Princess Gift Card Problem — AARP

[New2cruise2022]

Purchased two (2) Princess $500 e-gift cards from AARP rewards. Total charged to credit card was the discounted $920 total. Confirmation email NEVER received. E-gift cards NEVER received. 
 

Customer service for AARP first gave me 3-day resolution time, then a 24-hour resolution time, now a 3-5 day EXPEDITED time. Charge on card clearly says AARP but customer service is blaming Princess for the holdup. Another customer posting on AARP forum says she has been waiting 4 days for $2300. 
 

I’m trying to believe that AARP and Princess are good companies, but this feels like an exercise in bad faith. 
 

Anyone else experiencing problems?

[PacnGoNow]

10 minutes ago, New2cruise2022 said:

Purchased two (2) Princess $500 e-gift cards from AARP rewards. Total charged to credit card was the discounted $920 total. Confirmation email NEVER received. E-gift cards NEVER received. 
 

Customer service for AARP first gave me 3-day resolution time, then a 24-hour resolution time, now a 3-5 day EXPEDITED time. Charge on card clearly says AARP but customer service is blaming Princess for the holdup. Another customer posting on AARP forum says she has been waiting 4 days for $2300. 
 

I’m trying to believe that AARP and Princess are good companies, but this feels like an exercise in bad faith. 
 

Anyone else experiencing problems?

I wouldn’t doubt that the recent outage of PCL website has something to do with this.

 

Check your junk mail.

 

When were they purchased?

 

Aarp will say call the PCL CS and they will take care of you. I told, NO, they will not.  They have no idea what to do.  Then they say, call the PCL gift card dept. NO, they have nothing to do with these GC’s purchased from AARP.

 

So, then they said, OK, we will escalate it to our supervisor and they will work with PCL.

Yes…that was the answer!!

They resolved it the next day.

 

Good luck to you!

 

[New2cruise2022]

4 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

I wouldn’t doubt that the recent outage of PCL website has something to do with this.

 

Check your junk mail.

 

When were they purchased?

 

Aarp will say call the PCL CS and they will take care of you. I told, NO, they will not.  They have no idea what to do.  Then they say, call the PCL gift card dept. NO, they have nothing to do with these GC’s purchased from AARP.

 

So, then they said, OK, we will escalate it to our supervisor and they will work with PCL.

Yes…that was the answer!!

They resolved it the next day.

 

Good luck to you!

 

Thank you for the hope. It has been escalated so my fingers are crossed. 
 

I should give credit where it is due. Speaking with Princess customer service has been nothing short of delightful. I am frustrated and there is a small language barrier, but Princess rep has been so patient and kind. It makes me hopeful for the service and experience when I cruise with Princess next February. 

[kasowell2]

Dispute with credit card company that usually gets their attention 

[New2cruise2022]

Just now, kasowell2 said:

Dispute with credit card company that usually gets their attention 

Yes, it is certainly an option if I don’t have resolution tomorrow. 

[tutumomickey]

AARP web site crashed once when purchasing gift cards. It took a couple days but they were aware of the problem. A few weeks later we received a 50$ VISA card and an apology letter from AARP.

[New2cruise2022]

6 minutes ago, tutumomickey said:

AARP web site crashed once when purchasing gift cards. It took a couple days but they were aware of the problem. A few weeks later we received a 50$ VISA card and an apology letter from AARP.

While my demeanor has been polite and respectful, I’m not sure my impatience is encouraging AARP to send an apology or a compensatory gift. But I’m very happy to hear you had such a positive outcome. 
 

The communication has been very guarded and cagey from AARP’s side without so much as a message acknowledging there is a problem and the efforts they are making to rectify the problem. It was the experience of seeing $900+ charged to my credit card and no receipt or confirmation of any type. 

[tutumomickey]

We were totally surprised when it arrived. I'm not sure you could even classify my husband's approach as polite. At one point, every time we checked our statement, another gift card had been charged. The total just kept going up and up without any cards showing up. However, we did finally have a supervisor promise resolution and it did come. We had disputed the additional card charges with the bank and they ended up cancelling ALL the AARP charges, even the valid ones so then we had to reverse the reversed charges. The gift card was a nice gesture on their part. They also sent a trunk organizer.

[New2cruise2022]

18 minutes ago, tutumomickey said:

We were totally surprised when it arrived. I'm not sure you could even classify my husband's approach as polite. At one point, every time we checked our statement, another gift card had been charged. The total just kept going up and up without any cards showing up. However, we did finally have a supervisor promise resolution and it did come. We had disputed the additional card charges with the bank and they ended up cancelling ALL the AARP charges, even the valid ones so then we had to reverse the reversed charges. The gift card was a nice gesture on their part. They also sent a trunk organizer.

I don’t think I could want for anything more than a trunk organizer 🤣

[camper49]

12 hours ago, tutumomickey said:

AARP web site crashed once when purchasing gift cards. It took a couple days but they were aware of the problem. A few weeks later we received a 50$ VISA card and an apology letter from AARP.

Where on the aarp site does one find the option to purchase gift cards?

TY 

[Rick&Jeannie]

2 hours ago, camper49 said:

Where on the aarp site does one find the option to purchase gift cards?

TY 

You need to sign up (free) for their rewards program.

https://www.aarp.org/rewards/redeem/#sort-by=default&type=filter_travel

[theloo]

Has anyone else experienced any problems this week?  I'm about to buy a few gift cards now.

[Rick&Jeannie]

1 hour ago, theloo said:

Has anyone else experienced any problems this week?  I'm about to buy a few gift cards now.

Problems purchasing AARP cards are generally the exception...most people have no issues at all.

[AZjohn]

Never had any issues except the 10% discount being reduced to 8%.

Been purchasing them every month for the past half year or so.

OP’s experience sounds terrible though.

[Thrak]

We did have one instance where Princess said two of our gift cards had a zero balance. Our TA submitted them again and they went right through. I've read that it's best if they only submit 5 or so at a time.

 

Note: When I get the card info I immediately go to the Princess site to verify the balance.

[AZjohn]

3 minutes ago, Thrak said:

We did have one instance where Princess said two of our gift cards had a zero balance. Our TA submitted them again and they went right through. I've read that it's best if they only submit 5 or so at a time.

 

Note: When I get the card info I immediately go to the Princess site to verify the balance.

I just forward the email of the gift cards with the pin’s to my TA when I get them (she suggested to do it that way). I don’t think it ever took more then 10 minutes from when I order them online until I got the emails with the cards and pin’s.

 

If I didn’t get them within a half hour I would probably start freakin out like OP (knowing there is a problem).

[rhblake]

10 hours ago, theloo said:

Has anyone else experienced any problems this week?  I'm about to buy a few gift cards now.

I purchased 5 cards on Tuesday (8/29), no problems.

[New2cruise2022]

Still waiting for mine from 8/29. So …

[Rick&Jeannie]

2 hours ago, New2cruise2022 said:

Still waiting for mine from 8/29. So …

You probably already did this...but did you check your spam folder?

[Bgwest]

Bought 10 today. They arrived within 5 minutes. 
Sent card numbers and PINs to TA

TA  made payment to Princess

Received final payment confirmation 

All of this completed in under 30 minutes 😃

Miss the extra 2% but what the hey!

[WisCruiser2]

1 hour ago, Bgwest said:

Bought 10 today. They arrived within 5 minutes. 
Sent card numbers and PINs to TA

TA  made payment to Princess

Received final payment confirmation 

All of this completed in under 30 minutes 😃

Miss the extra 2% but what the hey!

So if we are booked with a TA, they need to send them to Princess to apply to OBC? Haven't done this before, thanks.

[Bgwest]

8 minutes ago, WisCruiser2 said:

So if we are booked with a TA, they need to send them to Princess to apply to OBC? Haven't done this before, thanks.

Correct. Once a TA “owns” the booking, all financial transaction must go through them. 

[travellingnana]

18 minutes ago, Bgwest said:

Correct. Once a TA “owns” the booking, all financial transaction must go through them. 

Used a TA. Cruise is paid for.  I assumed I could bring my 2 gift cards and have GS add them to my OBC. Is that right?

[Bgwest]

16 minutes ago, travellingnana said:

Used a TA. Cruise is paid for.  I assumed I could bring my 2 gift cards and have GS add them to my OBC. Is that right?

Correct. Have done it. 

[New2cruise2022]

Finally received. I guess I shouldn’t exhale until payment is done. 

Edited September 2, 2023 by New2cruise2022