For those that haven't had to deal with handling the closing of accounts for someone that passed away, sending a Death Certificate is an extremely common request from a company. You usually should get 10 to 20 Death Certificates because many companies (especially banks) will require a real one, not a picture or email.
If Caitlin did want to try to get the original amount back, she’d have to email and send the death certificate to a specific email address, which may take up to 30 days to respond.
This kind of language usually means "Yes, we will refund you in full as you have notified us. However, this processes isn't fast and it has the requirement of us receiving the Death Certificate and validating it on our side before we issue a refund."
Did she specifically ask: "Okay, if I send in the request now to the email address you've given me, and I send the Death Certificate, does that mean I'll be receiving the full refund even if your process takes time and the ship sails without them?"
No. That's not how things work.
The refund could take 30 days to go into her bank account. She would get the refund if she sent them the info like a normal person.
Why can’t they just do the right thing from the get-go?
Because like all nice things, people abuse them. Not to indicate that Carnival Cruise is some saint here, but the reason most companies don't just default to "benefit of the doubt" is because there are a ton of very bad people out there that abuse any inch a company will give them.
My step mother was one of those entitled ass people who thought the world owed her. One day she put on some act about a late fee and the person on the other side of the desk was saying "oh I'm sure there's something we can swing…" And having enough of her shit, I was basically, "Do not give this lady a wavier on that late fee, everything she just said is some massive warping of the actual truth!"
Maybe it's because of her, but I find it difficult to ding companies who don't default to "benefit of the doubt". I'm glad the lady got it sorted out. But shoot, I've got massive distrust of folks in general and my step-mother is a lot of the blame for that. Side note, that's likely unhealthy kind of stuff that I should one day sort out.
It sucks that you have to go to social media to reach these companies and actually get results. What if you don't have any social media or very few followers?
I mean the mother signed a contract? there's a "classic" case that if an old person ordered a stair lift and then died before construction started the heirs will still have to pay for that.
It's just that you inherit not just the values but also the obligations as shitty as it might be
and that she apparently didn't even send them the death-certificate before going to the media makes this just drip from big Karen-energy...
I don't think you can sign your children into a contract of any kind. If there's money they're inheriting the estate would have to pay contracts before the heirs in some cases but if there's no money to be had I don't think the kids are on the hook for anything.
there's a "classic" case that if an old person ordered a stair lift and then died before construction started the heirs will still have to pay for that.
That's not true, and it's definitely not a "classic" case.
It's just that you inherit not just the values but also the obligations as shitty as it might be
Where did you get this information? It's not part of US law, at the very least.
My father died 2 years ago and my sister and I had to pay for construction at the house he signed off a month before his death even though we didn't want that and both our lawyers said there's no way to get out of that unless you deny the whole inheritance
Cruses have always been no cancelations for any reason. Which is why cruise forums are full of debate on what instance is best, with few saying don't get it.