LDVinNC

48 minutes ago, pms4104 said:

I disagree ... I prefer a paper trail to document what really happened, what was communicated, etc.

Me too.   Besides, they did not want to talk to me.  Did not return my calls. 

As I said, my emails - and I kept them in an email chain so that I have all our communication in one message that I will keep for a long time  - worked.

I follow an ombudsman website that recommends ALWAYS communicating in writing.

10 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

Ugh - I just received an invoice for my cancelled March cruise, too. After the time and energy spent trying to get this figured out in the first place, I had truly hoped this was behind me and no more than a bad memory of a time when Princess really sucked. Sadly, they have not only reopened an old wound, but they are pouring salt on it, too! Wish me luck that mine gets sorted as smoothly as yours.

 

(On a positive note, they do seem to have got their act together now. My Star Princess cruise that was cancelled due to the ship being sold was refunded in a month!)

I sent them a concise email giving the dates of the Purchase Adjustment, the credit from Princess (at which point we DID owe money), then the date of the Transaction Rebill.  I think giving them the dates made it easier for them to track what happened on their end.

I suspect we are not the only two to have gotten these disturbing invoices.  I hope you can work it out quickly.

We got an email the other day from AQSC.  It asked us to rank in order, 1,2,3, what we considered most important to sailing again.  The choices were (and I am listing them in the order of OUR preference):  1, all guests and staff must be vaccinated, 2, all must provide proof of covid testing, and 3, special cleaning programs (this last is not exactly what they said, but it was along this line).  There were a few other questions as well.

We are still worried about making final payment in March for our July trip.

1 hour ago, ipeeinthepool said:

 

Do I really need to provide further explanation?  Anyone can fall victim to a scheme to take advantage of you because you were too trusting.  But the second time it's your fault because you knew the kind of person or organization that took advantage of you.  Doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result is crazy.  It's like Groundhog Day. 

 

Let me know if I need to explain Groundhog Day. 

Wow.

1 hour ago, ipeeinthepool said:

 

Are other cruise lines in a better financial position the AQSC to provide refunds and the answer is yes.  

How do you know this?

uktog, I remember what you went through with your TA.  We have always booked AQSC directly - I don't know why as we use a travel agent for our ocean cruises.  There will not be any more ocean cruises for us despite enough credit with Princess for a nice trip.  We are older with health conditions and I do not think it would be a wise thing to do.

I have read the new health measures to be taken on AQSC and I am not crazy about some of them, such as having to wear a mask in the theatre, etc.  And, what happens if you are getting back on the boat and your temperature is elevated (not unusual in the summer if you have been walking around)?  Will they abandon you in Paducah (not that it is a bad place) or wherever? What I did not see and I think extremely important:  no requirement for proof of vaccination. That will be a deal breaker for us.

I am happy to report that I got an email advising that "the matter has been closed".  One less thing to worry about in these difficult days.

They have now gone silent for over a week.  I sent an email asking for status and received no reply.  I am going to ignore the whole thing now, saving proof of my email correspondence with them  including sending the statement that shows the transaction rebill.  What a pain in the neck.

On 12/10/2020 at 8:25 AM, diplomats said:

 

 

We are now seriously questioning any cruise that requires full payment on booking.  As several have noted, AQSC had use of our money for over a year, then waited 90 days before refunding when the cruise was cancelled by them.  

I know that ASQC in the past (and maybe they still do) has offered discounts for full payment upon booking.  Have never taken advantage of that and instead have paid only a deposit then full payment when it is due, for the reason you mention.

17 hours ago, ann1bell said:

 

I am not sure I will ever book again with this company. We paid in full on Oct. 2019. I understand times are hard but this is distressing. 

Then you may not wish to book with ANY cruise line.   They all have had very long wait times to refund for cancelled cruises.  In fact, if you only have to wait 3 months after a cancelled cruise to get your refund, that is not so bad.  We waited 5 months for refunds for a couple of Princess cruises, and I have heard of much longer wait times from other cruise lines.  Take a look at the forums for Crystal, which up to now has been considered a premium cruise line.

14 hours ago, ipeeinthepool said:

 

I'm not sure that I would give them any more money until they resume sailing.

Agreed.

21 hours ago, pms4104 said:

Don't be surprised if your credit card company finds a way to take back the bonus bucks as well as the normal rewards for yo7r reversed purchase.  

 

They might even turn your acct over to their fraud dept ... these spending incentivrd can add up.

As I said, the negative reward balance is being reduced as I use the card, so eventually I will "owe" them nothing.

Fraud?  I think considering the circumstances, it is unlikely they would view it as such.  I charge virtually everything on my cards, so they probably would not want to lose me as a customer.  They certainly would if they say I committed fraud!

Just got a fancy 2021 cruise catalog from them.  I guess they are okay for now.  I am already worried, though, about making a payment in March for our July Mighty Mississippi trip.  We will not go unless they will require vaccinations for all on board.

7 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Could the shortage be due to not refunding the amount of the cash back you had received?

No, because the cash back came from the CC, not Princess.  In fact one of the cards shows a negative cash back amount.  Maybe some day the CC company will bill me for it.  In the meantime, it gets reduced when I charge things.

I think the couple of hundred they did not refund is due to EZAir changes - we booked, then changed it when the price went down, then decided to upgrade to first class.  I really do not care much about that.

I am waiting for the all-clear from Princess about the $10k bill.  Who knows how long it will take.  I think they are truly messed up.

Because ours was a long and pricey cruise, I used 3 credit cards to pay.  Also, two of them had special deals - extra cash back for purchases of a certain size.  I will never use multiple cards again, as getting all our money back (which we did not - somehow we got shorted a couple of hundred dollars, but after all we and everyone else went through, I gave up on pursuing that) was complicated.  Then with this invoice thing, it took a while to figure out which card they were talking about.  I hope we will not get any more invoices for the other cards!

13 hours ago, BettyCruiser said:

I got one too for my March cruise that was canceled. I assume it's a weird billing thing. And a huge waste of money that Princess paid postage on what was essentially a waste of paper and ink. I had paid for the cruise, Princess canceled and issued me an FCC and a full refund. I emailed my TA and she said she has gotten all kinds of weird billing notices from various cruise lines. 

It is somewhat comforting to know I am not the only one.  The email I got from their accounts receivable audit said I owed the money.  Well, due to a double credit, I did owe them money until they rebilled it, which took about 2 months.  Conveniently their "audit" did not uncover this.  I think they need some new auditors.

They asked for, and I sent, a copy of my CC statement which showed the rebill.  I hope this will be the end of it.

33 minutes ago, pms4104 said:

Is it possible that the issue lies with the credit card company rather than with Princess?  Have you called them?

No need to call the CC people.  My statements clearly show the 2 credits and the rebill for one of them.

Thanks to all for your replies.

Yes, the letter does ask for payment upon receipt.

Just got an email.  They mention duplicate credits.

We had done a chargeback; the CC credited us that amount, then Princess also posted a credit.  So at that point we did have a duplicate credit.  However shortly thereafter we got a "Transaction Rebill" for the same amount.  They seem to have forgotten about that rebill!

I just received an invoice in the mail from Princess.  It is for $10,000 and the invoice number is the booking number for a 28 day Hawaii and South Pacific cruise that was scheduled for April 11 2020 and was obviously cancelled.  I have sent an email and am trying to reach the person in accounts receivable by phone. So far have had no luck.

How can this possibly be?  Has anyone else received such a thing?  It took months to get our money back and now they are trying to bill us for a non-existent cruise.  I am fuming.

I looked at the AQSC website and they have instituted a number of checks to insure the health of passengers and crew.  Unfortunately, they will no longer allow people to check in at the boat; instead all must check in at the pre-cruise hotel and undergo screening there.  We are disappointed in that we planned to spend a couple of days in Red Wing before our Mighty Mississippi trip in July, rather than staying in Minneapolis.  We will have to cancel that reservation, but so be it.

I did not see any requirement for vaccination, but perhaps they will add that once the vaccine becomes widely available.  If they do not institute that requirement by the time our final payment is due in March, I do not think we will take the trip.

I think the health situations of myself and my husband will have us in an early distribution phase, too.  As a matter of fact my oncologist told me the other day that they already have the necessary equipment to store the vaccine.  This was comforting. 

But what about other passengers who - luckily for them - are healthier and may not be able to get the vaccine before a spring trip?  I would want everybody on the boat to have been vaccinated.

We are tired of changing travel plans, too.  We hope that AQSC will require proof of vaccination for their cruises in 2021 otherwise we will be reluctant to take our Mighty Mississippi trip next July for which final payment is due in March.

Anyone else of the same mind?

We switched our trip to next year so we are not expecting a refund.  We have received marketing materials from AQSC so I have been assuming they are solid financially.  Maybe a bad assumption. I am sorry to hear you are awaiting a refund for almost 5 months.  We had to wait about 4 months for a refund from Princess.

On 10/18/2020 at 6:58 PM, Porky55 said:

Had read this about Thalidomide - thought it was being used as a cancer treatment?

I take lenalidomide - a close cousin, so to speak, of thalidomide - for multiple myeloma.  It was used in my initial treatment and I now take a lower dose as a maintenance drug.  It is also used to treat some other blood cancers.

On 9/30/2020 at 9:27 PM, cruzsnooze said:

High risk seniors with underlying co-morbidity might also shun the vaccine for at least 6 months after it comes out to see what effect it has or hasn't.

I am one of those high risk seniors (high blood pressure, cancer in remission) and I will get the vaccine the minute it becomes available!  And I suspect I am not alone.