Experiences with Gift Card Refunds

[kids-in-2-centuries]

Bare with me, this will be a long post.  On 6/14/21 I called my PVP to rebook a cancelled cruise with my FCC and some additional money I had paid (this was a rebook of a rebook.)  My PVP reviewed everything with me, dollar for dollar would apply to the new booking and I still owed $60, which I paid.  My PVP told me that he had to turn everything over to the admin team to apply the FCC and that I will get a new confirmation when it is done showing my zero balance.  On 6/15/21 I received the new confirmation, showing that my FCC was applied, but not the extra money I paid on the cancelled cruise...$900.00.  I wondered about it, emailed my PVP, and he said he was "on it."  Yesterday 7/20/21 I called my PVP again to rebook another cruise, and I asked him to look at the 6/14 booking and tell me why it still shows I owe $900.00.  He traced it all back through to figure out what was going on, and discovered that Carnival had refunded the $900 to me on a gift card, because that is how I paid.  I NEVER REQUESTED a refund, and I thought everything was square when I booked on 6/14.  The real problem though is that Carnival mailed the card to an address I haven't lived at for 5 years.  I know the people that live there now so I called and asked them if they had seen it...they said no (and I believe them) but also that if it looked anything like junk mail they would have thrown it away.  Now, my address and my husbands address is current and correct in our online profile with Carnival, and all 4/5 of my cruises that are booked have the correct address on the confirmation.  The one cruise that has the wrong address is this one.  Where, how, or why that address is still connected to me in their system I do not know.  SO...MY QUESTIONS: How long is it currently taking for gift card refunds to come?  If it was authorized on 6/15/21 is it possible that it just hasn't arrived yet?  Does Carnival require someone to sign for receipt of $900 in gift cards?  Does Carnival keep track of the gift card number they sent me so that it can be cancelled and re-issued?  Does anyone know who I should call at Carnival to try and work this out myself? I feel like my PVP is not as interested in resolving this as I am. Anyone have any experience with gift cards being issued but not received?  Thank you for your time 🙂

[crooooze]

Yikes... Our GC refunds have taken 3-7 months. Don’t know if they got better recently. They also came fedex, not normal postal mail. Good luck. The trick is to call customer service regularly. The PVP won’t be much help.

[ColeThornton]

22 minutes ago, kids-in-2-centuries said:

Bare with me.......

 

I don't think we can do that on this forum.    "Bear".    lol  🙂

[mommyof3texans]

This happened to me on a cruise Carnival cancelled. Before I had a chance to rebook, they took it upon themselves to issue some refunds, some to my credit card and some to a gift card. Well, like you, mine went to a previous address. Once I let them know I did not receive it, they cancelled and reissued the gift card to my current address.

[cruisingguy007]

My gift cards came in a Fed-Ex envelope to my address on file, after a week or two and yes, it was simply left at the doorstep and the driver didn't even ring the doorbell. Luckily I happened to be getting home right after it was delivered. They deliver hot cards already activated and ready, there should be a tracking number, that would give you more info. Call Carnival ASAP, don't rely on PVP. 

Edited July 22, 2021 by cruisingguy007

[kids-in-2-centuries]

48 minutes ago, ColeThornton said:

 

I don't think we can do that on this forum.    "Bear".    lol  🙂

Oops 😳

[kids-in-2-centuries]

These have been such helpful responses! I’m glad to hear that it comes Fed-Ex, at least it doesn’t look like junk that way. The problem with that is Fed Ex couldn’t deliver something to the correct address around here if we covered the house in neon lights 🙄 I’m also thankful to hear that they can track and cancel the cards. 

[nycruise1]

I had multiple cruises canceled and paid with gift cards. Like you I wanted the FCC  but some how Carnival refunded anyway. Here is where it gets interesting. One cruise was refunded to a digital gift card. I almost didn’t open the email because I was not expecting anything and it looked like spam. You might want to check for that. Another cruise they sent physical gift cards. I think they came UPS but no signature was required 

[cruisingguy007]

21 minutes ago, kids-in-2-centuries said:

These have been such helpful responses! I’m glad to hear that it comes Fed-Ex, at least it doesn’t look like junk that way. The problem with that is Fed Ex couldn’t deliver something to the correct address around here if we covered the house in neon lights 🙄 I’m also thankful to hear that they can track and cancel the cards. 

 

They can use the tracking number to confirm delivery but not sure about canceling cards. They should be able to theoretically, if they haven't been used but they may not have their system set up that way. That's why you should call ASAP. 

[Saint Greg]

I have had seven canceled cruises all paid with gift cards. It’s been a little erratic. I’ve had them mailed to me. I’ve had them emailed to me. I’ve had them mailed to my TA. I’ve had them put back on the original card I used and threw away six months prior.

 

Fun shop refunds have taken about two weeks. Cruise refunds about 2 months.

 

Edited July 22, 2021 by Saint Greg

[Saint Greg]

It wouldn’t surprise me if they haven’t actually mailed it yet. Sometimes they said they sent it and it didn’t show up for another month. It takes a long time for them to process them. They were all sent to me via fed ex. I’m signed up for text alerts and I have their app so I always knew when cards were on the way. Maybe you could try signing up with that or get a tracking number and see what’s happening.

 

Edited July 22, 2021 by Saint Greg

[TomCruise48]

There was a similar post on this board several months ago where the refund GC's were sent to a wrong address.  If my memory is correct, the poster was able to have Carnival cancel and reissue the cards.  As others have said, all of my GC refunds arrived via Fedex.  We have had 9 cruises cancelled that were paid with GC's and it has been a real problem getting things straightened out.  Carnival kept saying the GC's were sent to our TA, but that was not correct.  They use a 3rd party to reissue the cards, and I think that most of our problems were between Carnival and the third party.

 

I am thinking that based on the dates in your post that Carnival and/or their third party processor has not yet sent out your cards, since it usually took us months to receive our refund GC's.  I'm guessing that Carnival's system shows the date when the request was sent to their processor, but there is nothing in place to close the loop to show when the processor actually sent out the cards.

[kids-in-2-centuries]

Update: I called Carnival this evening, spoke with a very helpful lady named Tina.  She went through my account with me and tracked the $900 down.  She didn't make any accusations against my PVP but the gist of it is that he applied the FCC but must have got distracted or something and didn't apply the remaining funds, so after 24 hours their system automatically processed a refund.  She also helped me work out the address issue.  I have to call the resolutions department tomorrow to find out if the cards have been issued and what the next step will be, as she didn't have access to that information.  She did make a bunch of notes on my account though that should make the next conversation with resolutions easier.

[kids-in-2-centuries]

Second Update: I called this morning to speak to someone in resolutions.  It took 1 hour and 13 minutes for a rep to answer and transfer me to resolutions.  I then waited another 1 hour and 7 minutes to speak to someone in resolutions.  I was on the phone with Elizabeth in resolutions for 1 hour and 25 minutes trying to sort everything out, get my address and phone number corrected in my account and find out where the gift cards are.  That is a total of 3 hours and 45 minutes I have spent on this today 😞  The resolution ended up being an email from Elizabeth to the Gift Card processor and copied to my PVP about the mistake.  She said if the cards have been issued, they will be cancelled and re-issued.  If they have not been mailed yet then they will be sent directly to me.  Elizabeth said that my PVP will follow up with me and she thought that would likely be before the end of next week.  We shall see.

Thanks for the advice and the info, I really appreciate it!