Princess is fine until they make a mistake

[bruru]

Had a marvelous time on the Ruby April 11-18. We are Canadians but have a US dollar Master Card to avoid conversion charges and gave that card number to Princess and told them to bill us in US dollars. Sounds easy, right? Wrong!

 

Our folio on disembarkation showed a charge to our card. When we received our Master Card bill, we saw that Princess converted our charges to Canadian dollars and Master Card in turn converted back to US dollars. This cost us quite a bit of money. We are now entwined in Princess red tape to recover our money due to their error.

 

BTW, we bought casino credits before sailing and they did manage to get that right and bill our card without conversion. This shows that they new the card was a US dollar card.

 

This will be quite an adventure to recoup our money. Wish us luck!

[2ferfun]

Thats really unfortunate. It seems like, once you talk to the right people, you should be able to get your money back, or at least a FCC. It's obvious that it was their mistake. Good luck!:rolleyes:

[Pam in CA]

Sorry this happened and hope they refund the conversion charges. Obviously their fault.

[Markkk]

Had a marvelous time on the Ruby April 11-18. We are Canadians but have a US dollar Master Card to avoid conversion charges and gave that card number to Princess and told them to bill us in US dollars. Sounds easy, right? Wrong!

 

!

 

Did you tell them or did you tick the box on your boarding pass?

[h3rjp]

This happened to me too. I was forewarned (from this site) that they may do this so I wrote in big letters on the credit card form that I wish to be billed in US dollars only and put I line through the automatic coversion back to me home currency.

 

But they coverted it anyway at a very poor exchange rate.

 

I wrote to princess as soon as I got back but heard nothing. Then I emailed them and they replied that they had the letter, but hadn't dealt with it yet.

 

So I got fed up of waiting. I rang by credit card company, told them the situation and requested at Visa chargeback as the transaction was not as per my authorization. Fortuatly I had photocopied the credit card form so I just faxed it off as proof. This was Thursday so the transaction should be reversed in a few days.

 

I agree the after sales service pretty much sucks. A month to acknowledge and correct an error is not good enough.

[LegalEagle2012]

When is the Credit Card form given out - at check in or before? We are from the UK too and have always asked to be billed in USD rather than GBP when on other lines and never had a problem yet!!

 

I will also ask my Travel Agent to ensure that it is noted on my booking too - and ask for written evidence before I travel.

 

Think we might purchase OBC at $2 to £1- as we have checked this rate applies to our cruise - and then do the "Casino Conversion" to get access to the cash if we do not spend it all.

 

This will, hopefully, avoid the need for use of a Credit Card and incurring any problems - fingers crossed.

 

Hope the Visa Chargeback works - I had a similar issue recently with Visa Debit Dispute - very similar - and it worked very well for me.

 

K

[N&PJ]

When is the Credit Card form given out - at check in or before? We are from the UK too and have always asked to be billed in USD rather than GBP when on other lines and never had a problem yet!!

 

I will also ask my Travel Agent to ensure that it is noted on my booking too - and ask for written evidence before I travel.

 

Think we might purchase OBC at $2 to £1- as we have checked this rate applies to our cruise - and then do the "Casino Conversion" to get access to the cash if we do not spend it all.

 

This will, hopefully, avoid the need for use of a Credit Card and incurring any problems - fingers crossed.

 

Hope the Visa Chargeback works - I had a similar issue recently with Visa Debit Dispute - very similar - and it worked very well for me.

 

K

 

You must remember to 'check' the appropriate box on the express checkout form which asks if you want your card to be billed in dollars rather than subject to conversion by them.

[LegalEagle2012]

Will do N & PJ and keep a copy of the form as well!!

 

Manythanks

 

K

[h3rjp]

When is the Credit Card form given out - at check in or before? We are from the UK too and have always asked to be billed in USD rather than GBP when on other lines and never had a problem yet!!

 

I will also ask my Travel Agent to ensure that it is noted on my booking too - and ask for written evidence before I travel.

 

Think we might purchase OBC at $2 to £1- as we have checked this rate applies to our cruise - and then do the "Casino Conversion" to get access to the cash if we do not spend it all.

 

This will, hopefully, avoid the need for use of a Credit Card and incurring any problems - fingers crossed.

 

Hope the Visa Chargeback works - I had a similar issue recently with Visa Debit Dispute - very similar - and it worked very well for me.

 

K

 

You must remember to 'check' the appropriate box on the express checkout form which asks if you want your card to be billed in dollars rather than subject to conversion by them.

 

The credit card form comes in the pre-cruise pack with your luggage tags, so it's easy to run off a couple of copies before you take it with you. Yes we did "check" the box (as well as writing it on), but they just ignored it!

 

We didn't know about the $2 - £1 OBC deal until after we got back, otherwise we would have saved ourselves £200. They certainly don't volunter it.

[Katie333]

We've also had this problem. Last time, I checked the box, highlighted and circled it. Then I mentioned it to the check-in person as well. It was charged in US dollars. I do think it's sad that one has to potentially go to these extremes to get it noticed.

 

Of the 5 cruises we have had with Princess, 2 we were charged in USD (checkmark noticed), 2 we were charged in CAD (checkmark not noticed) and once we were charged in CAD (our error not checking the box).

[Colo Cruiser]

This is posted time and time again, I feel for the folks who have to deal with it.

Seems to me it does not matter what you check or tell Princess they do it the wrong way anyway. :eek:

[hockeymum]

I had been prewarned about this too. Even if you have a Canadian Card they convert at their rate that is set yearly people really got burned when our dollar was at par. The only way to solve the problem is to settle your account in cash the night before you disembark then any charges left on card are minimal.

[Jim and Monika]

Check out this site to read about how these are not really accidents and how the cruise companies benefit from doing this to passengers.

http://www.elliott.org/blog/scam-alert-did-we-say-dollar-we-meant-euro/

Monika

[Cosmic Rays]

I have had this problem here too in the UK. I wrote to Princess clearly stating what had happened. I received a letter of apology and reasons for the 'mistake'. I was reimbursed the additional amount taken due to the exchange rate.

 

Am I in the minority?

 

Colin

[firefly4423]

that stinks. Hopefully they will sort it all out for you!

[jimpod]

What is this and where would I find out about it?

 

Thanks

[j!m]

we sail with princess, X and , Az

 

the same thing has happened to us on each of the cruiselines

 

the problem usually arises when you book the cruise in Cdn $ then settle your onboard with a $US c/c but not always

 

anyway it has happened to us more than once

 

in each case we wrote the cruiseline referenced checking the proper boxes etc and in each case they promptly (about 2 weeks) refunded the excess f/x charges to us

 

so dont worry, write them, they will make you whole

 

but it is a pain in the a.... eh???

 

our solution has been to take $US with us and settle most of our account the night before we leave the ship

 

always works

[envy4u]

Mo worries. Princess will refund you the charges. We faxed them our Mastercard bill and they in turn reversed the charges on the card. It was inconvenient but got resolved :)

[cdngrl]

i do the same thing now. bring american cash and pay the bill that way. frustrating to have to do this when it should be an easy thing for princess.

[Cosmic Rays]

What is this and where would I find out about it?

 

Thanks

 

$2 = £1 is toooooo good to miss!

[BruceMuzz]

"Princess is fine until they make a mistake"

 

Isn't this statement true for most companies on planet Earth?

[mississauga]

As stated, no matter what you say or do, they still do the conversion. This happened to us the 1st 3 times we cruised Princess. Yes, after much persistence and hassle, they will eventually make the correct changes but why should we have to go through that hassle every time. They are hoping people won't be bothered and they get away with it.

 

From advice on these boards, we now go to the purser's desk on the last evening and ask them to scan our US Mastercard and pay the total on board. That way we know we have been charged in USD.:D

[mpk218]

Please check with you Credit card issuer .

A very recent change is being made to some bank cards regarding conversion charges and place of residence.

Example: Capital One is now charging a conversion (3%)

based on where the purchase is made and not on whether its made in US dollars or the selling locations currency. I guess they are going to find those extra dollars some where ;)

[iancal]

I am a FIRM believer that Princess does this on purpose. On two occasions I have checked that little box that says bill me in USD. On both occasions, I have checked with the Purser's desk the night before disembarkation. Both times...they planned to convert to CAD at userous rates. Our friends have had the EXACT same thing happen on their last four Princess cruises and their last Celebrity cruise. It adds up quickly when the exchange rate is 6 percent higher than the norm. Also, I have heard that a few Target stores in the FLL area try to do the same by asking 'would you like to be billed in Canadian currency'. We use a USD Visa account but we still check carefully. Have not had this problem on HAL, Carnival, or NCL. If Princess is reading this, PLEASE change this practice-whether it be purposeful or accidental. It is poor customer service and leaves a bad taste with customers as they leave the ship or read their bill on the cab ride to the airport or hotel.

[Northern Light]

i do the same thing now. bring american cash and pay the bill that way. frustrating to have to do this when it should be an easy thing for princess.

 

 

Glad to see that it is possible to pay with US dollars to settle one's account before leaving the ship as this is what I will do. Is there any problem with paying with American Express travellers cheques? It would be much better than carrying around a large amount of cash.