Warning about gift vouchers

[Scorpio1411]

Thought I would warn you about our experience regarding these. We booked a cruise with P&O and were given £100 credit each.

 

As a Christmas present, we had a P&O gift voucher given to us by my parents. Half way through our cruise when we were looking through our statement, we noticed this "gift" had been added to my account and I could not have any loyalty discount until the £100 plus the cost of the voucher had been reached. We explained to the reception staff that this extra money was a gift from my parents and not P&O and therefore should not count as credit given by P&O. The reception staff spoke to some finance staff member in the back office who explained that this is how they do it and that was that.

 

So if any of your family are thinking of giving you a gift voucher from P&O - warn them not to - as you loose out on you loyalty discount until you have spent it.

[cruisebore]

Thought I would warn you about our experience regarding these. We booked a cruise with P&O and were given £100 credit each.

 

As a Christmas present, we had a P&O gift voucher given to us by my parents. Half way through our cruise when we were looking through our statement, we noticed this "gift" had been added to my account and I could not have any loyalty discount until the £100 plus the cost of the voucher had been reached. We explained to the reception staff that this extra money was a gift from my parents and not P&O and therefore should not count as credit given by P&O. The reception staff spoke to some finance staff member in the back office who explained that this is how they do it and that was that.

 

So if any of your family are thinking of giving you a gift voucher from P&O - warn them not to - as you loose out on you loyalty discount until you have spent it.

 

This is disgraceful; if it had been me, my letter of complaint would be on Carol Marlow's desk by now. But hey ho,as far as cruise deals and terms and conditions go we do live in "rip off" Britain.

 

Cb

[ROSEBASKETS]

This is disgraceful; if it had been me, my letter of complaint would be on Carol Marlow's desk by now. But hey ho,as far as cruise deals and terms and conditions go we do live in "rip off" Britain.

 

Cb

 

Where's the smilie ...... I assume you're joking :confused:

[cruisebore]

Where's the smilie ...... I assume you're joking :confused:

 

Not at all Rosie. It is not a matter of money but one of principle.

 

Cb

[Brayman]

Errrr, do I understand this correctly?

You were given a Voucher for £X and you are complaining because you could only spend £X.

 

Looks right to me!

[tom_uk]

This true of OBC as well, isn't it? In other word, it's only when you start spending your own money that you start getting the loyalty discount.

 

I think P&O are saying that the loyalty discount, which is personal to individual passengers, starts when they start spending their personal money. I have to say that I can see P&O's point, to some extent. The passenger been given £100 (by someone - in the case of OBC it's by P&O) which hasn't cost them anything. Why should they expect to get £105-worth of purchases out of it?

[BrianI]

The point is that if they had been given £100 cash they could have deposited it at reception, it would have just appeared as a credit on their account and would not have affected their Portunus discount.

The fact that it was a gift voucher meant they lost their discount on £100 of their spend which would have been £10 if they were gold so their gift voucher was only worth £90 to them.

Plus the £100 was deposited with P&O in advance of the cruise.

Brian

[Rum Rat]

The point is that if they had been given £100 cash they could have deposited it at reception, it would have just appeared as a credit on their account and would not have affected their Portunus discount.

The fact that it was a gift voucher meant they lost their discount on £100 of their spend which would have been £10 if they were gold so their gift voucher was only worth £90 to them.

Plus the £100 was deposited with P&O in advance of the cruise.

Brian

 

These were my thoughts. P&O did NOT provide the money, as they do with OBC.

 

It doesn't matter what the cruiser gains or doesn't gain reference Portunus Discount, the £100.00 was a private input.

 

Dreadful.

 

I would complain and complain with gusto.

 

Mike

[u2cruiser]

Tricky one this.

As I see it, you only start getting Portunus discount once your credit balance gets to £0. However the credit is put in, be it P&O. TA or gifted, it is added to your account at the beginning of the cruise and until it is all spent and you go into the red, the Portanus discount won't be activated :confused:

 

If this is how it operates, gifting OBC is a definite no no. Better off giving cash and using it to part pay your final bill.

[Rum Rat]

I started my cruising because I was given a £1000.00 Travel Agent Gift Voucher for my birthday. Maybe that is the answer, TA Gift Vouchers. The £1000.00 was still £1000.00 when I exchanged it, and added a bit more :rolleyes: :rolleyes:for my first cruise.

 

Mike

[u2cruiser]

I started my cruising because I was given a £1000.00 Travel Agent Gift Voucher for my birthday. Maybe that is the answer, TA Gift Vouchers. The £1000.00 was still £1000.00 when I exchanged it, and added a bit more :rolleyes: :rolleyes:for my first cruise.

 

Mike

 

TA gift vouchers are becoming really popular as wedding presents. My daughter went to 3 weddings last year and 2 of them wanted TA vouchers for gifts :eek:

 

I wish someone would give me £1000 TA voucher :(

[Rum Rat]

 

I wish someone would give me £1000 TA voucher :(

 

Well, you never know :)

 

Our first cruise was a "One Off. Never to be repeated" because we could never see just how we could afford more :(

 

Since then?

 

The next cruise was booked with 23 hours of getting home from the first. Then another booked, 'How the hell are we going to pay for it? Don't know, worry about that when the time comes'

 

Then? Proof in the sayings 'You can't take it with you' and 'Shrouds have no pockets'

 

A World Cruise. Arctic and Land of the Midnight Sun. Half a Worldie Southampton to Singapore. New York/Canada and Eastern Seaboard. Golden Wedding where I took all the Family :rolleyes:

 

You don't know what is round the next corner :D What is going to happen tomorrow? Next Wednesday afternoon?

 

It does help to have the same Blood Group as mine .......... Be Positive ;)

 

Mike

[jeanlyon]

I can't see the problem personally. The discount to Portunus members is a bonus, but why should P&O knock the discount off the OBC or Gift Vouchers. you spend those first, then you get the discount - Simples!

 

Apart from anything else, you are only talking about £10 max on £100 or £5 if you are a Ruby member. Fuss about nothing in my opinion.

[BrianI]

Apart from anything else, you are only talking about £10 max on £100 or £5 if you are a Ruby member. Fuss about nothing in my opinion.

So you agree with a £100 gift voucher being worth only £90 on board the ship?

Brian

[u2cruiser]

The naughty part is that with normal P&O and TA OBCs, they are just discounts. £100 gift voucher is extra money handed over to P&O's coffers in advance, therefore P&O win both ways ie, they have an extra £100 of the OP's money, plus they get away with £100 less of Portunus discount at whatever the percentage is.

 

Brian, the £100 is still worth £100, but it could possibly have been worth £110, is that what you mean? It would be fairer if the gift voucher was applied at the end of the cruise, when the Portunus discounts have been taken into account. Guess it's just business.

[BrianI]

Brian, the £100 is still worth £100, but it could possibly have been worth £110, is that what you mean? It would be fairer if the gift voucher was applied at the end of the cruise, when the Portunus discounts have been taken into account. Guess it's just business.

 

No I dont mean that it could have been worth £110.

If the gift voucher is added to your account as OBC, then that means there is £100 more of your spend that does not get the Portunus discount, which is worth £10 if you are gold.

Thus the £100 of YOUR money is only worth £90.

If you had paid £100 cash into your account it would have just gone as a credit not as OBC and you would have got the full £100.

A £100 gift voucher is equivalent to cash and should be treated as such

Brian

[u2cruiser]

No I dont mean that it could have been worth £110.

If the gift voucher is added to your account as OBC, then that means there is £100 more of your spend that does not get the Portunus discount, which is worth £10 if you are gold.

Thus the £100 of YOUR money is only worth £90.

If you had paid £100 cash into your account it would have just gone as a credit not as OBC and you would have got the full £100.

A £100 gift voucher is equivalent to cash and should be treated as such

Brian

 

I think we kind of mean the same thing. :) I understand what you mean now. Whichever way you look at it, P&O gains from the gift voucher.

[jeanlyon]

OK, if it's your first cruise, then you get no discount so the voucher is worth the same. Just because you are entitled to a P&O Portunus discount on spend other than OBC or gift voucher, doesn't mean that the voucher is worth less. It makes no difference. So to a ruby member, the difference is a fiver. So what?

[Scorpio1411]

I can't see the problem personally. The discount to Portunus members is a bonus, but why should P&O knock the discount off the OBC or Gift Vouchers. you spend those first, then you get the discount - Simples!

 

Apart from anything else, you are only talking about £10 max on £100 or £5 if you are a Ruby member. Fuss about nothing in my opinion.

 

If you look at my original post, you will see I didn't mention the amount we were given as a gift - only that we received £100 from P&O. We should have started receiving the Portunas loyalty on drinks etc after £100.

 

The gift is nothing to do with P&O, it is ours to spend just as if we had been given cash.

 

If we had been given £500, we would not have got any Portunas loyalty bonus until we had spent £600. Sorry if you feel a fuss is being made but it's the principle.

[Rum Rat]

If you look at my original post, you will see I didn't mention the amount we were given as a gift - only that we received £100 from P&O. We should have started receiving the Portunas loyalty on drinks etc after £100.

 

The gift is nothing to do with P&O, it is ours to spend just as if we had been given cash.

 

If we had been given £500, we would not have got any Portunas loyalty bonus until we had spent £600. Sorry if you feel a fuss is being made but it's the principle.

 

I am on your side and think it is dispicable of PandO.

 

Mike

[u2cruiser]

If you look at my original post, you will see I didn't mention the amount we were given as a gift - only that we received £100 from P&O. We should have started receiving the Portunas loyalty on drinks etc after £100.

 

The gift is nothing to do with P&O, it is ours to spend just as if we had been given cash.

 

If we had been given £500, we would not have got any Portunas loyalty bonus until we had spent £600. Sorry if you feel a fuss is being made but it's the principle.

 

I agree with you in principle. No idea how we arrived at £100 gift voucher, other than as an example figure.

 

If gift vouchers are lumped with OBC then it's a little sneaky of P&O as they get to fork out less Portunus discount, however, they may argue that there is an admin fee for accepting/setting up the gift voucher?

 

Thanks anyway for the warning Scorpio. :)

[BrianI]

There is no mention of an admin fee on the P&O website. Regarding gift vouchers its says

 

Gift credits are available from £5 upwards and can be used for all sorts of purchases on board. They can be spent on an indulgent treatment in the spa, a bathrobe from the shop, a meal out in one of our selected dining venues, a bottle of wine at dinner or a shore excursion and much more besides. The value of the gift credits will be applied to the recipient’s on board account.

 

The last sentence implies that the full value will be credited and no mention of money taken away elsewhere. There is a case for a strong complaint to the highest level in P&O

 

Brian

[jeanlyon]

But the full value IS credited. In fact, suppose you got a gift voucher of £200 added to your onboard account and you were a new cruiser. Therefore probably no OBC and definitely no discounts. Whatever you spent that £200 would pay for it.

 

Just because you are a Portunus member means that you get discount of what you buy ie in the shops or excursions or drinks on board. 5%, 7.5% and 10%. So you don't get the discount until after you have spent your OBC and Gift Voucher. Sounds perfectly valid to me.

[ROSEBASKETS]

If you bought a gift voucher for someone who is an employee of a high street retailer (eg Argos or Homebase) they would only receive discount on any money spent after the gift voucher was deducted, which seems common sense. I guess that some people may buy P&O vouchers at a discounted or "special" rate, if this is the case and then Portunas discount was applied they would get double the discount which wouldn't be good business practise for P&O !

[Rum Rat]

If you bought a gift voucher for someone who is an employee of a high street retailer (eg Argos or Homebase) they would only receive discount on any money spent after the gift voucher was deducted, which seems common sense. I guess that some people may buy P&O vouchers at a discounted or "special" rate, if this is the case and then Portunas discount was applied they would get double the discount which wouldn't be good business practise for P&O !

 

Sorry I don't quite understand your reasoning. Are you saying that as a Gold Portunus Member, I should have got my 10% off the bottle of Bubbly I ordered yesterday for my son in law's birthday? He is on Arcadia on the World Cruise. I am NOT on a cruise. So how do I claim my 10%?

 

Mike