Erroneous Charges

[majortom10]

1 minute ago, Bazrat said:

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.

I never said that P&O were systematically knowingly charging customers. But when P&O/Cunard get so many complaints about "extra" charges on customers credit cards after their cruises then they must find it strange that so many errors are made regularly and dont seem to investigate either the error made or where these items from the mini bar are going. You have now twice said that I have accused P&O/Cunard from systematically overcharging customers which I have not.

[grapau27]

1 hour ago, ozzysdad said:

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.

I wonder now that tips are included these charges will become more prevalent.

[grapau27]

1 hour 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.

 

 

 

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This is our experience on P&O and RCCL too.

When you had to ring 0844 or 0845 numbers it cost nearly as much to complain as the overcharge so we often didn't bother but now there are free phone numbers I will ring and the money is recredited to our CC.

[terrierjohn]

42 minutes ago, Bazrat said:

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.

You are of course correct that we are but a tiny fraction of P&O's customer base, but in my experience P&O customer service do seem to have built up a reputation that passengers are an annoying inconvenience that prevent them from having an easy job.  Ergo charging passengers for missing inventory would be far easier than trying to sort out the problem at their end.

[emam]

Is this happening on all of the P&O ships or just certain ones. For those of you who have had it happen a few times, is it always the same ship and same cabin?

[Selbourne]

6 minutes ago, emam said:

Is this happening on all of the P&O ships or just certain ones. For those of you who have had it happen a few times, is it always the same ship and same cabin?

 

It has happened to us on different ships with different cabins and we have never had the same cabin steward twice. As far as I can tell (from what I have been told when I have called to complain and have the erroneous charges refunded) that they are usually mini bar charges. We have never used an item from our mini bar and in fact we always tell our steward that we won’t use it when we first see them and they empty the contents into a box which they store under the bed until they set the cabin up for the following cruise in order that we can use the fridge for our own drinks, bottled water etc. 

[Harry Peterson]

Isn’t part of the problem the complexity of the account statements and the difficulty in understanding them?

 

Like so many companies, P&O seem to work on the basis that if they make the statements sufficiently opaque most people won’t bother to challenge them.

[Selbourne]

2 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

Isn’t part of the problem the complexity of the account statements and the difficulty in understanding them?

 

Like so many companies, P&O seem to work on the basis that if they make the statements sufficiently opaque most people won’t bother to challenge them.

 

The times that we have received erroneous charges they haven’t appeared on the closing statement. We have spotted them when my credit card is charged with the correct closing statement balance but then there is a small amount as a separate transaction. I believe that P&O retains the ability to do this for any charges that come to light after the closing statement has been printed.

[pete14]

15 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

Isn’t part of the problem the complexity of the account statements and the difficulty in understanding them?

 

Like so many companies, P&O seem to work on the basis that if they make the statements sufficiently opaque most people won’t bother to challenge them.

For me, the problem of the account is that it doesn’t give enough information. I think there will be fewer issues and challenges if, as well as telling you where a purchase was made (usually one of the bars), it told you what was purchased. I have challenged my account onboard several times and each time, the account is correct. Had the actual purchase been listed, there would be no need to challenge.

I have never had any extra charges deducted later, erroneous or not, so perhaps I have been fortunate.

[Pentlands]

I found it annoying that on could not check ones account on the TV and had to ask for a print out. Mercifully many lines allow guests to have real control over their bill and access it any time. Back to one in September.

[Bazrat]

Just out of interest does anyone check there shopping bill restaurant bill change from the pub and if wrong query it,mistakes can happen not nice when it happens to yourself but it happens,

The minibar can be more problematic the steward can make a mistake and charge you for something you never had,or you could take a drink than argue after you didn’t either can happen.

the easiest thing pando can do is make you take a drinks package out or tha all inclusive route that would solve the problems.

[Josy1953]

The all inclusive or compulsory drinks package would solve the problem but would result in higher cruise costs to cover the cost of the drinks.  This may be fine for many people but for passengers like my husband and me it would not be worth while since we do not drink alcohol during the day and never drink the fancy coffees.  Our drinks on a cruise consist of a glass of wine each with dinner and one drink each after the show and this is far more than we would ever drink at home over a fortnight.

[Bazrat]

1 hour ago, Josy1953 said:

The all inclusive or compulsory drinks package would solve the problem but would result in higher cruise costs to cover the cost of the drinks.  This may be fine for many people but for passengers like my husband and me it would not be worth while since we do not drink alcohol during the day and never drink the fancy coffees.  Our drinks on a cruise consist of a glass of wine each with dinner and one drink each after the show and this is far more than we would ever drink at home over a fortnight.

Hi it was just a thought I prefer pay as you go but reading some of the posts on here,it makes it seam like you have to worry before you book a holiday you will be ripped off.

[NauticalMiss]

6 hours ago, pete14 said:

For me, the problem of the account is that it doesn’t give enough information. I think there will be fewer issues and challenges if, as well as telling you where a purchase was made (usually one of the bars), it told you what was purchased. I have challenged my account onboard several times and each time, the account is correct. Had the actual purchase been listed, there would be no need to challenge.

I have never had any extra charges deducted later, erroneous or not, so perhaps I have been fortunate.

Your purchase is itemised on your receipt, so you can know exactly what you have paid for. We always check the receipt total against your printed on-board account and we know exactly what we have bought, and how much it cost. We do this every cruise. Mistakes happen, especially when you consider the amount of transactions occurring on any given ship across the fleet. We've never had an erroneous charge on a P&O cruise (14+), but have on a Celebrity cruise (just 2, to date). So, according to my stats, P&O = never wrong vs Celebrity, wrong 50% of the time. 😉  

[Bazrat]

52 minutes ago, NauticalMiss said:

Your purchase is itemised on your receipt, so you can know exactly what you have paid for. We always check the receipt total against your printed on-board account and we know exactly what we have bought, and how much it cost. We do this every cruise. Mistakes happen, especially when you consider the amount of transactions occurring on any given ship across the fleet. We've never had an erroneous charge on a P&O cruise (14+), but have on a Celebrity cruise (just 2, to date). So, according to my stats, P&O = never wrong vs Celebrity, wrong 50% of the time. 😉  

Thank you for explaining that I was trying to make that point that mistakes can happen not just a p&o thing but alas it was lost on some.

[pete14]

1 hour ago, NauticalMiss said:

Your purchase is itemised on your receipt, so you can know exactly what you have paid for. We always check the receipt total against your printed on-board account and we know exactly what we have bought, and how much it cost. We do this every cruise. Mistakes happen, especially when you consider the amount of transactions occurring on any given ship across the fleet. We've never had an erroneous charge on a P&O cruise (14+), but have on a Celebrity cruise (just 2, to date). So, according to my stats, P&O = never wrong vs Celebrity, wrong 50% of the time. 😉  

I’m afraid collecting receipts is too organised for me. What if you mislay one without realising?

[Selbourne]

6 hours ago, Josy1953 said:

The all inclusive or compulsory drinks package would solve the problem but would result in higher cruise costs to cover the cost of the drinks.  This may be fine for many people but for passengers like my husband and me it would not be worth while since we do not drink alcohol during the day and never drink the fancy coffees.  Our drinks on a cruise consist of a glass of wine each with dinner and one drink each after the show and this is far more than we would ever drink at home over a fortnight.

 

Taking a drinks package won’t solve the problem I’m afraid. All of the erroneous charges that we have had have been post cruise and all have related to mini bar items (which we never touch) and mini bar items are not covered by a drinks package. 

[grapau27]

7 hours ago, Bazrat said:

Just out of interest does anyone check there shopping bill restaurant bill change from the pub and if wrong query it,mistakes can happen not nice when it happens to yourself but it happens,

The minibar can be more problematic the steward can make a mistake and charge you for something you never had,or you could take a drink than argue after you didn’t either can happen.

the easiest thing pando can do is make you take a drinks package out or tha all inclusive route that would solve the problems.

With RCCL the mini bar is not included in their drinks package so I would think P&O would be the same so it would not solve the mini bar problem.

[tring]

Not had this problems, but not sailed with P&O for about 3 years.

 

Want to say though that if we have had any problems on board this or another cruise line we use regularly, we just go straight to the hotel Manager, make sure he is well aware of the problem and, if necessary, a formal complaint to P&O after we return home.  Tend to get a good response from that, including when on Adonia the first season when they advertised there would be a self service in the evenings, but ship had decided to only open it on a few nights out of 17.  Got £400 OBC on our next cruise after that, but must admit would still have preferred access to a self service as being stuck with set dining time or the Italian (which was taking about 2.5 hours to feed us a very small amount - I do not eat steaks), was a big bind for us on that cruise.

Edited July 22, 2019 by tring

[Bazrat]

2 hours ago, grapau27 said:

With RCCL the mini bar is not included in their drinks package so I would think P&O would be the same so it would not solve the mini bar problem.

Just out of interest do they have the same problem on RCCL or is it purely a P&O problem.

[grapau27]

1 hour ago, Bazrat said:

Just out of interest do they have the same problem on RCCL or is it purely a P&O problem.

Yes.

There was a long thread on Royal about this subject.

They used to leave 2 big bottles of still water in the cabins and lots of people were charged for these.

It was an 0844 or 0845 number to ring and for the $6-12 over charge it cost nearly as much to ring so a lot of people didn't.

They now have a UK freephone number to call.

Royal removed these litre bottles of water from the cabins and most of the Erroneous charges stopped.

We have had overcharges on P&O and Royal Caribbean.

[happytravelleruk]

Keeping receipts to check doesn't always work.  We weren't offered receipts on Ventura as the serving staff had Pads.

[Bazrat]

4 hours ago, happytravelleruk said:

Keeping receipts to check doesn't always work.  We weren't offered receipts on Ventura as the serving staff had Pads.

So you don’t sign for items ? 

[Tom Baker]

26 minutes ago, Bazrat said:

So you don’t sign for items ? 

Give the waiter your card and room No. if the name matches the No. they swipe your card on the IPad, no signing, no receipts, much better IMHO

[Palaceman]

12 minutes ago, Tom Baker said:

Give the waiter your card and room No. if the name matches the No. they swipe your card on the IPad, no signing, no receipts, much better IMHO

IMHO, regardless of the technology used I would still want to sign and request a receipt for all purchases.