Refund Status for canceled cruises: Retitled after merges

[joe d]

1 hour ago, Coral said:

I can assure you the people answering the phones are not trained and will not be trained to do refunds. They are independent of each other. Your theory is flawed. Sorry.

Not true. I called last week and the person that answered said she had been working on refunds that morning.

[azbirdmom]

14 minutes ago, Julia’s Journey’s said:

The FCC always shows $100 with $15 until you use it to book a cruise and then depending on the length and what cabin it applies it to your booked cruise, at least that’s how they have always shown on my princess account.

 

Agree, our's showed that way as did the FCC/FCD for our friends.  However on Sunday it disappeared entirely from all of our accounts.  That was the day after we should have sailed so I think it stays until the cruise departure date.  None of us have FCCs yet but at least we have a big chunk of our refund (we cancelled two days before the pause announcement and for some reason the partial refund came quickly).

[dog]

1 hour ago, Coral said:

I don't think it is a software issue.

Coral do you know how many buildings Princess has at location in Santa Clarita?(sp). Rep Matt told me all staff from 2 of  the buildings were working from home.

( not sure how to express this) And there were many IT problems even before that. Also, they needed to have a way to transfer callers, check with a supervisor etc while customer was on phone and they were working from home. ( would that be a different phone system?)

I am not making any excuses  for them, 

they are a business and the refunds are not coming fast enough. 

[dog]

7 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

 

Agree, our's showed that way as did the FCC/FCD for our friends.  However on Sunday it disappeared entirely from all of our accounts.  That was the day after we should have sailed so I think it stays until the cruise departure date.  None of us have FCCs yet but at least we have a big chunk of our refund (we cancelled two days before the pause announcement and for some reason the partial refund came quickly).

Might be a sign it is being processed. My did this. Appeared, disappeared twice and my count was settled shortly after. Hope so. 

Edited May 12, 2020 by dog

[PrincessLuver]

1 minute ago, CarelessAndConfused said:

 

I'll sound like a broken record for the millionth time.  Even if all that were true as the apologists continue to insinuate, shouldn't there be SOME indication or real progress at this point from posters who report actual refunds?  I mean if it's okay for them to be THIS slow after 60 days having issued what appears to be virtually ZERO cash refunds in the 1st mass cancellation period, then you're by extension saying that most of us will literally all be dead by the time they are able to complete the refunds.

 

The problems is that some people believe the Earth is flat, we did not go to the Moon and that Princess is busy issuing refunds.

[nho9504]

15 minutes ago, dog said:

Coral do you know how many buildings Princess has at location in Santa Clarita?(sp). Rep Matt told me all staff from 2 of  the buildings were working from home.

( not sure how to express this) And there were many IT problems even before that. Also, they needed to have a way to transfer callers, check with a supervisor etc while customer was on phone and they were working from home. ( would that be a different phone system?)

I am not making any excuses  for them, 

they are a business and the refunds are not coming fast enough. 

 

For airlines and hotel chains phone reps - many of them are work from home, and yes, the phone system that handle incoming calls from customers and the calls to get their own help desks / supervisors are different.   When they need to reach out to their help desks they would be going thru a queue which can be quite long, - good reps would periodically return to you and update you the status, such as s/he still is waiting to get thru the higher up, or whatever.

 

This is also true for Banks,  notably the credit card side, both the fraud / security dept and the front customer service dept have most reps work from call centers - same principles.   Both AMEX and Chase have reps based in India and Philippines for example.  Fidelity has 3 or 4 call centers thru US even though its main operation is in Boston. 

AMEX has a big campus right in our area, with another big one at Salt Lake City.  Though 50% of the time I get an Indian rep!  However you can always request to be transferred to a US-based Supervisor to address your issue because the front line rep may not have the authority to help you... 

 

That is HOW things should be done.

 

The days of having many staff working out from one single location are long gone.   Though this would not prevent the earth is flat folks from defending princess. 

 

Sorry, can't help that, esp about the work from home excuse - as I talked to an IHG rep 2 days ago about extending a Free Night cert, the guy is in Philippines, and was working from home.  IHG is one big hotel group that owns InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, etc etc.  The UK based folks should be very familiar with IHG - it is a UK company.

Edited May 13, 2020 by nho9504

[dog]

8 minutes ago, CarelessAndConfused said:

 

I'll sound like a broken record for the millionth time.  Even if all that were true as the apologists continue to insinuate, shouldn't there be SOME indication or real progress at this point from posters who report actual refunds?  I mean if it's okay for them to be THIS slow after 60 days having issued what appears to be virtually ZERO cash refunds in the 1st mass cancellation period, then you're by extension saying that most of us will literally all be dead by the time they are able to complete the refunds.

Please put the mouse over the D top left corner of my post and select ignore. Thanks 

 

I am NOT supporting Princess. 

Edited May 13, 2020 by dog

[as400guy]

14 minutes ago, PrincessLuver said:

some people believe the Earth is flat, we did not go to the Moon and that Princess is busy issuing refunds.

 

Oh yeah, and the Cruise Director really is funny.  🍹 🤡

[as400guy]

15 minutes ago, dog said:

Please put the mouse over the D top left corner of my post and select ignore. Thanks 

 

Now, kids.  Settle down back there or I swear I'm going to pull this car off the road and ....

 

Let's not lose sight of this thread's purpose.  *I* have not gotten my refund.  I did NOT get a signed loan agreement from Princess when I paid for my cruise (in full when I booked it).  Gimme my money back.  Today.

 

[Coral]

44 minutes ago, dog said:

Coral do you know how many buildings Princess has at location in Santa Clarita?(sp). Rep Matt told me all staff from 2 of  the buildings were working from home.

( not sure how to express this) And there were many IT problems even before that. Also, they needed to have a way to transfer callers, check with a supervisor etc while customer was on phone and they were working from home. ( would that be a different phone system?)

I am not making any excuses  for them, 

they are a business and the refunds are not coming fast enough. 

No I don't know. I do know that they also have employees in the Seattle area. Or they used to.  Last I knew they had to work at a call center until they became more experienced and then were allowed to work at home. Though COVID-19 may have caused everyone who could to work at home quicker.

 

I just know that in the middle of this - they are not going to cross train employees. I don't believe this is an issue related to so few employees. Look how quickly the FCCs happened to almost every one once they started?

 

Several years ago - they eliminated a lot of their IT staff and outsourced it overseas (it was one of those where the people in CA trained their replacements). There were several on this board whose family was affected by this and posted such. It was reported in the trade magazines also about the layoffs.

Edited May 13, 2020 by Coral

[Coral]

3 hours ago, hpeabody said:

Thank you for bringing that up, Coral.  Mine was a very expensive "once in a lifetime" world cruise.  The money for this did not come easy and the cruise will never be repeated.  I am majorly disappointed, mostly because of the missed anticipated experiences I will never have.  I just now roughly tallied up what I am owed.  Approximately .... $35,818 in cash refund for 71 cruise days missed and unexpected travel home from Australia to LAX, "Refundable" OBC from my on board folio $2700, the promised bonus FCC of 100% of 71 cruise days missed $33,000.  I do not fit in any of the detailed phases as our 111 day cruise was underway when the pause was announced.  Yes, quite a difference from a deposit, use of FCD or a fully paid normal cruise.  I have had ZERO, NONE, NADA communication from Princess. 

I am so sorry. I hope for everyone's sake we are all refunded soon. 

Edited May 13, 2020 by Coral

[nho9504]

2 hours ago, richsea said:

If I’m not mistaken, it may be the professed CPAs that inferred they knew what was involved in processing a huge number of refunds

 

Any credit card payment refund to original form of payment IS AUTOMATIC as soon as the vendor agrees on the refund.

 

Have you not returned a merchandise bought from store?  Online?  Have you?

 

How long it takes for you to receive the credit on your credit card once the store took back the return and scanned your receipt?  I bet no more than 3 to 4 days.  

 

2 days ago I called Geico about if there is a reduction for lowering our yearly driving mileage which is already at the low For Pleasure only rate.  Rep said yes there was,  she lowered our 5,000 a year mileage to 3,000 a year.  Refund hit my AMEX in 36 hours. 

 

The way to NOT let this happen automatically processed by the system if the merchant ACTUALLY agree to issue the refund, would require Manual Intervention as mentioned by PescadoAmarillo in post 102.

 

I am truly amazed by some of you be so zealous to find excuses to defend Princess, with the unethical, dishonest company took your own money and willfully delaying the refund on services not rendered. 

 

Why some people think number matters more than the ACTUAL processing / issuing refunds? 

 

The excuses of those folks keep finding to defend Princess are being repeated gazillion times, with the most favorites being the number game and the work at home game.

 

Funny the person who questioned me demanding to know how many refunds DL  have processed,  as if the number process is more important than the fact that DL or any airline provides refund when passenger requests it instead of accepting the voucher...  The same argument was posted weeks ago when claiming how many passengers were affected on the cruises canceled - without any idea how many flights a SINGLE AIRLINE IN US Operates PER DAY...  DL has over 5,000 daily flights, fwiw.  Also the basic fact that a cruise lasts for days while a flight lasts for hours - the number of airline passengers are much much much more than cruise line passengers... 

 

So what is the "gotcha" question again?  Oh, I dont know the number of refunds DL has processed since March...  And numbers matters, all in capital letters...

 

Yeah, right, so Princess' number must be so huge that is the reason why it cannot process it timely -

 

Thankfully 2 other posters ahead of me quickly tell the person that show that the number of refunds DL has processed - Over One Million since March, and over $500 million Dollars...   That includes those passengers who are not happy of the default vouchers issued and wanted refunds instead.

 

And what Princess has processed so far?  can anyone provide a number?  double digits?  triple digits?  Princess would not even issue FCC automatically like the airlines do...

 

How many passengers Princess carries in a full year?  I do not know but I would bet any $ that it is LESS than one million.

 

Is it such a hard concept to grasp?  That you are owed money, being fed lies after lies on when you would get back YOUR OWN MONEY,  and you try to find all sorts of "reasons" why you should be owed that money,  without any time line on when you would get back your own money? 

 

[ceilidh1]

1 hour ago, Sunwanabe said:

This is assuming Princess comes through on the refund, which I am reasonablely confident. If not, then insurance Co should reimburse.

Doubtful...there is a timeframe within which you need to claim. By the time it is decided that Princess will not refund (how CAN that be decided short of declaring bankruptcy?) the timeframe would have long passed. Mine already has - within 30 days from cancellation.

 

I fully understand the reasoning behind it. No double-dipping! My insurance company basically confirmed with Princess that the cruise had been cancelled and the amount that needed to be paid out by insurance. Princess told them they were offering full refund. Insurance company kicks it to Princess and denies the claim.

[remydiva]

35 minutes ago, Coral said:

No I don't know. I do know that they also have employees in the Seattle area. Or they used to.  Last I knew they had to work at a call center until they became more experienced and then were allowed to work at home. Though COVID-19 may have caused everyone who could to work at home quicker.

 

I just know that in the middle of this - they are not going to cross train employees. I don't believe this is an issue related to so few employees. Look how quickly the FCCs happened to almost every one once they started?

 

Several years ago - they eliminated a lot of their IT staff and outsourced it overseas (it was one of those where the people in CA trained their replacements). There were several on this board whose family was affected by this and posted such. It was reported in the trade magazines also about the layoffs.

Look how quickly the FCCs happened to almost every one once they started?

 

are you implying that ‘almost every one’ has received their FCCs? Because that simply is not true.

[Ombud]

On 5/10/2020 at 10:45 AM, Ombud said:

I was promised 100% FCC, got 50% and a random check from Bottomline Technologies that my PVP traced back to an expired bonus gift card + some random incidentals. The gift card was already replaced. I disputed the amount due back on the 2nd cancelled cruise last week.

 

I read on another thread that they were going to start processing the Phase 2 cancellations on May 31st. I'm still wondering what happened to pre-phase 1 & phase 1. 

 

Added: could this be complicated by California's lockdown? 

Cancelled my dispute and booked an Alaska cruise with $434.32 due + FCC for the 3 of us. Will pay the other 2k on due date. Never paying early again!!

[Coral]

3 minutes ago, remydiva said:

Look how quickly the FCCs happened to almost every one once they started?

 

are you implying that ‘almost every one’ has received their FCCs? Because that simply is not true.

I said almost. I have yet to receive mine also. I think we are in a unique group being treated differently. Most who were part of Pause 1 who Princess cancelled seemed to get theirs.

[lhall85917]

We have been waiting for a refund and FCC’s from our Feb 13 Sapphire cruise. The FCC’s just showed up tonight, no sign of a refund yet. We did file a dispute for credit card charges last week, not sure if that is related in any way. IF the refund shows up soon the dispute can be cancelled. It would be nice to have it all settled.

[ceilidh1]

1 minute ago, Coral said:

I said almost. I have yet to receive mine also. I think we are in a unique group being treated differently. Most who were part of Pause 1 who Princess cancelled seemed to get theirs.

Ironically, our "unique group" cancelled before those that HAVE received FCCs. Sigh...

[Ombud]

8 hours ago, Sail4th said:

Cancelled March 11 the March 15 sailing to Panama on the Emerald Princess. Filled out the form on March 16th and Princess refunded the taxes and port charges on May 1st. FFC are still not posted.  

Did you find an odd booking # in your Circle Savings Account? I was ok with not getting the bonus FCC for 1st cancelation (of 3) because I got 50% FCC + full refund. But when I tried to use it today I was told an odd booking was a 'holding account' for the missing FCC waiting on completing processing. So I'm done!! (With 2 of 3 anyway)

[remydiva]

17 minutes ago, Coral said:

I said almost. I have yet to receive mine also. I think we are in a unique group being treated differently. Most who were part of Pause 1 who Princess cancelled seemed to get theirs.

 Nope not me and I was part of that group you describe. If you go to other FB pages .. one called Princess Cruises and one called  Princess Elite , you can count on one hand who in this phase 1 Princess cancelled group has received any FCC. Not being contrary, just offering More sources to get a larger group to poll for more survey results. 

Edited May 13, 2020 by remydiva

[suzyed]

16 minutes ago, Coral said:

I said almost. I have yet to receive mine also. I think we are in a unique group being treated differently. Most who were part of Pause 1 who Princess cancelled seemed to get theirs.

Nope. We were phase 1. We did not. Honestly, I only personally  know of one person who has gotten theirs.

[dog]

Just my opinion, since I have spent way too much time on this topic: fb, cruise critic posters are a very small representation of the thousands or hundred thousand refunds Princess has to process starting with the Diamond Princess. None of us know the numbers. 

[remydiva]

33 minutes ago, dog said:

Just my opinion, since I have spent way too much time on this topic: fb, cruise critic posters are a very small representation of the thousands or hundred thousand refunds Princess has to process starting with the Diamond Princess. None of us know the numbers. 

Hallelujah....there is just a few dozen posters here who have made 1865 posts but 'we' only represent a fraction of those who are waiting for FCC and refunds; thus I mentioned a few other info sources via FB pages. Again, that is just another pool to draw from.

It is also likely that those who got their FCCs and refunds wouldn't think to come HERE and seek out any threads about refund delays. Nope, they likely are busy looking online to try and plan their next trip!

Hopefully we will all be able to do that soon.

 

[caribill]

14 hours ago, CarelessAndConfused said:

 

BS.  First off, I'm a CPA who has worked with dozens of varying accounting systems.  Refunds should have ALL been issued by now if they even remotely wanted to.  I know that 100% as fact, not opinion.  This much should be abundantly clear to you, if you say it is difficult to issue all those refunds, and hardly any of it has actually been issued in two months save for some early pre-pause stragglers, then according to your thinking, it will will take DECADES to process all of the refunds.

 

My eyes are even opened WIDER. And I don't like what I see: Ugliness, selfishness, lying, retroactively changing published corporate releases, disrespecting their customers and utter desperation; and ALL of it is coming from Princess.

 

 

The refund issue is complicated by Princess giving passengers a choice of cash refunds or receiving the refunds as FCCs + bonus FCCs. Each of the three Pause announcements had a deadline for making the choice. For the second Pause the deadline is sometime in May. For the third Pause recently announced, the deadline is June 15.

 

I believe Princess stated that the refund/FCC processing for each Pause announcement will not start until the choice deadlines when by choice or default the preferences for all affected by that Pause are known.

 

So, for those whose cruises part of the second or third Pause, do not expect any refunds/FCCs to show up before the choice deadline.

[caribill]

13 hours ago, c-boy said:

 .....must wait for their credit card companies to process the refund.

 

 

Credit card company processing time is essentially immediate once Princess has submitted the request.

 

Once the credit card company has the information, you can go online and see that it happened.