Canceled shore excursion refund as OBC?

[K D cruiser]

We're going on the Ruby to Alaska and I canceled a shore excursion in Victoria.  It's not showing up on my Princess Visa as a credit.  When I called Princess, I was told it would show up as OBC on the folio when I boarded the ship.  Why isn't it refunded on my credit card?  They're really quick to charge when you book an excursion, but I have to wait months to get it credited as OBC?  Has anyone had a problem getting the credit as OBC?  Thanks for any info.

[skynight]

For standard shore excursions if cancelled 5 days or more before prior to sailing you should receive a credit card credit. If between 5 days and final cancel deadline then it's OBC. Here are the terms & conditions

https://www.princess.com/legal/excursion_terms_conditions/

[riffatsea]

Did you pay for it with your VISA or with OBC?

If you paid with VISA it should go back onto your VISA.

 I'd call again and speak to someone else.

[Coral]

I ran into this last year. If I cancelled anything (months in advance) - it went back as OBC. I had to call and have them refund my visa card. I got someone odd at Princess who said "what do you mean you don't want OBC, everyone wants it" - I then explained that I paid for this with my credit card. It then was refunded but I had to call. I did this twice last year. Otherwise, it would be OBC on the ship and then refunded via check 6 weeks later.

[K D cruiser]

skynight, thanks for the link to the terms on booking excursions.

I booked two excursions.  One was the train in Skagway for $135.95 pp and the other was a tour in Victoria for $59.95 pp.  We each had OBC of $100 for the booking.  Princess applied this OBC to the train which left $71.90 due.  I charged both tours at the same time to my Princess VISA card in the amount of $191.80 which covered the amount due for the train and also the tours in Victoria.  I expected a credit of $119.90 on my credit card which was the amount of the two tours I canceled.  The cruise isn't until September.  I'll call back and try to get a better response.  It doesn't seem fair for Princess to keep my money for several months.   This really irritates me.   Final payment is due July 1 and I haven't paid it yet.

[K D cruiser]

OK, I just spoke with a different CSR at Princess and she said the amount I charged for the tours should be refunded to the credit card that was used to pay for the tours.  She said this usually takes 10 to 15 days because it has to go through the finance department.  I'll just watch for it on my statement and let everyone know what happens.  Thanks for all your replies.

[denmarks]

If you have a cash back or points credit card any would be reversed if you received a credit. Some people like that and some would rather have it back immediately. Princess figures that as an OBC you might spend it on the ship.

[K D cruiser]

Wow, this has been an ordeal.  After speaking with two different Customer Service Reps who said the refund for my canceled shore excursions would go back on my VISA card in 10 to 15 days, I waited over three weeks for the refund to appear.  I called Princess again on Monday and spoke with a young man who said it would not go back on my credit card, but would show up as OBC on my shipboard account.  Yeah, right.  So, after telling him several times that I did not want OBC, I wanted a refund to my credit card as I had been told, he finally put me on hold and then came back and said it would be a credit on my VISA card and it showed up today.  I was afraid if I boarded the ship, checked my account, the OBC would not be there and good luck explaining this to the passenger services desk. I'll be very hesitant to pre-book any excursions on future cruises.  It's not worth the hassle.

[Coral]

19 minutes ago, K D cruiser said:

Wow, this has been an ordeal.  After speaking with two different Customer Service Reps who said the refund for my canceled shore excursions would go back on my VISA card in 10 to 15 days, I waited over three weeks for the refund to appear.  I called Princess again on Monday and spoke with a young man who said it would not go back on my credit card, but would show up as OBC on my shipboard account.  Yeah, right.  So, after telling him several times that I did not want OBC, I wanted a refund to my credit card as I had been told, he finally put me on hold and then came back and said it would be a credit on my VISA card and it showed up today.  I was afraid if I boarded the ship, checked my account, the OBC would not be there and good luck explaining this to the passenger services desk. I'll be very hesitant to pre-book any excursions on future cruises.  It's not worth the hassle.

This was my experience also. I had to call and demand a refund as they told me it would show up as OBC on the ship and I didn't want that. They kept saying "you don't want OBC" and I was like "no - it is my money"...... 

[geoherb]

I prepaid an excursion before my shareholder credit came through. The amount I paid showed up as refundable OBC. The difference was that I booked the excursion just three weeks before the cruise. I also filled out the best price guarantee form to get 110 percent of the difference back. That was also refundable OBC. I did not spend these amounts, and I'm expecting a check back from Princess in a few weeks.

[Brisbane41]

On 6/26/2019 at 2:56 AM, K D cruiser said:

We're going on the Ruby to Alaska and I canceled a shore excursion in Victoria.  It's not showing up on my Princess Visa as a credit.  When I called Princess, I was told it would show up as OBC on the folio when I boarded the ship.  Why isn't it refunded on my credit card?  They're really quick to charge when you book an excursion, but I have to wait months to get it credited as OBC?  Has anyone had a problem getting the credit as OBC?  Thanks for any info.

I have had this issue before.

 

It is not refunded to your credit card.

 

You will not see it appear as a credit on the statement the ship prints for you at the desk or on final departure.

 

However when you contact Princess directly they will show it hidden from view on another financial statement they use to settle the account on your card.

 

It is all very confusing as it is not clear you are actually getting your money back at all. The charge on the credit card does reflect the change though but it does not reflect it on your statement.

[Times Prince]

When the latest prepay scheme was implemented I read the terms and conditions carefully.   Based on their policy of refunding as OBC and not to credit card, I ended up not pre-booking any excursions.

 

[ontheweb]

16 hours ago, K D cruiser said:

Wow, this has been an ordeal.  After speaking with two different Customer Service Reps who said the refund for my canceled shore excursions would go back on my VISA card in 10 to 15 days, I waited over three weeks for the refund to appear.  I called Princess again on Monday and spoke with a young man who said it would not go back on my credit card, but would show up as OBC on my shipboard account.  Yeah, right.  So, after telling him several times that I did not want OBC, I wanted a refund to my credit card as I had been told, he finally put me on hold and then came back and said it would be a credit on my VISA card and it showed up today.  I was afraid if I boarded the ship, checked my account, the OBC would not be there and good luck explaining this to the passenger services desk. I'll be very hesitant to pre-book any excursions on future cruises.  It's not worth the hassle.

At some point, it may have been better to get in touch with your CC company and let after explaining all that you had done so far, let them deal with Princess.