Charged twice for Onboard Spending

[ChrisW73]

Hello,

 

Following a cruise on Iona we spent £250 onboard on drinks, food and shops.   This was our first time with P&O and I noticed that after each day they took what we had spent from my credit card.  We have cruised on 4 other lines and this has not happened before and I just thought that was how P&O did it.

 

We did get a copy of our onboard spend to our cabin the morning we departed but I thought this was just showing us what we had spent.  2 days after we had returned I got charged £250 for onboard spend.  So I was charged each day and then the full amount 2 days after our cruise.

 

I called P&O and they initially said it could not happen but they did believe me in the end.  They then just emailed guest relations and said it might take 28 days for it to be looked at as per the ABTA guidelines.

 

Has anybody got any suggestions how I can try and get my money back, £250 is quite a bit to not have.  Is there any way I can claim something as compensation as I'm now overspent on my credit card.

 

I do have another P&O cruise booked but so far the service I've received over this has been poor as was the service onboard Iona.  The entertainment we booked all got cancelled and different shows put in instead, staff seemed unhappy and overworked and the virtual queue for restaurants was frustrating.

 

Thanks for any advice,

 

Chris

[yorkshirephil]

1 minute ago, ChrisW73 said:

Hello,

 

Following a cruise on Iona we spent £250 onboard on drinks, food and shops.   This was our first time with P&O and I noticed that after each day they took what we had spent from my credit card.  We have cruised on 4 other lines and this has not happened before and I just thought that was how P&O did it.

 

We did get a copy of our onboard spend to our cabin the morning we departed but I thought this was just showing us what we had spent.  2 days after we had returned I got charged £250 for onboard spend.  So I was charged each day and then the full amount 2 days after our cruise.

 

I called P&O and they initially said it could not happen but they did believe me in the end.  They then just emailed guest relations and said it might take 28 days for it to be looked at as per the ABTA guidelines.

 

Has anybody got any suggestions how I can try and get my money back, £250 is quite a bit to not have.  Is there any way I can claim something as compensation as I'm now overspent on my credit card.

 

I do have another P&O cruise booked but so far the service I've received over this has been poor as was the service onboard Iona.  The entertainment we booked all got cancelled and different shows put in instead, staff seemed unhappy and overworked and the virtual queue for restaurants was frustrating.

 

Thanks for any advice,

 

Chris

This looks like a hold put on your debit/credit card which usually drops off after a few days depending on your bank rules.

[molecrochip]

With P&O they don’t cancel the authorisations, they allow them to lapse at 28 days.

 

They could but they don’t. It annoys me.

[ChrisW73]

,Hello, 

No the money is not pending it has left my account making me overdrawn.  Normally I would see it say Pending but this does not  

 

Edited June 13 by ChrisW73

[david63]

42 minutes ago, molecrochip said:

They could but they don’t.

That surely begs the question why not?

[molecrochip]

1 hour ago, ChrisW73 said:

,Hello, 

No the money is not pending it has left my account making me overdrawn.  Normally I would see it say Pending but this does not  

 

In which case likely a mistake. Contact the call centre and they can investigate.

[ChrisW73]

10 hours ago, molecrochip said:

In which case likely a mistake. Contact the call centre and they can investigate.

I've contacted the call centre and they say it can take up to 28 days to investigate while they have £250 of my money.

[Magnu]

Hi Chrisw73, this is what I did when I had a problem getting money back from P&O and getting no response.

I raised a fraud dispute with my bank (Starling for info). Very easy to do online and the money was back in the account within 3 days. P&O responded a few days after I received the refund almost apologetic.

[Clodia]

I don't do phone calls because of a disability, so when this happened to me I emailed P and O, explaining that I can't phone. They gave me the 28 day caper, so I raised a dispute with my bank and got the money refunded within 3 days. P and O later apologised by email after they had investigated. Always use a credit rather than debit card, as it's the quickest way to get your money back, and can all be done online.

[ChrisW73]

Thank you all for your advice, it is as molecrochip said they have not cancelled the authorisations according to my bank.  I'm now on hold to P&O again to ask them to sort this out and cancel my cruise in September.  I'm afraid this and my experience during my cruise do not make me want to sail with them again.

[paulatsea]

Best to use a credit card - gives you time to fix any issues before you have to pay from your bank account.

 

Also - I think someone mentioned in another thread that the authorisations work differently on credit cards and there is less chance of this happening ? Not 100% sure I am remembering this correctly ?

Edited June 14 by paulatsea

[david63]

32 minutes ago, paulatsea said:

Best to use a credit card - gives you time to fix any issues before you have to pay from your bank account.

Only if you have a credit limit on your credit card that is at least twice the amount of your onboard spend.

33 minutes ago, paulatsea said:

I think someone mentioned in another thread that the authorisations work differently on credit cards and there is less chance of this happening ? Not 100% sure I am remembering this correctly ?

The only difference with pre authorisations between credit and debit cards is the time in which they roll off - and even that is dependant on the bank

[jeanlyon]

Use a credit card - Always!

[Snow Hill]

10 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

Use a credit card - Always!

Assuming you have one or if you do it has a reasonable size credit limit.

Edited June 15 by Snow Hill

[Harryjacobs]

29 minutes ago, Snow Hill said:

Assuming you have one or if you do it has a reasonable size credit limit.

The answer is to do what I do.  Have a credit card that is used only for the cruise.  Never gets used for anything else, only to stop this mess from happening. 

If you have the income to pay for a cruise then you should have the financial clout to have a credit card with a limit of at least £1000.  This should cover all bases.

Edited June 15 by Harryjacobs

[paulatsea]

Chris - did you get this resolved ? 

28 minutes ago, Harryjacobs said:

The answer is to do what I do.  Have a credit card that is used only for the cruise.  Never gets used for anything else, only to stop this mess from happening. 

If you have the income to pay for a cruise then you should have the financial clout to have a credit card with a limit of at least £1000.  This should cover all bases.

Yes - also a small limit mitigates against it getting stolen or fraud.

 

Small limit card to take on holidays or going out.

 

Bigger limit to use at home online/phone etc.

 

Did you get this resolved Chris ?

Edited June 15 by paulatsea

[Josy1953]

12 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

Use a credit card - Always!

I have a Sainsburys credit card that is only used for cruises, both bookings and on-board spend, so that it is kept away from causing any problems with any other.purchases.  It also means that because it gives me Sainsbury loyalty points that I get very slight "discount" on my cruise spend and as my dad used to say every penny counts.

[ChrisW73]

6 hours ago, paulatsea said:

Chris - did you get this resolved ? 

Yes - also a small limit mitigates against it getting stolen or fraud.

 

Small limit card to take on holidays or going out.

 

Bigger limit to use at home online/phone etc.

 

Did you get this resolved Chris ?

No not resolved, I'll just wait now for the 28 days to come round and the bank will release the funds back to me.  What confused me is I've used this same card with other cruise lines and not had this problem, the others I have travelled with release the authorisation when they take final payment for on board spend.

 

Will not be a problem again as this was just the final straw after our first P&O cruise as I've cancelled my cruise in September with P&O.

 

 

[Snow Hill]

I can’t understand why P&O don’t release tge funds after 7 days or earlier, I have had preauthorisations on card at hotels, the funds are usually released at time of payment on checkout of the hotel or after 2 or 3 days. Why Are P&O inconveniencing their customers by holding out for the maximum 28 days? Are their hotel systems that bad they need 28 days to sort out what is owed?

 

Do other cruise lines do the same or is it just a P&O thing?

 

Perhaps it’s something the FCA need to take a look at. 

[david63]

1 hour ago, Snow Hill said:

Why Are P&O inconveniencing their customers by holding out for the maximum 28 days?

Technically P&O are not holding out for 28 days it is the banking system that waits 28 days. Because P&O do not release the pre-authorisations then each bank has its own rules as to how long they leave the pre-authorisations but the maximum is 28 days. Why P&O (actually it is Carnival UK) do it is a mystery to everyone.

[carlanthony24]

Conversation comes up every now and again. At least its not Royal they say 5-7 but max 45 days.

[ChrisW73]

11 hours ago, carlanthony24 said:

Conversation comes up every now and again. At least its not Royal they say 5-7 but max 45 days.

My experiencence ofRoyal & Celebrityhas been that any pre authorisations are released when they take payment.  This is why I expected P&O would do the same but they obviously care so little about customers to bother to do the small bit of admin to release the funds but happy to do the admin for final payment.