Princess eGift certificate headache

[Luv2Travelnow]

A friend purchased a digital gift card from the Princess site (which goes to merchant.sgiftcard.com ) during the holidays (around Christmas time) last year.

 

I didn't open the email with the card until recently this week. When I tried to click on the "view card now" link in my email now, it opens up a web page to https://merchant.sgiftcard.com/card/virtual/gift/princess/1 and shows a blank page, with no instructions, nothing to show.

 

So I call Princess Cruise gift card customer service, and explain the situation to them. The person explained that the card expired (????!!! :mad::mad: )... and they have to see what happened to the card.

 

This is a huge pain. I was hoping to use it to book a cruise and now I have to wait days for them to resolve it.

 

I'm really upset that I can't even see the card to see how it was customized. Why the heck would Princess expire the card / email link??

 

I'm warning people here to never buy a digital gift card from Princess until they fix this problem. I don't know when I will hear back and I'm pretty upset at this situation. A digital gift card is supposed to be more reliable / easier than waiting to get a physical gift card mailed to me.

 

Ticked off at Princess right now..

[pris993]

sorry for your problem, thanks for the warning.

[Sillyjilly]

I'm gonna assume after over 2 months, they thought the card went to the wrong email. Why wait so long to check it?

[Luv2Travelnow]

I'm gonna assume after over 2 months, they thought the card went to the wrong email. Why wait so long to check it?

Because that's the convenience of e-gift cards, they can be saved in email until needed. What's the point of clicking on it, until you are ready to book a reservation? Then it's another "read" email that now has to be saved somewhere, versus an unread email that is filed into a folder ready to be used when ready.

 

There's no verbiage or warning in the gift card email that states there was any expiration or limited time to redeem or view the card either.

 

And the wrong email explanation doesn't make sense. What if it got sent to someone else's email, and they clicked on the link and viewed the card? Are they supposed to say something? Most people will just delete the wrong email and not even worry about it.

 

There's no reason to expire an email / eCard, especially without any warning to the person who is getting it.

[Luv2Travelnow]

sorry for your problem, thanks for the warning.

Thank you. It really was upsetting when I was ready to book, and found out that the eGift card was not working.

 

I also got a Princess digital gift card from another friend, via PayPal gift cards, around the same time. That PayPal gift card opened up with no problems today, and I was able to see the information and redeem it.

 

It's upsetting that Princess's own gift cards are so problematic!! Totally the opposite of a relaxing and enjoyable experience.

[Sillyjilly]

Because that's the convenience of e-gift cards, they can be saved in email until needed. What's the point of clicking on it, until you are ready to book a reservation? Then it's another "read" email that now has to be saved somewhere, versus an unread email that is filed into a folder ready to be used when ready.

 

There's no verbiage or warning in the gift card email that states there was any expiration or limited time to redeem or view the card either.

 

And the wrong email explanation doesn't make sense. What if it got sent to someone else's email, and they clicked on the link and viewed the card? Are they supposed to say something? Most people will just delete the wrong email and not even worry about it.

 

There's no reason to expire an email / eCard, especially without any warning to the person who is getting it.

 

I would have checked it just to make sure. Its' something I always do. It could have saved you the frustration you are now going through.

 

Unfortunately, most people would try to spend it.

 

I read and save in a pending folder. Super easy to do. You may want to try that in the future.

[Thrak]

While your link does go to a blank page I tried just going to merchant.sgiftcard.com. I got a notice that either my session had expired or perhaps I had cookies disabled. It looks to me as though the web site itself stores the digital gift card and they don't store them for that long. You "might" be able to contact them and see if there is something to be done since you have a valid and unused code.

[caribill]

Even if you do not have the gift card now to use in booking the cruise, unless the cruise you want is relatively soon, all you need to pay now is the deposit. By the time you need the final payment, hopefully your situation will have been straightened out and you can apply it to the final payment.

 

And you can always use it instead to apply to your on board account. If you can't spend it all on board, the unused portion would be refundable.

[Thrak]

Some electronic gift cards actually are limited as to how long they are good for. I remember purchasing gift cards directly from Princess. I bought a certain amount and they provided a free $25 electronic gift card as a perk. However, the electronic one was only good for a very short time - I think 2 months. If not used by then it went away.

[Luv2Travelnow]

I would have checked it just to make sure. Its' something I always do. It could have saved you the frustration you are now going through.

 

Unfortunately, most people would try to spend it.

 

I read and save in a pending folder. Super easy to do. You may want to try that in the future.

I hear what you're saying. My point is one should not have to do that. I've never had an electronic gift card expire, unless it was explicitly stated before hand that it had a limited time period to redeem. This should be a non-issue. Unfortunately Princess made it a big issue.

 

Not everyone has time to be checking digital gift cards right away, especially during the hectic holidays., The card should be there when needed, not randomly expire without warning, especially one that is explicitly purchased. A customer shouldn't have to take blame or responsibility for a purchased eGift card, it should just work.

 

This really gives me a sour taste for Princess. If their customer service for this minor item is so poor, it doesn't reflect well on the rest of their operations. They had one job - satisfy the customer, and they failed it miserably in this case. Hopefully they will resolve this quickly. The time it takes to resolve this will certainly reflect on them as well.

[Bill B]

Some electronic gift cards actually are limited as to how long they are good for. I remember purchasing gift cards directly from Princess. I bought a certain amount and they provided a free $25 electronic gift card as a perk. However, the electronic one was only good for a very short time - I think 2 months. If not used by then it went away.

 

Same here -

I bought five, $100 electronic gift cards and got a $25 'bonus card'. This bonus card had an expiry date, the 'regular' cards never expire.

 

The OP should check to make sure they are not trying to use an expired bonus card.

[HiMagicFan]

This really gives me a sour taste for Princess. If their customer service for this minor item is so poor, it doesn't reflect well on the rest of their operations. They had one job - satisfy the customer, and they failed it miserably in this case. Hopefully they will resolve this quickly. The time it takes to resolve this will certainly reflect on them as well.

 

But oh my - I understand your frustration but really - this gives you a sour taste for Princess?

 

I agree with a previous poster - put the deposit down, keep trying to resolve the issue and then use it to pay a portion or onboard credit.....or

 

Hmm maybe you should just skip the cruise then and go with another line because you may be really disappointed once you get on ship if anything should go wrong.