P&O Customer Service complaints overload

[majortom10]

I emailed P&0 abut an accident I had on my recent cruise which was their fault. I received a standard email acknowledgment saying that they would respond within 5 days. A few days later I got a phone call to say it would be up to 28 days as they were referring it to their legal department. After reading this thread I am not sure whether that is the case or if they just have too many complaints to seal with. I had a very poor response whilst I was on board. I have never had a situation like this before so not really sure what to expect.

 

With regards to the accident did P&O admit liability at the time or is that only your opinion, we all know in a court of law what we think might be different to the outcome. By ABTA rules they are supposed to respond within 28 days and sounds like they have referred to legal dept. to see if they are liable or not for the accident. If they respond saying they are not liable then it is up to you whether you take it further but could be very costly if you lose. If they admit liability and offer you a sum in final settlement always refuse the first offer and say you will be taking legal advice as they are likely go higher as it would cheaper than the risk of going to court.

[Florry]

I emailed P&0 abut an accident I had on my recent cruise which was their fault. I received a standard email acknowledgment saying that they would respond within 5 days. A few days later I got a phone call to say it would be up to 28 days as they were referring it to their legal department. After reading this thread I am not sure whether that is the case or if they just have too many complaints to seal with. I had a very poor response whilst I was on board. I have never had a situation like this before so not really sure what to expect.

 

 

I imagine this will be genuine, anything like that would go through legal team.

 

 

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[tallulahcruiser]

The accident happened in our cabin. I cut my foot on a sharp trim on the corner of a protruding skirting board is how I can best describe it. There was a lot of blood, it was on the carpet and when I went to the bathroom to look at the cut it was all over the bathe mat too. It was in the early hours of the morning so I put a sock on to stop the blood going on the bedding and went back to bed. The next morning I saw that the cut was deep and worse than I though. I mentioned the accident to our cabin steward and apologised for the blood stains. He said I should go to reception and fill in an accident form which I did. I said I thought I should have my foot looed at in the medical centre and that I shouldn't have to pay as it was caused by a faulty trim in the cabin. They said they couldn't authorise that and I would have to see the safety officer. I asked them to get him and in due course he came to the cabin with us to inspect the trim. At first he said that couldn't have been the cause of the cut, running his hand along it and saying it wasn't sharp enough to cause a cut, almost accusing me of lying. I assured him that it had caused the cut and pointed out the blood stains on the carpet. He then agreed that was the cause and arranged for a carpenter to come and repair it but said he couldn't authorise any treatment, I would have to go back to reception. He also commented n the configuration of the bed in the cabin and asked if we had pushed them together as they were usually 2 singles. I told him we had requested double and that is how it was when we arrived in the cabin. If the beds had been 2 singles the offending sharp bit would have been covered by the bed as it would have been up against the wall and I would have had to get out at the other side. He seemed surprised that it had been made up as a double.

I went back to the reception and they told me I would need to see someone called Anne. I forget her job title but was told she was too busy to see me as she was dealing with 2 medical evacuations. They gave me a sticking plaster and told me to sort my foot out myself. I was not at all happy at e way it had been dealt with. Later that evening I got a message to say the medical centre would treat me at no cost. They cleaned it up and put a dressing on it. After a few days it was still really painful. I was unable to walk around the ports, I obviously couldn't use the hot tubs or pools in case of infection and we couldn't continue with the dance lessons we had been taking part in. It really spoiled our holiday. By the end of the cruise it was still painful and not healing up. I went back to see the doctor who said it was infected and prescribed antibiotics. We have back from the cruise almost 2 weeks and it is now a lot better than it was but still not fully healed.

So I assume P&O have accepted responsibility by sending a carpenter to do the repair and paying for the medical treatment. They did offer me a bottle of wine which I declined. Then on the last night of the cruise they offered us a meal in a speciality restaurant which I also declined, in any case we had already eaten. Then, just as we were about to go to bed they offered us £70 on board credit which I also declined. The blood stains on the carpet were still there when we left. I hope they cleaned it for the next occupants.

[dgs1956]

The accident happened in our cabin. I cut my foot on a sharp trim on the cut ................

 

That is extremely poor treatment to say the least. I would have been livid particularly with the so-called Safety Officer.

[tallulahcruiser]

That is extremely poor treatment to say the least. I would have been livid particularly with the so-called Safety Officer.

 

I certainly was! If it had been dealt with in a better manner at the time I would not have even made a complaint but I am now so annoyed at the way it was dealt with. The head of reception who I dealt with did say P&O are going to review their procedures, but I am not sure that they will. I told him someone other than the person who was too busy to see me due to the medical evacuations should have been able to authorise the treatment and he agreed but was not in a position to do anything.

[dgs1956]

I certainly was! If it had been dealt with in a better manner at the time I would not have even made a complaint but I am now so annoyed at the way it was dealt with. The head of reception who I dealt with did say P&O are going to review their procedures, but I am not sure that they will. I told him someone other than the person who was too busy to see me due to the medical evacuations should have been able to authorise the treatment and he agreed but was not in a position to do anything.

 

I'm not one for complaining either but on my last cruise my wife arranged for me to have a facial and shave in the Spa. The attitude of some of the staff was absolutely appalling and, although I'm no softie, I was really upset by it. When I got back from the cruise I wrote a letter of complaint. I wasn't asking for compensation nor did I want it. I received a letter telling me that the issue would be dealt with internally. I wrote back and asked what had been done. eg re-training, etc etc. I never got anything back.

The Customer Service Department just doesn't perform well at all.

[davecttr]

On Oceana a few years ago I noticed the carpet in the show lounge had separated from the edge trim and rucked up, just perfect for someone to trip over. I reported it to reception and they said they would deal with it. Five days later at the end of the cruise nothing had been done. I presume they thought the risk of someone tripping was better than spending 10 minutes with some self adhesive safety tape!

[terrierjohn]

Customer service on P&O, both on board and ashore, I find is nowhere near as good as on Celebrity or RCI. On Britannia, despite several visits from increasingly senior housekeeping staff, they were unable to locate or eliminate the drainy smell from the bathroom and the corridor just outside our cabin, nor did it seem that they considered this worthy of their attention, and we had no follow ups from customer services except when we raised the problem again.

On Celebrity we had to request a plumber fix a small leak from the sink, he arrived in about 15 mins and fixed it so that we had no further problems, we then had 3 phone calls to check everything was OK and a visit from the head of housekeeping to make sure we were happy.

On our recent RCI cruise we lost an allen key bolt from the power pack brackets on my wife's wheelchair whilst ashore in Madeira, I asked passenger services if perhaps their engineering dept could help; we had an engineer visit very promptly and within 15 mins he had found a virtually identical replacement, which is still in place and working well. This was followed by 2 phone calls and a note asking if our "complaint" had been handled satisfactorily.

The way that these issues are handled certainly influences my view of a cruise line, and when handled promptly and politely does enhance the cruising experience.

[majortom10]

The accident happened in our cabin. I cut my foot on a sharp trim on the corner of a protruding skirting board is how I can best describe it. There was a lot of blood, it was on the carpet and when I went to the bathroom to look at the cut it was all over the bathe mat too. It was in the early hours of the morning so I put a sock on to stop the blood going on the bedding and went back to bed. The next morning I saw that the cut was deep and worse than I though. I mentioned the accident to our cabin steward and apologised for the blood stains. He said I should go to reception and fill in an accident form which I did. I said I thought I should have my foot looed at in the medical centre and that I shouldn't have to pay as it was caused by a faulty trim in the cabin. They said they couldn't authorise that and I would have to see the safety officer. I asked them to get him and in due course he came to the cabin with us to inspect the trim. At first he said that couldn't have been the cause of the cut, running his hand along it and saying it wasn't sharp enough to cause a cut, almost accusing me of lying. I assured him that it had caused the cut and pointed out the blood stains on the carpet. He then agreed that was the cause and arranged for a carpenter to come and repair it but said he couldn't authorise any treatment, I would have to go back to reception. He also commented n the configuration of the bed in the cabin and asked if we had pushed them together as they were usually 2 singles. I told him we had requested double and that is how it was when we arrived in the cabin. If the beds had been 2 singles the offending sharp bit would have been covered by the bed as it would have been up against the wall and I would have had to get out at the other side. He seemed surprised that it had been made up as a double.

I went back to the reception and they told me I would need to see someone called Anne. I forget her job title but was told she was too busy to see me as she was dealing with 2 medical evacuations. They gave me a sticking plaster and told me to sort my foot out myself. I was not at all happy at e way it had been dealt with. Later that evening I got a message to say the medical centre would treat me at no cost. They cleaned it up and put a dressing on it. After a few days it was still really painful. I was unable to walk around the ports, I obviously couldn't use the hot tubs or pools in case of infection and we couldn't continue with the dance lessons we had been taking part in. It really spoiled our holiday. By the end of the cruise it was still painful and not healing up. I went back to see the doctor who said it was infected and prescribed antibiotics. We have back from the cruise almost 2 weeks and it is now a lot better than it was but still not fully healed.

So I assume P&O have accepted responsibility by sending a carpenter to do the repair and paying for the medical treatment. They did offer me a bottle of wine which I declined. Then on the last night of the cruise they offered us a meal in a speciality restaurant which I also declined, in any case we had already eaten. Then, just as we were about to go to bed they offered us £70 on board credit which I also declined. The blood stains on the carpet were still there when we left. I hope they cleaned it for the next occupants.

 

Having now read the full details but, if accurate, as you say and the fact that you were told by a Safety Officer that the cabin should not have been made as a double and the fact they offered first a bottle of wine, speciality dinner and then £70 OBC which you rightly refused that you have a good legal case against P&O. If they have not responded within ABTA rules of 28 days then I would write, not e-mail, keep a copy and tell them they have failed to respond in the required ABTA rules that if you have not received a response to your complaint within 14 days you will proceed and take legal advice.

[AnnieC]

With regards to the accident did P&O admit liability at the time or is that only your opinion, we all know in a court of law what we think might be different to the outcome. By ABTA rules they are supposed to respond within 28 days and sounds like they have referred to legal dept. to see if they are liable or not for the accident. If they respond saying they are not liable then it is up to you whether you take it further but could be very costly if you lose. If they admit liability and offer you a sum in final settlement always refuse the first offer and say you will be taking legal advice as they are likely go higher as it would cheaper than the risk of going to court.

 

If necessary, and you have legal cover on your house insurance, use that. If not, find a no-win-no-fee solicitor. In the latter case, you'll shell out about 25% of your compensation to the lawyer. However, neither will take on your case unless they feel there is a more than 50% chance of success.

 

You will have to prove negligence (the much vaunted compensation culture for every trip and injury does not really exist). Sounds like you have a good case. Good luck!

[Josy1953]

The accident happened in our cabin. I cut my foot on a sharp trim on the corner of a protruding skirting board is how I can best describe it. There was a lot of blood, it was on the carpet and when I went to the bathroom to look at the cut it was all over the bathe mat too. It was in the early hours of the morning so I put a sock on to stop the blood going on the bedding and went back to bed. The next morning I saw that the cut was deep and worse than I though. I mentioned the accident to our cabin steward and apologised for the blood stains. He said I should go to reception and fill in an accident form which I did. I said I thought I should have my foot looed at in the medical centre and that I shouldn't have to pay as it was caused by a faulty trim in the cabin. They said they couldn't authorise that and I would have to see the safety officer. I asked them to get him and in due course he came to the cabin with us to inspect the trim. At first he said that couldn't have been the cause of the cut, running his hand along it and saying it wasn't sharp enough to cause a cut, almost accusing me of lying. I assured him that it had caused the cut and pointed out the blood stains on the carpet. He then agreed that was the cause and arranged for a carpenter to come and repair it but said he couldn't authorise any treatment, I would have to go back to reception. He also commented n the configuration of the bed in the cabin and asked if we had pushed them together as they were usually 2 singles. I told him we had requested double and that is how it was when we arrived in the cabin. If the beds had been 2 singles the offending sharp bit would have been covered by the bed as it would have been up against the wall and I would have had to get out at the other side. He seemed surprised that it had been made up as a double.

I went back to the reception and they told me I would need to see someone called Anne. I forget her job title but was told she was too busy to see me as she was dealing with 2 medical evacuations. They gave me a sticking plaster and told me to sort my foot out myself. I was not at all happy at e way it had been dealt with. Later that evening I got a message to say the medical centre would treat me at no cost. They cleaned it up and put a dressing on it. After a few days it was still really painful. I was unable to walk around the ports, I obviously couldn't use the hot tubs or pools in case of infection and we couldn't continue with the dance lessons we had been taking part in. It really spoiled our holiday. By the end of the cruise it was still painful and not healing up. I went back to see the doctor who said it was infected and prescribed antibiotics. We have back from the cruise almost 2 weeks and it is now a lot better than it was but still not fully healed.

So I assume P&O have accepted responsibility by sending a carpenter to do the repair and paying for the medical treatment. They did offer me a bottle of wine which I declined. Then on the last night of the cruise they offered us a meal in a speciality restaurant which I also declined, in any case we had already eaten. Then, just as we were about to go to bed they offered us £70 on board credit which I also declined. The blood stains on the carpet were still there when we left. I hope they cleaned it for the next occupants.

Out of interest, were you on Ventura ? We were on Ventura in March and had several problems and had to see a lady named Anne who was the Customer Services Manager but was completely useless in my opinion. We got no satisfaction on board but within a few hours of emailing Southampton after we got home a lady rang me to discuss the problem, she said that she would speak to the ship and get back to me which she did and the problem was resolved to my satisfaction within the few days.

I hope that you get a satisfactory response soon from Southampton.

[Selbourne]

Received a response to my letter today. It explained, in great length what I already knew (and had no issue with) but completely ignored the key point that I was making. A complete waste of time and effort. I’m afraid that my view that P&O’s land based customer service team is completely useless remains unaltered. If service on the ships was as poor they would lose my custom in a flash. Thankfully, it’s poles apart. You wouldn’t think that it was the same company.

[joro44]

A number of options springs to mind if you are not satisfied by the response from CS, or receive no response within the 28 day period:Take the matter up with your cruise agent if you booked though one, they will have had experience of dealing with similar cases.

Write to either of the 'quality' weekend papers, either money or travel sections. Your name, or initials, maybe used if your case is published.

If a member of Which? contact their Legal help line, non-members can also contact them. They may suggest a draft legal letter that would create a response from P&O's legal team.

A Small Claims Court application, upto £10,000, can be made. Most large organisations settle out of court.

Finally, there is a specialist firm of solicitors who, as already mentioned, considers cases on a no-win, no-fee basis, taking a % of an award if made.

 

 

As already detailed in a number of threads, P&O's Customer Services dept. is overloaded due to the Adonia and Oriana cancellations.

 

 

49 cruises 17 ships 3 liners

[tallulahcruiser]

Out of interest, were you on Ventura ? We were on Ventura in March and had several problems and had to see a lady named Anne who was the Customer Services Manager but was completely useless in my opinion. We got no satisfaction on board but within a few hours of emailing Southampton after we got home a lady rang me to discuss the problem, she said that she would speak to the ship and get back to me which she did and the problem was resolved to my satisfaction within the few days.

I hope that you get a satisfactory response soon from Southampton.

 

Yes we were on Ventura.

[tallulahcruiser]

The accident happened in our cabin. I cut my foot on a sharp trim on the corner of a protruding skirting board is how I can best describe it. There was a lot of blood, it was on the carpet and when I went to the bathroom to look at the cut it was all over the bathe mat too. It was in the early hours of the morning so I put a sock on to stop the blood going on the bedding and went back to bed. The next morning I saw that the cut was deep and worse than I though. I mentioned the accident to our cabin steward and apologised for the blood stains. He said I should go to reception and fill in an accident form which I did. I said I thought I should have my foot looed at in the medical centre and that I shouldn't have to pay as it was caused by a faulty trim in the cabin. They said they couldn't authorise that and I would have to see the safety officer. I asked them to get him and in due course he came to the cabin with us to inspect the trim. At first he said that couldn't have been the cause of the cut, running his hand along it and saying it wasn't sharp enough to cause a cut, almost accusing me of lying. I assured him that it had caused the cut and pointed out the blood stains on the carpet. He then agreed that was the cause and arranged for a carpenter to come and repair it but said he couldn't authorise any treatment, I would have to go back to reception. He also commented n the configuration of the bed in the cabin and asked if we had pushed them together as they were usually 2 singles. I told him we had requested double and that is how it was when we arrived in the cabin. If the beds had been 2 singles the offending sharp bit would have been covered by the bed as it would have been up against the wall and I would have had to get out at the other side. He seemed surprised that it had been made up as a double.

I went back to the reception and they told me I would need to see someone called Anne. I forget her job title but was told she was too busy to see me as she was dealing with 2 medical evacuations. They gave me a sticking plaster and told me to sort my foot out myself. I was not at all happy at e way it had been dealt with. Later that evening I got a message to say the medical centre would treat me at no cost. They cleaned it up and put a dressing on it. After a few days it was still really painful. I was unable to walk around the ports, I obviously couldn't use the hot tubs or pools in case of infection and we couldn't continue with the dance lessons we had been taking part in. It really spoiled our holiday. By the end of the cruise it was still painful and not healing up. I went back to see the doctor who said it was infected and prescribed antibiotics. We have back from the cruise almost 2 weeks and it is now a lot better than it was but still not fully healed.

So I assume P&O have accepted responsibility by sending a carpenter to do the repair and paying for the medical treatment. They did offer me a bottle of wine which I declined. Then on the last night of the cruise they offered us a meal in a speciality restaurant which I also declined, in any case we had already eaten. Then, just as we were about to go to bed they offered us £70 on board credit which I also declined. The blood stains on the carpet were still there when we left. I hope they cleaned it for the next occupants.

 

I received an email from P&O today offering me £500 future cruise credit. It doesn't seem much for the pain I experienced and a ruined holiday. Any advice on what I should do please.

[pete14]

I received an email from P&O today offering me £500 future cruise credit. It doesn't seem much for the pain I experienced and a ruined holiday. Any advice on what I should do please.

 

If I were you I would take it with gratitude. What I cannot understand is why you did not contact the medical centre yourself rather than your steward, reception and the safety officer. Even a phone call to the medical centre on your cabin phone would have helped you and maybe a visit to them would have prevented the wound from becoming infected. You may have had to pay but in the circumstances they may have waived the charge. Presumably your holiday Insurance will have covered it anyway, depending on the extent of cover you have.

[Florry]

I received an email from P&O today offering me £500 future cruise credit. It doesn't seem much for the pain I experienced and a ruined holiday. Any advice on what I should do please.

 

 

Do you have legal cover on any of your insurance polices? People often do and forget they have it. Also there is Citizens Advice. Reading this has annoyed me, they seem to offer compensation in the form of OBC and in my opinion that’s wrong, you should have it in another form, what if you don’t want to sail with P&O again?

I think genuine cases such as this justify taking things further, there are plenty of no gain:no pay solicitors that would pick a case like this up (do your homework and read their small print). Such a shame it’s necessary to think of using a service like that, if only P&O would play fair with people.

I always say their customer service is great until something happens, then you’re never treated well. This could happen to any of us and stories like this only serve to remind us all that the door only swings one way as your money leaves your pocket.

 

 

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[majortom10]

I received an email from P&O today offering me £500 future cruise credit. It doesn't seem much for the pain I experienced and a ruined holiday. Any advice on what I should do please.

 

Refuse it like I said in my previous post never accept the first offer. You now have them trying to stop you taking legal action and if their legal team didnt think you had a case and P&O werent liable they wouldnt have offered you anything. Tell them that you have no intention of cruising again with P&O so a future cruise credit is worthless and that you are taking legal advice.

[AnnieC]

Refuse it like I said in my previous post never accept the first offer. You now have them trying to stop you taking legal action and if their legal team didnt think you had a case and P&O werent liable they wouldnt have offered you anything. Tell them that you have no intention of cruising again with P&O so a future cruise credit is worthless and that you are taking legal advice.

 

Good advice. I have some experience in this field - in order to get anywhere, negligence needs to be shown - if P&O was convinced that no negligence was involved, no offer would have been made. It is a modern myth that you can simply trip over something and claim millions.

 

As I said in my previous post, either use house insurance legal cover or a no win no fee solicitor. If you don't have a case, you'll find out soon enough. If you do, it will cost you nothing (apart from losing roughly 25% of your compensation to a NWNF solicitor if you don't have legal cover on your insurance).

 

To put their offer into perspective, I wrote a letter of complaint about six months ago about something that was pretty trifling in the great scheme of things, expecting nothing. I was given £400 on board spend for my next cruise.

[mandylennon]

If they are offering £500 off your next cruise, it is certainly better than £500 on board credit, if you are considering booking another cruise, otherwise I would ask for the money.

[tallulahcruiser]

To continue the saga. I received a reply to my refusal to accept the offer. I feel like big brother has been watching me. The reply said P&O had been monitoring my movement around the ship and ashore and that I had still been able to enjoy many of the ship's facilities. I had already pointed out that I wasn't able to use the pools or hot tubs which I had been enjoying and we could no longer take part in the dance classes or any dancing in the evenings. We had been going to the morning gym classes ad I did attempt to go to one more after the accident but it was too painful to bend my foot so I didn't go to any more. Whilst I did get off the ship in the ports I was unable to walk for long and we couldn't do many of the things we had planned to do. In Gibraltar we had to join a long queue shuttle and pay for it as it wasn't run by P&O. We would normally have walked.

P&O have said that there offer is fair and are not offering any more.

[dgs1956]

To continue the saga. I received a reply to my refusal to accept the offer. I feel like big brother has been watching me. The reply said P&O had been monitoring my movement around the ship and ashore and that I had still been able to enjoy many of the ship's facilities. I had already pointed out that I wasn't able to use the pools or hot tubs which I had been enjoying and we could no longer take part in the dance classes or any dancing in the evenings. We had been going to the morning gym classes ad I did attempt to go to one more after the accident but it was too painful to bend my foot so I didn't go to any more. Whilst I did get off the ship in the ports I was unable to walk for long and we couldn't do many of the things we had planned to do. In Gibraltar we had to join a long queue shuttle and pay for it as it wasn't run by P&O. We would normally have walked.

P&O have said that there offer is fair and are not offering any more.

 

I was one that agreed that you had been poorly treated initially but to be honest I think that £500 off a further cruise isn't bad at all. As already said its better than OBC. As far as I understand you have told P&O that you are taking advice so I'm not sure if you thought they would just cave in at that. It was bad advice in my opinion. You haven't said what you want off them or if you are just trying to get as much as you can. Personally I would have taken the £500 off the next cruise and moved on.

[tallulahcruiser]

I was one that agreed that you had been poorly treated initially but to be honest I think that £500 off a further cruise isn't bad at all. As already said its better than OBC. As far as I understand you have told P&O that you are taking advice so I'm not sure if you thought they would just cave in at that. It was bad advice in my opinion. You haven't said what you want off them or if you are just trying to get as much as you can. Personally I would have taken the £500 off the next cruise and moved on.

 

No I haven't told them I am taking advise. I don't want to get into a legal battle but was advised on this forum not to accept the first offer so that is what I did.

[dgs1956]

No I haven't told them I am taking advise. I don't want to get into a legal battle but was advised on this forum not to accept the first offer so that is what I did.

 

I know you were advised to do that and as I said I think that was bad advice. You have to ask yourself if you are the kind of person who pushes and pushes to maximise what they can get out of an accident or if you aren't. I hope you don't mind me saying but you don't come across as the former and I suspect you would have accepted £500 cash (or settled for it off your next cruise) and have been happy enough at that. Life's too short as they say.

[mercury7289]

Sorry Folks

 

Cannot support this.

 

Might well have been an incident, but being overly exaggerated IMO

 

 

Using the forum in an attempt to gain some sort of support IMO