Nickle and Diming Strikes Again, Thanks to John

[Jeter02]

I have been arguing with Princess for the past 2 almost 3 months about not being able to pre-purchase my medallion net package, like I've always done for all my other prior cruises. 

 

I've explain to Princess, I always pre-order because we all know it's cheaper to order your internet before getting on the ship. Therefore, I wanted to take care of it before the prices went up as we all know it's been rumored to.

 

They play very dumb saying they've never heard anything about prices going up so don't worry about it. Better yet they also keep telling me you're too far out from your cruise to order internet and you need to wait 3 days prior to purchase. I called them out on it, "Baloney!" I demanded to speak to a supervisor as I'm usually very calm cool and collected (not 100% sure it was an actual supervisor or someone just pretending to be because the navigator helping me was clueless and just reading from a script which I told her to stop reading from a script). The so-called supervisor kind of gave me the same nonsensical lines. And said that my ticket for the problem would be escalated and resolved this weekend, and that I should expect a phone call.

 

Lo and behold, late last night there was an update for the medallion app. All my future cruises I can now purchase my medallion net All except for the one that I need it for leaving in a few short weeks in February.

 

The kicker..... As expected the internet cost went up 50% 🤦‍♀️ 

 

As soon as the phone lines open this morning Princess will be getting another earful from me today demanding a Goodwill OBC for $25 for not being able to pre-order for my next two cruises which I had full intentions of doing back in November, as I checked the app daily and called two to three times a week to get this resolved.

 

I'm not too concerned about the price increase for the much later cruises I have booked because I know it is what it is. Trying to be a good Samaritan to pre-purchase things before prices go up, but they know exactly what they're doing, nickle and diming and preventing you from taking advantage of an old pricing system.

 

John Padgett, and his ilk and greed must go! 

 

I know for a fact I'm not the only cruiser who had this issue for quite some time, with not being able to pre-order. My dad who is always booked with a separate booking number had the same issue on his end. 

 

While I'm at it, and getting things off my chest, tell John to stop worrying about giving high paying contracts to celebrities such as Tyra Banks and others, for compete ridiculous, nonsense products that does not improve my cruising experience! Such a waste of money! 

[chabad]

I agree with you 100%. Keep up the good fight

[Guest ldtr]

Since you spent all this time talking with Princess, why didn't you just have customer service take care of your medallion purchase pre price increase. When I reported the problem with my medallion status they asked me  if I wanted them to take care of the purchase for me.

 

I believe the price increase went into effect back in mid December. The same time that they removed the packages from the app.

Edited January 7, 2023 by ldtr

[Jeter02]

23 minutes ago, ldtr said:

Since you spent all this time talking with Princess, why didn't you just have customer service take care of your medallion purchase pre price increase. When I reported the problem with my medallion status they asked me  if I wanted them to take care of the purchase for me.

 

I believe the price increase went into effect back in mid December. The same time that they removed the packages from the app.

That's who I have been calling multiple times a week since early November. When I call to ask to just pay for it over the phone they kept telling me they can't do that. Which I also called them out on I wasn't being directed to the right department whatsoever. And that's with talking with customer service. Like anything I think it's always the luck of the draw who ends up picking up the phone on the other side.

Edited January 7, 2023 by Jeter02

[Guest ldtr]

9 minutes ago, Jeter02 said:

That's who I have been calling multiple times a week since early November. When I call to ask to just pay for it over the phone they kept telling me they can't do that. Which I also called them out on I wasn't being directed to the right department whatsoever. And that's with talking with customer service. Like anything I think it's always the luck of the draw who ends up picking up the phone on the other side.

I had made 2 calls and 2 chat sessions. On each contact when I mentioned the problem with my medallion showing the wrong status for the Elite discount they offered to take care of the purchase. 3 of the contacts was back before the price increase on Dec 13. One was after.

 

 

 

 

 

[cruzsnooze]

Why don't you just phone in and get this taken care of. I call the ocean navigator, tell them I don't use a smart phone and they do everything including getting me in the green line. I bought my internet this way too. If people want to play with this faulty app then don't complain because there is a work around.

[Jeter02]

37 minutes ago, cruzsnooze said:

Why don't you just phone in and get this taken care of. I call the ocean navigator, tell them I don't use a smart phone and they do everything including getting me in the green line. I bought my internet this way too. If people want to play with this faulty app then don't complain because there is a work around.

I do call a 95% of the time four times a week. Just got off the phone call twice with them. But I think I'm going to play stupid and use your line that I don't have a smartphone. To see if that will get resolved.

[Jeter02]

Update. I finally got connected to the proper department after 3 months. Was able to get $100 OBC issued between myself and my dad for two of our upcoming cruises. I'll take my small win, or something that was out of my hands.

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, cruzsnooze said:

Why don't you just phone in and get this taken care of. I call the ocean navigator, tell them I don't use a smart phone and they do everything including getting me in the green line. I bought my internet this way too. If people want to play with this faulty app then don't complain because there is a work around.

A big 👍 for not having a smartphone.

 

And could John Padgett be the worst case ever of giving the incompetent a promotion. 😢

[ontheweb]

2 minutes ago, Jeter02 said:

Update. I finally got connected to the proper department after 3 months. Was able to get $100 OBC issued between myself and my dad for two of our upcoming cruises. I'll take my small win, or something that was out of my hands.

Great, but this never should have taken 3 months for something so simple for them to do.

[Jeter02]

31 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Great, but this never should have taken 3 months for something so simple for them to do.

Exactly! 

[MissP22]

Not that it probably makes any difference but what ship is it on?

[pompeii]

20 hours ago, ldtr said:

I had made 2 calls and 2 chat sessions. On each contact when I mentioned the problem with my medallion showing the wrong status for the Elite discount they offered to take care of the purchase. 3 of the contacts was back before the price increase on Dec 13. One was after.

 

 

 

 

 

I have the same problem regarding incorrect loyalty status on my app and when I called in (more than once, btw) I was told I would have to pay full price and then get obc for the discount.  Um, no thanks.  This is their mistake and they should have discounted the internet to the correct rate but they flatly refused to do that.  I've also reported the problem to the app people who promised to take care of it, but months later, I'm still blue.  

 

So unless you're willing to pay full price upfront, it's not that simple.  

[d9704011]

19 hours ago, cruzsnooze said:

Why don't you just phone in and get this taken care of. I call the ocean navigator, tell them I don't use a smart phone and they do everything including getting me in the green line. I bought my internet this way too. If people want to play with this faulty app then don't complain because there is a work around.

I was green line for an Emerald Princess cruise but then we decided to book a Sky Princess cruise for the week beforehand and turn our trip into a S2S.  Now I have an unholy mess on my app.  Who is the 'Ocean Navigator' and how do I contact this fabulous entity?  Or, do you mean call Princess and hope to get in contact with an agent with the where-with-all to work through the situation?

[Jeter02]

4 hours ago, MissP22 said:

Not that it probably makes any difference but what ship is it on?

Sky. Only funny because that was the same ship that had the issue for Thanksgiving cruise this past year, where nobody received their medallions in the mail. Everyone had to pick up portside. But I consider that more of a flub of the company and the company that they used for shipping and transporting.

[Jeter02]

2 hours ago, pompeii said:

I have the same problem regarding incorrect loyalty status on my app and when I called in (more than once, btw) I was told I would have to pay full price and then get obc for the discount.  Um, no thanks.  This is their mistake and they should have discounted the internet to the correct rate but they flatly refused to do that.  I've also reported the problem to the app people who promised to take care of it, but months later, I'm still blue.  

 

So unless you're willing to pay full price upfront, it's not that simple.  

When they First start it to have you pay for the Wi-Fi via the app. That's how it always was where they made you pay for full and then you got the rest back as onboard credit when she were on board which did work flawlessly. What I would recommend is when you call Princess up and when they answer immediately ask them to direct you to guest services. They are a lot more helpful I think and because it does show up on your account you should be able to pay for it over the phone and fingers crossed that they will give you the elite discounts because on the guest services and they can see that you are most definitely elite.

[Jeter02]

1 hour ago, d9704011 said:

I was green line for an Emerald Princess cruise but then we decided to book a Sky Princess cruise for the week beforehand and turn our trip into a S2S.  Now I have an unholy mess on my app.  Who is the 'Ocean Navigator' and how do I contact this fabulous entity?  Or, do you mean call Princess and hope to get in contact with an agent with the where-with-all to work through the situation?

When you call the princess phone number it usually directs you to a ocean navigator regardless to help you get ocean ready. I never really seem to have very much luck with them but this sounds like if it's an app issue it's definitely their department. If that doesn't work give the same number or call back and just ask them to direct you to guest services. Unfortunately there's no option on the menu for guest services as everything's internal which I find silly.

[DHP1]

In my 15 years sailing with Princess I have “never” had a problem until now. 3 weeks of unanswered e-mails and no returned phone call. Something has gone wrong and they need to fix it. 

[Jeter02]

3 minutes ago, DHP1 said:

In my 15 years sailing with Princess I have “never” had a problem until now. 3 weeks of unanswered e-mails and no returned phone call. Something has gone wrong and they need to fix it. 

Yup. Agreed. Never had a problem till now. Just gotta stay proactive and be persistent.

[chabad]

While we are on the topic of nickel and diming, can we also please throw in the fact, they'll now be charging you to ship the medallion to your home, if don't purchase any of the packages. I mean I'm perfectly fine just picking it up at the port at that point, but it's the principle behind it on how they think they are cutting corners. Little by little I'm feeling more more less appreciated for my elite loyal status to the company, because I choose not to pay an absurd amount of extra money on my cruise because most of those items don't apply to me from the packages.

[d9704011]

44 minutes ago, Jeter02 said:

When you call the princess phone number it usually directs you to a ocean navigator regardless to help you get ocean ready. I never really seem to have very much luck with them but this sounds like if it's an app issue it's definitely their department. If that doesn't work give the same number or call back and just ask them to direct you to guest services. Unfortunately there's no option on the menu for guest services as everything's internal which I find silly.

Yes, that's pretty much what I'm anticipating.  I have to do this on a day when I'm pretty sure my head won't blow up; I'm sort of expecting a major runaround.

[Jeter02]

4 minutes ago, d9704011 said:

Yes, that's pretty much what I'm anticipating.  I have to do this on a day when I'm pretty sure my head won't blow up; I'm sort of expecting a major runaround.

I totally understand you. I probably spoke to about six different people yesterday in hopes of getting just that right person that knows what they're doing.

[DHP1]

22 minutes ago, chabad said:

While we are on the topic of nickel and diming, can we also please throw in the fact, they'll now be charging you to ship the medallion to your home, if don't purchase any of the packages. I mean I'm perfectly fine just picking it up at the port at that point, but it's the principle behind it on how they think they are cutting corners. Little by little I'm feeling more more less appreciated for my elite loyal status to the company, because I choose not to pay an absurd amount of extra money on my cruise because most of those items don't apply to me from the packages.

We booked a Europe cruise in 2024 with the Plus Package and I notice Free Medallion Shipping (savings of $18.90 per person). I didn’t think anything about it until I read your post. Apparently, Princess is now charging a shipping fee to have your Medallion shipped to your house. OMG really

Edited January 8, 2023 by DHP1

[Jeter02]

2 minutes ago, DHP1 said:

We booked a Europe cruise in 2024 with the Plus Package and I notice Free Medallion Shipping ($18.90 savings). I didn’t think anything about it until I read your post. Apparently, Princess is now charging a shipping fee to have your Medallion shipped to your house. OMG really

Yup! John Padgett thinks it's now a luxury to have the medallion ship to your home which is why you would have to purchase either the plus or the premier package. I don't plan on paying for shipping for all my future cruises I will just pick them up portside for free. For my Thanksgiving cruise on the Sky Princess nobody received their medallions in the mail Everyone had to pick up at the port, honestly it went smooth as silk there was no problem It was probably an extra 20 seconds of your time with the check-in process to get the medallion.

Edited January 8, 2023 by Jeter02

[d9704011]

2 minutes ago, DHP1 said:

We booked a Europe cruise in 2024 with the Plus Package and I notice Free Medallion Shipping ($18.90 savings). I didn’t think anything about it until I read your post. Apparently, Princess is now charging a shipping fee to have your Medallion shipped to your house. OMG really

I'm sure you know we can't get them shipped to us whether we're willing to pay.  Probably something to do with shipping these kind of devices across the border.