My negative DCL experience

[Gelatoni]

I thought I'd give DCL a chance to sort things out, as i'm not normally one to post about a company unless they've had a chance. But we sailed in August, so here goes...

We had a fantastic cruise, can't fault that at all. But on the final morning, I had a shock checking my bank balance to discover over £1000 extra had been taken. It turned out we'd been "double-charged" in the form of duplicate pending charges for some of our onboard purchases. We spent a rushed, panicky breakfast reading notifications to say several bills had bounced, some incurring charges.

Went straight to guest services, both feeling pretty stressed at this point. Now at first the CM was saying are you sure you haven't bought a few things you forgot about... Now, we like to spend, but we certainly hadn't spent over £3000 on board! After much deliberation, we were taken to one side, and luckily I have a head for finances so was able to show the CM otherwise using my spreadsheet.

She disappeared to speak to a manager, who eventually came out with his own spreadsheet printouts, and agreed that we'd been double-charged. And also that they couldn't do anything... But the charges should drop in 3 days (spoiler alert - they stayed for 30 days).

OK we said, this is stressful and we have incurred bank charges, but at least we'll have access to our money in a few days.

A few days pass, and no sign of the money back. But there was another surprise in store... Another £1000+ taken as pending charges. So, that's £2000+ unexpected charges. We can't access our money put aside for bills.

Desperate calls to DCL were a disaster. I got through to a CM who couldn't have cared less, and was exceptionally rude. He said they don't deal with accounting, put me on hold for an hour, and came back with a dead-end internal email that turned out to be for Adventures By Disney. Came off the phone in tears.

Obviously no response from that email, so DH calls them again. Friendly CM this time, but gives us another dead-end email address.

I trawled through a Facebook group and found an email for shipboard accounting. At this point I'd told my bank about DCL, and they said they could void their charges if they had a letter saying the pending charges would be dropped.

Success with this email, but no real response to the issue of the stress caused. I forwarded the email to my bank who launched an investigation.

A week later, the bank voided the charges, and I got access to my £2000+ again. The actual charges stayed for just over 30 days, by the way. If I didn't jump through hoops with my bank, I would have been without my money for longer.

In the time after, I had penned 3 emails to DCL explaining how frustrated we were A with what happened and B how it was dealt with.

No response at all, so I went through a US complaints bureau to do it officially.

After a MONTH, I get a voicemail from a DCL CM, just stating that she tried to call. I try calling her back as she didn't try calling again - was on hold for an hour until I got through. But, I was put through to someone else who knew nothing about it...

I explained everything from the beginning, and how I was most frustrated that nobody had originally taken ownership of the issue, and we'd incurred several bank charges.

She says "thanks for explaining, sorry it happened, I can't do anything because i'm not a manager. But I'll pass this on to a manager". Oh, and she also said that this happens for UK guests at Disney. I've been going since 1991 and i've never been double-charged!

That was it. A week passes and I get an email from someone else at DCL, saying she is looking into my case and will be in touch.

Well, that was 2 months ago now. I dropped her an email asking if she was getting in touch or not, but nothing since.

Now I know Covid has made customer service more difficult, but this just doesn't feel like Disney to me.

I'm not sure what I was expecting, but a proper acknowledgement, something that says they actually took my complaint seriously?

We are a bit put off booking again now 😢

[JessBlu]

Oh my !

That is a shocker !

Sorry you had to go through that.

[Bozza]

Sounds poor.

How much are you out of pocket due to the bank charges?

[Gelatoni]

Originally Posted by JessBlu

Oh my !

That is a shocker !

Sorry you had to go through that.

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I'm just disappointed that it was Disney. They usually can't do anything wrong in my eyes, and I hate complaining - almost feels like being let down by a friend.

[Gelatoni]

Originally Posted by Bozza

Sounds poor.

How much are you out of pocket due to the bank charges?

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It wasn't a huge amount Bozza, I'd say about £75ish. I've never been late on a bill ever - I was 50 shades of red over breakfast that morning wondering what on earth had happened. Good job I keep spreadsheets of everything like a maniac 😂

[JessBlu]

Originally Posted by Gelatoni

I'm just disappointed that it was Disney. They usually can't do anything wrong in my eyes, and I hate complaining - almost feels like being let down by a friend.

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Ahh well that is the lesson.
They are a company with a bottom line of generating revenue.

Any fuzzy feelings stop at the cash tills in MK Main Street.

😂😂😂😂

[Bozza]

Originally Posted by Gelatoni

It wasn't a huge amount Bozza, I'd say about £75ish. I've never been late on a bill ever - I was 50 shades of red over breakfast that morning wondering what on earth had happened. Good job I keep spreadsheets of everything like a maniac 😂

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£75 isn't to be sniffed at - better in your bank account than their's.

[Bellasmummy]

Dreadful service, I too would be reluctant to book again if I were you but then you miss out which is also unfair.

I’d be tempted to post to their social media, not initially with the whole story, but saying that you’re not getting a response. Post that in the comments each time they post and you should get a prompt response. Companies hate for others to see the negative comments.

Dh resorted to that with BA a few years ago when we were not getting a response to an official complaint. Every time they tweeted an advert he was the first comment stating that his complaint was not being addressed. Within a few days they’d phoned asking him to stop and dealt with the complaint.

[bonnies mum]

Your bank should refund those charges - they know, as they were given written proof, that DCL were responsible for the problem and you should be given a refund of the £75.00.
On a much smaller amount we were double charged by Princess a couple of years ago. DH went to guest services and they could see that both transactions took place within seconds, they agreed to refund 1 charge but instead made another charge. DH was back & forward so often they just deleted the charges including the 1 we were due, and happy, to pay. It was a complete farce.
Some companies just don’t seem to be able to correct their mistakes but the innocent party - YOU - should never be out of pocket.

[Gelatoni]

Originally Posted by bonnies mum

Your bank should refund those charges - they know, as they were given written proof, that DCL were responsible for the problem and you should be given a refund of the £75.00.
On a much smaller amount we were double charged by Princess a couple of years ago. DH went to guest services and they could see that both transactions took place within seconds, they agreed to refund 1 charge but instead made another charge. DH was back & forward so often they just deleted the charges including the 1 we were due, and happy, to pay. It was a complete farce.
Some companies just don’t seem to be able to correct their mistakes but the innocent party - YOU - should never be out of pocket.

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That's interesting. I had assumed these companies wouldn't be interested in why the payment bounced - perhaps wrongly. Worth me looking into again.