P&O admit switching the promised 10% 2020 discount to 5% - but won't honour the offer

[bencc]

I first contacted customer support, who fobbed me off with the "it's the correct price, sorry for any confusion" email after a couple of weeks. I replied and CCed Christopher Edgington and got a reply from the same customer services person offering the £50pp OBC goodwill payment. It's not the full 5% in our case, but feels like a reasonable offer in light of what appears to be an honest, albeit stupid, mistake on their part. It is a shame that it hasn't been handled better from day one though.

[P-L-B]

In response to miniyorkie post.

Alas, I think the outcome may be the same for us.

In response to my email to Chris Edgington's office I had a reply from Kelly Davey which said that they would investigate and that they would get back to me in due course.

That was a week ago.

Edited October 26, 2018 by P-L-B

[Rupert2251]

Please don't give up.  It may take up to 2 weeks to respond but given the amount of grief they have had ( and rightly so) they are working on a a back log. If they come back and give the usual rubbish then try again! If you go direct to CE  you will get a quicker response. It will all depend on the date you booked (before they changed the wording).

 

[P-L-B]

Thanks for that.

We pre registered on 5th September and had the booking confirmed on 12th September.

Am I correct in saying that this was during the apparent hidden price increase?

[bungle66]

7 hours ago, P-L-B said:

Thanks for that.

We pre registered on 5th September and had the booking confirmed on 12th September.

Am I correct in saying that this was during the apparent hidden price increase?

YES P-L-B, exactly during that period. Be tenacious and keep on at them. Quote this thread if you have any issues. You WILL be entitled to the £50 p/p obc. Good luck

[Harry Peterson]

7 hours ago, P-L-B said:

Thanks for that.

We pre registered on 5th September and had the booking confirmed on 12th September.

Am I correct in saying that this was during the apparent hidden price increase?

Certainly - the changes to the wording were  lot later than that.  Difficult to be sure of the precise dates, but I started an earlier thread on this topic when it became clear what P&O were up to, and that thread (see below) still contains some useful information people posted about what changed, and when:

 

 

[Josy1953]

It looks as though the normal level of P&O inconsistency is being applied to this situation.  Some of us have received replies to our emails within hours while others are still waiting more than a week after contacting P&O. I just wonder whether they are cynically trying to keep those who book several cruises per year happy by replying quickly and offering them £50 OBC while dragging their feet for those who book less P&O cruises.  It would be interesting to know if those who are being unsuccessful with contacting Christopher Edgington's office usually book several P&O cruises per year or not. I really hope that this is not the case because IMHO everyone should be treated equally and fairly.

[Strawberry field]

31 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

It looks as though the normal level of P&O inconsistency is being applied to this situation.  Some of us have received replies to our emails within hours while others are still waiting more than a week after contacting P&O. I just wonder whether they are cynically trying to keep those who book several cruises per year happy by replying quickly and offering them £50 OBC while dragging their feet for those who book less P&O cruises.  It would be interesting to know if those who are being unsuccessful with contacting Christopher Edgington's office usually book several P&O cruises per year or not. I really hope that this is not the case because IMHO everyone should be treated equally and fairly.

 

I have been on three in two years with two more booked. I heard back with the answer being £50 extra OBC on the same day I wrote. I'm not sure if I fall into a regular passenger bracket or not. Friends of ours who have only used P&O once a couple of years ago waited 10 days for the extra OBC offer. Another couple with no P&O experience heard back in around 3 or 4 days with the same offer. So there doesn't seem to be any connection between time waited for a positive reply and experience of P&O.

[bee-ess]

1 hour ago, Josy1953 said:

It looks as though the normal level of P&O inconsistency is being applied to this situation.  Some of us have received replies to our emails within hours while others are still waiting more than a week after contacting P&O. I just wonder whether they are cynically trying to keep those who book several cruises per year happy by replying quickly and offering them £50 OBC while dragging their feet for those who book less P&O cruises.  It would be interesting to know if those who are being unsuccessful with contacting Christopher Edgington's office usually book several P&O cruises per year or not. I really hope that this is not the case because IMHO everyone should be treated equally and fairly.

 

Think you may be right - we had a phone call from CE's office about 2 hours after emailing and we booked through an agent . We have had 22 P&O cruises and have 3 booked.

[SausPud]

I used a TA and they got a call sameday after emailing RE office. I've only done 1 P&O cruise prior to booking my 2020 cruises. But it was 3 people on 5 cruises. A 2 day and a 12 day b2b. So not sure if that helped or not. The 2 other friends were all first time with P&O and they even got the £50 obc on the 2 day cruise, but wouldn't have been affected by the 10% mistake.

[Strawberry field]

26 minutes ago, SausPud said:

The 2 other friends were all first time with P&O and they even got the £50 obc on the 2 day cruise, but wouldn't have been affected by the 10% mistake.

 

How strange this must show P&O are not checking?

[amajaa]

On 10/26/2018 at 5:05 PM, Josy1953 said:

Thanks for posting this Jean, it gave me the nudge to write to P&O this morning even though we had the 10% discount and paid £623 each less than today's price.  I had a phone call from a lady in Christopher Edgington's dept this afternoon and we have also been given £50 each OBC.

A

 

It must be hit and miss, also e-mailed Christopher Edgington’s department 2 weeks ago, got the usual response of we will get back to you straight away. Haven’t heard a thing since. 

[grapau27]

25 minutes ago, amajaa said:

 

It must be hit and miss, also e-mailed Christopher Edgington’s department 2 weeks ago, got the usual response of we will get back to you straight away. Haven’t heard a thing since. 

This happened to me when I emailed so I emailed an attachment to their acknowledgement email and got a favourable response soon after.

[P-L-B]

1 hour ago, amajaa said:

 

It must be hit and miss, also e-mailed Christopher Edgington’s department 2 weeks ago, got the usual response of we will get back to you straight away. Haven’t heard a thing since. 

Same here, we are still waiting.

[Harry Peterson]

2 hours ago, amajaa said:

 

It must be hit and miss, also e-mailed Christopher Edgington’s department 2 weeks ago, got the usual response of we will get back to you straight away. Haven’t heard a thing since. 

 

52 minutes ago, P-L-B said:

Same here, we are still waiting.

 

Don't wait - push them for a positive response, with a reference to this thread.  They do need to know that you're not going to just accept the situation, which is what they're hoping.

 

They're also hoping this doesn't blow up into a situation which will oblige them to reimburse everybody who booked - rather than the very much smaller number who take the trouble to complain.

[miniyorkie]

2 hours ago, amajaa said:

 

It must be hit and miss, also e-mailed Christopher Edgington’s department 2 weeks ago, got the usual response of we will get back to you straight away. Haven’t heard a thing since. 

Hi all. I'm still reading this thread with interest and to be honest I am even more annoyed with P/O and Chris Edgington's department for the diverse and contradictory responses to this fiasco. Some people had an immediate answer with the offer of OBC, others haven't even  had the courtesy of an "official" reply and  others had the " sorry nothing we can do" response ( yes I am in that group... at the moment !!)  It is interesting that some have posted that they  did in fact get the correct discount but still had the OBC offered. So should it not be the same decision for ALL and I include those who haven't complained, but are still "eligible" or would be if a consistent ruling was applied.

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, miniyorkie said:

Hi all. I'm still reading this thread with interest and to be honest I am even more annoyed with P/O and Chris Edgington's department for the diverse and contradictory responses to this fiasco. Some people had an immediate answer with the offer of OBC, others haven't even  had the courtesy of an "official" reply and  others had the " sorry nothing we can do" response ( yes I am in that group... at the moment !!)  It is interesting that some have posted that they  did in fact get the correct discount but still had the OBC offered. So should it not be the same decision for ALL and I include those who haven't complained, but are still "eligible" or would be if a consistent ruling was applied.

Indeed it should, I failed first time via my TA, but sent off an e-mail to CE and within 4/5 days I had a reply giving me the standard OBC.

I think we were probably given the correct discount, but since I had not taken note of the website price, just the info from my TA, I have no idea if the original price was lower or not.  But they really do need to get some help with their PR, so they avoid similar fiascoes in the future.

[sagaris]

Phone call this morning from Christopher Edgingtons office with apologies and explanation regarding the wording of the offer for past passengers and an offer of £50pp onboard credit. They are also going to check our sons booking which I made at the same time. I am a happy bunny, thanks to C.C.

Molly

[DamianG]

Just to share my own experience I tried the TA who insisted everything was correct and above board but based on the comments here I decided to write to Chris Edgington's email address on 12th October anyway. I didn't have any evidence to dispute the numbers but today I have received an email back offering the standard £50pp onboard credit whilst still advising that the figures are correct.

I'm more than happy with that, thanks to everyone who has posted on this thread and encouraged me to try.

Best regards

Damian 

[P-L-B]

Result. !!

 

Our TA also insisted that all was OK and above board with our booking but after contacting Chris Edgington’s office on 19^th October and receiving an acknowledgment the following day saying they would investigate and get back to me I finally received a phone call this morning.

 

Basically, the explanation initially given to me was that although they acknowledged that there were issues with the wording, they said that we did get the full 10% discount. After pointing out that there appeared to be inconsistencies regarding the £50.00 OBC offer and mentioning the comments on this thread she went away and returned offering us £50.00 pp OBC and also our friends who we normally travel with.

 

So all in all a happy outcome for us and our traveling companions, and also thank you to all the posters on this thread for their contributions.

[Selbourne]

I have managed to get £300 OBC (£50 per passenger for each of our 3 bookings) which, on the face of it, sounds quite good BUT 5% of the cost of those 3 bookings would have been £700. It does seem deeply unfair that you get the same £50 regardless of length or cost of cruise. I did state this to the person who called, but they are clearly working off a script and sticking to a party line. I can't be bothered to take it any further, but it does leave a nasty taste in the mouth and makes me feel a little less loyal to P&O than I have been in the past.

[SausPud]

Just to put this straight.

What I booked:

2 nights (Guernsey) for 1 couple - Balcony, 1 person - Inside, and Me 1 couple - Suite

12 nights (Canary Islands) for 1 person - Inside and Me 1 couple - Suite

 

Only one to be affected if the price was wrong would be me as the only repeat customer (did 1 Xmas cruise last year on P&O) but we all got £50 OBC on all the cruises mentioned above per person. 

 

My Suite was £1000 cheaper than next year with Marella and £2,000 cheaper than Fred Olsen this year. So all discounts were applied, it was the wording that was wrong and it changed to reflect this. I even get a butler with P&O and the other lines don't have this service.

 

So being offered £50 each wasn't needed but has put them back in my good books for customer care, but the wording mistake shouldn't have happened and I did question it on launch day with my TA and P&O direct.  

 

[pete14]

16 minutes ago, SausPud said:

Just to put this straight.

What I booked:

2 nights (Guernsey) for 1 couple - Balcony, 1 person - Inside, and Me 1 couple - Suite

12 nights (Canary Islands) for 1 person - Inside and Me 1 couple - Suite

 

Only one to be affected if the price was wrong would be me as the only repeat customer (did 1 Xmas cruise last year on P&O) but we all got £50 OBC on all the cruises mentioned above per person. 

 

My Suite was £1000 cheaper than next year with Marella and £2,000 cheaper than Fred Olsen this year. So all discounts were applied, it was the wording that was wrong and it changed to reflect this. I even get a butler with P&O and the other lines don't have this service.

 

So being offered £50 each wasn't needed but has put them back in my good books for customer care, but the wording mistake shouldn't have happened and I did question it on launch day with my TA and P&O direct.  

 

 

It is good to see a post offering balance. I think it is quite clear that the price paid by everybody was the price P&O always intended to charge. The problem has arisen in the incorrect packaging of the price upon launch. It is the breakdown of the offer price that is incorrect, not the price itself. This appearing to be the case, the offer of a standard £50 obc to those who booked whilst the errant information about the packaging was still ‘visible’ seems fair and that is why I have accepted it even though it is much less than 5% of the price of the cruise I booked.

 

An alternative would be for prices to be fixed at the same level throughout the whole booking period with no obc or other offers or incentives. I can imagine the outcry if that were to be introduced.

[terrierjohn]

On 11/1/2018 at 2:27 PM, pete14 said:

 

It is good to see a post offering balance. I think it is quite clear that the price paid by everybody was the price P&O always intended to charge. The problem has arisen in the incorrect packaging of the price upon launch. It is the breakdown of the offer price that is incorrect, not the price itself. This appearing to be the case, the offer of a standard £50 obc to those who booked whilst the errant information about the packaging was still ‘visible’ seems fair and that is why I have accepted it even though it is much less than 5% of the price of the cruise I booked.

 

An alternative would be for prices to be fixed at the same level throughout the whole booking period with no obc or other offers or incentives. I can imagine the outcry if that were to be introduced.

I agree with you I also think that most, maybe even all, the pricing was correct, but clearly it was badly presented. When a price is discounted any customer wants to see this clearly displayed so they can appreciate the savings they have made.  P&O must have thought they were being clever by discounting the 5% applicable to everyone at source, just another example of their poor marketing.

[Guest ccpm]

On 11/1/2018 at 1:32 PM, Selbourne said:

I have managed to get £300 OBC (£50 per passenger for each of our 3 bookings) which, on the face of it, sounds quite good BUT 5% of the cost of those 3 bookings would have been £700. It does seem deeply unfair that you get the same £50 regardless of length or cost of cruise. I did state this to the person who called, but they are clearly working off a script and sticking to a party line. I can't be bothered to take it any further, but it does leave a nasty taste in the mouth and makes me feel a little less loyal to P&O than I have been in the past.

 

I agree. For my 3 cruises I am £475 down after the £50 OBC per cruise. I am sucking it up and going with these bookings but on considering everything at present I feel I am not likely to book again. P&O's offering suited me well over the last 10 years (37 cruises) but it has been a constant feeling of the experience being eroded, the offering being much more expensive and considerably reduced and more becomes an extra charge. I don't mind an extra charge at all and have paid a great deal over base price in add ons to get the experience i prefer. BUT directed by a friend I looked at Crystal, a so called luxury cruise line, and my final price per day balcony stateroom cruise with P&O can to my amazement buy me a matching AI cruise with Crystal.  I'm going to give it a go for late 2020 once my final booked cruise on Iona has happened.