Refund, Future Credit or Rebook?

[southampton observer]

Anyone wondering how quickly P&O refund? In my case, I applied on line as soon as they cancelled and was told up to 60 days. Chased them up and have now been told at least 60 days. Not at all happy with level of customer service. Glad I booked with credit card. I'll let my CC company sort it out.

Future cruise with P&O ? I could not, in all honesty, deal with a firm that does not even honour it's own promises. I know times are difficult for them but in these troubled times I need my refund. I am glad that I haven't opted for FCC as it seems possible that they will not honour that promise either.

[No pager thank you]

Hello there,

 

Unfortunately, your experience is the norm, not the exception.  There is a very detailed thread on this "Cruise Refund Received."  Many of us are caught up in the debacle and patience is generally wearing thinner, but some people are happy just to wait for as long as it takes.

 

To summarize:

 

-- The official company position, as per their Facebook announcement from their President is within 60 days.  There are, without exaggeration, hundreds of examples of this timescale not being met from the official Facebook group.  There are far fewer examples of refunds coming through quicker from what I have read. 

 

-- P&O does not provide any specific information as to how may refunds have been requested, how many have been processed etc so as to ascribe a fully accurate position.  However, 86% of customers report delayed refunds according to Which!.

 

-- There are a myriad of different excuses given by P&O when this doesn't happen.  P&O ranks well below average (but not the worst) in a recent survey of customer satisfaction with refund and cancellation processes; much worse, as most would concede, than its historical traditional of providing good customer service would suggest.

 

-- Some people have been refunded, shortly after 60 days (between 61 and 70), but this is not a maximum, by any means and there appears to be no logical pattern by which the refunds are happening (i.e Iona Maiden - refunded, cancellations due to medical reasons early March, outstanding).  It is supposed to be 60 calendar days (the official company line), not 60 working days (as some posters on here have pointed out has been said by customer services staff).

 

-- Anecdotal evidence suggests customers waiting in excess of 60 days being told simply either "asap," "at least 60 days" or "90 days," particularly if a TA is involved.  The grouping from what I can see is "asap" or "at least 60" when people ask.  There are conflicting reports on if timescales are going to gey better or worse with a "new IT system," installed last week.

 

-- Most customers have cut some slack, others a lot, others have gone for chargebacks, credit card claims, even legal processes when either the initial 45 day ceiling for March cancellations was breached or the 14 day legal limit, all with varying reports of success.

 

-- There is a difference of opinion as to whether chasing them makes any difference and some sensitivity amongst some customers around chasing up, potentially making refund timelines worse by being proactive.  Don't buy this myself, but to put both sides across. 

 

-- Some people have had more joy recently ringing them, particularly those waiting over 60 days.  There are haphazard reports of being able to use a "hardship" route to accelerate your refund, if the lack of it is causing financial distress.  You have to call them if this is the case and be persistent.  Customer service reports about how easy it is to be persistent (when needed) vary widely.

 

Personally, I would get your credit card company involved now, if you have that protection.  This is because some credit card companies are pretty good and may reimburse immediately and chase P&O for you, others will make you wait.  There is nothing to stop you pursuing both routes at once, particularly if you need the money back.  One will come up trump's quicker.

 

There is a general belief that everyone will get their money eventually, but it's anyone's guess if timeliness will get better, get worse, or be just as bad as now.

 

There are a wide range of stories about people ending up paying more when using FCCs because replacement holidays have gone up by more than 25pc in price.  Not the case for everyone, but all of my holidays for instance would have been more expensive to cancel and rebook with a FCC; this is part of the reason why there are so many refunds, added to their refusal to apply balances to existing bookings, or change their 90 day payment terms (unlike Fred Olsen). 

 

You are right to say that P&O have changed their policy multiple times, so it does introduce doubt as to how things could change in the future. 

 

Hope this is a balanced summary and helps.

[pete14]

8 hours ago, No pager thank you said:

Hello there,

 

Unfortunately, your experience is the norm, not the exception.  There is a very detailed thread on this "Cruise Refund Received."  Many of us are caught up in the debacle and patience is generally wearing thinner, but some people are happy just to wait for as long as it takes.

 

To summarize:

 

-- The official company position, as per their Facebook announcement from their President is within 60 days.  There are, without exaggeration, hundreds of examples of this timescale not being met from the official Facebook group.  There are far fewer examples of refunds coming through quicker from what I have read. 

 

-- P&O does not provide any specific information as to how may refunds have been requested, how many have been processed etc so as to ascribe a fully accurate position.  However, 86% of customers report delayed refunds according to Which!.

 

-- There are a myriad of different excuses given by P&O when this doesn't happen.  P&O ranks well below average (but not the worst) in a recent survey of customer satisfaction with refund and cancellation processes; much worse, as most would concede, than its historical traditional of providing good customer service would suggest.

 

-- Some people have been refunded, shortly after 60 days (between 61 and 70), but this is not a maximum, by any means and there appears to be no logical pattern by which the refunds are happening (i.e Iona Maiden - refunded, cancellations due to medical reasons early March, outstanding).  It is supposed to be 60 calendar days (the official company line), not 60 working days (as some posters on here have pointed out has been said by customer services staff).

 

-- Anecdotal evidence suggests customers waiting in excess of 60 days being told simply either "asap," "at least 60 days" or "90 days," particularly if a TA is involved.  The grouping from what I can see is "asap" or "at least 60" when people ask.  There are conflicting reports on if timescales are going to gey better or worse with a "new IT system," installed last week.

 

-- Most customers have cut some slack, others a lot, others have gone for chargebacks, credit card claims, even legal processes when either the initial 45 day ceiling for March cancellations was breached or the 14 day legal limit, all with varying reports of success.

 

-- There is a difference of opinion as to whether chasing them makes any difference and some sensitivity amongst some customers around chasing up, potentially making refund timelines worse by being proactive.  Don't buy this myself, but to put both sides across. 

 

-- Some people have had more joy recently ringing them, particularly those waiting over 60 days.  There are haphazard reports of being able to use a "hardship" route to accelerate your refund, if the lack of it is causing financial distress.  You have to call them if this is the case and be persistent.  Customer service reports about how easy it is to be persistent (when needed) vary widely.

 

Personally, I would get your credit card company involved now, if you have that protection.  This is because some credit card companies are pretty good and may reimburse immediately and chase P&O for you, others will make you wait.  There is nothing to stop you pursuing both routes at once, particularly if you need the money back.  One will come up trump's quicker.

 

There is a general belief that everyone will get their money eventually, but it's anyone's guess if timeliness will get better, get worse, or be just as bad as now.

 

There are a wide range of stories about people ending up paying more when using FCCs because replacement holidays have gone up by more than 25pc in price.  Not the case for everyone, but all of my holidays for instance would have been more expensive to cancel and rebook with a FCC; this is part of the reason why there are so many refunds, added to their refusal to apply balances to existing bookings, or change their 90 day payment terms (unlike Fred Olsen). 

 

You are right to say that P&O have changed their policy multiple times, so it does introduce doubt as to how things could change in the future. 

 

Hope this is a balanced summary and helps.

As one who has stuck his head above the parapet over this issue (and not really had it shot off - thanks for that), I think you have summarised the position very calmly and logically. A welcome addition to the debate.

[southampton observer]

Given the problems I am having getting a refund from P&O I would say that they have real problems. Their customer service is a shambles,: phone contact means that you wait forever and email response is slow and contradictory. I have used P&O many times and was a pretty content customer up to the Covid crisis but I doubt that I will ever cruise with them again due to their incompetence and their tardiness. If this is how they treat regular customers I do not see that they will survive if and when the cruise market reopens. I'm pretty sure my experience isn't unique.

[Harry Peterson]

Very much not unique. It's very clearly a deliberate policy of not paying up, despite their legal obligations,  because they want to preserve what little cash they have.

 

Obviously any company that treats its customers like that isn't worth giving your repeat business to.  You'd expect it of Ryanair,  but not a cruise company. 

[Josy1953]

23 minutes ago, southampton observer said:

Given the problems I am having getting a refund from P&O I would say that they have real problems. Their customer service is a shambles,: phone contact means that you wait forever and email response is slow and contradictory. I have used P&O many times and was a pretty content customer up to the Covid crisis but I doubt that I will ever cruise with them again due to their incompetence and their tardiness. If this is how they treat regular customers I do not see that they will survive if and when the cruise market reopens. I'm pretty sure my experience isn't unique

I would say that they definitely have problems, I saw some the questions on the Coronavirus update this evening and one of the people asking questions asked Rishi Sunak what he was doing to help companies like P&O who needed a multi million £ bail out to continue  trading.

[southampton observer]

 

36 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

I would say that they definitely have problems, I saw some the questions on the Coronavirus update this evening and one of the people asking questions asked Rishi Sunak what he was doing to help companies like P&O who needed a multi million £ bail out to continue  trading.

Possibly talking about P&O Ferries not P&O Cruises?

Edited May 29, 2020 by southampton observer

[Eddie99]

I’m sure he was.

He was a local journalist from Hull.  No particular P&O Cruises link that I can see

[southampton observer]

On 3/25/2020 at 11:04 PM, cruisefan2012 said:

Has anybody that has had whatever reason to cancel their cruise ACTUALLY had a refund yet from P&O

 

I havent had a refund yet -  patience is a virtue I don`t possess...

Refund today, after many emails and phone calls. 

[WECRUISEUK]

When we were offered 110% FCC from P & O at the beginning of all this i thought,yes please.Then they offered 125% some weeks later and we felt hard done by,never mind it's still better than the banks are offering.What concerns me know is what if we can't find a cruise with P & O before the end of next years cut off time?

[kalos]

1 hour ago, Mr.Clive Browne said:

When we were offered 110% FCC from P & O at the beginning of all this i thought,yes please.Then they offered 125% some weeks later and we felt hard done by,never mind it's still better than the banks are offering.What concerns me know is what if we can't find a cruise with P & O before the end of next years cut off time?

 

Some people have said in other threads posted, that if they end up in the same situation as your concern 

then they would look at a short cruise and treat themselves to a suite as a back up plan .

 

[majortom10]

3 hours ago, Mr.Clive Browne said:

When we were offered 110% FCC from P & O at the beginning of all this i thought,yes please.Then they offered 125% some weeks later and we felt hard done by,never mind it's still better than the banks are offering.What concerns me know is what if we can't find a cruise with P & O before the end of next years cut off time?

Hopefully the Summer 2022 brochure will be released before too long and as long as you book before end of next year you can use your FCC. In fact you would probably be better off doing that because prices for 2021 have increased considerably since they were released it negates the extra % on FCC.

[davemorton]

On 5/29/2020 at 9:35 PM, Eddie99 said:

I’m sure he was.

He was a local journalist from Hull.  No particular P&O Cruises link that I can see

P&O ferries sail from Hull.