Worst nightmare ever, scamming to the next level

[oscar6220]

1 minute ago, Ombud said:

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

I'll definitely give it a try in the next few days when I have time 🙂 ty so much

[Ombud]

Fax them all verification so that they can open as file before you call. You will lose on exchange rate (buy @ 1.25 sell @1.3) Good luck. 

[oscar6220]

17 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

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.

I'm fairly sure that they knew it was an human error long time ago, I didn't say that they were scamming me (wel, not email/phone with them) since the beginning. As I mentioned earlier, they might need to face some sort of charges/cost and nobody wants to take the responsibility I'm guessing?? 

[sfaaa]

If I am out $26k, I would have my lawyer involved and sent Princess a nasty letter by now. You must be a very patient man.

[tango55]

bank rate of exchange is different from the  rate us common folks get.canadian dollar dropped 73 cents to the u.s. dollar.it cost us 1.44 c to a u.s. dollar at the bank

[d9704011]

3 minutes ago, tango55 said:

bank rate of exchange is different from the  rate us common folks get.canadian dollar dropped 73 cents to the u.s. dollar.it cost us 1.44 c to a u.s. dollar at the bank

Goodness, what bank was that?  I paid CAD 1.34 for USD 1 in Ottawa about two weeks ago.

[sfaaa]

6 minutes ago, tango55 said:

bank rate of exchange is different from the  rate us common folks get.canadian dollar dropped 73 cents to the u.s. dollar.it cost us 1.44 c to a u.s. dollar at the bank

You got scammed.

[Coral]

27 minutes ago, sfaaa said:

If I am out $26k, I would have my lawyer involved and sent Princess a nasty letter by now. You must be a very patient man.

I agree. Get a lawyer.

Edited January 17, 2019 by Coral

[oscar6220]

13 minutes ago, sfaaa said:

You got scammed.

Haha, retail especially banks charge ppl like crazy on exchange rate 😄

[tully07]

oh yeah, Canadian retail banks charge you a higher exchange rate than most currency exchanges.  Even my bank recommended that I use a currency exchange----

 

I do not let Princess do any currency conversions, I keep everything in USD on board ship -- and if they owe me a cash refund they send me a cheque in USD. 

[oscar6220]

1 minute ago, tully07 said:

oh yeah, Canadian retail banks charge you a higher exchange rate than most currency exchanges.  Even my bank recommended that I use a currency exchange----

 

I do not let Princess do any currency conversions, I keep everything in USD on board ship -- and if they owe me a cash refund they send me a cheque in USD. 

Exactly, only if I was given a cheque in USD. I guess they don’t feel safe mailing out a cheque with that amount?

[dickinson]

I second the advise to contact Chris Elliott.  In case you have not heard of him he is an advocate to help travelers and consumers.  I believe his email is chris@elliott.org. Elliott.org is his website.  He lists who to contact in all different companies if you are having issues.  Make sure it is in writing or email so there is a "trail".  Good luck.

[Coral]

5 minutes ago, oscar6220 said:

It’s not about the amount of money, an error is an error. Even if it was only $100, they are supposed to be accurate. They get paid to get the account and math right. I just got a call from princess telling me that more managers is involved into my case, should get a reply end of this week, we will see...no high hope tho

I wonder if someone from Corporate is reading this thread! 

 

I hope you can report a good outcome by Friday.

[wallyj]

This is slightly off topic but a few months ago, it was reported in a thread on this board, Princess Finance dept will now refund excess  on board credit in the manner it was obtained as in original form of payment. It used to be they would send out to have a check sent, now if you used a credit card to purchase say $20,000 USD in OBC to use on your cruise and wind up only using $5,000. The balance of $15,000 will now be refunded back to your credit card. So in the past,  if you charged $20,000 on your credit card, you would receive the associated 'perks', 'points' for a $20,000 spend even if you did not spend it all on the ship , because in the past Princess Finance would send you a check for the unspent $ on board, with the excess now going back to the original form of payment, you will only receive the points for the actual amount spent, which in my example would be 5,000 points, not the 20,000 as in the past. I think I heard the reason given to refund back to original form of payment was in part based on costs/fees by Princess to have a check processed and sent, so saving Princess $.

 

This is a relatively new 'rule', and Princess did not advertise it so many will get a nice surprise . It usually does not work in the favor of non US currencies, because of the conversion rates. I do agree it does seem like the  OP's conversion was not calculated correctly.

[RMMariner]

sWe had a similar problem with another line a couple years ago. They took our money in Canadian for a booking. Exchanged it for US$ at their rate even though the booking was supposed to be in Canadian. When we pointed this out to them they rebilled our Canadian credit card and refunded the first deposit back onto our card after they exchanged it back to Canadian dollars at a very bad rate. All in all we were out a couple hundred dollars. Piddling amount compare to what is owed the OP, but still annoying.

 

It was a real pain trying to get them to admit the refund they sent us was not what they said they were going to do. My point is the finance departments do make mistakes, and they can drag their feet when they need to fix their errors.

 

It took a while, but being persistent and polite worked to get our problem solved.

 

I think I would have been a lot more persistent, and perhaps not quite as polite if it had taken six months and involved the amount of money the OP is talking about. 

Edited January 17, 2019 by RMMariner
typo

[TracieABD]

I agree with Coral. It is time to employ an attorney. 

 

 

[kenexx]

Princess are not good at exchange rates.  In 2008 a group of us got the Dawn Princess from  San Francisco to Sydney in balcony cabins for about AUD3400 for 31 days.  Princess did the exchange the wrong way.  They tried to get out of it but our wonderful agent went to bat for us and they honored the fare in the end 😄

[TracieABD]

5 hours ago, kenexx said:

Princess are not good at exchange rates.  In 2008 a group of us got the Dawn Princess from  San Francisco to Sydney in balcony cabins for about AUD3400 for 31 days.  Princess did the exchange the wrong way.  They tried to get out of it but our wonderful agent went to bat for us and they honored the fare in the end 😄

I am so glad that worked out for you. I am baffled at how Princess finance cannot get the exchange rate correct. It is mind boggling.

[oscar6220]

Princess still insists that they are doing the correct calculation and will provide me with more detail, I can't wait to see what kind of "proof" they come up with

[ukbecky]

7 minutes ago, oscar6220 said:

Princess still insists that they are doing the correct calculation and will provide me with more detail, I can't wait to see what kind of "proof" they come up with

 

 

That's ridiculous.

 

Your balance on the day you disembarked(in $US), multiplied by the exchange rate of $CAD on that day = simple math. I would also love to see how they make a higher value currency rate worth less than a lower value currency.

[Daniel A]

On ‎1‎/‎16‎/‎2019 at 1:51 PM, oscar6220 said:

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. 

 

 

Precisely how did you pay the $70,000 to Princess?  Cash, Check, Money Order or Credit Card?  This may make a difference in how and how much cash gets put into a check for you.  Some funds may have been credited back to charge accounts.  (i.e. if you paid $40K from your checking account and $30K from a charge account or a trust fund, you wouldn't get the whole refund in one lump sum.)

[Daniel A]

OOPS!  Duplicate Post.

Edited January 18, 2019 by Daniel A
Duplicate Post

[oscar6220]

7 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

Precisely how did you pay the $70,000 to Princess?  Cash, Check, Money Order or Credit Card?  This may make a difference in how and how much cash gets put into a check for you.  Some funds may have been credited back to charge accounts.  (i.e. if you paid $40K from your checking account and $30K from a charge account or a trust fund, you wouldn't get the whole refund in one lump sum.)

One thing I learnt from making large purchases is to always use my credit card. Protection is important:)

[Daniel A]

1 minute ago, oscar6220 said:

One thing I learnt from making large purchases is to always use my credit card. Protection is important:)

Then I don't understand why you would get a check at all instead of a refund issued to your credit card.

[oscar6220]

32 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

Then I don't understand why you would get a check at all instead of a refund issued to your credit card.

I didn’t say I’m expecting a cheque tho, the issue is that they couldn’t refund the card correctly