Princess won't honor price quote!

[JHB1901]

Hi,

 

Has anyone had this problem? My travel agent made a reservation for me and three others in a family suite. He received a confirmation showing a price for the four of us in the suite and I gave him the go ahead to put down a deposit. Then, a month later Princess called him and said they had made a mistake and won't honor the price quote! They then raised the price over $4,000! My agent has pleaded with them but they refuse to honor the original price quote, even though he has it in writing.

 

I'm furious with Princess. We can't afford the higher price. Has anyone had a similar experience with them and have any suggestions. My agent has written even to the president of Princess. He's been in business 20 years and says this has never happened to him before.

 

Thank you!

[flimflubin]

Just curious what was the price quoted?

 

 

Faith

[Roses2]

It appears your problem is with your TA not Princess. You did not deal with Princess, but with your TA.

 

If you had dealt directly with Princess and they booked you, you would have a case against them.

 

This problem appears to be between you and the TA.

 

Family suites generally are expensive since they are essentially 2+ minisuites.

[Coral]

I have seen this happen on other lines before and the cruise line stood firm with their decision.

[Cfanatic]

Why would the problem be with the TA? If the the TA has WRITTEN confirmation from Princess then the person at Princess quoting the priced screwed up - not the TA.

Loyalty to a cruise line is fine but they're not perfect - they make mistakes too.

[Cruise Gypsy]

Hi,

 

He received a confirmation showing a price for the four of us in the suite and I gave him the go ahead to put down a deposit.

 

Sorry this has happened. Once the cruise is booked the excitement begins.

 

Not to be overly cynical - but did you ever see the confirmation?

 

We have never had Princess do that to us.

[Ethel5]

If the TA has a written confirmation, then I would sue.

[billet]

Why would the problem be with the TA? If the the TA has WRITTEN confirmation from Princess then the person at Princess quoting the priced screwed up - not the TA.

Loyalty to a cruise line is fine but they're not perfect - they make mistakes too.

It could be written confirmation from the TA not Princess. It may be a discount agency that quoted incorrectly or it could be Princess who screwed up :)

[bhopal21]

If the TA has a written confirmation, then I would sue.

 

I agree and think you will be hard pressed to see a written confirmation from Princess for the cruise.

 

It appears something is rotten in Denmark.

 

Mike:)

[JHB1901]

It could be written confirmation from the TA not Princess. It may be a discount agency that quoted incorrectly or it could be Princess who screwed up :)

 

The written confirmation is from Princess Cruises, not my agent. My travel agent sent me a copy. It's very clear what the amounts are that they had confirmed and it has my deposit on it. Now, they raised the price on the confirmation by over $4,000 and refuse to honor the original price quote.

 

My agent is not a discount agency. He is very reputable and is not at fault. He has filed numerous complaints against Princess, but they refuse to budge even though it's obvious they are in the wrong. Now, he is considering sueing them, although he would rather not have to do that!

[travelntreats]

Something does not add up here... the TA should have gotten a fax or email from the cruiseline both a travel agents copy and guest copy..... First time poster makes me also wonder if this is even true or just a slam against the cruiseline ?$4k difference is alot of $$$ and seems a bit odd ! TA is going to sue the cruiseline ??? Yeah right !

[janetz]

If the TA has a written confirmation, then I would sue.

 

 

Oh, but of course, what other option then to "sue".

[travelntreats]

Oh, but of course, what other option then to "sue" :p

Didn't take long for that magic word to pop up huh :rolleyes:.... and sure enough the OP then states their TA may "sue" :( !!! I am not believeing much of this story at all from the OP.

[Appygirl]

That does seem odd. I used to work for a tour wholesaler, we put together air and hotel packages (and sometimes cruising packages). Travel agents booked through us on behalf of their clients. If someone from our company misquoted, our company honored the quote. Sometimes things beyond our control happen, such as fuel increases. The wholesaler gets charged a higher price and then has to increase the price to the customer, even though they may already have paid a deposit. The client would then have the option to cancel with a refund or accept and pay the difference, normally not huge amounts like $4000! I would think it would be good PR on Princess's part to accept the misquote, especially since it seems to be confirmed in writing on their end, and eat the loss. You are absolutely certain the confirmation is in writing on something that identifies Princess letterhead?

[bigeagle12]

Sounds like TA screw-up. Probably quoted for 2 people then booked for 4.

[JHB1901]

Something does not add up here... the TA should have gotten a fax or email from the cruiseline both a travel agents copy and guest copy..... First time poster makes me also wonder if this is even true or just a slam against the cruiseline ?$4k difference is alot of $$$ and seems a bit odd ! TA is going to sue the cruiseline ??? Yeah right !

 

My travel agent DID get a confirmation from Princess Cruises, both an agent and a guest copy, which he gave to me. It's quite clear that it's from the cruise line. Then, Princess sent an updated confirmation a month later and the price had jumped for the third and fourth passengers by $2,000 each, a total of $4,000! I am not making this up.

 

My travel agent does not want to sue and it's obviously not an easy thing to do. But, Princess Cruises absolutely refuses to honor the original price quote even though it's in writing. My agent has tried everything and has written numerous letters to them that they are now ignoring. What other option does he have?

[JHB1901]

Sounds like TA screw-up. Probably quoted for 2 people then booked for 4.

 

He did NOT screw up. The confirmation he received shows all four passengers on the confirmation. You should not say things that you do not know are true.

 

Rather than attacking my agent, can someone instead provide some constructive suggestions. My agent did not do anything wrong. It's Princess Cruises that is clearly in the wrong here.

[Toto2Kansas]

If Princess isn't honoring the booking, there aren't many suggestions to be given here I am afraid. Since you booked through a TA, this is pretty much between Princess and your TA since they are your booking agent.

If your TA has been in business for a long time, he/she should know how to handle situations like this when they come up (although I have to admit, changing the price a month after the booking, I have never in my life heard of something like this happening before), there isn't a thing you can do directly with Princess. Hopefully your agent is pushing this with Princess as it is the only option, nothing else you can do yourself.

[zacc]

I remember when the only time you would hear the word sue was if someone by that name was in the room. Now it is on the tip of almost everyones tougue. Sue Princess....give me a break....you can bet that they(and every other cruise line) have a clause covering them in the event of a misquote. I should add as well they should. Actually I have to say that I am surprised that neither the OP nor their TA noticed that the "quoted price" was well below the published price. I would have a hard time believing that none of them checked listed prices before the TA phoned Princess for a quote. Maybe I'm a skeptic but is it possible someone thought they might get away with a biggie and didn't. Not accusing, simply posing another option.

[bigeagle12]

He did NOT screw up. The confirmation he received shows all four passengers on the confirmation. You should not say things that you do not know are true.

 

Rather than attacking my agent, can someone instead provide some constructive suggestions. My agent did not do anything wrong. It's Princess Cruises that is clearly in the wrong here.

 

The initial confirmation is an automated confirmation. If upon further review any errors were made the cruiseline reserves the right to make corrections. Read the fine print .. I have seen this happen before.

 

You have the option to get a full refund.

 

If an offer sounds to good to be true ???

[Roses2]

Perhaps the OP or the TA could post the confirmation here to determine if it is an official Princess confirmation or a TA confirmation.

 

That would certainly help to clarify matters.

 

As an example is there an official Princess booking that was accepted there would have been a booking number that could have been used to access the personalizer.

 

That would have been quite different from placing a hold that is not a booking.

[Coral]

The initial confirmation is an automated confirmation. If upon further review any errors were made the cruiseline reserves the right to make corrections. Read the fine print .. I have seen this happen before.

 

You have the option to get a full refund.

 

If an offer sounds to good to be true ???

 

There was an issue with Holland America a year or two ago. They mis-quoted a bunch of people and figured it out and re-priced it at a higher rate. They did enforce the higher rate.

 

I believe the OP.

 

I wish the OP luck. Hopefully the TA and Princess can negotiate something better than the much higher price.

[katisdale]

The family suites typically charge full fares for the first 4 to 6 people in the room and the lower 3rd/4th rates for the 7th and 8th passengers. I think it sounds like an honest mistake which the "fine" print says can be refared at the higher rate. I think it is accept the new rate, select a different cabin (perhaps a mini suite), or cancel.

[Coral]

My travel agent DID get a confirmation from Princess Cruises, both an agent and a guest copy, which he gave to me. It's quite clear that it's from the cruise line. Then, Princess sent an updated confirmation a month later and the price had jumped for the third and fourth passengers by $2,000 each, a total of $4,000! I am not making this up.

 

This agent is being very honest with their client. If the agent is showing the client both the agent and guest copy - this is seeing the official correspondence.

 

I wish you luck in having your agent work with Princess.

 

Princess makes mistakes - why is this so difficult for others to believe?

[bhopal21]

I wonder why neither the client nor the TA (who had booked many cruises before) smelled a rat when the quote came back $4000 too low?

 

I have booked some pretty expensive cruises and would know something was amiss if a price came back that much lower.

 

Mike:)