CRUISE REFUND RECEIVED

[Eglesbrech]

10 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

That’s interesting that you were told that the refund would be a cheque Graham. I am waiting for a £5k refund which, if it goes back on my credit card, will put me in credit for a few months until I spend it (I don’t know if you can withdraw credit balances from a credit card?). If it’s a cheque, I can pay it straight into my bank account. There’s also an obvious advantage for P&O by issuing cheques, as the added time it takes for a cheque to be posted to the customer, for the customer to get it to their bank and then eventually drawn down against P&O all keeps the money in P&O’s coffers for a week or two longer than a credit card refund!

Yes cheques would add to the delay. I don’t know about where you live but our post is now very slow, first class items are taking up to a week to be delivered. Add to that the lack of banks in many rural areas meaning a car journey to get to a bank, a journey that is potentially prohibited under lockdown rules.

[terrierjohn]

12 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

That’s interesting that you were told that the refund would be a cheque Graham. I am waiting for a £5k refund which, if it goes back on my credit card, will put me in credit for a few months until I spend it (I don’t know if you can withdraw credit balances from a credit card?). If it’s a cheque, I can pay it straight into my bank account. There’s also an obvious advantage for P&O by issuing cheques, as the added time it takes for a cheque to be posted to the customer, for the customer to get it to their bank and then eventually drawn down against P&O all keeps the money in P&O’s coffers for a week or two longer than a credit card refund!

I believe if you pay off your balance by direct debit then you can ask your credit card provider to use this system to refund large credits to your bank.

[devonuk]

If anyone has a Starling bank account and travel is an issue you can just take a pic of the cheque, upload it and wait for it to clear before then destroying the cheque. Simples 🙂

[Selbourne]

1 minute ago, Eglesbrech said:

Yes cheques would add to the delay. I don’t know about where you live but our post is now very slow, first class items are taking up to a week to be delivered. Add to that the lack of banks in many rural areas meaning a car journey to get to a bank, a journey that is potentially prohibited under lockdown rules.

Yes our post is very slow as well. I think it is nationally. I can pay cheques up to £999 via my iPad, so no need to use the post or go to a bank, but I had to pay one for £2k in a few weeks ago so I posted it to my branch using a paying in slip. Thankfully it was on my account a few working days later. I will have to do the same if P&O issues my refund by cheque, but think I will still prefer that to a credit card refund which will take me 2 to 3 months to spend, so I will effectively get the money quicker with a cheque. 

[Selbourne]

10 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

I believe if you pay off your balance by direct debit then you can ask your credit card provider to use this system to refund large credits to your bank.

Yes I pay off the full balance every month via DD so that would be useful. Thanks John. 

Edited April 26, 2020 by Selbourne

[Selbourne]

1 minute ago, devonuk said:

If anyone has a Starling bank account and travel is an issue you can just take a pic of the cheque, upload it and wait for it to clear before then destroying the cheque. Simples 🙂

I think quite a few banks do that now. I can do that with my bank but the limit for any cheque is £999. Only realised that when I tried to pay in £2k!

[NightWoman]

Selborne, if your credit card account has a credit balance you can transfer the credit amount into one of your other accounts with the same bank.

[grapau27]

34 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

That’s interesting that you were told that the refund would be a cheque Graham. I am waiting for a £5k refund which, if it goes back on my credit card, will put me in credit for a few months until I spend it (I don’t know if you can withdraw credit balances from a credit card?). If it’s a cheque, I can pay it straight into my bank account. There’s also an obvious advantage for P&O by issuing cheques, as the added time it takes for a cheque to be posted to the customer, for the customer to get it to their bank and then eventually drawn down against P&O all keeps the money in P&O’s coffers for a week or two longer than a credit card refund!

The P&O customer relations representative that we had exchanged several emails with told me the TA should know this?.

She told me what our refund will be and if we had paid the TA more than that to speak to our TA. The difference was roughly a couple of hundred pounds.

She also said it could be up to 60 days when the last email said 45 days.

 

Edited April 26, 2020 by grapau27

[Selbourne]

21 minutes ago, NightWoman said:

Selborne, if your credit card account has a credit balance you can transfer the credit amount into one of your other accounts with the same bank.

My credit card provider is not the same bank as my current account, but I shall certainly check if that’s an option if and when the refund is put back on my credit card.
 

The silence form those who have supposedly received refunds is deafening. Perhaps when people actually receive the money that they have been owed for months they will be kind enough to post how it was received! Surely someone else must receive a refund before too much longer? I think we know of two people so far!!

[ann141]

Our cruise was cancelled 13 March (well turned back to Southampton- we had left on 11th March)and I have heard of 2 people on our cruise receiving refunds back onto their card.One i think managed to get through on the phone to P and O and insisted that the customer services advisor contact someone in finance as we had received a letter onboard from the Captain stating we would receive a refund after a week.She then had to scan a copy of the letter through to P and O and received a refund within a few days .The other person I think contacted them on social media and was successful but most [people I know are still waiting.The 45 days are up tommorrow and I will try to phone then but at the moment I am not prepared to hang on the phone to be put through for hours!

[Twogreynomads]

Good morning everyone from the OP.

Firstly I did not supposedly receive a refund and I am as surprised as anyone else that nobody else has received a refund.

My refund was credited direct to my bank account, with the name of my TA next to it.  Probably very old fashioned but I paid the deposit and later the remaining balance by cheque.  I was offered to receive a cheque refund from P&O which would take longer, or for me to supply my bank details, which I did, and which resulted in a quick refund. 

No one was more surprised than me when the refund arrived, and I will be delighted to hear when someone else is successful too.

No jumping up and down, and no abusing the TA or P&O was involved.

Posts questioning my "supposed refund" are not helpful, even if feelings are running high about the delays.

 

 

 

 

[Eglesbrech]

8 minutes ago, Twogreynomads said:

Good morning everyone from the OP.

Firstly I did not supposedly receive a refund and I am as surprised as anyone else that nobody else has received a refund.

My refund was credited direct to my bank account, with the name of my TA next to it.  Probably very old fashioned but I paid the deposit and later the remaining balance by cheque.  I was offered to receive a cheque refund from P&O which would take longer, or for me to supply my bank details, which I did, and which resulted in a quick refund. 

No one was more surprised than me when the refund arrived, and I will be delighted to hear when someone else is successful too.

No jumping up and down, and no abusing the TA or P&O was involved.

Posts questioning my "supposed refund" are not helpful, even if feelings are running high about the delays.

 

 

 

 

I for one was glad to know that someone at least has a refund. It proves that it is actually happening, all be it at a snails pace!

 

If  your money went back to your bank perhaps they intend to honour the method of payment made by the customer?

[Adawn47]

Just reading posts about cheques for refunds and it made me remember  the one I received from P&O.  For £2. 23p!!   It took 2 weeks.

Avril 

[Bin man]

Dont think that is the case I payed by creditcard and was told  P and O will refund direct with cheque as the T.A .s  are snowed under with cancellation work . I think when you filled in cancellation form online they should have asked for bank account or creditcard no but guess that's to easy and maybe not secure knowing their IT and who knows where the email goes to . 

[Selbourne]

55 minutes ago, Twogreynomads said:

Good morning everyone from the OP.

Firstly I did not supposedly receive a refund and I am as surprised as anyone else that nobody else has received a refund.

My refund was credited direct to my bank account, with the name of my TA next to it.  Probably very old fashioned but I paid the deposit and later the remaining balance by cheque.  I was offered to receive a cheque refund from P&O which would take longer, or for me to supply my bank details, which I did, and which resulted in a quick refund. 

No one was more surprised than me when the refund arrived, and I will be delighted to hear when someone else is successful too.

No jumping up and down, and no abusing the TA or P&O was involved.

Posts questioning my "supposed refund" are not helpful, even if feelings are running high about the delays.

 

 

 

 

I‘ve just realised that I used that word. I wasn’t meaning to doubt that you had received your refund so, in hindsight, the word was poorly used, for which I apologise. 

[peteukmcr]

23 minutes ago, Bin man said:

Dont think that is the case I payed by creditcard and was told  P and O will refund direct with cheque as the T.A .s  are snowed under with cancellation work . I think when you filled in cancellation form online they should have asked for bank account or creditcard no but guess that's to easy and maybe not secure knowing their IT and who knows where the email goes to . 

I'm really dismayed about this refund by cheque proposal. In the travel industry normal practice is to refund to the form of payment used for the original booking. In my case that will be the initial deposit plus excursions and flight seat payments to one credit card and the balance (the majority) to another. 

 

Due to data protection legislation, unless the system is encrypted and secure, no company can or should ask for your bank or credit card details when submitting a claim. I very much doubt the submission form provided by P&O requesting booking reference and total amount to be refunded was encrypted.

 

No company should need to request card details again as these should be held securely in a 'data vault' against your unique booking reference. All our booking files have this facility. We are no longer allowed to accept credit card details via email unless received from an encrypted mail service (which I doubt any of us have as customers). Any emails received (or sent for that matter) from our normal email service are scanned and if credit card numbers are found, the emails are blocked and rejected.

 

Similarly when taking payment details by phone, we have to halt all call recording (all our calls are recorded), advising the customer to that effect, and then resuming the recording once the details have been provided. We are not allowed to write the details down, but must enter them into the secure booking file as they are provided by the customer.

[grapau27]

14 minutes ago, peteukmcr said:

I'm really dismayed about this refund by cheque proposal. In the travel industry normal practice is to refund to the form of payment used for the original booking. In my case that will be the initial deposit plus excursions and flight seat payments to one credit card and the balance (the majority) to another. 

 

Due to data protection legislation, unless the system is encrypted and secure, no company can or should ask for your bank or credit card details when submitting a claim. I very much doubt the submission form provided by P&O requesting booking reference and total amount to be refunded was encrypted.

 

No company should need to request card details again as these should be held securely in a 'data vault' against your unique booking reference. All our booking files have this facility. We are no longer allowed to accept credit card details via email unless received from an encrypted mail service (which I doubt any of us have as customers). Any emails received (or sent for that matter) from our normal email service are scanned and if credit card numbers are found, the emails are blocked and rejected.

 

Similarly when taking payment details by phone, we have to halt all call recording (all our calls are recorded), advising the customer to that effect, and then resuming the recording once the details have been provided. We are not allowed to write the details down, but must enter them into the secure booking file as they are provided by the customer.

That reminds me.

When we paid for our plane seat numbers on the P&O cruise planner a message saying it was not a secure site was displayed?.

When I was told on email  by P&O we would receive a cheque direct and TA should know that contradicts what TA said that payment would be passed to them first to re credit our cc.

45 days since cancellation is up tomorrow so another 1+ hours on the phone tomorrow,just what I don't need 4 months after my heart attack.

Edited April 26, 2020 by grapau27

[jeanlyon]

I don't agree about giving bank details.  It's only your account no and sort code.  My TA is awaiting our refunds and will pay it directly to my bank, even though I paid him with a credit card. 

[grapau27]

1 minute ago, jeanlyon said:

I don't agree about giving bank details.  It's only your account no and sort code.  My TA is awaiting our refunds and will pay it directly to my bank, even though I paid him with a credit card. 

That's what my TA said but P&O are contradicting this!!

[johnthecook]

please be careful what emails you repond to as there is a lot of scams going on at the moment, scammers are saying they are from your cruise company and want your details to refund you.

[jeanlyon]

1 minute ago, grapau27 said:

That's what my TA said but P&O are contradicting this!!

Really?  I don't understand that, because the TA's get commission and that has to be deducted before you get your money.  I didn't pay the full price, because my TA always gives us a discount.

[majortom10]

2 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

Really?  I don't understand that, because the TA's get commission and that has to be deducted before you get your money.  I didn't pay the full price, because my TA always gives us a discount.

Apparently there are only a few cruise lines still giving commission to TAs on cancelled bookings and many will not be surprised to know that P&O isnt one of them.

[grapau27]

3 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

Really?  I don't understand that, because the TA's get commission and that has to be deducted before you get your money.  I didn't pay the full price, because my TA always gives us a discount.

I read that the TAs were still getting their commission if cruise paid in full.

P&O customer relations told me the amount they were going to refund and if we had paid more the TA would refund the difference which was around £300.

My long trusted TA was with TC but this cruise and our Princess Hawaiian cruise last November were with ch22.

[jeanlyon]

Well interestingly, the lady who did my refund, told me they would protect my TAs commission!  Still begs the question, how can they send me the whole amount when my TA gave me some commission.

[majortom10]

3 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

I read that the TAs were still getting their commission if cruise paid in full.

P&O customer relations told me the amount they were going to refund and if we had paid more the TA would refund the difference which was around £300.

My long trusted TA was with TC but this cruise and our Princess Hawaiian cruise last November were with ch22.

Not according to cruisetradenews website-

"In light of the coronavirus outbreak, many cruise lines have suspended sailings and altered cancellation policies affecting travel agents up and down the country".

"

 

Edited April 26, 2020 by majortom10