First Post An Unhappy One

[stbartsorbust]

Hello.

First I want to say that my wife and I are about as crazy for St. Barts as anybody can be.

Now with that out of the way I'd like to tell this short story and seek any and all advice.

In August of 08 I booked and paid for 14 people on the Rapid Explorer. Just prior to the date of travel I was informed that the boat was going into dry dock and I needed to make other arrangements. After I finished with my anxiety attack I scrambled to make those other arrangements, they proved to be considerably more expensive. Here

 

[ronjapha]

Sorry to hear of your problems; I'm not familiar with the ferry, but did you cancel the charge through the credit card, assuming it was put on a card? They are usually helpful where you have not gotten what you paid for. Good luck.

 

[MIke R]

they probably went belly up and are long gone..the boat was owned by a huge global maritime fleet ( V Ships Intl ) who then turned it over to someone else significantly smaller.....the HarborMasters in both ports ( SXM and SBH ) should have information on who exactly owned the boat and they would have to have their contact information as well....your credit card company should also help you with processing the chargeback....

 

[kathy49]

First sorry this happened to you...not sure if you might be the person who on Trip Advisor warned me not to deal with them in my initial inquiry about any experience with them as I had not gotten a reply. Their website still makes it look like they are active and going. Very deceiving. The person on TA had same issue of not getting refund. I agree that your credit card should be able to take that charge off your account and go after them...if they can't get any response they usually take it as a loss and you do not have to pay. I assume you have contacted them by now? I believe there is a time limit on filing a dispute so get on that right away. My experience is that AX is better than Visa but both have this service. I know very few people on this board or St. Barts regulars that like the Voyager but we took them...reasonable price...rough trip over but not outrageous and great trip back...nice service...it just is not that bad and I was reading so many negative comments I almost cancelled my trip as I am terrified of the small planes...anyway you got there and hopefully will get your money back.

 

[stbartsorbust]

As amazing as it may sound I have not contacted Visa. In all my years as a card holder I have had only one dispute; in the end I was not satisfied with the result. You are both correct though, I should have contacted them immediately, I will do that today.

Thank you.

 

[JEK]

I would still give them a call, but I think Visa has a 60 day window on fraudulent charges.

 

[stbartsorbust]

Hi Kathy,

That was not me; this is my first post on the subject. Yes, you are correct and I should have mentioned that here, their website does appear to be operational. I would recommend to all to stay away unless you can be convinced by a higher authority of their legitimacy.

 

[stbartsorbust]

Good news.

Visa has told me that their dispute notification time frame is 30 days. However, they said that if I send them the documentation of the booking and follow up emails (which I have) they will credit my account.

Thanks again everyone.

Now, will you please excuse me while I go and shovel my wife's car out.

stbartsorbust

 

[kathy49]

I would say you got a very good customer service agent as I have not had such cooperation from Visa...do it fast! Good luck.

 

[stbartsorbust]

I hear you.

As I said earlier I did not have a successful outcome with a previous charge issue, so I was skeptical. I did have a very understanding agent who put me on hold and spoke to who I believe was a person higher up on the chain.

I did what she asked (send back ups) IMMEDIATLEY. I will post a follow up when I receive confirmation.

 

[stbartsorbust]

A happy ending.

Visa is going to credit my account.

 

[Skeeter]

One note -- Rapid Explorer has a pretty big ad on this site. "Getting to SBH" and the "ferry" brings it up.

Because the ad was here, I would have thought it was up and running.

 

[stbartsorbust]

For all we know they could be up and running again. As I said earlier, one should double check that it isn't the same people that were operating it prior to November of 08. Also I would contact sbh.ferry@orange.fr (the St. Barts rep for Rapid Ferry), they were the ones who told me that they had not heard from them for months.

stbartsorbust

 

[tim]

One note -- Rapid Explorer has a pretty big ad on this site. "Getting to SBH" and the "ferry" brings it up.

Because the ad was here, I would have thought it was up and running.

Skeeter,

Rapid Ex isn't in service, and I just called their local telephone. Their rep doesn't know when they might be back in service. I've notified our webmaster about the advert on our site and its potential for confusion.

 

[kathy49]

I would agree that it should be removed...bad enough that their website lets you think you are proceeding with a reservation. Glad the problem was resolved with the Visa company....an thanks for the follow up.

 

[Skeeter]

Thanks, Tim.
I hadn't been following the issue and when I started looking at it for this year's potential trip, I thought it might be an alternative.