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The web site promised that I would have confirmation of my booking within 24 hours.
On 17th June I telephoned Cruise Control who told me to allow a week for confirmation of the booking.
On 24th June I again telephoned Cruise Control on 3 occasions at intervals of a couple of hours, and on each occasion I was told that their computer system was "down"and was promised a return call, which was not forthcoming.
On 27th June at 9.10 am I again telephoned Cruise Control and was told that there was no booking made for me. I was promised a telephone call back from "a senior person" the same day. This call was never made.
At 6.30 pm on 27th June I e-mailed Cruise Control to inform them that I no longer wished them to book the cruise for me: as an agent they were under a duty to book my desired cruise promptly and they had clearly failed to do so.
On 28th July I proceeded to book the same cuise through another agent, who was a complete contrast, being efficient and straightforward. My booking was completed in a 10 minute phone call and I paid a deposit to this agent.
On 5th July, Cruise Control charged my Credit Card with the sum of £306.
No written confirmation was ever received from Cruise Control.
No reply was made by Cruise Control to my several faxes, telephone calls and emails on this matter.
I have today spoken to Royal Caribbean who inform me that, while they do have my booking through the new agent, they have never had a booking from Cruise Control for me.
Clearly, Cuise Control have committecd Fraud, by charging me for a cruise that they have not booked.
My Credit Card company is following up the matter with ABTA, but I just wonder how many other people have been charged for a non-existent cruise.
Cruise Control have had their come-uppance; whilst it is a great shame that the staff have to find new jobs through no fault of their own, I am delighted that the management are likewise unemployed.
I sincerely hope that the Directors of Cruise Control are held personally liable for the company's debts and likewise hope that they are disqualified from being Company Directors in the future.
In this case with Cruise Control no longer being in business, it's up to the liquidators, or a claim on ABTA by the Credit Card company. They shouldn't make you wait though while they sort things out.
On the other hand, any payments in the UK made to a Travel Agent on behalf of RCI, are deemed to have been made directly to RCI [read their small print].. the problem here is, there was no paperwork as Cruise Control [too many CC's] failed in their contract as an agency to even make the booking.
Have you read all the staff banter about conditions at CC in Shiphappens? Certainly worth a read. It seems some of the top staff had jobs ready to walk into..... suspicious? The customer service people were not even allowed to make outside calls... not sure how they could do their job, no wonder nothing every got solved when there was a query... this is all talk, by those quite understandably aggrieved with everything that has happened, so should be read with half a pinch of salt maybe.
Glad you got the cruise rebooked and hope you get a speedy refund.
Pam
quote:Originally posted by Meldrew of the Seas: I am delighted that the management are likewise unemployed.
They probably get to keep their big houses and cars and will start a new business on Monday!
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