CRUISE REFUND RECEIVED

[terrierjohn]

5 hours ago, AndyMichelle said:

Some of us need our refunds ASAP, the rest of us want our refunds ASAP to make sure we are actually getting them... 

I don't like stalling tactics, alarm bells start ringing, there is usually a deeper plot than the excuse given. 

It may just be the lack of qualified/authorised staff and unprecedented demand that is causing the delays, but we are not seeing the reported steady but slow stream that you would expect across all forums, just the odd reported refund. 

As for the legalities, of course they should be adhered to but they are obviously not without any or very little consequences. 

I warned of this week's ago and was shot down being quoted the law and rights but, unfortunately, they are counting for very little at the moment. 

Andy 

 

I have to say Andy that I am very grateful I took the decision to transfer my booking to a 2021 cruise, even though I lost out by doing it a day too soon and only got the value of the cruise rather than a 125% FCC. I have no worries about when the refund will eventually  be made, however I accept that not everyone will want to tie up their cash for 10 months, but it does mean I dont get upset when P&O miss another deadline.

 

 

 

 

[Eglesbrech]

14 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

I have to say Andy that I am very grateful I took the decision to transfer my booking to a 2021 cruise, even though I lost out by doing it a day too soon and only got the value of the cruise rather than a 125% FCC. I have no worries about when the refund will eventually  be made, however I accept that not everyone will want to tie up their cash for 10 months, but it does mean I dont get upset when P&O miss another deadline.

 

 

 

 

Your right John, the only people who seem to be relatively happy as those who have opted for an FCC as P&O seem to be putting the staffing into dealing with that and the new bookings made with them. They are effectively ignoring refunds.

 

You are (hopefully) far enough in advance to be fine but some people will end up doing it all again for a second time, those who moved from March/ April to July /August etc.

[molecrochip]

54 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

Well another email from my P&O person.  I will be receiving the refund less the agents commission, so that's not true.

I'm surprised as that's not how it was explained to me but I'm not arguing you if you have something from P&O. My contact is not junior staff either. I was told today that P&O are working hard to ensure that their teams are giving consistent information - they've got the feedback that they are not!

[PRINCESSTHE BEST]

2 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

OK, so in our case, we pay the TA with credit card.  He pays P&O less his commission.  There is no way P&O can refund to my card as they don't have my card details.  TA also tells me P&O will refund me the net amount (less his commission) and then he will have to give me the rest.    It's all very odd.  Why wouldn't P&O refund to the TA and then let the TA refund me.

 

I understand why those who paid P&O direct will be refunded to their method of payment, but not the TA bit.

Some years ago I had an issue with a world cruise. My TA said that P&O would not refund a sum of money I thought was rightly owed to me. I took up the issue directly with P&O who relented and agreed to refund the money. They stated that as I had booked through a TA, the money would be sent to them and they would give it to me. True to their word, I had a phone call from my TA stating they had received a refund for me.

Edited April 29, 2020 by PRINCESSTHE BEST

[jeanlyon]

30 minutes ago, molecrochip said:

I'm surprised as that's not how it was explained to me but I'm not arguing you if you have something from P&O. My contact is not junior staff either. I was told today that P&O are working hard to ensure that their teams are giving consistent information - they've got the feedback that they are not!

 

She told me (yes quite senior) that if I had accepted the FCC, which I was going to do, then the Agents commission was protected, but not for a full refund.

[mercury7289]

1 minute ago, jeanlyon said:

 

She told me (yes quite senior) that if I had accepted the FCC, which I was going to do, then the Agents commission was protected, but not for a full refund.

In the early correspondents and video, we were told that the Company will protect the T/A commission.

 

 

[Selbourne]

I mentioned in a previous post that, amidst all the frustration that some travel companies are causing their customers, there are a few that are excelling during this crisis. Premier Inn is one such example. We have a booking for a week at the end of June and it was a non-flexible, non-refundable booking. I have just received an email from them;

 

Hello X

 

To give you more flexibility and peace of mind about your travel plans we are happy to inform you of some changes we’ve made to your booking.

 

Introducing our Advance rate

 

We have moved your existing Non-Flex booking to our new Advance rate. With the Advance rate you can now:

 • Cancel your booking up to 28 days before your arrival date and obtain a full refund
 • Amend the date of your booking (for stays at the same hotel) at any time up until the day of arrival

 

 

What a difference from the attitude of some other companies and it certainly encourages customer loyalty. 

Edited April 29, 2020 by Selbourne

[zap99]

4 hours ago, Eglesbrech said:

I think the only thing that will move them now is the court of public opinion, bad publicity in the papers, news and or social media.

Their names are mud on social media right now and it has made not a jot of difference. Action against a director for certain offences that can have them banged up, or disbarred may have an effect.

[Selbourne]

4 minutes ago, zap99 said:

Their names are mud on social media right now and it has made not a jot of difference. Action against a director for certain offences that can have them banged up, or disbarred may have an effect.

I don’t use Social Media (I know this technically is). Is the commentary the same as here i.e. next to nobody having been refunded so far?

[zap99]

Just now, Selbourne said:

I don’t use Social Media (I know this technically is). Is the commentary the same as here i.e. next to nobody having been refunded so far?

Pretty much. Fraud is a term often used.

[Eglesbrech]

6 minutes ago, zap99 said:

Their names are mud on social media right now and it has made not a jot of difference. Action against a director for certain offences that can have them banged up, or disbarred may have an effect.

Yes there is a lot of ill will and very few answers from P&O.  It was always going to ramp up today as the first big batch have reached the 45 day mark. The number of comments has certainly increased a lot in the last few hours. I do wonder if it will actually have an effect.

 

There have been numerous questions with regard to the date they are up to with the refunds and they have refused to answer any of them.

 

They won’t feel the pain next year as all the FCCs will fill cabins, it may be 2022 before they miss all the annoyed customers who have booked with other lines.

 

 

 

 

[zap99]

3 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

Yes there is a lot of ill will and very few answers from P&O.  It was always going to ramp up today as the first big batch have reached the 45 day mark. The number of comments has certainly increased a lot in the last few hours. I do wonder if it will actually have an effect.

 

There have been numerous questions with regard to the date they are up to with the refunds and they have refused to answer any of them.

 

They won’t feel the pain next year as all the FCCs will fill cabins, it may be 2022 before they miss all the annoyed customers who have booked with other lines.

 

 

 

 

2021 booking may be ok for them, but I wonder how many are to use up FCC, or vouchers.

[P&O SUE]

28 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

I mentioned in a previous post that, amidst all the frustration that some travel companies are causing their customers, there are a few that are excelling during this crisis. Premier Inn is one such example. We have a booking for a week at the end of June and it was a non-flexible, non-refundable booking. I have just received an email from them;

 

Hello X

 

To give you more flexibility and peace of mind about your travel plans we are happy to inform you of some changes we’ve made to your booking.

 

Introducing our Advance rate

 

We have moved your existing Non-Flex booking to our new Advance rate. With the Advance rate you can now:

 • Cancel your booking up to 28 days before your arrival date and obtain a full refund
 • Amend the date of your booking (for stays at the same hotel) at any time up until the day of arrival

 

 

What a difference from the attitude of some other companies and it certainly encourages customer loyalty. 

Yes I’ve always found Premier Inn good though I always pay extra to ensure I can cancel up to the day with no charge! 
It’s one of the reasons I use them as other hotels I’ve looked up often won’t refund anything if you cancel up to 5 days before.

Edited April 29, 2020 by P&O SUE

[jeanlyon]

Just read loads of the comments on their FB page.  Wow a lot of us waiting for refunds and doesn't sound like anybody has received one.  rather worrying.

[majortom10]

There has been one person who has booked with Cunard and received a refund because he was on their Facebook page yesterday thanking them. I should imagine P&O/Cunard staff are dealing with refunds together as they seem to be working together in many aspects. 

[Eglesbrech]

5 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

Just read loads of the comments on their FB page.  Wow a lot of us waiting for refunds and doesn't sound like anybody has received one.  rather worrying.

Unless those who have had money back are being exceptionally quiet then yes it looks like they are just illegally retaining everyone’s  money.

 

Edited April 29, 2020 by Eglesbrech

[jeanlyon]

I was trying to work out how many refunds there would be.  I suppose it's in the many thousands, so if they are sending cheques to all those booked through TAs I can just imagine the chaos.  Also, I wonder what order it is being done in.  Cruise date order or date of application for refund.

[Eglesbrech]

1 minute ago, jeanlyon said:

I was trying to work out how many refunds there would be.  I suppose it's in the many thousands, so if they are sending cheques to all those booked through TAs I can just imagine the chaos.  Also, I wonder what order it is being done in.  Cruise date order or date of application for refund.

Either way I would be near the front of the queue Jean and I have heard nothing from them. I applied for a refund within minutes of receiving the cancellation email and I was on one of the first cruises cancelled in the first batch.

 

I book direct so there is no issue with a TA

 

They are simply not refunding.

[jeanlyon]

Just reading Twitter as well.  It's dreadful

[AndyMichelle]

54 minutes ago, zap99 said:

Their names are mud on social media right now and it has made not a jot of difference. Action against a director for certain offences that can have them banged up, or disbarred may have an effect.

I doubt even that would be successful as they are not refusing to pay and are offering a solution at the moment. 

Add to that, thousands of companies are taking the same stance and despite not making it right, it does give them more strength to the 'unprecedented circumstances' excuse. 

Andy 

[jeanlyon]

So how many on here do believe that the refunds will arrive.  There must be so many due.  I am at Day 45 tomorrow.

[Selbourne]

Oh dear. Sounds like P&O’s reputation is fading very fast. There is now no believable explanation left other than the fact that they are deliberately withholding refunds for as long as they think they can get away with it. With what sounds like less than 1% of customers having been refunded so far I am minded to think of Jim Royle. “Workload my arse” 😂 I also know of at least one travel company refusing to provide refunds, and being swamped with negative reviews as a result, that is getting their staff to post bogus positive reviews about how wonderfully they are handling the crisis.

[majortom10]

They are arriving for Cunard so I should imagine P&O will not be far behind.

[bobstheboy]

Just checking order of my cancellation and refund dates offered. I received an email from P&O on evening of 13th March basically saying I couldn't cruise due to age. Cruise date was 27th March and I immediately spoke to T A (I...) who emailed me on 14th March stating cruise cancelled and refund requested and to allow up to 28 days. 

 

Day 46 and waiting. I wouldn't place a bet that I will see my refund for at least another 15 days minimum.

[Manx buoy]

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

I mentioned in a previous post that, amidst all the frustration that some travel companies are causing their customers, there are a few that are excelling during this crisis. Premier Inn is one such example. We have a booking for a week at the end of June and it was a non-flexible, non-refundable booking. I have just received an email from them;

 

Hello X

 

To give you more flexibility and peace of mind about your travel plans we are happy to inform you of some changes we’ve made to your booking.

 

Introducing our Advance rate

 

We have moved your existing Non-Flex booking to our new Advance rate. With the Advance rate you can now:

 • Cancel your booking up to 28 days before your arrival date and obtain a full refund
 • Amend the date of your booking (for stays at the same hotel) at any time up until the day of arrival

 

 

What a difference from the attitude of some other companies and it certainly encourages customer loyalty. 

Cancelled our non refundable booking with Prem Inn after the latest raft of cancellations last week and the money was back in our account 3 hours later