CRUISE REFUND RECEIVED

[AndyMichelle]

2 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

Don’t try that around here Andy, there is a small army of volunteer special constables who will move you on  according to the local press, 😀.

 

Just because they are getting away with it now does not mean they will get away with it longer term, I suspect there will be a reckoning in terms of lost business. That obviously won’t help most customers who are looking for timely refunds. I also suspect that some will take court action just to prove the point, never good publicity for a company.

 

Frustrating customers will have its own cost. Someone said on here that the main email is not  accepting further input, they are generally only answering the sycophantic posts on other media and the phones are a nightmare according to all sources.

 

I am also very surprised that so far journalists are letting them away with puff pieces and not asking the more difficult questions about the lack of refunds.

 

 

When your volunteers come calling, I will tell them that if P&O can break the law, so can I... 😊

As for the journalists, every report you see shows others are behaving worse than P&O. 

I keep saying it, but P&O have been clever in not refusing refunds, just delaying them... 

As for getting enough complaints.. Do you think we are all sitting on our hands just accepting it... They will get to a level where it is all just noise... 

Andy 

[wowzz]

21 minutes ago, peteukmcr said:

Virgin have not asked for a bailout. They have requested a loan of £500 million on a commercial basis and using Richard Branson's assets as collateral. There is a frenzy out there stirred by the media that he should put his hand in his pocket, and he is worth £4.3 billion and doesn't pay tax. He has already put £250 million of his own money into the Virgin Group. He maybe worth £4.3 billion on paper but that is not his liquid assets. I feel very strongly that the media is vilifying him without reporting the full details. Virgin Atlantic is a UK registered company and does pay tax. easyJet have received a £600 million loan from the UK government yet it's founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou lives in Monaco and pays no UK tax and has flatly refused to inject any money into the airline. BA is in consultation to make 12,000 staff redundant and they are not a British Airline as they are part of the IAG Group that is registered in Spain.

 

Sorry to go on, but this issue re Virgin and media hype is one example of fake news and misleading journalism.

One of the issues is that SRB is a particularly odious individual, who has always played fast and lose with the tax laws. I feel sorry for all the VS staff, but couldn't care less about Branson. 

[peteukmcr]

4 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

I’m so glad at least one cruise company is doing the right thing and that you have that refund. So when things go back to normal which cruise company are you likely to choose RCI or P&O? 

 

I suspect that CMA will have a deluge of complaints about the companies who are playing fast and loose. It will be interesting to see what they do with them.

There is no decision to make as we have 3 cruises in the pipeline with RCI/Celebrity, none with P&O and at this time no intention of sailing with them again. My experience with RCI regarding refunds last year when our Oasis TA was cancelled at 20 days notice due to the shipyard accident, plus this year moving a cruise and refunds just proves to me customer service can differ across the industry, and unfortunately P&O are towards the bottom of the list in my experience. Only takes 1 bad experience to influence customer decisions. Negative experiences remain in the mind a lot longer than the positive.

[Eglesbrech]

3 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

When your volunteers come calling, I will tell them that if P&O can break the law, so can I... 😊

As for the journalists, every report you see shows others are behaving worse than P&O. 

I keep saying it, but P&O have been clever in not refusing refunds, just delaying them... 

As for getting enough complaints.. Do you think we are all sitting on our hands just accepting it... They will get to a level where it is all just noise... 

Andy 

Re complaints P&O are already there, just ignoring them. I was talking about CMA.

 

I would never underestimate any of the feisty people on here So I’m sure that many are making their own efforts. I will start to do so today, I gave them the 45 days they asked for, it has now expired (just me and the entire first batch of cancellations😀)

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, Vampiress88 said:

yes I have heard this. 
 

Doubly worrying for us. 
we have over £4K to come back for holiday

and hubby’s whole job is to make airplane parts and they seem to have some kind contract with them and they will be in trouble with a knock on effect of virgin going under. I know they were one of the companies to publicly back virgin to get this bailout. 
 

 

Airbus and Boeing will both take a big hit from the pandemic, airlines will be frantically trying to delay or cancel any new orders they have, since all current thinking is that airline travel will take years to get back to previous levels, as a result new orders will be very sparse for years to come.

[mercury7289]

12 minutes ago, peteukmcr said:

There is no decision to make as we have 3 cruises in the pipeline with RCI/Celebrity, none with P&O and at this time no intention of sailing with them again. My experience with RCI regarding refunds last year when our Oasis TA was cancelled at 20 days notice due to the shipyard accident, plus this year moving a cruise and refunds just proves to me customer service can differ across the industry, and unfortunately P&O are towards the bottom of the list in my experience. Only takes 1 bad experience to influence customer decisions. Negative experiences remain in the mind a lot longer than the positive.

Totally agree, and by the way apologies, did not realise what a row of question marks intimated.

 

Was not meant in that way, purely trying to point you into another possible e-mail box.

[miniyorkie]

11 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

Re complaints P&O are already there, just ignoring them. I was talking about CMA.

 

I would never underestimate any of the feisty people on here So I’m sure that many are making their own efforts. I will start to do so today, I gave them the 45 days they asked for, it has now expired (just me and the entire first batch of cancellations😀)

Made me chuckle. Yes a feisty bunch we can be if pushed to the limit. I am 4ft 10 ( hence the mini ) but known at work as the rottweiler ( in jest) and I laugh about it as well . Not a good combination as also from Yorkshire (how much!!) so the refund is  my brass !! 

[zap99]

1 hour ago, peteukmcr said:

Virgin have not asked for a bailout. They have requested a loan of £500 million on a commercial basis and using Richard Branson's assets as collateral. There is a frenzy out there stirred by the media that he should put his hand in his pocket, and he is worth £4.3 billion and doesn't pay tax. He has already put £250 million of his own money into the Virgin Group. He maybe worth £4.3 billion on paper but that is not his liquid assets. I feel very strongly that the media is vilifying him without reporting the full details. Virgin Atlantic is a UK registered company and does pay tax. easyJet have received a £600 million loan from the UK government yet it's founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou lives in Monaco and pays no UK tax and has flatly refused to inject any money into the airline. BA is in consultation to make 12,000 staff redundant and they are not a British Airline as they are part of the IAG Group that is registered in Spain.

 

Sorry to go on, but this issue re Virgin and media hype is one example of fake news and misleading journalism.

Some might say " chickens coming home to roost". Perhaps Colonel Tom could do a fund raiser for poor old Richard.

[zap99]

1 hour ago, AndyMichelle said:

Nice to finally see some realisation... 

ABTA are allowing these travel companies to do what they like, even supporting their actions and the law no longer applies to them. 

Large parts of the industry could go 'boobs up', so they don't give a monkeys about our refunds..

The next Government initiative will be to get the economy moving, not bail out the travel industry, so we could be left to prop them up for longer... 

My best hope is we will see a flurry of refunds at the start of May, but that is probably just wishful thinking because there is very little evidence of any action at the moment. 

As PTB said earlier, it could get a lot worse.. 

 

I'm off to sit on a park bench... What u gunna do bout it!!! 

 

Andy 

 

 

 

Looks like Branson could be sleeping on a park bench ☹️

[P&O SUE]

This thread is getting quite depressing but I have to keep reading to see if anyone had got a refund yet!

I accepted the 45 days but I’m getting nervous now! I definitely will be moving my October cruise when they ask for final payment, as someone else said I can’t go through this again! 
 

I was one of the first batch told 45 days, am I right it’s now 60? I originally thought mine was 45 but the later ones were 60 but now it seems everyone is getting 60? I stupidly thought mine would still be 45 . I’m checking my account about 3 times a day!!

[grapau27]

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

Sorry Graham,  for once I have to disagree.  The boy racers have been out in force round here recently, and the middle aged men having a mid-life crisis on their motor bikes are a real menace. I'd welcome a load more speed traps, something I never thought I'd say. 

I was referring to the mobile camera vans getting people fractionally over the limit.

As a rep I see bad/ dangerous driving all the time but no police cars around to catch them.

Someone  on a motor bike was caught yesterday  doing 90mph over the Tyne bridge 40 zone.

My license is clean,no points.

Edited April 30, 2020 by grapau27

[AndyMichelle]

1 minute ago, P&O SUE said:

This thread is getting quite depressing but I have to keep reading to see if anyone had got a refund yet!

I accepted the 45 days but I’m getting nervous now! I definitely will be moving my October cruise when they ask for final payment, as someone else said I can’t go through this again! 
 

I was one of the first batch told 45 days, am I right it’s now 60? I originally thought mine was 45 but the later ones were 60 but now it seems everyone is getting 60? I stupidly thought mine would still be 45 . I’m checking my account about 3 times a day!!

Don't get down Sue, we are all just frustrated with P&O like you are. No malice is intended I'm sure. 

The goal posts keep moving, it doesn't seem many who were promised 45 days got their refunds in time, so now they are saying 45 working days, around 60...

60 then becomes 82... Who knows when we will get them.. 

Andy 

[bobstheboy]

I have submitted a report to the CMA, easy to do through the Govuk site. 

[peteukmcr]

Just spoke to a rep at P&O. Apparently despite me submitting a form for a full refund on the 17th March, my account was loaded with a FCC! Fuming! So the rep delved deeper and could then see that the form I submitted on the 17th was received by the cancellation department on 24th (that makes sense because that's when I received the cancellation invoice). The rep also put me on hold to contact the finance department for confirmation that it was in hand - the cynic in me thinks I could have just been put on hold, but I give them the benefit of doubt.

Therefore, wait for it, yes you guessed correctly, the 45 day clock didn't start ticking until 24th March! So another 7 days has been added to the timescale. Luckily no mention of 60 days! So let the waiting game begin again.

[peteukmcr]

10 minutes ago, bobstheboy said:

I have submitted a report to the CMA, easy to do through the Govuk site. 

Me too

[DamianG]

13 hours ago, Les_ldh said:

You’ve all got me worried now. I applied for a refund for my June cruise on the day they were cancelled. I’ve just checked my personaliser and it’s still there, so now I’m wondering what’s happening. All this leaves a very bad taste in my mouth and makes me almost certain to cancel all four of the cruises i have booked with them, in addition to the one they’ve cancelled. I was all set to spend the next 10 years or so sailing with P&O twice per year, but I’m afraid it looks like they’ve now lost all that business from me. It’s not having to wait 60 days, its the atrocious customer service. A few simple acknowledgment emails is all it would have taken. Very disappointed.

Les.

Exactly. I'm sure a lot of, if not most of, P&O's loyal customers could have "cut them some slack" voluntarily for a little longer if they had treated us with respect and simply been more honest. As it stands, there's been a whole series of disingenuous communications and conflicting advice far beyond the usual excuse of the situation "changing daily." I'm actually starting to feel sorry for the front line staff who must be carefully briefed to give out nonfactual information while the decision makers hide behind.

[AndyMichelle]

10 minutes ago, bobstheboy said:

I have submitted a report to the CMA, easy to do through the Govuk site. 

Done that Bob, as I know other posters have too... 

Andy 

[AndyMichelle]

1 minute ago, peteukmcr said:

Just spoke to a rep at P&O. Apparently despite me submitting a form for a full refund on the 17th March, my account was loaded with a FCC! Fuming! So the rep delved deeper and could then see that the form I submitted on the 17th was received by the cancellation department on 24th (that makes sense because that's when I received the cancellation invoice). The rep also put me on hold to contact the finance department for confirmation that it was in hand - the cynic in me thinks I could have just been put on hold, but I give them the benefit of doubt.

Therefore, wait for it, yes you guessed correctly, the 45 day clock didn't start ticking until 24th March! So another 7 days has been added to the timescale. Luckily no mention of 60 days! So let the waiting game begin again.

So, we have never received a cancellation invoice... Does that mean we are not even in the queue yet? 

Andy 

[peteukmcr]

1 minute ago, AndyMichelle said:

So, we have never received a cancellation invoice... Does that mean we are not even in the queue yet? 

Andy 

Not sure, perhaps your account has just got a FCC. The incompetence is shocking. Do you have a screenshot of the acknowledgment when you submitted your claim?

[Jules.]

I’ve just phoned my “cold house” TA (got through straight away 😱) and they clarified that my balance  refund will take 60-90 days from my cancellation date which was 5 April. So that makes it between 4 June - 4 July.

Apparently they are waiting for Princess to refund them, then they will pass the refund back to me. 
I am still waiting for a cancellation confirmation invoice too. As a back up I have screenshots of the live booking and the booking showing as cancelled. 
 

We shall see. 

Edited April 30, 2020 by Jules.
Added info

[mercury7289]

Just now, AndyMichelle said:

So, we have never received a cancellation invoice... Does that mean we are not even in the queue yet? 

Andy 

Likewise!

 

No paperwork what so ever!

[Les_ldh]

3 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

So, we have never received a cancellation invoice... Does that mean we are not even in the queue yet? 

Andy 

I’m in that position as well. Submitted my refund request, then nothing. No cancellation invoice, no acknowledgment, nothing. 

Les.

[peteukmcr]

58 minutes ago, mercury7289 said:

Totally agree, and by the way apologies, did not realise what a row of question marks intimated.

 

Was not meant in that way, purely trying to point you into another possible e-mail box.

Apology accepted. Invariably with email addresses if they are invalid as a result of not using the correct capitalisation, feedback that the email could not be delivered would be received as it was rejected by the receiving mail server.

[mercury7289]

Just now, peteukmcr said:

Apology accepted. Invariably with email addresses if they are invalid as a result of not using the correct capitalisation, feedback that the email could not be delivered would be received as it was rejected by the receiving mail server.

Always learning.

 

Thank you

[jeanlyon]

Yes that sounds like my situation Les.  Although my TA has confirmed that he at first received an FCC and had to put through forms for full refund, so maybe my 45 days is nowhere near yet, let alone 60.