

[begentle]

that's exactly it, we wanted to be 'not troubled by our child' during the hours of 9am - 1pm & from 2.30pm to 5.30pm where we anticipated she will be at the kids club hence why we chose that particular holiday!!!

 

 

as we both work from home and our child only went to nursery 3 days a week I think we deserved to have a bit of a break!?