Is Coronavirus keeping you from booking liveaboard/overseas trips this year?

[outofofficebrb]

While disputing a charge is an option, I currently cannot bring myself to do it in my situation. I’m still waiting to hear back from the op via my agent/agency. If I did that, I would be screwing over my agent and their agency and it is no fault of theirs right now. The chargeback, IF approved, would mean a hit to them and not the operator of the liveaboard. My agent and their agency has been so good to me over the years. @Dan

 

[outofofficebrb]

Weird situation. I agree with giving them the opportunity to fix the situation but in the end I would do everything I can to avoid losing $8000 even if it means screwing over the agent. The agent can then do as they please with the operator. They may have a little more weight to swing if they say they will never sell their trip again. In the end the agent is marking up the trip as well to make money.

Booking with my agent and booking direct with the operator actually yields no difference in price - it is never higher with the agent in my experience. Even return discounts that are extended to me direct with the op are honored with my agent.

 

[Dan]

Ya. I'm in the same boat, waiting op answer through my agent. My case is simple, my trip will be rescheduled to future date. I think the surge of similar deals is overwhelming the op system and we are going through a backlog. I'll be patiently waiting for my turn.

 

[Hoag]

When I cancelled my photo trip to Banff, WestJet refunded the charge for seat selection completely and transferred the remainder of the cost of the flight to an account to be used on a flight within a year.

 

[Hoag]

There are other factors that will come into play for many of us. As a direct result of the current economic turmoil related to COVID-19, the Canadian dollar is in the toilet right now. With the current exchange rate, $1USD = $1.43CAD. Adding 43% to the cost of a trip makes things tough.

 

[mruseless]

Dispute the charge with your credit card company

Unfortunately I paid through my local shop with a check. Maybe he will be willing to dispute if he paid for the group with a cc. I'll discuss with him tomorrow but he's also a personal friend so I won't do something that hurts him.

 

[MrBigfins]

I just realized something, I was supposed to be heading to Socorro tomorrow and instead I'm actually excited that my governor now permitted me to go back to work instead. What has this pandemic done to me

 

[Shasta_man]

I'd say it would be Nautilus who would be screwing your agent.

While not suggesting not to dispute, disputing the charge doesn't automatically result in you getting your money back and done. The CC company would consider the purchase, terms, etc to decide whether it is reasonable to refund your money. They owe both sides of the trans a review of the purchase. You might, I mean will still have an uphill battle to get your money through them.

Separately, not allowing people to reschedule doesn't seem to be reasonable since it would allow them to keep your money from the originally scheduled trip really for doing pretty much nothing (i'm thinking that boat maintenance is an ongoing cost that happens regardless)and then having to incur the same cost they would have now but at a future point. Given the reason this happening (all people affected worldwide) it doesn't seem reasonable. However, prior to this event, we've seen some companies feeling that customers perceptions of their companies are not so important.

 

[Dan]

Separately, not allowing people to reschedule doesn't seem to be reasonable since it would allow them to keep your money from the originally scheduled trip really for doing pretty much nothing (i'm thinking that boat maintenance is an ongoing cost that happens regardless)and then having to incur the same cost they would have now but at a future point.

Where did you get that information?

 

[outofofficebrb]

Where did you get that information?

I believe what he is trying to say is this, as an example: all guests can't make it to the liveaboard. The liveaboard isn't sailing and just sitting at port. The liveaboard is not rescheduling or refunding so they are keeping 100% of the money. If they aren't leaving port, a lot of their costs aren't actually "spent" in that moment. However, once things go back to some semblance of normal and trips start to resume, the costs are then "spent" or "incurred" when they actually sail again. So, in theory, there is not much of a delta in their bottom line.

This logic applies fine except what is likely is that the money that they (they meaning various ops, no one specific) accepted in exchange for the trip may have already been spent. They may be relying on a constant flow of income to support paying their regular/monthly expenses...Living paycheck to paycheck, if you will. By rescheduling, they are not getting any income because for a while, guests on their boat might all be reschedules. So, there are expenditures (fuel, food, labor) that continue but no income, or not at the normal/usual levels and if you "live paycheck to paycheck" in that sense, you are digging yourselves further into debt which is not viable....which leads to insolvency/bankruptcy and failure of a business.