CRUISE REFUND RECEIVED

[staygulf]

7 minutes ago, Hampshire Steve said:

Day 96 today (Day 97 if you include the day I asked on - a Sunday so being fair with clear days)

 

I have had an email acknowledging receipt of my email to them giving notice of intention to commence court proceeding, usual polite email, escalating to senior financial people but still no refund.

 

So pleased our future cruise bookings with Princess were for a £1 each deposit, currently no idea what to do about our P&O deposits (for next year)

 

I will add any further news as appropriate.  

Maybe the mistake was to send it to a generic email address? When I sent mine I phoned up to ask who to send it to and was given a name. I also copied in Paul Ludlow. 
 

as it is Carnival who you need to sue that is the Company it should be sent to not P and O

Edited June 19, 2020 by staygulf

[Hampshire Steve]

4 minutes ago, staygulf said:

Maybe the mistake was to send it to a generic email address? When I sent mine I phoned up to ask who to send it to and was given a name. I also copied in Paul Ludlow. 

I did copy it to the customer services one but also to someone else mentioned in this thread. I am beyond caring about the speed of the result now, to me I will take great pleasure in having a HCEO knock on the door although I also realise there will be nobody at Carnival House shaking in their boots or losing sleep over it.

Edited June 19, 2020 by Hampshire Steve

[staygulf]

1 minute ago, Hampshire Steve said:

I did copy it to the customer services one but also to someone else mentioned in this thread. I am beyond caring about the speed of the result now, to me I will take great pleasure in having a HCEO knock on the door although I also realise there will be nobody at Carnival House shaking in their boots or losing sleep over it.

That was exactly my thought process. Get judgment by default escalate it to the High Court. But they repaid within a few days so all was good. 
 

Did you address the NBA to Carnival as that is who the action is against?

[drsel]

So pleased our future cruise bookings with Princess were for a £1 each deposit,  

How do you get a one pound deposit for a Princess cruise?

on the US online travel agent sites, the deposit is almost 50% of the cruise fare

 

[majortom10]

1 minute ago, drsel said:

How do you get a one pound deposit for a Princess cruise?

on the US online travel agent sites, the deposit is almost 50% of the cruise fare

 

They do them as a promotional offer on occasions for a limited period.

[Hampshire Steve]

1 minute ago, drsel said:

How do you get a one pound deposit ?
on the US online travel agent sites, the deposit is almost 50% of the cruise fare

We have booked on release of new season cruises, they give a week or two to book at a £1 per person, did this last year for two cruises for 2021 and did it in 2018 for one in 2019. I assumed that was a global offer rather than just for Europe

[terrierjohn]

4 hours ago, Manx buoy said:

I’d rather my money in my pocket nobody knows when this is going to be sorted if things aren’t starting to move by the end of the year I would have serious doubts as to the future of the industry as a whole. If/when they get going nobody has any idea what restrictions will be in place so I would be thinking that some of the people who are saying now that they would cruise no matter what restrictions are going to be in place see what is actually in place they’ll be having second thoughts it certainly won’t appeal to us some of the things being suggested. If the new normal appeals to us we’ll give it a go we’ve already 4 booked for next year so we’d have struggled to use FCC anyway. After the refund debacle I’ve lost all trust in P&O for the time being like a lot of people have and having been messed about before by them when they sold Adonia and Oriana I’d rather they had as little of my money as possible 

I have already transferred an April cruise to one for Feb on Iona, which is now almost fully paid. I am also leaving the deposit from our Sept B2B as FCCs for the moment, I have until the end of November to request a refund for this and if summer 2022 is not launched by then I will probably request a refund. But I do accept that these decisions are very personal and everyone must do what they are happy with.

[miniyorkie]

1 hour ago, Hampshire Steve said:

I did copy it to the customer services one but also to someone else mentioned in this thread. I am beyond caring about the speed of the result now, to me I will take great pleasure in having a HCEO knock on the door although I also realise there will be nobody at Carnival House shaking in their boots or losing sleep over it.

Hi Steve. I am also now  beyond stressing about the refund. Latest in my debacle, another call to p.o  yesterday informed me that I am now due a cheque refund , which I know from this thread seems to be the norm. I have asked this  very question to the T.A and P.O on every call and been assured it will be a card refund. So now accosting the poor postman every day instead of my card log in. Postman came earlier with a lovely brochure for "cruises with confidence in 2021 and beyond."  Am seriously thinking of making an  in exceptional circumstances request for OBC or at  least my FCC to be used against the May 21 IONA booking. 

[No pager thank you]

4 hours ago, miniyorkie said:

Postman came earlier with a lovely brochure for "cruises with confidence in 2021 and beyond."  Am seriously thinking of making an  in exceptional circumstances request for OBC or at  least my FCC to be used against the May 21 IONA booking. 

I may have misunderstood you here, sorry if so, as I am still waiting myself so following this all with interest.  From my reading of the P&O social media channels so far, they seem to take a blanket approach which says no matter how far beyond 60 days they go on refunds, there is zero monetary / discretionary consequence to them, and also zero passenger flexibility that they will offer as a result. 

 

If anyone has a different story then pleased to be corrected.

 

My understanding also was that the FCCs were only being allowed to be applied against existing bookings if you had so many cruises booked (?) already and one of their managers accepted that you could not be expected to book a new cruise.  I last heard this in the part of the debacle where the FCC had to be redeemed against the current brochure only, with a time limit. 

 

That's as close to reasonable as they seem to get.  It is frankly ridiculous that passengers are, in some cases, being forced to enact pre-legal action, particularly when another thread today is talking up the possibility of new ships being purchased.

Edited June 19, 2020 by No pager thank you
Typo

[Hampshire Steve]

My thoughts on the delay are what I still cannot get my head around - 

 

IF they are being honest and that is what I doubt how can they confirm to me, each time I have called, my details regarding this refund are absolutely correct even to the point of telling me the last digits of my payment card and yet despite my dissatisfaction they continue to say my claim is being escalated, I know Carnival House and it just isn't big enough for all these escalators!

 

So, the truth is, they are lying to me and no doubt everyone else, no shock and horror here is there? Why not just say, sorry everyone, you will understand in the circumstances we are skint and are trying to avoid going bust so everyone cut some slack and bear with a schedule, although my experience with P&O is their staff are really great and their systems suck so perhaps they already tried a schedule and gave up as their IT department are still using Windows 3.1 or hiding in a dark room playing retro games.

 

I do hope everyone sees their refund soon and we can all move on.

[No pager thank you]

2 minutes ago, Hampshire Steve said:

My thoughts on the delay are what I still cannot get my head around - 

 

IF they are being honest and that is what I doubt how can they confirm to me, each time I have called, my details regarding this refund are absolutely correct even to the point of telling me the last digits of my payment card and yet despite my dissatisfaction they continue to say my claim is being escalated, I know Carnival House and it just isn't big enough for all these escalators!

 

So, the truth is, they are lying to me and no doubt everyone else, no shock and horror here is there? Why not just say, sorry everyone, you will understand in the circumstances we are skint and are trying to avoid going bust so everyone cut some slack and bear with a schedule, although my experience with P&O is their staff are really great and their systems suck so perhaps they already tried a schedule and gave up as their IT department are still using Windows 3.1 or hiding in a dark room playing retro games.

 

I do hope everyone sees their refund soon and we can all move on.

I think that the truth of the matter is probably along the lines of:

 

1) Most of the call centre staff are aware that 60 days is now an estimated target, not an "up to."

2) They appear to have a significant problem tracking the refunds due in the first suspension in particular - record keeping issues.

3) When you call or contact them, they want you to feel that they are part of the solution, not the problem.  But they also want you off the phone, as they know they can't help you, but don't feel able to say this, just in case the call is recorded.  Sending emails for them is much easier, more automated, more automatic, they can choose how and when to answer.

4) Some of the people you speak to are demoralised as they are at risk of losing their job.  Therefore, for some, why go above and beyond anymore?

5) Senior leaders in Southampton are resisting the request to increase the 60 days to the correct estimated number (90-120) to stay in step with Central command and partner lines, thereby forcing staff to continually escalate, and then swamp the limited resource that they have actually doing the refunding.

 

The whole thing is a supply and demand issue, made worse by the company refusing to allow FCCs to be applied against existing bookings as standard or reducing balance due dates.  They know that there is no CMA or ABTA interest, so carry on as you were. 

 

P&O have fallen in to the trap of thinking that what they are doing is reasonable, just because few, if any of their competitors are following the rules either.  Many customers won't forget and the response that everyone was bad won't wash.

 

Personally, if they were at imminent risk of bankruptcy, I think the situation would be even worse, so I don't think that this is the case.  All of this is within their control, if it was given enough priority.

 

Meanwhile, a few of them just sit there and play Battleship as the mess continues.  Maybe that's harsh but...my day 100 is coming up on Tuesday and a bit of honesty is needed.

[Manx buoy]

2 hours ago, No pager thank you said:

I may have misunderstood you here, sorry if so, as I am still waiting myself so following this all with interest.  From my reading of the P&O social media channels so far, they seem to take a blanket approach which says no matter how far beyond 60 days they go on refunds, there is zero monetary / discretionary consequence to them, and also zero passenger flexibility that they will offer as a result. 

 

If anyone has a different story then pleased to be corrected.

 

My understanding also was that the FCCs were only being allowed to be applied against existing bookings if you had so many cruises booked (?) already and one of their managers accepted that you could not be expected to book a new cruise.  I last heard this in the part of the debacle where the FCC had to be redeemed against the current brochure only, with a time limit. 

 

That's as close to reasonable as they seem to get.  It is frankly ridiculous that passengers are, in some cases, being forced to enact pre-legal action, particularly when another thread today is talking up the possibility of new ships being purchased.

We asked about using FCC on future bookings on 7/5 as we had 8 booked up to end 2021 the question was asked via our TA who told us they were supposed to respond within 28 days in accordance with ABTA guidelines guess what nothing heard yet so refunds it is

[No pager thank you]

5 minutes ago, Manx buoy said:

We asked about using FCC on future bookings on 7/5 as we had 8 booked up to end 2021 the question was asked via our TA who told us they were supposed to respond within 28 days in accordance with ABTA guidelines guess what nothing heard yet so refunds it is

Don't blame you.  Read across the ABTA guidelines would currently recommend playing a Premier League match without a Ref or VAR because there's a pandemic, whilst making all the players continue and asking them to behave - just not going to happen.  

[Manx buoy]

7 minutes ago, No pager thank you said:

Don't blame you.  Read across the ABTA guidelines would currently recommend playing a Premier League match without a Ref or VAR because there's a pandemic, whilst making all the players continue and asking them to behave - just not going to happen.  

That’s what they did on Wednesday in the Villa Sheffield Utd game that went well😂

[No pager thank you]

1 minute ago, Manx buoy said:

That’s what they did on Wednesday in the Villa Sheffield Utd game that went well😂

The ABTA VAR would have advised that Sheffield United are entitled to their "goal," but due to present circumstances, should wait until some stage after the current season has ended before they should expect to receive it.😁

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, No pager thank you said:

The ABTA VAR would have advised that Sheffield United are entitled to their "goal," but due to present circumstances, should wait until some stage after the current season has ended before they should expect to receive it.😁

Now you're just being silly.

[Manx buoy]

P&O must’ve had the VAR working last night refund for A012 in the bank this morning only a deposit from the last lot of cancellations now. I would really like to say what a great company they are to deal with sorting all these problems out so quickly and efficiently but I’ve lost my rose tinted spectacles🤪 so I won’t bother

[drsel]

I was about to pull the trigger and pay Carnival and Princess deposits on Cruises for April and May 2021, but now I am not sure.

I was expecting that by April 2021, the virus would be under control, but I am not sure about them going bankrupt and their future Cruises been cancelled.
And the risk of them defaulting on refunds of deposits

[Purdey16]

Surprise surprise this morning, our long awaited refund from March 28 th request for 12 th April cruise is on the cc this morning, it only took 14 days after been escalated !! 
 

for those who was also waiting the outcome about part paying for the cruise with Tesco coupons, they deducted that part but as yet not back on the Tesco account so we will keep an eye on that , so both my cruises refunded now and some of excursions on April cruise but not my champagne/ chocolate strawberry’s etc, and waiting for excursions refund for my may cruise but very happy we got the big refunds back , so say strong to all still waiting, mine took 85 days from applying but that does count every day .

 

Now to wait for our October 18 th cruise which we paid for in full ( I know big mistake)  to see if this will be cancelled and the process to start again 

[jeanlyon]

We were on Arcadia on 18th October and when they first listed the new lot of cancelled cruises, there was a button to press for either a transfer or 110% FCC.  So our TA did the 110% FCC, which after 2 days disappeared, probably because it shouldn't have been there in the first place.  TA spoke to P&O and we do have the ~FCC sitting on our account hopefully to be used when the 2022 cruises are launched.  Their IT department presumably were at fault for that little error.  A lot of people went for the 110% FCC.

Edited June 20, 2020 by jeanlyon

[Hampshire Steve]

Well done, tedious looking at your banking aps several times a day isn't it? Already checked mine twice this morning!

 

[grapau27]

2 hours ago, Manx buoy said:

P&O must’ve had the VAR working last night refund for A012 in the bank this morning only a deposit from the last lot of cancellations now. I would really like to say what a great company they are to deal with sorting all these problems out so quickly and efficiently but I’ve lost my rose tinted spectacles🤪 so I won’t bother

Brilliant news at last.👍

[grapau27]

18 minutes ago, Hampshire Steve said:

Well done, tedious looking at your banking aps several times a day isn't it? Already checked mine twice this morning!

 

It is.

I keep checking mine for an EasyJet flight to Barcelona for our cancellation RCL cruise.

[grapau27]

28 minutes ago, Purdey16 said:

Surprise surprise this morning, our long awaited refund from March 28 th request for 12 th April cruise is on the cc this morning, it only took 14 days after been escalated !! 
 

for those who was also waiting the outcome about part paying for the cruise with Tesco coupons, they deducted that part but as yet not back on the Tesco account so we will keep an eye on that , so both my cruises refunded now and some of excursions on April cruise but not my champagne/ chocolate strawberry’s etc, and waiting for excursions refund for my may cruise but very happy we got the big refunds back , so say strong to all still waiting, mine took 85 days from applying but that does count every day .

 

Now to wait for our October 18 th cruise which we paid for in full ( I know big mistake)  to see if this will be cancelled and the process to start again 

Great news you have another Refund in the bank.👍

[Purdey16]

Thank you graham it was long awaited and much needed, it will go towards our January cruise which 2as the only one we put a deposit on 😊