Princess "refundable credit"----don't believe it!

[treasurer]

Hi Cruisers,

 

Has this ever happened to you?

 

We were on a b2b on Regal Princess in November which we do every year.    We follow our account on the stateroom TV and check with Guest Services if there is any error.   We use up any on board credit that is nonrefundable but often have refundable credit left.  We don't make purchases the last couple days so we know it's accurate.   This cruise we had perks of free gratuities, free drinks and had free laundry since we are elite.  Our final statement showed a "refundable credit" of $112.55.  We have still not received it.  We have made  several calls and were sent a folio from Princess which is completely different from ours and pretty unreadable.  We were told it has a 0 balance.  Have you ever had a 0 balance?  We sent them a copy of our statement and spoke to their Post Cruise Representative named Andres.  He refused to look at our statement and became rude when I pursued the problem saying he would only speak to my travel agent.  Now my travel agent is trying to figure out what happened.   We have been on more than 100 cruises on many different lines and never had a problem with our final statement being in question.    What's up Princess???

 

 

 

[Diver2014]

Perhaps you should wait until you hear from your travel agent before blasting Princess.  

[treasurer]

I've heard back from him twice.  He is not getting straight answers as to why the folio they sent doesn't match my statement.  I'm not blasting Princess.  We love Princess, but this is a weird problem that needs to be solved.  The post cruise representative isn't exactly leaning over backwards to help.   

 

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Just curious, how did you wind up with refundable credit? From what I understand, all of the OBC Princess issues like shareholder benefits, military service OBC and from their promotions is nonrefundable. Did you get it from your TA or is some of the Princess-issued OBC refundable?

[releck97]

2 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Just curious, how did you wind up with refundable credit? From what I understand, all of the OBC Princess issues like shareholder benefits, military service OBC and from their promotions is nonrefundable. Did you get it from your TA or is some of the Princess-issued OBC refundable?

Oftentimes, Princess issued OBC is refundable. One example involves a move-down or similar offer.

Edited February 12, 2019 by releck97

[Ken the cruiser]

1 minute ago, releck97 said:

Oftentimes, Princess issued OBC is refundable. One example involves a move-down or similar offer.

What's a move-down offer? Also, was any of the OBC options I mentioned refundable?

[Coral]

I don't know why Princess has these problems (you are not the only one). You have a final statement - why can't they acknowledge that?

[NavyVeteran]

26 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Just curious, how did you wind up with refundable credit? From what I understand, all of the OBC Princess issues like shareholder benefits, military service OBC and from their promotions is nonrefundable. Did you get it from your TA or is some of the Princess-issued OBC refundable?

Military OBC is refundable. Also the OBC I receive from my travel agent is refundable. In addition, OBC received from cancelling prepaid shore excursions onboard before the deadline is refundable. I've never had any problem receiving a check for the unused refundable OBC after the cruise.

[Coral]

On a funny note - several years ago when we had to "sign for drinks"  with paper - I had a drink on my folio that I did not make. I don't drink so it sort of stood out for me. I went to the Passenger Service desk and said I did not make this charge. They indicated that they would have to go through hundreds of receipts to prove it was not my charge (which apparently they did). This was for a charge for under $10. Ultimately they reversed it. It was a lot of work for them.

 

I sailed on another line and the same thing happened. I went to the Customer Service desk and said the same thing. In that situation - they quickly said "I am sorry, we will remove that right away". 

 

Now which company came out ahead? Princess probably spent hours trying to prove it was my charge and the other took the high ground and probably saved hours of an employees time.

[Ken the cruiser]

6 minutes ago, NavyVeteran said:

Military OBC is refundable. Also the OBC I receive from my travel agent is refundable. In addition, OBC received from cancelling prepaid shore excursions onboard before the deadline is refundable. I've never had any problem receiving a check for the unused refundable OBC after the cruise.

This is good to know as both my DW and I are retired from the military and we both get the perk. I would have thought the cancelling of prepaid shore excursions paid for via a credit card would go back onto the credit card, but this is also good to know. Hopefully, the issue the OP is running into doesn't happen too often and, of course, we hope they and their TA are able to get a favorable resolution soon.

[mthomp5]

It sounds like charges hit your account without you knowing and after you checked your account for the final time.  Sometimes, they charge the wrong account.  It happened to us on our last cruise.  I check our account each day and noticed a charge for a drink we did not make.    So we went to Guest Services and she went to get some paperwork and said it was such and such drink.  We said we don’t drink.  Then she said, it was just after midnight in the casino.  We said that’s past our bed time and we were sleeping by then.  She kind of looked us over every time we answered but she reversed the charge.  I guess she could tell we look too old to stay up past midnight!   

 

One time I called Princess about my refundable OBC.  The Princess agent told me to email customer relations and send them a copy of my folio.  It took awhile but the check eventually arrived.  We used a travel agent that time and they were willingly to talk to me.  

[Ken the cruiser]

On the last day of the cruise if you have extra refundable OBC in your account, can you cash out at that time or is getting a check in the mail a few weeks later the only way to get your refund?

[pris993]

it has been years since we had a refundable credit, we usually spend everything and more.  Do recall once having a few dollars left and when we checked out i.e., we got of the ship a day early in Europe and checked out with Customer Service, they gave us the few dollars in cash at the front desk, but that was years ago.  

 

 

[Aus Traveller]

49 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

On the last day of the cruise if you have extra refundable OBC in your account, can you cash out at that time or is getting a check in the mail a few weeks later the only way to get your refund?

There is a limit on how much they will refund in cash. I was told it was $25. The Passenger Service rep on our recent cruise said it was so that they didn't have to have large amounts of cash on board. He said the amount that our account was in credit would be sent to us. The cheque came a bit over two months later.

[Colo Cruiser]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

On the last day of the cruise if you have extra refundable OBC in your account, can you cash out at that time or is getting a check in the mail a few weeks later the only way to get your refund?

$25 or under they will give it to you before you disembark.

Anything over that they mail a check.

[Ken the cruiser]

9 minutes ago, Colo Cruiser said:

$25 or under they will give it to you before you disembark.

Anything over that they mail a check.

Thanks to both Aus Traveller and you! We will definitely keep that policy in mind if we ever have any excess refundable OBC left in our account when we disembark.

Edited February 12, 2019 by Ken the cruiser

[PescadoAmarillo]

3 hours ago, Coral said:

I don't know why Princess has these problems (you are not the only one). You have a final statement - why can't they acknowledge that?

 

I couldn’t agree more, both with wondering why Princess has these issues, and not understanding why they can’t acknowledge your final statement. Then I saw the name Andres and cringed. OP, you are so right. He is rude and very difficult to work with. We had an open issue with him for over a year and we finally escalated it to Accounts Receivable with the HAL group in Seattle to get it resolved. 

 

Then, last year, we had a refundable balance of several hundred dollars that wasn’t being mailed to us.  We had to get Customer Relations involved to get that resolved. 

 

3 hours ago, Coral said:

Now which company came out ahead? Princess probably spent hours trying to prove it was my charge and the other took the high ground and probably saved hours of an employees time.

 

(I didn’t realize until I quoted these that they were both yours, Coral).

...

i just wrote a dissertation about some of the financial things we’ve been through with Princess, and deleted it. I’ll just say “Ditto” to what Coral said. With Princess, the customer is always wrong, unless proven otherwise. And they aren’t quick to listen to facts. 

Edited February 12, 2019 by PescadoAmarillo

[MsSoCalCruiser]

4 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

What's a move-down offer? Also, was any of the OBC options I mentioned refundable?

 I had a move down offer last year. I started in an inside cabin and then I received an upsell to a Caribe balcony for an excellent price. The day before our cruise, I received a phone call from princess.  I was told that they had oversold the balconies and I was asked if I would move-down to an inside cabin.  I was told if I excepted the move-down offer that we would receive all of our money back in the form of refundable onboard credit. Umm, yes please!  We each received a check in the mail approximately six weeks after our cruise.

[pompeii]

Is there a possibility that they sent you a check already and that is why their folio shows a $0 balance?  The checks come in a very plain envelope from Bottomline Technology and could easily be overlooked as something unimportant and not related to your cruise.  If Andres is as bad as all that, maybe he just didn't look past the 0 on your folio.

 

I've always received my refunds within 4 weeks or so, so you are def overdue. 

[Coral]

10 minutes ago, pompeii said:

Is there a possibility that they sent you a check already and that is why their folio shows a $0 balance?  The checks come in a very plain envelope from Bottomline Technology and could easily be overlooked as something unimportant and not related to your cruise.  If Andres is as bad as all that, maybe he just didn't look past the 0 on your folio.

 

I've always received my refunds within 4 weeks or so, so you are def overdue. 

The checks now say Bottomline and then Princess Cruises underneath it.

Edited February 12, 2019 by Coral

[floridalover5623]

Bottom line is that it never pays to get off the ship unless you have a $0 balance. Why wait for a refund or have to call them to argue the accounting statement when you can leave with your account balanced out?  

[geoherb]

We had a significant amount of refundable OBC last fall after our trans-Atlantic cruise on the Royal. Someone on our roll call thread said that Princess was running behind in making payments. We eventually got our check.

[paul929207]

Several times we have had obc left over. We have always gotten a check

[Pierlesscruisers]

16 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Just curious, how did you wind up with refundable credit? From what I understand, all of the OBC Princess issues like shareholder benefits, military service OBC and from their promotions is nonrefundable. Did you get it from your TA or is some of the Princess-issued OBC refundable?

 

Sometimes it may take 6-8 weeks for the check to reach you and sometimes I've gotten the check in 3-4 weeks. I suspect that it's probably dependent on the workload of the third party that handles the refunds for Princess.

 

Tom

Edited February 12, 2019 by Pierlesscruisers

[greenie082756]

We had a small refund coming to us and got it about 3 weeks later. I was surprised to see 2 things: Princess name on the envelope and how quickly the check came. First time we ever got money back on a cruise!

 

I always keep the final folio that we receive the morning of disembarkation so that way if there are any charges to the card I can verify.

 

OP, I hope you get this figured out and receive your monies.