Erroneous Charges

[Tom Baker]

Having recently returned from Ventura I had received my final account statement. No problems. A week later a fee for £13.08 was charged to my credit card, the description was Ventura. This is the third time in four years that this has occurred so I phoned the contact centre, they said it was something I purchased after my account was closed. My other 3 cabin occupants didn't make a purchase after 10.15pm which was the last entry on my statement.

 

I called P&O back and they then said it was for a cabin clean charge. I investigated and P&O charge considerably more for cabins left in a poor state (my cabin was left spotless BTW) I phoned them again, this time they could confirm it was a mini bar charge. Having cleared the mini bar on the fist day and got the steward to store it this was highly unlikely so I asked them to itemise what exactly I had taken from the mini bar, they couldn't do this as records were not kept once the passenger had left the ship. I asked them to investigate further.

 

P&O have since investigated and replied " I have looked into your query and can confirm that the additional £13.08 that was charged to your account is what is known as a 'turn around day error' whereby the account for the previous occupant was not closed off prior to the embarkation of the next guest making their first transaction"

 

I would suggest that everyone check their credit card after returning to make sure don't receive any erroneous charges.

 

 

[Rupert2251]

Thanks for the info Tom. Never had any problems so far but forewarned is forearmed!

 

[Eglesbrech]

I always do. With so many transactions and a quick turnaround there are bound to be the odd mistakes.

 

Glad you got it sorted out.

 

 

[jh1809]

Mistakes will occasionally happen, but what most worries me is that the people you spoke to on the first three occasions were clearly just guessing as to what the reason for the charge might be and were just trying to fob you off.

[Macc-Lad]

I to had a charge on my card for the day after I left Aurora, on making contact with P&O they said it was for items from the mini bar, the thing is that on embarkation I got the cabin steward to put the contents of the fridge in her storage box under the bed, and at the end of the cruise she agreed that nothing was used by us. When I stated this to P&O they agreed to refund the money, How many people don't bother to try and claim these small amounts back? a nice little earner for P&O on every cruise on every ship.

[grapau27]

1 hour ago, Macc-Lad said:

I to had a charge on my card for the day after I left Aurora, on making contact with P&O they said it was for items from the mini bar, the thing is that on embarkation I got the cabin steward to put the contents of the fridge in her storage box under the bed, and at the end of the cruise she agreed that nothing was used by us. When I stated this to P&O they agreed to refund the money, How many people don't bother to try and claim these small amounts back? a nice little earner for P&O on every cruise on every ship.

We have had this issue too with P&O and also on RCCL where there was a long thread of posters being charged for a large bottle of water.

RCCL finally removed the large bottles of water from their cabins.

[Harry Peterson]

Never had a problem with P&O, though the billing system's like so many others - made so complex that it's almost impenetrable.  A big time waster, and doubtless many don't bother to check for that reason.

[Bedruthen]

We have had this happen twice and each time it was refunded. But as you say, not everyone is going to check their credit card bill closely or want the hassle of getting a refund, so yes a nice little earner.

[happytravelleruk]

We have just been charged an extra £4.07 since leaving Ventura. After questioning this we were told exactly the same ' a turn around error'.  This is the second time this has happened.

[rdmaidment]

Same here for the mini bar.

 

Once I think this arose as we emptied the fridge and stored the drinks in the cabin on one of the racks above the dressing table.  Knowing that we wen't using the mini bar the steward would 'borrow' drinks and this probably left our cabin short.

 

We've moved to asking for it to be removed and stored and haven't had an issue since.

[ascot2012]

We have had this happen twice on Cunard, it must be followed up as it FRAUD or incompetence no other words for it, a few pound per cabin per cruise would make a hansom addition to profits. Don't let them fob you off just keep onto them contact your CC provider and get them to void the transaction.

 

[P-L-B]

After returning from our recent Oceana cruise I noticed we had an erroneous charge of £1.60 taken from our credit card account.

 

I have to admit because of the amount I didn’t bother to take it up with P&O, although I accept if everybody took that view it may indeed result in a nice little earner for P&O.

[Selbourne]

This has happened to us around 3 or 4 times. Always a small amount, always an error on P&O’s part, but extremely irritating as it necessitates a phone call. The last time it happened I said that I was sick and fed up with it and what were they going to do about it? They added £25 OBC to our next cruise. I suggest that others affected insist on the same. That way it might encourage them to fix this problem once and for all. 

[Green Cathedral]

Yep, I had  a fiver charged erroneously on the cruise before last and it does seem to be quite common. I suspect P&O will be in no rush to make the process more robust because, as another poster suggested, many will let it slide if below a certain amount and/ or they have busy lives on their return from holiday.

[mrsgoggins]

We have taken a fair number of cruises over the past 5 years and the only time this has happened was with P&O.  We were charged for an amount my husband allegedly spent in the spa area in addition to an item from the mini bar, which we had not had.  Anyone who knew DH would know the spa purchase was hilarious - he buys his toothpaste and deodorant from Lidl 😁. He didn't even known where the spa was let alone buy anything!  I did get them to refund, but it took effort and the whole episode was very odd in my book.

 

Definitely worth checking as the OP says.

[Eglesbrech]

I check the bill but I can’t say we have had many issues over the years.

 

Lots  of people on this thread clearly have and if my memory is correct this came up previously and again lots of examples of it.

 

I really don’t think that P&O would do this on purpose, no reputable company would. When folks have mentioned that it has happened multiple times what do they say about it?

[mrsgoggins]

12 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

 

Lots  of people on this thread clearly have and if my memory is correct this came up previously and again lots of examples of it.

 

I really don’t think that P&O would do this on purpose, no reputable company would.

 

I agree that it’s not done on purpose.

 

Also I think that I have posted about this when it’s come up before and possibly the same for others too, so it has perhaps only affected a tiny percentage of passengers.  It’s the sort of thing that sticks in your memory though!

[majortom10]

Some people might be surprised to know that this is also a regular occurrence on Cunard which uses the same land based staff as P&O at their headquarters in Southampton and IMO is happening far to often to be an honest mistake. Also if it was an honest mistake they would make sure it would never happen again and this is nothing new on either P&O or Cunard as it has been happening for some time. 

[Bazrat]

2 hours ago, majortom10 said:

Some people might be surprised to know that this is also a regular occurrence on Cunard which uses the same land based staff as P&O at their headquarters in Southampton and IMO is happening far to often to be an honest mistake. Also if it was an honest mistake they would make sure it would never happen again and this is nothing new on either P&O or Cunard as it has been happening for some time. 

so in your opinion P&O and Cunard are systematically ripping there customer off nothing to do with operator error and there the only cuise lines to have the problem.

[majortom10]

3 hours ago, Bazrat said:

so in your opinion P&O and Cunard are systematically ripping there customer off nothing to do with operator error and there the only cuise lines to have the problem.

No I didnt say that but I do believe that many charges when queried are always blamed on mini bar charges and seems that P&O/ Cunard seem to accept that items from mini bars are disappearing into thin air. When those that are charged complain that they havent had anything from mini bar and usually without argument reimbursed the money without investigating where the items have mysteriously gone.

 

 

 

.

[ozzysdad]

This thread caught my attention because strangely on both of our P&O cruises we had bar items added to our bill after we'd settled our account in cash, £4.20 the first time and £3.80 the next, was really inconvenient having to queue to get the issue resolved on our final morning but just put it down to bad luck, appears though to be quite common practice which is worrying at best.

[Bazrat]

51 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

No I didnt say that but I do believe that many charges when queried are always blamed on mini bar charges and seems that P&O/ Cunard seem to accept that items from mini bars are disappearing into thin air. When those that are charged complain that they havent had anything from mini bar and usually without argument reimbursed the money without investigating where the items have mysteriously gone.

 

 

 

.

You will find most companies will settle most complaints to keep the customer happy,and obviously to get repeat business.

[majortom10]

2 minutes ago, Bazrat said:

You will find most companies will settle most complaints to keep the customer happy,and obviously to get repeat business.

You have never had a problem with P&O onboard then my wife bought a clutch bag in a sale from one of the shops half price at £7 instead of £14. Receipt stated correct price of £7 with 50% off. P&O put the full price of £14 on our account went to the shop and saw shop manager and was told would have to go to reception as it was P&Os fault as receipt was correct. It took 4 days of our cruise regularly visiting and arguing with reception and ended up going as high as Finance Manager onboard. He tried to get me to leave it until I got home then phone P&O in Southampton and I told him I have told him price was incorrect and if he charged my credit card  knowing it was wrong that was fraud and I would inform my credit card company as it was fraud. He went all colours and said he would try and phone Head Office in Southampton and get permission to reimburse me the incorrectly charged £7. So sorry but no I dont believe P&O settle most complaints to keep the customer happy.

[Selbourne]

10 minutes ago, Bazrat said:

You will find most companies will settle most complaints to keep the customer happy,and obviously to get repeat business.

 

Not sure how it keeps customers happy when it’s a P&O error and the customer has to go to some inconvenience to get it resolved. It’s also not the smartest move to encourage repeat business. It has happened to us 3 or 4 times. Each time has necessitated a phone call, sometimes multiple phone calls and is damned irritating. The last time the person at P&O Head Office who finally sorted it for me told me that this happens “all the time”. As the sums involved are generally quite small, I suspect that a good proportion of customers don’t pursue it. I get them to rectify it out of principle. Given the thousands of customers cruising with P&O every week, it would only take a small percentage of those customers to result in hundreds of thousands of pounds extra profit for P&O every year.. A truly reputable company wouldn’t allow this ‘problem’ to continue year after year when they know it’s an issue, yet P&O does. 

[Bazrat]

4 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

You have never had a problem with P&O onboard then my wife bought a clutch bag in a sale from one of the shops half price at £7 instead of £14. Receipt stated correct price of £7 with 50% off. P&O put the full price of £14 on our account went to the shop and saw shop manager and was told would have to go to reception as it was P&Os fault as receipt was correct. It took 4 days of our cruise regularly visiting and arguing with reception and ended up going as high as Finance Manager onboard. He tried to get me to leave it until I got home then phone P&O in Southampton and I told him I have told him price was incorrect and if he charged my credit card  knowing it was wrong that was fraud and I would inform my credit card company as it was fraud. He went all colours and said he would try and phone Head Office in Southampton and get permission to reimburse me the incorrectly charged £7. So sorry but no I dont believe P&O settle most complaints to keep the customer happy.

No we did not have a problem but that doesn’t change what I said,your argument was that p&o was systematically  overcharging  customers,never forget that the problems mentioned on here are just personal experiences by a very small section of cruisers.