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Easy Solution for Expiration Dates on Coffee Cards


chamima
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I know that the new coffee cards have expiration dates (I'm still not clear what the status of my "old" cards without them will be - but that's another issue).

People are rightly upset that if you get one in the latter half of the year you have a lot less time to use them than if you get them in the first part of the year.

Since Princess stamps or prints the date you get the card on it why not just have the expiration date be "12 months from date of issue".

They should also clarify whether the punches expire in 12 months or just the "free" (included) coffee and/or tea.

 

I'm always baffled when there seems to be a simple solution that has gone unnoticed in a situation like this.

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I know that the new coffee cards have expiration dates (I'm still not clear what the status of my "old" cards without them will be - but that's another issue).

People are rightly upset that if you get one in the latter half of the year you have a lot less time to use them than if you get them in the first part of the year.

Since Princess stamps or prints the date you get the card on it why not just have the expiration date be "12 months from date of issue".

They should also clarify whether the punches expire in 12 months or just the "free" (included) coffee and/or tea.

 

I'm always baffled when there seems to be a simple solution that has gone unnoticed in a situation like this.

Honestly that would be a solution for the frequent cruisers but what about the people who only cruise say once every 2 years or so? It's still not fair to them.

Where should they draw the line?

With a few of the other minor cutbacks I've noticed this is just another money grabber program they hope the general public won't notice or get too upset about.

I made my feeling known to the food & beverage manager last cruise & the only comment was that they would buy back the unused cards or allot $20 each towards a bottle of wine. Since I don't drink their overpriced wine, I'll sell them on eBay for $20 each.

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Honestly that would be a solution for the frequent cruisers but what about the people who only cruise say once every 2 years or so? It's still not fair to them.

Where should they draw the line?

With a few of the other minor cutbacks I've noticed this is just another money grabber program they hope the general public won't notice or get too upset about.

I made my feeling known to the food & beverage manager last cruise & the only comment was that they would buy back the unused cards or allot $20 each towards a bottle of wine. Since I don't drink their overpriced wine, I'll sell them on eBay for $20 each.

 

Not right to get paid for something and than decide they have the right to take it away. Just like restaurant gift cards that expire at a certain time in the future.

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Not right to get paid for something and than decide they have the right to take it away. Just like restaurant gift cards that expire at a certain time in the future.

Not only that but instead of reducing the value of the card a little each month they just confiscate the remaining value at the end of the year.

It's actually the worst type of penalty I've seen for a prepaid card of any sort.

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Seems to me the "solution" lies more with technology then printing or writing an expiration date on a card. Something like buy 10 espresso drinks, the 11th is no charge. Basically that is what a coffee card does. Selling the brewed coffee/tea option as a separate package. Instead of a paper card, have information controlled by your cruise card or medallion.

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Seems to me the "solution" lies more with technology then printing or writing an expiration date on a card. Something like buy 10 espresso drinks, the 11th is no charge. Basically that is what a coffee card does. Selling the brewed coffee/tea option as a separate package. Instead of a paper card, have information controlled by your cruise card or medallion.

Don't suggest this to Princess....however they decide to work it will undoubtedly benefit the cruise line and not the user. We often cruise another line that has a "buy 6, the 7th is free" punch card that the barista issues the first time a cruiser shows up with no card. They DO roll them over from one cruise to the next.

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Not only that but instead of reducing the value of the card a little each month they just confiscate the remaining value at the end of the year.

It's actually the worst type of penalty I've seen for a prepaid card of any sort.

 

 

Is there any chance that Princess only meant for the ability to use the card for free coffee and tea would expire in a year - NOT that all of the punches would expire?

Someone on a trip report said that he was told that on his cruise.

Maybe it wasn't explained well to the crew and they misunderstood?

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I know that the new coffee cards have expiration dates (I'm still not clear what the status of my "old" cards without them will be - but that's another issue).

People are rightly upset that if you get one in the latter half of the year you have a lot less time to use them than if you get them in the first part of the year.

Since Princess stamps or prints the date you get the card on it why not just have the expiration date be "12 months from date of issue".

They should also clarify whether the punches expire in 12 months or just the "free" (included) coffee and/or tea.

 

I'm always baffled when there seems to be a simple solution that has gone unnoticed in a situation like this.

 

It's little things like this that makes me know it's about money and nothing else. Even though coffee cards are basically free for them, costs them pennies on the card.

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Geez....it's a coffee card! So, if it lasts only one week...who cares? Princess is a business and yes, they want to make a profit. Drink more coffee, share the card to use up the punches, or drink tea. We're not talking about a lot of money. It's an option...opt out!

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Is there any chance that Princess only meant for the ability to use the card for free coffee and tea would expire in a year - NOT that all of the punches would expire?

Someone on a trip report said that he was told that on his cruise.

Maybe it wasn't explained well to the crew and they misunderstood?

This is totally possible, but is not what passengers are currently being told most of the time. The entire thing was poorly handled by Princess. They began printing an unclear message on the card and didn't retrain their personnel. Interpreted in the most strict way possible, the entire card expires on the printed date. Whether that was the intent or not is anyone's guess.

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Is there any chance that Princess only meant for the ability to use the card for free coffee and tea would expire in a year - NOT that all of the punches would expire?

Someone on a trip report said that he was told that on his cruise.

Maybe it wasn't explained well to the crew and they misunderstood?

That changes the way it's currently done (until this new date thing came up).

The "old" way was the free tea/coffee was good until the end of the cruise.

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Aren't we talking about $35? With what we spend on the cruise, doesn't that seem rather trivial? Just asking.....

 

I consider it a one cruise purchase. More expensive for a week cruise but a great deal for a 28 day cruise.

Things change. Would you rather have them increase the cruise cost? They are in the business to make money.

How many times has your favorite coffee shop raised their coffee prices?

That is part of life.

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This is totally possible' date=' but is not what passengers are currently being told most of the time. The entire thing was poorly handled by Princess. They began printing an unclear message on the card and didn't retrain their personnel. Interpreted in the most strict way possible, the entire card expires on the printed date. Whether that was the intent or not is anyone's guess.[/quote']

No, they meant exactly what is says. The cards are useless after the expiration date.

It sad to see Princess deteriorating before my eyes. I'd rather see a slight increase in their cruise rates then have them chip away at our benefits.

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That changes the way it's currently done (until this new date thing came up).

The "old" way was the free tea/coffee was good until the end of the cruise.

And that is where a lot of the confusion is coming in. How can you print on the card that it expires on 12/31/18 and then try to claim that part of it expires at the end of the cruise but the other part expires on the printed date? Unless wording to that effect is added, it makes no sense. As printed, one could claim that the entire card expires on the printed date. It won't affect me, but I can see why people are upset.

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I know that the new coffee cards have expiration dates (I'm still not clear what the status of my "old" cards without them will be - but that's another issue).

People are rightly upset that if you get one in the latter half of the year you have a lot less time to use them than if you get them in the first part of the year.

Since Princess stamps or prints the date you get the card on it why not just have the expiration date be "12 months from date of issue".

They should also clarify whether the punches expire in 12 months or just the "free" (included) coffee and/or tea.

 

I'm always baffled when there seems to be a simple solution that has gone unnoticed in a situation like this.

 

Princess does not put the date of purchase on the card. They do put the ship name and the voyage number. The unlimited brewed coffee expires at the end of that voyage. So any expiration date now added to the card has no effect on that aspect of having the card.

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Is it absolutely clear that Princess are currently accepting the old cards with no expiration date printed on them? Will this continue for the whole of 2018 at least?

Any current experience with this issue would be welcome dear

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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My guess is thst the new ecpiry of Dec 31 2018 points to Princess changing the coffee card program.

 

If Princess can load the PBP onto one's cruise card, surely they are able to load coffee. Then it truly would be for the current sailing.

 

Since 15 foo-foo coffees may be too much for some to drink one cruise ... maybe a $12 coffee pkg for 5 specialty coffees, and get rid of the 15-pkg completely.

 

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-J320A using Forums mobile app

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Aren't we talking about $35? With what we spend on the cruise, doesn't that seem rather trivial? Just asking.....

 

 

IMO, it's not about the price of the coffee card. What's not trivial about the issue is this .... Princess sells me a coffee card for +/- $35, with 15 "punches" which entitles me to 15 uses for a beverage. By them instituting an expiration date, after which any remaining punches are invalidated, however many punches I had left on that card that I spent my money to purchase are gone without me getting the full value of what I paid for ...... 15 beverages!

Essentially, they are stealing part of my money by not allowing the card to be used until all of the punches that I have paid for are used up, no matter how long it takes.

 

I completely understand not allowing outdated cards to be used for free regular or tea, but not allowing the remaining punches to be utilized at some point is nonsense and, IMO, dishonest.

That's why I probably will not ever buy another coffee card unless I'm on a cruise of over 15 days.

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The solution would be to go back to how things used to be and include speciality coffees with the cruise fare and install brewed coffee stations in multiple places. Honestly - how hard can this be?

 

I don't have a beef in this fight as I don't drink coffee but I find this nickel and dining ridiculous when they used to provide free coffee drinks with meals when I first started cruising Princess.

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When the day comes that I'm about to leave the ship, standing in line with my card that has many punches remaining I'll just announce to the crowd....."FREE COFFEE" for the next 10 people. :D

No use in letting Princess benefit by letting them expire. :evilsmile:

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