ComplaintsforCity Cruises San Francisco

• Initial Complaint

  06/13/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  On Feb 8 2022, we booked the signature dinner cruise with City Experiences by HornBlower for a bachelorette party (party of 8) for June 11 2022. It came out to $1026.46, which was charged to my credit card immediately. The order number is 5433348.On June 11 2022, all 8 of us got to Pier 3 and were told the cruise had been cancelled but we had received no calls or texts or emails. We also hadn't received any refunds either! I logged onto their website to "Manage my booking" and it still said the event was happening on June 11. with no indication of cancellation (I have screenshots). Apparently the cruise had been booked for a private event but none of us were informed! I even called the customer service line and they were off for the night. There was no explanation whatsoever and we were in complete confusion and shock. Our bachelorette party was now ruined. We had people fly in from out of town for this bachelorette party or drive two hours to SF for this. What was supposed to be a night of celebration turned into a night of disappointment and disbelief. The next day (June 12 2022), I called their customer service line and was able to receive a refund for the full amount only after I demanded it, but they had no idea this happened and weren't able to offer any explanation. They also offered no additional compensation for the emotional and financial losses we incurred from their incompetence. In City Experiences' ****************** online (https://www.cityexperiences.com/terms-conditions-city-experiences/), it reads "Should we cancel the event for any reason, the primary guest listed on the reservation will be contacted via phone and email (please ensure all contact information on your reservation is correct). If we cancel the event, each reservation will be given the option to reschedule, move the paid funds over to a gift card, or be refunded". City Experiences violated their own terms and was not able to offer any explanation or apology or compensation.

  Business response

  06/28/2022

   

  Dear BBB,

  Please note that the attached complaint has been resolved. Can you please let me know if there are any other steps in the process that we need to follow? Will this complaint be removed from our listing now that it has been resolved? Thank you.

   

  *****************************

   

   

  *****************************

  VP of Sales, City Cruises US

  *************************************************

  ************

  Customer response

  06/29/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************

• Initial Complaint

  09/29/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Hornblower cruises will gladly respond to you to get their money. But, when you have a medical issue that prevents it due to COVID they will ignore you and never respond even given over 2 months to respond to said issue. they will act as if you didn't exist and are just going to go away. We were to be getting married on the boat out of Norfolk and we booked it and over the phone was told that as long as it was 9 months before if we had any issues it could be refunded. Well we got the money for the deposit (which ended up being $3,344. We paid that. well, there was a serious issue and we have been dealt a very raw card and have had a death related to COVID and explained this to the venue and when explained the situation instead of responding they chose to never respond back. Horrible **************** and people skills in that aspect honestly. We were just asking for understanding and got ignored. they did not do anything for us at all and this was not that much to request. human decency

  Business response

  11/22/2021

  I have an email correspondence between our Sales Manager, *************************, and ****************** from August.  In this email we offered ****************** the opportunity to use her deposit toward another event in 2022; the credit would remain on her account until she chose to use it.  To my knowledge there has been no other email correspondence.  However, the Sales Manager is out this week and I will not be able to confirm this until she returns to work on Monday, November 29.  If ****************** would be so kind as to provide additional information on other conversations or emails she had with **************, I would be happy to respond prior to ****************** return.

  The email from August is below:

  Good Morning Brittany,
  
  I am so sorry to hear that! Let me see what we can do, at this point, I will go ahead and cancel your wedding date for next year, and you wont owe anything more. Then in terms of the deposit, it is technically non-refundable, but we can always look at applying it to a smaller event next year, hopefully once things have calmed down for you.
  
  
  Thanks,
  
  *************************
  Mid-Atlantic Account Manager
  City Cruises
  *************|Alexandria|Norfolk|*********
  
  From: ******************************* <********************>
  Sent: Monday, August 23, 2021 10:20 AM
  To: ************************* <*********************************************>
  Subject: Re: Your Wedding on the Virginia Elite!
  
  Good morning *******
  
  I wanted to reach out to you on an issue that has occurred.Well not necessarily an issue but something that is preventing the wedding from happening and I wanted to see what could be done. For reasons beyond our control (health reasons) we cannot proceed with the wedding as intended. We are burdened currently with overloaded medical bills and uncertainty of the future currently. I am trying to see if theres anything that can be done.
  
  Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter.
  
  Respectfully
  
  *******************************
  

   

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩