OBC Refund

[Jet Cruiser]

Hello cruisers!

This is my first post but I've used this site many times for information and checking reviews before cruising.

We've cruised many times before mainly on Royal Caribbean and a few times on MSC but have never encountered a problem like what we are experiencing now with Princess.

I have a situation regarding refundable onboard credit. In June my wife and I went on an 11 night cruise ex Copenhagen on the Regal Princess. About 3 days before we embarked, Princess via our travel agent offered us to downgrade to an obstructed view cabin and in return we would get 50% of our cruise fare back in the form of fully refundable onboard credit. We did a bit of research on the cabin view, etc and checked with the TA that what we didn't use would indeed be refunded. Satisfying ourselves we took the offer and had a wonderful cruise. So much so that we decided that we would make Princess our first choice for future cruises. 

Unfortunately the way they have handled us post cruise has proved very disappointing. We disembarked on 4 July and to this date have not been refunded more than $500 of the remaining OBC. We have been calling both Princess and our TA on an almost weekly basis to check on this refund. The TA is doing the best they can from their side as well. Initially we were told checks would be mailed to us and they were apparently sent out early July. 3 months later and nothing has arrived. It was then advised that a wire transfer would be done but after a few weeks we were then told that because we don't live in the United States it won't work. We are residents of South Africa. Princess fully acknowledges that they owe us the money and during our last contact on Friday and from what the travel agent was also told last week was that they are going to do a wire transfer again and to wait a few weeks - something we've heard all too often now. 

What I don't understand is why is this so difficult, with RCI whatever was outstanding was refunded to our credit cards the day after disembarkation. Why does Princess use a third party to send out checks, that can get lost in the mail in this day and age? We both had credit cards registered on the ship. A lot of passengers (and crew) are not U.S. residents so being outside the U.S is not an excuse I accept. Their post cruise service has been very disappointing, emails to their customer relations address either doesn't receive an answer or the reply is a vague brush off. When calling their HQ the agents have varied from trying to help but unable to, to completely rude. I've heard I could have got the money back through the casino while onboard and if I'd known the refund would be so difficult to obtain I would have done that but that's obviously not possible now - literally that ship has sailed. 

Am I being unreasonable by now being utterly frustrated and impatient? Would Princess be so understanding if I owed them money? I think not.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what to do or who else I could speak to, to solve this issue? It's been 3 and half months since disembarkation.

 

 

[JF - retired RRT]

Some have had success writing a letter (be sure it's polite...just the facts) addressed to Jan Schwarz (sp?).
I don't have the address, but you should get it soon from one of the many posters who keep this info handy.
Good luck

[cherylandtk]

You are not being unreasonable, at all.  Unfortunately, the Princess refund process is middling to slow for people who live in the States, and generally arduous for those who don’t.  

I don’t believe the credit card refund will work without a prior charge to reverse against.  Mail is perhaps unreliable, but have you considered asking about an overnight delivery service, such as FedEx?  In this case, you would also want to discuss if the check will be in dollars or rands.

The best I can advise is to politely keep on top of this on at least a weekly basis. Squeaky wheel gets the grease and all...  Good luck.

Edited October 17, 2018 by cherylandtk

[Renmar]

Here is the email for Mrs. Swartz.

 

Chief Executive
Jan Swartz
President
24305 Town Center Drive
Santa Clarita, CA 91355
jswartz@princesscruises.com

 

Theo

[pompeii]

We have received refunds for unused OBC and have always gotten the check within a few weeks of disembarkation.  One thing is, it comes from a company called Bottomline in a plain white envelope.  It is not at all obvious from the outside that it is a refund check, in fact it looks like junk mail.  I'm sure that's on purpose so it doesn't get stolen while en route.   So perhaps it was mailed to you but discarded by mistake?

With that said however, they should be able to tell that the check has not been deposited, put a stop pay on it, and issue a new one.

[geoherb]

I'm waiting for a check from our cruise on the Royal last month. We also had around $500 in unspent refundable OBC. It's been just four weeks since our cruise ended. Seems like your TA should have a contact at Princess who could help speed things up for you. Waiting more than three months is unacceptable.

[DrivesLikeMario]

I suspect your check was thrown away by mistake.  I almost did that with mine.  They come in an unmarked, white envelope and are easily mistaken for junk mail.  I was just about to rip through mine when I caught myself.  They should just put a stop payment on that check and re-issue you a new one.  If your TA requests this to be done, it should be relatively quickly.  Once they start that process, it should take 3-6 weeks.

[Jet Cruiser]

Thanks for all the replies!

We definitely did not throw the check away, as our TA warned us before the cruise that any refund would be in a plain envelope from Bottom Line. Also in South Africa we've moved away from using the postal system to using email so we don't receive junk mail or bills in the post. In fact on average I get one letter a month and we've been checking our mail like a hawk since getting back in expectation of the check. We did tell Princess and the TA that nothing has arrived and they cancelled those checks that were sent out.

I did mention the courier once to a Princess agent, but she wasn't particularly interested in helping us. The next time I call I'll mention it again, I'm more than willing to pay for a courier. 

Thanks for the address of the CEO, I'll draft out a factual letter and send it to her. Hopefully she can speed things up. 

I would have expected a wire transfer to be the easiest and quickest but even that is proving to be extremely difficult.  

Edited October 18, 2018 by Jet Cruiser

[Coral]

11 hours ago, DrivesLikeMario said:

I suspect your check was thrown away by mistake.  I almost did that with mine.  They come in an unmarked, white envelope and are easily mistaken for junk mail.  I was just about to rip through mine when I caught myself.  They should just put a stop payment on that check and re-issue you a new one.  If your TA requests this to be done, it should be relatively quickly.  Once they start that process, it should take 3-6 weeks.

They are not unmarked. They say "Bottom Line" and then "Princess Cruises" on the 2nd line in the return address.

Edited October 18, 2018 by Coral

[voljeep]

our one and only refund from OBC came in a double window envelope with a company name as agent for Princess Cruise lines clearly stated in the return address...3 weeks max...but it was under $100 if that matters

[FritzG]

On 10/17/2018 at 10:32 PM, geoherb said:

I'm waiting for a check from our cruise on the Royal last month. We also had around $500 in unspent refundable OBC. It's been just four weeks since our cruise ended. Seems like your TA should have a contact at Princess who could help speed things up for you. Waiting more than three months is unacceptable.

We were on this cruise, too, and I was wondering if anyone got a check for OBC.  I'll post when we get our check.  Thanks for your update.

[BoughtMyPoints]

Ditto.   25 days and still waiting on our refund check sent to US address.  Next time, I'll take the possible hit and convert via casino play. But I really don't want to gamble!

[antsp]

Why mess around waiting for checks, why not get your left over obc though the casino 

[Jet Cruiser]

An update as this info could help others in future.

 

After much back and forth. Continuous calls from us and our TA to Princess as well as an email to Jan Swartz the refunds were finally completed as wire transfers with the assistance of Carnival this week. 

 

The wire transfer itself was a simple process so not sure why it took nearly 5 months to process. 

 

Princess have acknowledged that they did mess this up and have given us a couple hundred dollars credit if we book another cruise within a year.

 

Alls well that ends well, I guess. 

Edited December 2, 2018 by Jet Cruiser

[reedprincess]

On 10/21/2018 at 11:46 AM, antsp said:

Why mess around waiting for checks, why not get your left over obc though the casino 

If you'd bothered to read their post, you'd know that they were unaware that was an option - being it was their very first Princess cruise. (RCI charges a percentage to take money out via casino, hence it not being something one would think of with frequenting a different line). As they say, that ship has literally sailed.