tacky or not?

[S.S.Oceanlover]

I was on the crown Noro cruise that was cancelled after day 5.

 

princess put us on USAir to go home on Thursday.

 

We had originally booked Southwest so we didn't have bag fees.

 

Since they switched us to USAir we incurred a $50 baggage fee which Princess said they would pay which they did today.

 

Funny thing is the check was for $48.00 instead of $50.

 

After looking it over they deducted $2,00 for processing fee.

 

Well personally i find it tacky but wondered what others thought.

 

Bill

[Working 2 Cruise]

Let me get this straight. You are complaining about a $2.00 fee? Yikes!

[DrivesLikeMario]

So Princess charged you that fee? If so, yes, that does seem a bit strange, but I wouldn't sweat it. I've been accidentally charged for gelato that I never had and frankly, it wasn't worth the hassle to get the $3 back. I suppose all those little charges here and there add up to profits for them, but is this your molehill that you want to make a mountain? Is this one worth your time and energy? The next time you cruise, bring on a bottle of water onboard instead of buying one of their bottles and you've got them back. :D

[S.S.Oceanlover]

So Princess charged you that fee? If so, yes, that does seem a bit strange, but I wouldn't sweat it. I've been accidentally charged for gelato that I never had and frankly, it wasn't worth the hassle to get the $3 back. I suppose all those little charges here and there add up to profits for them, but is this your molehill that you want to make a mountain? Is this one worth your time and energy? The next time you cruise, bring on a bottle of water onboard instead of buying one of their bottles and you've got them back. :D

 

No I'm certainly not sweating it nor will I be wasting anymore time or effort on this booking.

 

Just asking a question.:)

 

I certanly don't know how Princess does refunds. It looks like it was handled from an outside company, "Bottomline Technolgies".

 

Bill

[Putterdude]

I would suggest that Princess has more $2 than you why not ask...if you don't you wont get.

[PrincessMelody]

I think it's strange for Princess to charge a fee for simply cutting a check. I would question it. And even if it's only a few dollars, it's my few dollars...that's how I look at it. :)

[satxdiver]

That indeed was tacky on Princess's part. Part of their customer satisfaction effort?

[Iamcruzin]

I wouldn't waste my time trying to get a $2 credit but yes that was very tacky of Princess to charge the processing fee since it wasn't your fault to begin with.

[Woobstr112G]

Two dollars is not enough to work up a sweat over.....

 

Bob

[BobT172]

After looking it over they deducted $2,00 for processing fee.

 

Well personally i find it tacky but wondered what others thought.

 

Bill

 

I was on the same cruise...

 

What I find VERY TACKY is to even post this IMHO.... especially since Princess fully refunded the cruise, paid for the additional expenses and gave other good will credits....

[1 HappyCruiser]

So Princess charged you that fee? If so, yes, that does seem a bit strange, but I wouldn't sweat it. I've been accidentally charged for gelato that I never had and frankly, it wasn't worth the hassle to get the $3 back. I suppose all those little charges here and there add up to profits for them, but is this your molehill that you want to make a mountain? Is this one worth your time and energy? The next time you cruise, bring on a bottle of water onboard instead of buying one of their bottles and you've got them back. :D

 

If an incorrect $3 charge was on my account you can bet I'd ask for it to be removed. It's a matter of principle and not the $3. Besides, why should they benefit because they made a mistake especially when I'm on the ship & it's an easy thing to correct?

[fishin' musician]

If an hour of your time is only worth $2, go for it.

[Stevesan]

No I'm certainly not sweating it nor will I be wasting anymore time or effort on this booking.

 

Just asking a question.:)

 

I certanly don't know how Princess does refunds. It looks like it was handled from an outside company, "Bottomline Technolgies".

 

Bill

 

"Bottomline Technologies" charged you the $2.00 fee, not Princess.

I suspect that Princess had more claims then they are staffed for, so they farmed it out.

As for the $2.00, we all have to make a living, even Bottomline Technologies":p

[Dunelm]

Considering that cruising is one of the most economical ways of taking a vacation these days, I do not think a two-dollars charge for processing is that big a deal. Consider all the added charges for flying. I understand, of course, the disappointment over a cancelled cruise. But, I imagine Princess has offered some other kind of incentive to try cruising with them again.

[cibaygirls]

I would agree with Stevesan.. it is most likely that it was the company processing the claim that charged the processing fee. So this is likely not Princess' "tacky" technique. Let's hold off on the riot.;)

[zacc]

I was on the same cruise...

 

What I find VERY TACKY is to even post this IMHO.... especially since Princess fully refunded the cruise, paid for the additional expenses and gave other good will credits....

 

AHHHHHH....The voice of common sense!!!

[sportsmum]

If Princess farmed it out then they should pay the processing fee. They can deduct it as cost of business- we can't.

 

A few years back I read that the infomercials product price was about $19.99 because that's the cut off point for people. Any more than that and they would return it. That's why they have the 3-4-5-6 easy payments too. It gets it under the 'not worth it to return' price point.

 

Personally, I would phone and get the refund. I can put the call on speaker and do other things while I wait on hold (female and able to mutitask:D ) based purely on principle. I also walk a few steps from bank one to bank two for a better exchange rate on my money. It's $5, but as said above....it's MY $5.

 

Not tacky to post. Good to know for future reference.

[beg3yrs]

It is not tacky at all. There are lots of older posts about cruise lines "nickel and diming" their customers and here's another example.

 

Yes, it may be the processing company's charge but you didn't agree to that. As another poster stated, it is Princess' decision and they should pay the charge.

 

On a related note regarding these processing charges, a DF was charged this same processing fee for getting FCCs refunded. He has plenty of time on his hands and decided to call Princess regarding the fee. A very helpful agent could not figure out how to refund the fee but ... did notice DF had an upcoming cruise already booked. Guess who is now getting a complimentary bottle of wine delivered to his cabin ...

 

There's more than one way to skin a cat (apologies to all you cat lovers, it is just an expression).

[PartyAllDaTyme]

Two dollars is two dollars, as my grampappy would say. It's the principle. Whatever else they did is beside the point. If they tell you they're going to refund you $50, they should refund you $50, not $48. Not my problem that it costs them $2 to process my refund, and not my problem if Princess has to farm out their refund process to an outside company.

 

So would I bug them for the $2? Of course not, it's not worth my time. Would it leave a lasting impression in my mind for the next time I'm trying to decide whether to book a cruise with Princess or another line? Yep. If they're going to cheap out on something small like this, what else might they do? The next time OP is thinking about booking with Princess, he's likely to think, "Well, they took care of things when the last cruise got cancelled, but they did stiff me that two bucks." And now here we all are, talking about it. Fair or not, trivial or not, it's the negative experiences that drive most customer decisions. How much did passing on that $2 actually cost Princess?

[eandj]

I totally disagree with Party. I would be thinking...'.Princess was really good to us. They refunded our monies, offered other discounts (and whatever else the ship's cruisers received.) I want to cruise with them again, as they went above and beyond what they HAD to.

 

I wouldn't hold the $2.00 charge against them when choosing our next cruise. Really?:confused:

[lovezepplin]

I was on the same cruise...

 

What I find VERY TACKY is to even post this IMHO.... especially since Princess fully refunded the cruise, paid for the additional expenses and gave other good will credits....

 

Wha I find VERY RUDE is your response - and this is IMHO. Princess has insurance to cover an incident like this, their bottom line is not affected one bit. Kind of like passengers buying insurance in the event they need to cancel after final payment.

 

I wish people in this community would PLEASE respect other peoples' questions and answers - it is very demeaning.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

Thank you all for all the responses.

 

I was just curious as to what others think.

 

Surprisingly i didn't get lambasted here.:D

 

i am certainly not persuing it and as you can see i am already booked on Princess again for the same itinerary but now on the CB instead of the Crown.

 

Let's hope we make it this time.:p

 

Bill

[Dayenu]

I don't think it's about $2, if I was in this situation, for me it would be more like: do they know on Princess that another company charges processing fees on their behalf?

 

I would certainly notify Princess without asking to refund me $2.

[pris993]

I have a different take on this. Just got off the Ruby Princess, 7 day cruise, was on the Celebrity Eclipse, a week earlier for a 7 day as well. We stayed at the Embassy Suites in FT Lauderdale between cruises.

 

On the first Celebrity cruise I noticed the charges for wine purchased by the bottle was more on by cruise bill, but it was only a few dollars more when considering tip, so I let it go. Later, I thought I should have questioned it.

 

Next I noticed on my Embassy Suite bill there was an charge for "self service" parking @$20 a day, we did not even have a car. I had that taken off our bill. In the process found out the Embassy Suites contracts out their parking service, so I think this charge is a computer automatic add on to the hotels bill. If folks don't notice??? some one is ahead, and it is not the traveler.

 

Next, on Princess, discovered a repeat on higher charges on wine. This time I questioned it. What did I find, that the wine price list was out of date. When the waiter brought us the charge slip, the price on the wine list was noted, but when the charge was put thru, the bar corrected the wine price which they never informed us about. It amounted to $16 more per bottle.

 

So my take is "savvy" travelers need to pay attention and raise questions. Why should a passenger pay a $2 dollar processing fee, for a refund?? That should be the cost of doing business for Princess not the passenger.

[techstar]

"Bottomline Technologies" charged you the $2.00 fee, not Princess.

I suspect that Princess had more claims then they are staffed for, so they farmed it out.

As for the $2.00, we all have to make a living, even Bottomline Technologies":p

 

Very tacky. If Bottomline Technologies has to make a profit, they need to bill the company at fault here, which is Princess.