Issue with Princess Future cruise credit being refunded to Costco AMEX card

I am writing to see if anyone else has had issues with their FCC refund. We bought a FCC on a cruise 4/14/2016. It expired 4/14/2018. I expected the refund to eventually come to me. I know initially it has to go back to the Credit Card it was paid with. The problem is it was a Costco issued AMEX. Costco switched from AMEX to VISA in June of 2016. My AMEX account was closed. So Princess sent my refund to AMEX back in April 2018. AMEX has not refunded the money back to Princess. Last month I was told this was an issue with many exorcised FCC and the Costco AMEX cards.

I waited until August 2018 to contact Princess for refund and response was they would have to check with AMEX as my refund had not been returned. So I called back in September 2018 (one month later), I found out I was not the only one having this issue but was promised by Princess customer relations that it would be resolved with AMEX by Sep. 7 (4 days later). I waited another month, now October and was told Princess still had not resolved the issue with AMEX and I would just have to wait. I expressed to Princess that I felt 6 months was a reasonable amount of time to resolve the issue with AMEX and whether it was resolved or not that Princess should issue my refund. I have no way of resolving this issue, the refund to a closed account is by Princess to AMEX and Princess will not even disclose where the refund was sent. I contacted 3 different divisions of AMEX trying to track the refund from Princess down.

My concern is how many other people are going through this issue with getting a refund. Has anyone received a refund that purchased a FCC with a Costco AMEX and that AMEX account was closed. I am very disappointed in Princess's response. I have been very patient and it is purely in Princess's hand to fix the issue. Princess should have sufficient clout to get the CC refund back from AMEX when the account is closed. Please let me know if you have resolved this issue and how, and if not let me know what you have been told.

Roboref (ron)

My understanding is that if you don't use it you lose it! So even if it expired and you never booked, then you lose the deposit paid.

I've never had one that I haven't used, so I don't know.

I had a similar experience. It was with a canceled AMEX card. Looked at the account online to see that there was a credit on my file, although the card was no longer active. Called AMEX and they mailed me a check.

My understanding is that if you don't use it you lose it! So even if it expired and you never booked, then you lose the deposit paid.

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When advertising the FCD on a recent cruise, they always said that if you don't use it in two years, it will be refunded. They were very clear on this point.

My understanding is that if you don't use it you lose it! So even if it expired and you never booked, then you lose the deposit paid.

I've never had one that I haven't used, so I don't know.

I believe the OP is actually referring to a FCD (Future Cruise Deposit) that was purchased onboard. A FCD that isn't used is refunded. A FCC (Future Cruise Credit) is a different thing. FCD are refunded if not used. FCC are lost if not used. In this case I believe that using the wrong term is causing confusion. It would be helpful if people learned to use the correct terms. They also shouldn't use abbreviations for ship names if they don't actually know the correct abbreviation.

My understanding is that if you don't use it you lose it! So even if it expired and you never booked, then you lose the deposit paid.

I've never had one that I haven't used, so I don't know.

Based on this statement from the FCD’s application form your understanding of the process is incorrect.

“The Future Cruise Deposit will be automatically refunded if not applied to a new booking created within two years from date of purchase”.

https://book.princess.com/html/personalizer/downloads/pdf/FutureCruiseDepositForm.pdf

Incorrect usage, I apologize it is a Future Cruise Deposit. It is fully refundable. I had this happen a couple of years ago on another closed account and Princess had the deposit refunded within 2 months. Princess has been very unhelpful in resolving and that is why I am posting here now. Especially being Princess told me last month that it was an issue with all the Costco AMEX accounts during this time frame.

Have you contacted Amex? They are usually very responsive to queries, and if you do have a credit they will issue the refund.

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I am writing to see if anyone else has had issues with their FCC refund. We bought a FCC on a cruise 4/14/2016. It expired 4/14/2018. I expected the refund to eventually come to me. I know initially it has to go back to the Credit Card it was paid with. The problem is it was a Costco issued AMEX. Costco switched from AMEX to VISA in June of 2016. My AMEX account was closed. So Princess sent my refund to AMEX back in April 2018. AMEX has not refunded the money back to Princess. Last month I was told this was an issue with many exorcised FCC and the Costco AMEX cards.

 

I waited until August 2018 to contact Princess for refund and response was they would have to check with AMEX as my refund had not been returned. So I called back in September 2018 (one month later), I found out I was not the only one having this issue but was promised by Princess customer relations that it would be resolved with AMEX by Sep. 7 (4 days later). I waited another month, now October and was told Princess still had not resolved the issue with AMEX and I would just have to wait. I expressed to Princess that I felt 6 months was a reasonable amount of time to resolve the issue with AMEX and whether it was resolved or not that Princess should issue my refund. I have no way of resolving this issue, the refund to a closed account is by Princess to AMEX and Princess will not even disclose where the refund was sent. I contacted 3 different divisions of AMEX trying to track the refund from Princess down.

 

My concern is how many other people are going through this issue with getting a refund. Has anyone received a refund that purchased a FCC with a Costco AMEX and that AMEX account was closed. I am very disappointed in Princess's response. I have been very patient and it is purely in Princess's hand to fix the issue. Princess should have sufficient clout to get the CC refund back from AMEX when the account is closed. Please let me know if you have resolved this issue and how, and if not let me know what you have been told.

 

Roboref (ron)

When my Amex/Costco account closed and switched over to Visa.......

We received a check from Princess.

Yes, I have contacted the servicing bank for AMEX, they sent me to who had taken over the accounts, they could not find the account in their archives. I did spend over an hour calling several different branches of AMEX. None of them were able to help me, either by my account or whether a refund had been issued to AMEX or back to Princess.

The fault is between Princess and AMEX. Princess will not give me any information about where the refund was sent to (AMEX) so I have no way of tracking or contacting where the refund is with AMEX. It is fully the responsibility of AMEX if the account is closed by AMEX to return the money to Princess since there is no active account information. My position is Princess should not delay my refund any longer, because Princess is unable to resolve the issue with AMEX. There is not a dispute about the validity of the refund or the amount. I fault Princess that they have not been able to get AMEX to issue the refund. AMEX acknowledges to me that I do not have any active accounts with AMEX. Princess has had sufficient amount of time to resolve with AMEX and if they can't, should issue refund.

Thanks for all the replies.

I am writing to see if anyone else has had issues with their FCC refund. We bought a FCC on a cruise 4/14/2016. It expired 4/14/2018. I expected the refund to eventually come to me. I know initially it has to go back to the Credit Card it was paid with. The problem is it was a Costco issued AMEX. Costco switched from AMEX to VISA in June of 2016. My AMEX account was closed. So Princess sent my refund to AMEX back in April 2018. AMEX has not refunded the money back to Princess. Last month I was told this was an issue with many exorcised FCC and the Costco AMEX cards.

 

I waited until August 2018 to contact Princess for refund and response was they would have to check with AMEX as my refund had not been returned. So I called back in September 2018 (one month later), I found out I was not the only one having this issue but was promised by Princess customer relations that it would be resolved with AMEX by Sep. 7 (4 days later). I waited another month, now October and was told Princess still had not resolved the issue with AMEX and I would just have to wait. I expressed to Princess that I felt 6 months was a reasonable amount of time to resolve the issue with AMEX and whether it was resolved or not that Princess should issue my refund. I have no way of resolving this issue, the refund to a closed account is by Princess to AMEX and Princess will not even disclose where the refund was sent. I contacted 3 different divisions of AMEX trying to track the refund from Princess down.

 

My concern is how many other people are going through this issue with getting a refund. Has anyone received a refund that purchased a FCC with a Costco AMEX and that AMEX account was closed. I am very disappointed in Princess's response. I have been very patient and it is purely in Princess's hand to fix the issue. Princess should have sufficient clout to get the CC refund back from AMEX when the account is closed. Please let me know if you have resolved this issue and how, and if not let me know what you have been told.

 

Roboref (ron)

did you also try complaining through Costco customer service since the problem resulted from their change of vendors.

technically the problem is with AMEX. Legally when they receive a refund to a closed account they must either return it to the original account holder or to the vendor.

Once princess refunds it according to their written policy they have no way of knowing that it has not been passed on to the account owner, unless AMEX returns it.

Also are you certain that Costco did not make arrangements when they changed vendors to link the accounts such that a refund to your old AMEX account would get passed to your new account with the new vendor. i went through a similar change when a hotel chain changed card vendors and that is what they did.

as i mentioned also get Costco involved.

it makes no sense that AMEX is saying that they have no record of your old account.

My understanding is that if you don't use it you lose it! So even if it expired and you never booked, then you lose the deposit paid.

I've never had one that I haven't used, so I don't know.

Your understanding is NOT correct as the deposit is returned to you and that is based on my personal experience as I had an FCD a few years ago that I had forgotten and it was returned to me. Now, what happens when the card has expired or been canceled, I do not know. I know in a similar instance with another company (may have been AmEx that time, I don't remember) I ended up having to contact the company and they refunded the amount directly to me.

Hope this info helps.

Tom

The one time we had FCDs expire, I received a check. I don't know if Princess tried to issue the refund first to an expired credit card or not. To me, Princess should be on the hook for your refund.

Many people have reported that the refunds come by check and not in a Princess envelope but rather in something that looks like junk mail.

Many people have reported that the refunds come by check and not in a Princess envelope but rather in something that looks like junk mail.

That is true. I'm attaching a copy of an envelope that contained my returnof a Veterans' OBC that I didn't completely spend.

Tom

Vet OBC refund envelope.pdf

I had this problem a couple of years ago on another credit card. The credit card returned the refund to Princess and Princess issued a check in about 60 days from expiration. I understand that Princess has to initiate the refund through the card the FCD was purchased with. Costco switched from AMEX to VISA in June 2016 and the issuer of the AMEX is not the same as then. Princess acknowledges that I have a refund due, they refunded to AMEX which I don't ahve any ties with now and that AMEX has the refund but has failed to return to the refund to Princess.

As originally stated, the issue is firmly between AMEX and Princess. I would follow up with AMEX buth Princess can't or won't disclose the AMEX issuer they sent the refund to. AMEX should ahve promptly returned the funds, once they found I do not have a card with AMEX. Princess should be able to work with AMEX to get issue resolved.

I will follow up with Costco tomorrow (thanks for the suggestion) I did purchase the cruise through Costco travel. I am not sure Costco can resolve it any more than I can since Costco severed ties with AMEX more than 2 years ago.

Princess should issue a check for my refund and not delay the refund to me anymore, while they continue to try to figure out the issue with AMEX. I hate to place blame on anyone, but Princess needs to take care of me as the customer, I purchased FCD from Princess and it is their responsibility by whatever means required to refund the money to me. They attempted through the Credit card and that is for Princess to deal with. As for me, I think 6 months is long enough to wait for my refund.

.... They attempted through the Credit card and that is for Princess to deal with. As for me, I think 6 months is long enough to wait for my refund.

Definitely have to agree with you. Six months is about 5 months too long. Hope you get a resolution soon.

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I had this problem a couple of years ago on another credit card. The credit card returned the refund to Princess and Princess issued a check in about 60 days from expiration. I understand that Princess has to initiate the refund through the card the FCD was purchased with. Costco switched from AMEX to VISA in June 2016 and the issuer of the AMEX is not the same as then. Princess acknowledges that I have a refund due, they refunded to AMEX which I don't ahve any ties with now and that AMEX has the refund but has failed to return to the refund to Princess.

 

As originally stated, the issue is firmly between AMEX and Princess. I would follow up with AMEX buth Princess can't or won't disclose the AMEX issuer they sent the refund to. AMEX should ahve promptly returned the funds, once they found I do not have a card with AMEX. Princess should be able to work with AMEX to get issue resolved.

 

I will follow up with Costco tomorrow (thanks for the suggestion) I did purchase the cruise through Costco travel. I am not sure Costco can resolve it any more than I can since Costco severed ties with AMEX more than 2 years ago.

 

Princess should issue a check for my refund and not delay the refund to me anymore, while they continue to try to figure out the issue with AMEX. I hate to place blame on anyone, but Princess needs to take care of me as the customer, I purchased FCD from Princess and it is their responsibility by whatever means required to refund the money to me. They attempted through the Credit card and that is for Princess to deal with. As for me, I think 6 months is long enough to wait for my refund.

Costco corporate should have the institutional information about the amex account that amex cannot seem to find.

You can also write up a letter with all of the relevant information (concise with just the facts). Send it to the General Counsel of both AMEX and Princess with a cc to the Attorney general consumer complaints department of the States of California (Princess location) and whatever state AMEX is located in. That often tends to draw a response outside of normal customer service.

Costco still uses AMEX for CC in the UK.

This is to update this topic. I got a response from Princess that a check would be issued Oct.13. Then Nov. 13 called again that check had still not been received and another call back to Princess, the response was it was mailed but check hasn't been cashed. They would reissue check, as promised on Dec. 4  Called back today and a nice associate noted that they had missed a digit in my address and that was why the 2nd check didn't get to me. I had verified my mailing address via phone message before the first check was mailed and personally via phone before the 2nd check was mailed. Princess took full blame for the error. But insists it will take another month to stop payment on the 2nd check and reissue and then another 4 weeks to receive. At this point, I had lost my patience. One of two things is going, either completely incompetent customer service reps or Princess is fraudulent in not intending to get the refunded FCD back to me.  

There is no excuse for Princess not processing a refund properly over a 5 month period. I will again renew my complaint with the NM Attorney General consumer affairs division in the morning. I would love to know if any other Costco customers have had this experience receiving a FCD refund purchased on an American Express card account that was closed.

I just checked to see how my unused deposits were returned.  They were credited to my new Costco Citibank card in October 2018 (same time they expired).  So I'm guessing that American Express and Citibank has some kind of coordination process.

41 minutes ago, roboref said:

This is to update this topic. I got a response from Princess that a check would be issued Oct.13. Then Nov. 13 called again that check had still not been received and another call back to Princess, the response was it was mailed but check hasn't been cashed. They would reissue check, as promised on Dec. 4  Called back today and a nice associate noted that they had missed a digit in my address and that was why the 2nd check didn't get to me. I had verified my mailing address via phone message before the first check was mailed and personally via phone before the 2nd check was mailed. Princess took full blame for the error. But insists it will take another month to stop payment on the 2nd check and reissue and then another 4 weeks to receive. At this point, I had lost my patience. One of two things is going, either completely incompetent customer service reps or Princess is fraudulent in not intending to get the refunded FCD back to me.  

There is no excuse for Princess not processing a refund properly over a 5 month period. I will again renew my complaint with the NM Attorney General consumer affairs division in the morning. I would love to know if any other Costco customers have had this experience receiving a FCD refund purchased on an American Express card account that was closed.

They have done the same thing with other CC's as well not just Costco.

I had the same issue 2 times a couple of years ago. Not a Costco card but a regular Visa.

That could be part of the issue. I did not open the Citibank card that was offered. Thank you for the response. In my case the card was closed and I got another card. princess is supposed to issue a check (through an outside refund service they contract with). The FCD expired April 14 and I expected Princess to follow through and send a refund check. That is how they had handled a previous expired FCD. It has been such a negative and frustrating experience. Certainly something that should have been handled in one call!

2 minutes ago, Colo Cruiser said:

They have done the same thing with other CC's as well not just Costco.

I had the same issue 2 times a couple of years ago. Not a Costco card but a regular Visa.

That is sad to hear. It has probably been 6-8 years ago that I had a FCD expire on a CC account that I had closed, and I didn't even call. The check just showed up about 60 days after expiration.