Worst nightmare ever, scamming to the next level

[oscar6220]

So to begin with, I'm a platinum member in Princess so it's not my first time sailing with them. I used to travel with NCL before as they have a better casino program overall. My first sailing with Princess (like many others) was south bound Alaska trip with Princess because they are simply the best in Alaska itinerary, I guess nobody can deny that XD

A few months ago, a gambling addict (LOL, even tho I work in the gambling industry) like myself got a comp'ed cruise to California. So the usual routine as I did before was to purchase a bunch of onboard credit or shipboard credit, however you like to call it, to satisfy my gambling needs plus gratuity, meals, spa treatment etc. To sum up, I bought $70k CAD worth of OBC and I thought it was alright as all the unused credit should come back to my account anyway, at least that's what happened before.

 

Halfway through the trip, I got a shocking news from my parents that my cousin (just a few years older than me in fact) died of cancer. Everything was so sudden and unexpected, I lost all my interest in gambling. There I have a pile of OBC left unspent, after talking to the finance manager onboard, he ensured me that everything will go back to my account accordingly in forms of cheque (he said) and I was okay with it.

 

Alright, fast forward a month after I didn't get my refund still, so I decided to call Princess to do a little follow up as I have bills to pay and business to run. After another month of investigation, I got a called from Princess that they will refund me in the original form of payment. (not what they promised but anyways I don't mind that either as long as I can get my money back) I told them just do it asap, it's been more than a month since I got off the ship. Luckily I didn't put all my money on the ship otherwise it could have gone REAL BAD. Here is the funny part, they offered to refund me a total of USD$57267.51 in cheque when I got off the ship. It was a printed out from my shipboard account and I verified the spending I had onboard, it was all good. So I finally see my money on my account after a month, guess what? they refunded me around $40k in CAD. Doesn't sound correct, right? Their lovely finance team decided to use the total refund in USD DIVIDED the exchange rate of (1.X) trying to get a CAD?? After a countless amount of phone calls and emails back and forth, they decided that it was right to use USD DIVIDED by the exchange rate to get a CAD refund. I'm completely shocked and hopeless, at this point in time they refused to reply to my email or call and just scammed my $26k CAD without hesitation.

 

TLDR: A bunch of elementary kids running a cruise line finance department that can't do basic math and won't listen to you when you try to teach them the right way to do exchange rate.

[compozer]

First of all, why would you put THAT much money into OBC.   Why not just play and have it put on your shipboard account.    And if you paid in CAN dollars, as you stated, then your refund should be in CAN dollars not US dollars.     I am guessing that whoever offered you the refund when you got off the ship, did not realize you paid with CAN dollars.   So, how can they be scamming you out of $26K?     

 

 I have three degrees and I don't understand what the issue is.

[oscar6220]

All the OBC is on my shipboard account, I always give myself a LIMIT (to play a 10% up or down) instead of play as I go. example, I used $130 CAD to purchase $100 USD, and they refunded me $77 CAD for all the untouched OBC.

[Cruise Junky]

Something is wrong with your math.  Even being generous with the exchange rate, the $57k US that they said they were going to refund you is around $74k Cdn which is more than you paid initially.  That's using 130% exchange.  How much of the original OBC had you spent by the time you left the ship? 

[oscar6220]

2 minutes ago, Cruise Junky said:

Something is wrong with your math.  Even being generous with the exchange rate, the $57k US that they said they were going to refund you is around $74k Cdn which is more than you paid initially.  That's using 130% exchange.  How much of the original OBC had you spent by the time you left the ship? 

My bad, the original rate on my booking was 1.25 and my initial purchase was actually 80k in CAD, I don't wanna exaggerate the amount. I spent a few k in the casino only.

[Cruise Junky]

46 minutes ago, oscar6220 said:

My bad, the original rate on my booking was 1.25 and my initial purchase was actually 80k in CAD, I don't wanna exaggerate the amount. I spent a few k in the casino only.

Ok, that makes more sense.  So you bought it at 1.25 but they refunded it at prevailing rate. OUCH is right.  Jesus, that should have been discussed on the ship and payment in US dollars arranged for.  That's crazy.  I'd escalate it at Princess. 

[oscar6220]

5 minutes ago, Cruise Junky said:

Ok, that makes more sense.  So you bought it at 1.25 but they refunded it at prevailing rate. OUCH is right.  Jesus, that should have been discussed on the ship and payment in US dollars arranged for.  That's crazy.  I'd escalate it at Princess. 

only if they listen. Customer relation to finance department, audit my account 3 times, still "couldn't" find the error.

[lstone19]

To the OP, sorry about the family loss and sorry that you'll getting snippy replies from people who don't understand how exchange rates work. To the rest, the US Dollar is worth more than the Canadian Dollar (as of when I write this, approx. 1 USD = 1.33 CAD). So US$57k will be more than CA$57k, not less. You don't even need to know the exact exchange rate to know that any calculation that comes up with fewer CAD than USD has not been done correctly.

 

For those who think if you have ~US$50,000, than you have so much you shouldn't care what they convert it to, let's make it numbers you can better relate to: someone is entitled to a refund of US$570 which Princess is converting (per the OP's claim) to CA$400 rather than the approximately CA$750 it should be. I assume with those numbers, most of you would be fighting with Princess.

[LeeW]

Agree with  OP and lstone19 - converting to Canadian should have resulted in numerically more dollars than US.  They did the conversion the wrong way.  Not sure how you can get this fixed except go to management.  And usually when we get refunds they come from a third party in a white envelope around 6 weeks after the cruise.

[compozer]

SO, as I am understanding this.  From their offer when you left the ship, you had won around $5921.    I am not a gambler, but doesn't your daily room charges  show your activity in the casino?      IF so, then that would be proof that the amount is not correct.   I know the casino has an accounting of each person's activities - down to the minute.    Are you able to get copies from the days you gambled?

 

 

[lstone19]

39 minutes ago, compozer said:

SO, as I am understanding this.  From their offer when you left the ship, you had won around $5921.    I am not a gambler, but doesn't your daily room charges  show your activity in the casino?      IF so, then that would be proof that the amount is not correct.   I know the casino has an accounting of each person's activities - down to the minute.    Are you able to get copies from the days you gambled?

 

 

 

How much he won or lost in the casino or spent elsewhere on the ship is irrelevant.  The only thing relevant is his ship's account showed him owed US$57,000 (and I'll assume that he and Princess are in agreement as to how much he was owed in USD) but Princess then refunded him about CA$40,000 when, given an exchange rate of USD to CAD that is more than 1 (i.e. 1 USD gets you 1+ CAD), the amount should have been more than CA$57,000. 

Edited January 16, 2019 by lstone19
Typo correction

[compozer]

13 minutes ago, lstone19 said:

 

How much he won or lost in the casino or spend elsewhere on the ship is irrelevant.  The only thing relevant is his ship's account showed him owed US$57,000 (and I'll assume that he and Princess are in agreement as to how much he was owed in USD) but Princess then refunded him about CA$40,000 when, given an exchange rate of USD to CAD that is more than 1 (i.e. 1 USD gets you 1+ CAD), the amount should have been more than CA$57,000. 

He said he was offered a check for $57,000.   I was asking if his winnings or loses showed up on his daily folio.    And his last day's folio should have the amount owed to him.    What does it say?     Was it correct?   If it said around $57,000 then he has proof they owe it to him.   

Edited January 16, 2019 by compozer

[Aus Traveller]

1 hour ago, lstone19 said:

To the OP, sorry about the family loss and sorry that you'll getting snippy replies from people who don't understand how exchange rates work. To the rest, the US Dollar is worth more than the Canadian Dollar (as of when I write this, approx. 1 USD = 1.33 CAD). So US$57k will be more than CA$57k, not less. You don't even need to know the exact exchange rate to know that any calculation that comes up with fewer CAD than USD has not been done correctly.

 

For those who think if you have ~US$50,000, than you have so much you shouldn't care what they convert it to, let's make it numbers you can better relate to: someone is entitled to a refund of US$570 which Princess is converting (per the OP's claim) to CA$400 rather than the approximately CA$750 it should be. I assume with those numbers, most of you would be fighting with Princess.

👍   I can't understand why people would be commenting negatively on the OP's choice to put that much on his/her on-board account, or on his/her choice to gamble with that much money. It is his/her own business. That is not the point of the post. It is obvious that any amount of US dollars, when converted to CAD, will be a larger number.

 

Escalate this with Princess. You should be able to get someone who can understand the basics of currency conversion.

[Tapi]

Do you have a print out of your onboard account showing a balance of $57K USD? It sounds like rectifying this situation should be pretty straight forward, that’s assuming that the person assisting you knows basic math. 

[onboard2005]

I hope the OP comes back with updates. 

This is a serious issue and I hope he gets the refund due.

[skynight]

I assume your math is correct and you have the documents to prove same. Your next step might be to file a complaint in writing with the State of California better business department in Sacramento. Send a copy of the letter to Princess Cruises corporate legal department.

After that you would have to contact a California lawyer to take your case.

[oscar6220]

12 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

👍   I can't understand why people would be commenting negatively on the OP's choice to put that much on his/her on-board account, or on his/her choice to gamble with that much money. It is his/her own business. That is not the point of the post. It is obvious that any amount of US dollars, when converted to CAD, will be a larger number.

 

Escalate this with Princess. You should be able to get someone who can understand the basics of currency conversion.

This sailing was actually from SEP last year, from customer relation to finance department... still unsolved. I'm pretty sure that they realized their mistake, but given that it was a rather large amount of money nobody wants to take the responsibility :(

[oscar6220]

I'm sorry for the delay as I'm working atm. I really appreciate all the support and help from members here :) Yes I do have the shipboard account print out (that's how I got the USD$57267.51 number) Honestly, I don't usually pay attention to invoices and stuff like that because I have faith in big companies. Given that they usually don't have any incentive to scam their customers. If it was just a few k, it probably went unnoticed :/ I hope I have some sort of record on my other past sailings to check as well they might have scammed me on my previous sailings too coz I never checked :/

 

I definitely learned to pay more attention to my personal finance as human error occurs happen from time to time.

[Aus Traveller]

Just now, oscar6220 said:

I'm sorry for the delay as I'm working atm. I really appreciate all the support and help from members here 🙂 Yes I do have the shipboard account print out (that's how I got the USD$57267.51 number) Honestly, I don't usually pay attention to invoices and stuff like that because I have faith in big companies. Given that they usually don't have any incentive to scam their customers. If it was just a few k, it probably went unnoticed 😕 I hope I have some sort of record on my other past sailings to check as well they might have scammed me on my previous sailings too coz I never checked 😕

 

I definitely learned to pay more attention to my personal finance as human error occurs happen from time to time.

I am sure that with a company like Princess, it would not have been a scam. It is human error. However, a problem arises when that error has not been recognised (when it was pointed out) and rectified. All I can suggest is that you politely ask to speak to the head of the Finance Department. You might have done that already. All the best. You obviously cannot let this matter rest until it is resolved.

[onboard2005]

Definitely follow through on this. Document the date, time and each person you speak with.

Ask for the next higher person of authority if needed.

As Aus Traveller said, someone high in the finance department.

Stay calm and collected!  

Please keep us updated. 

[EllieinNJ]

If all else fails, contact Chris Elliot at his advocacy website:

 

https://www.elliott.org/

[Ombud]

26 minutes ago, oscar6220 said:

... I do have the shipboard account print out (that's how I got the USD$57267.51 number) ...

As long as you have a printout, have you faxed that and verification of how much you received in reimbursement to 1-800-872-6779 and followed up with a call to 661-753-0180? 

Edited January 16, 2019 by Ombud

[Aus Traveller]

50 minutes ago, oscar6220 said:

I definitely learned to pay more attention to my personal finance as human error occurs happen from time to time.

That is the way to approach it with Princess - human error. Although they are clearly in the wrong, if you talk about a 'scam' you will get their backs up.

[onboard2005]

Aus Traveller-  I agree. Good advice.

Edited January 16, 2019 by onboard2005

[Ombud]

OP only did you call corporate at 661- 753-0180 or a general 800#?