CRUISE REFUND RECEIVED

[No pager thank you]

5 minutes ago, PandNo Refund said:

If P&O go bust, we are covered by either our credit card provider or the Abta scheme aren’t we?

Could bankrupt Abta though!

Yes, my understanding is that we are protected, but also that it would take many months to be reimbursed in this worst case scenario.

[molecrochip]

4 minutes ago, PandNo Refund said:

If P&O go bust, we are covered by either our credit card provider or the Abta scheme aren’t we?

Could bankrupt Abta though!

The Government is the underwriter of last resort for ABTA.

[TinyDavid]

40 minutes ago, yorkshirephil said:

You could try, I tried several weeks ago, basically told that as the cruise line had not actually refused to give me a refund and were effectively trying to help (ha ha) that I didn't qualify under reg 75. In reality I think banks insurers and cruise lines and TA's are struggling to keep up and whichever route you take will take time., they may have to eventually as I am sure all cruise lines won't survive to fight another day sadly. No body wants to accept responsibility, in fairness I don't think the banks and insurers should be bailing the cruise industry out. I have decided to sit it out and see what happens as it is not worth getting het up about, even though we are several grand down. In my opinion health comes first and we had in effect written the money off.

I fully agree with Yorkshire Phil, well said. I have taken a FCC with P and O and re-booked I am also awaiting a refund from 2 TA's one for a significant amount. It is very frustrating but I am not going to give myself a heart attack winding myself and everyone else up about money I was happy to spend at the time. I will however pursue all reasonable options in a timely manner and make sure any learning translates into better selection of who I book with in the future.  

[jeanlyon]

Of course there are big meetings going on.  It's the same at my office.  They are trying to work out who goes and opens up the office and who remains working at home.  With P&O, the normal agents can work from home, but the finance department has to be in the office to work the machines and frank the mail.

 

If you think about it, it would be sensible to have a cutoff date for cheques, so say last week.  Someone has to go into the office, run off the cheques, stuff them in envelopes and post them.  Can't do that from home.

Edited May 11, 2020 by jeanlyon

[yorkshirephil]

42 minutes ago, Vampiress88 said:

I cannot just write off over £7000 that I have with two holiday companies. That’s nearly my part time salary. I would have effectively worked for 9 months for nothing. I get that health comes first but I just cannot write it off

I didn't mean to imply I was not going to request a refund or FCC. The money was spent by so I am actually no worse off financially, in fact I am better off as I haven't had to spend on trips and onboard. I just know whichever route I take it will take time.

[happy v]

21 hours ago, Turn the Tide said:

There may a separate thread for this but has anyone had their FCC applied to their account on the P&O website yet? If so, where does it show?

I don't think you can see it unless you have booked another cruise.

It may be better to start a new thread as this is very long and people may not read it all unless they are waiting for a refund.

[Solent Richard]

1 hour ago, yorkshirephil said:

You could try, I tried several weeks ago, basically told that as the cruise line had not actually refused to give me a refund and were effectively trying to help (ha ha) that I didn't qualify under reg 75. In reality I think banks insurers and cruise lines and TA's are struggling to keep up and whichever route you take will take time., they may have to eventually as I am sure all cruise lines won't survive to fight another day sadly. No body wants to accept responsibility, in fairness I don't think the banks and insurers should be bailing the cruise industry out. I have decided to sit it out and see what happens as it is not worth getting het up about, even though we are several grand down. In my opinion health comes first and we had in effect written the money off.

Maybe you tried the CC route too early Phil.

 

My view is that anyone who is owed a refund should give the cruise line the benefit of the doubt over taking time to refund and, where possible, pin them down to a date for refund in writing.

 

If they then miss that date you should be entitled to go to the Credit Card first and then your Insurer.

[P&O SUE]

I discovered today my sister has already got her refund from her holiday to Majorca. She was meant to be there now! 
There has made me more annoyed that she’s got hers so quickly. Unfortunately I don’t know which company as my mum told me and she didn’t know!  Wasn’t a cruise but shows some holiday companies can do it.

[Josy1953]

1 minute ago, P&O SUE said:

I discovered today my sister has already got her refund from her holiday to Majorca. She was meant to be there now! 
There has made me more annoyed that she’s got hers so quickly. Unfortunately I don’t know which company as my mum told me and she didn’t know!  Wasn’t a cruise but shows some holiday companies can do it.

My guess it is not TUI, my sister got to the boarding gate at Manchester middle March ( I have forgotten the exact date) and they were told that the flight was no longer going they are still trying to get their money back.

[yorkshirephil]

21 minutes ago, Solent Richard said:

Maybe you tried the CC route too early Phil.

 

My view is that anyone who is owed a refund should give the cruise line the benefit of the doubt over taking time to refund and, where possible, pin them down to a date for refund in writing.

 

If they then miss that date you should be entitled to go to the Credit Card first and then your Insurer.

You may be right Richard, initially I was annoyed by the TA who lied through their teeth, in and among the typical rubbish they have been putting out. I did send a registered letter stating I was applying to the small claims court if they did not inform me as to what steps they would take in answer to my letter. I then got an email with a veiled threat; stating that if they went bust I would have to wait even longer (what even longer means is any bodies guess), which may be true. So I have decided to sit back and wait.

[Vampiress88]

46 minutes ago, yorkshirephil said:

I didn't mean to imply I was not going to request a refund or FCC. The money was spent by so I am actually no worse off financially, in fact I am better off as I haven't had to spend on trips and onboard. I just know whichever route I take it will take time.

but won’t that depend on circumstances 

 

I was quite happy to spend the money on cruises and Florida and I had a good lump of spending money. At the time my hubby’s job wasn’t at risk. He was on a full wage that was more than two years ago. I wouldn’t have booked these holidays at that time as we weren’t earning enough between us. 
 

now he has a 10% pay cut. This could go down to 20%. There are 8000 jobs out of 52000 so about 15% losing their jobs. 
 

If I didn’t have that worry I would probably be less anxious at waiting. 

[No pager thank you]

22 minutes ago, Solent Richard said:

Maybe you tried the CC route too early Phil.

 

My view is that anyone who is owed a refund should give the cruise line the benefit of the doubt over taking time to refund and, where possible, pin them down to a date for refund in writing.

 

If they then miss that date you should be entitled to go to the Credit Card first and then your Insurer.

I tend to agree with this. 

 

It's everyone's personal choice if they want to push the issue or let matters take their natural course, whatever that means in terms of timeline and the stress and aggro needs to be thought about.  Everyone will be able to take their decisions around who to book with in the future depending on how well or not they have been dealt with.

 

However, if the company reneges on what even they say is reasonable and what they choose to put in writing, it makes it harder for them to question the customer in taking the matter up elsewhere, should they choose to.  Also casts doubt on this view that they intend to keep their word / promise, whatever that means.

[peteukmcr]

56 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

My guess it is not TUI, my sister got to the boarding gate at Manchester middle March ( I have forgotten the exact date) and they were told that the flight was no longer going they are still trying to get their money back.

TUI have paid out some refunds as my friends who were due to go on holiday around 20th March got a refund about 3 weeks ago.

[PandNo Refund]

If the government changed the law to allow vouchers/credit to be given instead of refunds - I wonder if this would instantly be applied to all bookings, or if already cancelled ones would be honoured.

I do wonder if this is the real reason for the huge waits in refunds - they are hoping there will be a change in the law where they can cancel all the refunds.

They might see that as the only way of getting some of the customers back on a boat with them, in the hope that they can redeem themselves and avoid losing customers in the longer term.

But if the ‘credits’ require extra money to secure a comparable holiday, that’s not gonna wash with people surely.

[No pager thank you]

As has been said by others, the reasons why the refunds have been so slow (as opposed to just slow (everyone had had massive volumes to deal with and P&O not the biggest)) is part incompetence, part cash flow / supply chain issues, but also has to be something else. 

 

How can they only have two people able to do refunds apparently?  That's the interesting bit.  

 

Since this started, I've counted at least three different P&O refund policies and at least three different changes to how they are applied. 

 

Little doubt in my mind that Carnival have been pushing/supporting ABTA to get the law changed.  Looking carefully, their FCCs are little more than Refund Credit Notes and unlike those, their FCCs have a fixed deadline for asking for your money back, meaning that there not even as good as Refund Credit Notes in some cases where the entitlement to your cash back sticks throughout.  Their stance, taking in to account that the 25pc bonus is worthless / negative, is scarcely the legal minimum and arguably below. 

 

There's a clue for those people who did take a FCC, rebooked and also saw the rebooking cancelled.  It says that they will be entitled to whatever is in place at the time.  Plenty of wiggle room for any further changes to cancellation policy.

 

If the Government do change the rules then they will most likely change tact, particularly if competitors do, so get the money in your bank account now if you are worried.

 

The issue which will upset the travel companies is that in most European countries the vouchers have to be redeemed like for like with no extra cost, - that will not work for P&O with the "fluid" pricing model i.e. at best the customer pays twice (and more) for having their holiday cancelled.

 

Government would be silly to change the rules, easy way of alienating a lot of voters, but business thinking may come through as no election is due for a while and there is no doubt pressure on.  Just an opinion.

 

They'll take cover in numbers - as has been said, they are not daft by any means.

 

[NoFlyGuy]

Troubling times for all of us.

I have the greatest sympathy for those, whether they post on here or not,  have found themselves in financial hardship and really do need their refunds to come through quickly. Whether chasing P&O or any other holiday organisation for that matter helps, then good luck.

We are now at day 55 but not expecting anything to happen soon. Having already paid for our cancelled cruise we can afford to wait. If it gets to July and nothing is forthcoming I will probably then at least phone or email P&O. Until then I'll just sit it out. 

[grapau27]

33 minutes ago, NoFlyGuy said:

Troubling times for all of us.

I have the greatest sympathy for those, whether they post on here or not,  have found themselves in financial hardship and really do need their refunds to come through quickly. Whether chasing P&O or any other holiday organisation for that matter helps, then good luck.

We are now at day 55 but not expecting anything to happen soon. Having already paid for our cancelled cruise we can afford to wait. If it gets to July and nothing is forthcoming I will probably then at least phone or email P&O. Until then I'll just sit it out. 

I would contact them this week if you are at day 55.

Their finance staff are expected back in the office this week.

Good luck.

[Snow Hill]

2 hours ago, PandNo Refund said:

If the government changed the law to allow vouchers/credit to be given instead of refunds - I wonder if this would instantly be applied to all bookings, or if already cancelled ones would be honoured.

I do wonder if this is the real reason for the huge waits in refunds - they are hoping there will be a change in the law where they can cancel all the refunds.

They might see that as the only way of getting some of the customers back on a boat with them, in the hope that they can redeem themselves and avoid losing customers in the longer term.

But if the ‘credits’ require extra money to secure a comparable holiday, that’s not gonna wash with people surely.

Laws are not retrospective so would only come into effect from date it is enacted.

[No pager thank you]

3 minutes ago, Snow Hill said:

Laws are not retrospective so would only come into effect from date it is enacted.

 

Unfortunately, there are various examples / precedents around where new laws (or changes to existing regulations) have been made and then applied with retrospective effect, so this can't be ruled out.  However the Government doesn't do this particularly often.

 

I would very much hope though the the Government continues to resist ABTA on this point, for the benefit of everyone who is expecting and needs to have access to their money.

[Turn the Tide]

1 hour ago, NoFlyGuy said:

Troubling times for all of us.

I have the greatest sympathy for those, whether they post on here or not,  have found themselves in financial hardship and really do need their refunds to come through quickly. Whether chasing P&O or any other holiday organisation for that matter helps, then good luck.

We are now at day 55 but not expecting anything to happen soon. Having already paid for our cancelled cruise we can afford to wait. If it gets to July and nothing is forthcoming I will probably then at least phone or email P&O. Until then I'll just sit it out. 

You're at day 55 and you'll give them until July?! Wow, I bet they wish all their customers were that easy to hedge.

[P&O SUE]

4 hours ago, Josy1953 said:

My guess it is not TUI, my sister got to the boarding gate at Manchester middle March ( I have forgotten the exact date) and they were told that the flight was no longer going they are still trying to get their money back.

I have now spoken to my sister, and she said she’d booked through Expedia.

How awful for your sister, to be at the actual boarding gate! How depressing.

[mickrory]

Yes it's not just P&O I'm on day 47 waiting for a refund for a hotel I reserved through booking.com.

[mrsgoggins]

Day 58.  I don't post that often so I thought I would update that the vuvuzela is still in the drawer awaiting the celebration of return of my money from P&O; I was one of the early ones whose message was 'within 45 days'.  

 

Last week Princess cancelled the TA we were due to take in November.  I received a cancellation invoice and confirmation of my request for a refund of deposit by return.   They are saying up to 60 days for a refund, but just having the confirmation in an orderly manner made me feel better, even though this may be misplaced as Princess and P&O are both under the Carnival umbrella.

 

As an aside, I cancelled the hire car, Manchester airport parking and Barcelona hotel that went alongside the TA all on 9th March - 3 days ago as I write. I was pleasantly surprised to see refunds for the hire car and the airport parking showing on my credit card this morning!  Different operations I accept, but still good to see.  

 

Here's hoping for some positive news from someone else today.

[No pager thank you]

Another actual refund being celebrated on FB this morning, received day 65 - working the calendar back this means cancellation on 8th March, which would likely mean that the passenger cancelled, not P&O, but can't be certain on that.

 

Passenger reports chasing P&O for at least a couple of weeks.

 

Think that I may need to request a refund on my postal order of the vuvuzela...😅

[Eglesbrech]

ABTA seem to be softening their message just a little, probably because there is no movement from the government. I think companies were indeed holding back refunds in anticipation of a change (as others have said above) but it looks like that won’t be happening anytime soon (or at all) and if it does it is not likely to be retrospective.
 

ABTA argued that 14 days was unreasonable for companies to be expected to refund in which they can easily defend as being a fair comment. Now that people are getting to 60 plus days and several deadlines set by the individual holiday providers have been missed, it is much less easy to defend their behaviour.

 

There is also the example of those organisations who are paying out in a fairly reasonable period of time to show up those who are dragging their heels. We have had our money back from every other cruise/ holiday / hotel / car park with the exception of P&O.