Loss of Internet package time due to time zone change

[groovechick]

On our recent cruise, due to a problem with my mobile phone service provider, I had absolutely no phone service at all, not even to make emergency calls, even when in port with free wifi available.

So I purchased P&O's 24-hour wifi package for £12.50 in an effort to try and sort out the problem and check my e-mail.

 

I first logged on at 3 pm and was told I would have until 3 pm the following day to use the package. I was waiting for a reply from my provider, but when I logged on the next morning, the system said I had until 2 pm. This was because we had changed time zones overnight. I had paid for a 24-hour service but didn't get it. We were in port that day, I couldn't resolve my problem before we left for a shore excursion and by the time we returned the package had expired.

 

I just wanted to make other cruisers aware of this because I had no idea that this would happen and P&O certainly gives you no indication. If you were to buy a package for a week or longer and crisscross time zones, you might actually be losing out quite a bit.

 

I complained, and after initial resistance P&O have agreed to refund the full cost of the package and say they will be drawing it to guests' attention in future.

[Dwalkerdave]

On our recent cruise, due to a problem with my mobile phone service provider, I had absolutely no phone service at all, not even to make emergency calls, even when in port with free wifi available.

So I purchased P&O's 24-hour wifi package for £12.50 in an effort to try and sort out the problem and check my e-mail.

 

I first logged on at 3 pm and was told I would have until 3 pm the following day to use the package. I was waiting for a reply from my provider, but when I logged on the next morning, the system said I had until 2 pm. This was because we had changed time zones overnight. I had paid for a 24-hour service but didn't get it. We were in port that day, I couldn't resolve my problem before we left for a shore excursion and by the time we returned the package had expired.

 

I just wanted to make other cruisers aware of this because I had no idea that this would happen and P&O certainly gives you no indication. If you were to buy a package for a week or longer and crisscross time zones, you might actually be losing out quite a bit.

 

I complained, and after initial resistance P&O have agreed to refund the full cost of the package and say they will be drawing it to guests' attention in future.

 

Surely if you are 'crisis crossing' as you say some days you will be better off and it would balance out over the week ?

[groovechick]

Surely if you are 'crisis crossing' as you say some days you will be better off and it would balance out over the week ?

 

Possibly - I have no way of knowing whether the system works both ways. I did ask, but P&O didn't reply to that point.

[dsrdsrdsr]

I complained, and after initial resistance P&O have agreed to refund the full cost of the package and say they will be drawing it to guests' attention in future.

I think what that shows is that if you complain long enough about something trivial enough, most service organisations will give you your money back just to make you go away. I bet they were tempted to offer you 52p!

 

(You missed a trick. If you sale west to east, eg. Barbados to Southampton, you may be offered a 7 day cruise but you lose 4 hours in transit. Perhaps they should draw attention to that one as well.)

[groovechick]

I think what that shows is that if you complain long enough about something trivial enough, most service organisations will give you your money back just to make you go away. I bet they were tempted to offer you 52p!

 

(You missed a trick. If you sale west to east, eg. Barbados to Southampton, you may be offered a 7 day cruise but you lose 4 hours in transit. Perhaps they should draw attention to that one as well.)

 

I'm not in the habit of complaining, but if I pay for X I expect to get X, not Y. I would have been perfectly happy if they'd offered me 52p. I thought I was being helpful, alerting people to an issue of which they might not have been aware. Silly me, setting myself up for someone to have a pop at instead.

[mandylennon]

Yes, you should complain. 24 hours is 24 hours, it is not 1 day, then you could understand. Must admit I have not come across this before, but will keep an eye out in future.

[Hampshire Scot]

On Aurora's world cruise this year the times for internet usage were in GMT throughout the whole trip and 24 hours was 24 hours.

[Host Sharon]

On Aurora's world cruise this year the times for internet usage were in GMT throughout the whole trip and 24 hours was 24 hours.

 

Agreed - I was just going to say that so I am not sure what happened with the OP.

[dsrdsrdsr]

I'm not in the habit of complaining, but if I pay for X I expect to get X, not Y. I would have been perfectly happy if they'd offered me 52p. I thought I was being helpful, alerting people to an issue of which they might not have been aware. Silly me, setting myself up for someone to have a pop at instead.

Surely 3 pm to 3pm would have been 25 hours? If you changed time zones, then I would have thought the problem was that one hour (either noon to 1 pm or midnight to 1 am, depending which way P&O does it nowadays) would have happened twice. So you actually received 24 hours as per booking, when rationally you would (and did) expect the time to finish at the same time next day.

 

I wasn't exactly having a pop - that's just the way customer service organisations do things, if they get (what I still consider) to be a trivial, persistent complaint. I didn't say you were in the wrong, just that I would have given up complaining before you did. Take it as a compliment.

[groovechick]

Surely 3 pm to 3pm would have been 25 hours? If you changed time zones, then I would have thought the problem was that one hour (either noon to 1 pm or midnight to 1 am, depending which way P&O does it nowadays) would have happened twice. So you actually received 24 hours as per booking, when rationally you would (and did) expect the time to finish at the same time next day.

 

I wasn't exactly having a pop - that's just the way customer service organisations do things, if they get (what I still consider) to be a trivial, persistent complaint. I didn't say you were in the wrong, just that I would have given up complaining before you did. Take it as a compliment.

 

I was going by what P&O's system told me when I logged on for the first time. It said, quite clearly, that my package would expire at 15.00 the next day. The next morning, when I logged on, this had changed to 14.00.

 

The length of my complaint was 2 e-mails, the initial one pointing out what had happened and asking for P&O's response. I received a stock, dismissive reply. I sent another e-mail saying they'd missed the point. A couple of days later I received their e-mail saying they would be refunding the full price. I've just re-read my e-mails and I never actually asked for a refund! I just said I wasn't happy because I hadn't received the service I'd paid for. I would also add that my initial e-mail was mainly about the fact that during disembarkation they managed to badly damage my daughter's suitcase - completely ripped the covering off one of the handles, ripped the main zip completely away from the side of the case, damaged the wheels, etc.

 

Mandy & Sharon - maybe on a worldy they keep times in GMT because presumably the time zones change a lot? Reassuring to hear that it's not a common issue.