Should a dive op give you your money back?

[RJP]

Personally, I never saw the point of owning a card that charged a $75 annual fee that almost no one accepts!

A.) If you spend enough they will waive the fee. I've had my platinum fee waived every year for the last 10 or so.

B.) There are rather quite FEW places that don't take it in the grand scheme of things.

 

[MeiLing]

MeiLing – as far as I know the world I am in if the money was paid by credit card, I can always dispute the charge.
Only reason I would be disputing the charge would be, if you look at the initial post when this person did post here, most of the dive instructor and dive op asked this person to take the hit, shut his mouth and just do away with it, then I recommended that diver dispute the charge with credit card company and again the dive op and instructors showed sympathy that all credit card would do is take away money from dive op and refund it to customer.
If this dive op was honest then they could had give couple options to the customer like either full refund or take a cancellation fee and refund the balance, or say we give you store credit whenever you want to come back we will work with you.
I am not a dive op or a instructor and I am only arguing from customers prospective, why is only customer supposed to take hit and dive op gets special consideration.

As far as the original poster is concerned, they did give him the option to take the trip at a later date which was above and beyond the terms of the contract that the OP had entered into. It wasn't their fault that he can't go, yet they should take the hit??

If customers don't have to honor the contracts that they've entered into, why should the businesses. I think far too often businesses get stuck with customers who expect them to put themselves out their for that person and not have to pay when they decide at the last minute they don't want to or can't go for whatever the reason.

I used to teach craft classes for a local shop here that didn't take deposits for the classes. For one class, a gal got my number from the shop because she wanted to take the class with her friend. She caught me just before I ordered the materials, so I ordered enough to include her and her friend, neither of which bothered to show up for the class! So now I was out the additional cost of the materials for them. At the end of the day, I wound up losing money for that class because of it. Not that I made all that much for it in the first place.

I think a major part of the problem is that there is a decided lack of accountability on the part of customers. The contracts that businesses put into place with their customers insure that accountability!

In the case of the OP, I think that the business was being more than fair and that if he doesn't want to take the risk of not being able to take the trip later, then he needs to sell his space on the boat.

 

[MeiLing]

A.) If you spend enough they will waive the fee. I've had my platinum fee waived every year for the last 10 or so.

B.) There are rather quite FEW places that don't take it in the grand scheme of things.

Here in Hawaii, there are so few places that take it, that it is just not worth my time. I get by just fine on my VISA which doesn't have a fee in the first place! Never had a Discover card either!

Never been to a place that said, "Sorry, we only take AmEx!", when I've handed them my VISA!

 

[Cacia]

A.) If you spend enough they will waive the fee. I've had my platinum fee waived every year for the last 10 or so.

:11:

:14:

Is there a secret club?

MeiLing...I use my Am X everywhere, Cosco for example does not take VISA

who are you talking about? I know someplaces don't, but well, Costco is my biggest single vendor, I guess.

 

[Dive Right In Scuba]

:11:

:14:

Is there a secret club?

MeiLing...I use my Am X everywhere, Cosco for example does not take VISA

who are you talking about? I know someplaces don't, but well, Costco is my biggest single vendor, I guess.

So what do you want to buy to bring that balance up

 

[Cacia]

got Halcyon yet?

I need Halcyon without the Halcyon shop BS.

I love my Pinnacle BTW

 

[MeiLing]

MeiLing...I use my Am X everywhere, Cosco for example does not take VISA

who are you talking about? I know someplaces don't, but well, Costco is my biggest single vendor, I guess.

Perhaps places are getting better about taking it here. I was just at Safeway and found that they do take it there now. I used to work part time for a long time at a place that didn't take it but took VISA and M/C. Machine would take it accidentally if it was swiped but eventually you'd get yelled at because they had to pay higher processing fees.

It really has been quite a long time since I explored the possibility of having one. Don't really feel the need to either as I seem to be getting by just fine without one.

Yes, Costco doesn't take VISA, but they do take my M/C debit card so I am good to go for getting gasoline there!:14: And any other time I need to get anything there!

I do most of my shopping at the Commissary and really enjoy not having to buy things in bulk! There's only two of us so food in bulk tends to go to waste and I can't stand trying to store 12 rolls of paper towels, especially since I can just buy one roll and pay the same price at the Commissary! And for some food stuffs, they seem to have a better selection!

If your AmEx works for you, so be it! More choices are always a good thing!

 

[RJP]

:11:

:14:

Is there a secret club?

Amex tracks/rates you based on how much you spend. That rating is available right on the screen when an Amex rep pulls your account info up on their screen.

Step 1.) Spend a lot of money on the card on an ongoing basis*

Step 2.) Call and say you want to cancel because of the fee when it hits your bill

Step 3.) Listen for the *gasp* from the customer service rep when they enter your account number

Step 4.) Wait while they transfer you to a "member retention specialist"

Step 5.) When they offer to step you down a level with no fee (Black>Platinum, Platinum>Gold, etc) politely decline and tell them that no, you simply want to cancel

One of the tricks is to NOT necessarily have the highest level card for which you qualify. I backed down from the black card (which I also got free for one year) because I was just an "average" black spender, but apparently am a top-flight platinum spender.

*Wife and I put every penny we spend on AmEx - even a gallon of milk at 7-11. I also have the benefit of putting a LOT of work expenses on my personal card.

 

[Rick Murchison]

So Rick what your are saying is Dive OP, can cancel the trip whenever they want and they don't have to pay penalty for it, but if diver cancels the trip diver has to pay penalty for it?

Nope. Not saying that at all. If you'd like to examine the previous case as a separate issue, (where the operator did abuse the customer, in my opinion) we can do that, but the bottom line is that the customer and the company reached an agreement that put that event to rest.
What I am saying is that in the vacation business, especially in the live-aboard dive boat business, there comes a time in the process when the operator has sunk most of the customer's money into the trip, and that if the operator expects to stay in business then the operator must construct the deal so that if the customer backs out after that time then it is the customer's responsibility to resell the spot or eat it. Some operaters will pro-rate refunds based on how long before a trip a cancellation occurs; they're betting on their chance of reselling the spot.
This time-related responsibility shift is simple economic reality. And like I said before, if you don't believe it, you just pay for a whole boat based on the promises of folks to go on a trip without a cut-off date on cancellstion refunds and let me know how that works out for you.
The "my-life-should-be-without-risk-it's-always-somebody-else's-responsibility-they-can-pay-for-it" crowd is living in a dream world.
Rick

 

[letsgodiving]

I was just an "average" black spender, but apparently am a top-flight platinum spender.

*Wife and I put every penny we spend on AmEx - even a gallon of milk at 7-11. I also have the benefit of putting a LOT of work expenses on my personal card.

If you don't mind me asking what is your average monthly/annual spend on AMEx? PM me if you don't want in on a public forum.

thanks