What the Hell!! I wanted a FCC but they gave me a refund instead, now I can't have the FCC!!

[sidekick180]

I am putting this out there, just in case it has happened to anyone else.

My July 2020 cruise was cancelled, so Initially, I opted for the refund. A couple of days later, I realised that perhaps I had been a bit hasty. I contacted P&O and asked if I could change my mind and have the Future Cruise Credit instead. They agreed to this and sent me an email confirming that my refund request had been reversed and the FCC would be applied to the new cruise that I have booked for April next year.

On Saturday 4th July, I logged into my P&O account to pay the remaining balance for the new cruise. I wanted to get the final bit paid just so it was another thing I didn't need to worry about.

The new cruise was more expensive because I was going from a 7 night cruise this year to a 13 night next year. After paying the balance, it said that my partial payment had gone through and now the remaining balance was almost £3000. I rang P&O as soon as the office opened on Monday 6th July. I explained the situation to the lady and she checked through the details.

She came back and said 'We have already issued your refund, so you cannot have the FCC applied to your new cruise'. I checked my account while on the phone to her and sure enough, there it was in my credit card account. I didn't realise this money had been refunded because it's on my credit card account, which I hardly ever use, and therefore, don't need to look into this account often.

I explained to the lady that I didn't want the refund, I wanted the FCC and this had been agreed via email on 1st May. I also told her that I had not received any communication from P&O to let me know that the refund had been made. She again stated that there was nothing she could do about it, so I could either pay the full cost of the cruise or, if I wanted to, I could cancel the cruise.

Cancelling is not really an option because of all the arrangements I have already made for the dates of the new cruise. She said that she would speak to her team leader and see if they could do something.

Later that day, she called me back and said that her team leader agreed, it was not possible for me to have the FCC because the refund has already been made. She suggested that I should write to P&O customer services explaining the situation in the hope that they may be able to resolve it, but she was not confident that anything could be done.

This error was caused by Admin at P&O, but it looks like it's me that will have to end up out of pocket. this is not the end of the story and quite possible that they could come back with a suitable resolution. I'm not holding my breath, but I will give them the benefit of doubt for now.

I sent a very long and accurate email to them last night, but was advised that it could take up to 28 days for a reply. I know they are extremely busy at this time, and I do appreciate that this is not an urgent matter compared to some of the other things they need to be dealing with. I am quite happy to wait, even though it will be playing on my mind until it gets resolved.

In summary, the new cruise, which should have only cost me a further £335 could potentially now cost me a further £880. Not a happy bunny, but lets wait and see.

Please let me know if this has happened to anyone else. I am sure it is a simple error by P&O and really hope this is not some sort of clever ploy to get people to part with more money for cruises already booked.

[Brayman]

You're not really our of pocket though are you?

[Selbourne]

9 minutes ago, Brayman said:

You're not really our of pocket though are you?

Yes he is, because he had another cruise booked so would have had 125% FCC to offset it. Refunds are 100%, so he’s out of pocket by 25% of the value of the FCC.

[sidekick180]

5 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Yes he is, because he had another cruise booked so would have had 125% FCC to offset it. Refunds are 100%, so he’s out of pocket by 25% of the value of the FCC.

You are absolutely correct Selbourne. I will effectively be about £550 out of pocket by not being able to have the 25% from the FCC. Plus the fact, I would probably not have gone for the 13 night cruise, I usually only take 7 night cruises to keep the cost down. I was swayed towards the 13 night because with the extra 25% from the FCC it would make the 13 night more affordable to me. After making the booking I also talked my sister into coming with us on this cruise. she is a solo traveller and has never cruised before. If I was to cancel, there is a good chance that she would too because I don't think she would be confident enough to go on her own. If she cancels, she will definitely lose money. Not a good situation.

[No pager thank you]

2 minutes ago, sidekick180 said:

You are absolutely correct Selbourne. I will effectively be about £550 out of pocket by not being able to have the 25% from the FCC. Plus the fact, I would probably not have gone for the 13 night cruise, I usually only take 7 night cruises to keep the cost down. I was swayed towards the 13 night because with the extra 25% from the FCC it would make the 13 night more affordable to me. After making the booking I also talked my sister into coming with us on this cruise. she is a solo traveller and has never cruised before. If I was to cancel, there is a good chance that she would too because I don't think she would be confident enough to go on her own. If she cancels, she will definitely lose money. Not a good situation.

This appears to be a combination of P&O intransigence and an administrative error. 

 

I would not hold out too much hope for Customer Services, either on the response time, or the content.  However, escalate the issue within Customer Services if they do not propose what you feel is a reasonable solution / compromise.

 

My advice to you would be to cancel the 13 night cruise next year and apply the deposit, notionally, on any short cruise of your choice - so you will not have to pay anymore.  Then when the 2022 brochure is released, transfer again to a 7 night cruise of your choice.  Then you won't get stung.

 

I don't know how open you are to moving away from P&O.  What I would say is that we costed up a Fred Olsen cruise on the same dates (one week) of our cancelled Iona cruise.  The price was cheaper, with OBC and a drinks package, and gratuities included.  You do not have to get stung if you are prepared to consider other lines.  Doesn't have to be Fred, just an example.

 

The only way to avoid getting stung in P&O 2021 is to look at a lower season alternative, where fewer passengers have used FCCs.  Do this quickly if that's your choice, as you now have potentially tens of thousands of Oceana passengers doing the same from 10am this morning.  The pricing problem on P&O is only going to get worse in 2021.

 

[sidekick180]

7 minutes ago, No pager thank you said:

This appears to be a combination of P&O intransigence and an administrative error. 

 

I would not hold out too much hope for Customer Services, either on the response time, or the content.  However, escalate the issue within Customer Services if they do not propose what you feel is a reasonable solution / compromise.

 

My advice to you would be to cancel the 13 night cruise next year and apply the deposit, notionally, on any short cruise of your choice - so you will not have to pay anymore.  Then when the 2022 brochure is released, transfer again to a 7 night cruise of your choice.  Then you won't get stung.

 

I don't know how open you are to moving away from P&O.  What I would say is that we costed up a Fred Olsen cruise on the same dates (one week) of our cancelled Iona cruise.  The price was cheaper, with OBC and a drinks package, and gratuities included.  You do not have to get stung if you are prepared to consider other lines.  Doesn't have to be Fred, just an example.

 

The only way to avoid getting stung in P&O 2021 is to look at a lower season alternative, where fewer passengers have used FCCs.  Do this quickly if that's your choice, as you now have potentially tens of thousands of Oceana passengers doing the same from 10am this morning.  The pricing problem on P&O is only going to get worse in 2021.

 

Thank you for that advice. I do however, have to consider the fact that I talked my sister into joining us on that particular cruise and she has paid a substantial amount of money for it already.

I have looked at other lines. I was considering MSC, but since reading so many negative posts about the ridiculous way they are treating their passengers, I decided against it. I will continue to look at my options though.

[GangPlankAlf]

P&O Customer Services are an absolute shambles! I have sent emails that have never been answered, received promises that were later ignored and denied. I have had to cancel 4 cruises this year, 3 before P&O's announcements about delaying the restart and 1 following a delayed restart announcement. In fairness, my refund only took a month but it came in the form of a cheque (why not to the credit card I used) which is no use to me unless I make a special trip to town which I really do not want to do. The next problem is going to be cancelling the cruises I have booked next year as there is no way my wife and I are going to sail under the new EU/CLIA guidelines. My only hope is to show that the holiday has changed substantially and is therefore not what we booked.

[Selbourne]

53 minutes ago, sidekick180 said:

You are absolutely correct Selbourne. I will effectively be about £550 out of pocket by not being able to have the 25% from the FCC. Plus the fact, I would probably not have gone for the 13 night cruise, I usually only take 7 night cruises to keep the cost down. I was swayed towards the 13 night because with the extra 25% from the FCC it would make the 13 night more affordable to me. After making the booking I also talked my sister into coming with us on this cruise. she is a solo traveller and has never cruised before. If I was to cancel, there is a good chance that she would too because I don't think she would be confident enough to go on her own. If she cancels, she will definitely lose money. Not a good situation.

Given the challenges that P&O will be facing over the coming years, they would be damned fools not to sort this out for you and I am sure that they will, but it will be a case of getting the right person to sort it. I think we are all aware that P&O’s land based customer services department are incompetent in the extreme and I suspect that what you were asking, which is perfectly reasonable, was a bit too complicated for them!

 

Personally, I would contact Paul Ludlows office along the lines of ‘for once, here’s a customer contacting you who isn’t frustrated over obtaining a refund, but is frustrated at trying to spend money with you and support P&O’. I struggle to believe that, if you explain the situation, quote your email and explain that two bookings are now at risk as a result of their mess up / intransigence, they will do anything other than rectify it ASAP. I think it will be a case of perseverance will pay off. Hopefully, they will also throw a bit of extra OBC your way by way of an apology. Good luck.

[sidekick180]

27 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Given the challenges that P&O will be facing over the coming years, they would be damned fools not to sort this out for you and I am sure that they will, but it will be a case of getting the right person to sort it. I think we are all aware that P&O’s land based customer services department are incompetent in the extreme and I suspect that what you were asking, which is perfectly reasonable, was a bit too complicated for them!

 

Personally, I would contact Paul Ludlows office along the lines of ‘for once, here’s a customer contacting you who isn’t frustrated over obtaining a refund, but is frustrated at trying to spend money with you and support P&O’. I struggle to believe that, if you explain the situation, quote your email and explain that two bookings are now at risk as a result of their mess up / intransigence, they will do anything other than rectify it ASAP. I think it will be a case of perseverance will pay off. Hopefully, they will also throw a bit of extra OBC your way by way of an apology. Good luck.

I will definitely go down the route that you have suggested. However, I would have no clue how to contact Paul Ludlow's office. All I have are a series of telephone numbers for P&O customer services and several email addresses, also for Customer Service. the lady on the phone did say that I was one of the first people that had telephoned to complain about a refund I didn't want and she saw the funny side of that. Obviously, I wasn't laughing, but I can appreciate how weird my phone call must have been. I bet when she answered and I said 'I need to speak to you about my refund', she probably thought 'Oh no, here we go again'.

I hope that I will be able to look back and laugh about this when I eventually get on my next cruise. thanks again for your advice.

[Canberra forever !]

The same thing happened to me, asked for the 125%FCC but received a refund instead which means that I’m £420 out of pocket, was told they couldn’t do anything about it, not really acceptable especially as I’d waited 81 days for them to do anything & they’d assured me my FCC was on its way !

I actually contacted a lady who works in Paul Ludlow dept who’d helped me last year and she still couldn’t sort anything !

Very disappointing, I’ve cruised with P&O since 1986 and I was trying to keep money with them !!!

Edited July 7, 2020 by Canberra forever !
Additional info

[sidekick180]

11 hours ago, Canberra forever ! said:

The same thing happened to me, asked for the 125%FCC but received a refund instead which means that I’m £420 out of pocket, was told they couldn’t do anything about it, not really acceptable especially as I’d waited 81 days for them to do anything & they’d assured me my FCC was on its way !

I actually contacted a lady who works in Paul Ludlow dept who’d helped me last year and she still couldn’t sort anything !

Very disappointing, I’ve cruised with P&O since 1986 and I was trying to keep money with them !!!

Really sorry to hear that this has also happened to you. I am now getting concerned that maybe this is happening on purpose. did you initiallly ask for a refund and complete the form online, or did you only request the FCC?

I have emailed P&O and realise that when I do eventually get a reply, it will be shrigged off as 'sorry, there is nothing we can do'. This would effectively mean that if I do choose to keep my booking, it will cost me a further £543. Obviously more money in their bank account and less in mine.

I am like a dog with a bone, so I wont stop fighting for what was effectively my incentive to book another cruise with them. They offered the 125% FCC, so they should honour it. The fact that they made the mistake of refunding my money is their problem and not mine. They should still do the right thing.

Like I explained in my email to them. I am not asking for the FCC and the refund, I simply want what they promised, which was the FCC.

Obviously, I will post any updates on here, but after reading your post, I don't hold up much hope.

It will be interesting to find out over the coming weeks, if this has happened to other guests of P&O. Trouble is, there will be thousands and thousands of P&O guests that are not members on this site. Maybe I should flood other social media sites asking if anyone else finds themselves in the same situation. This is something I will consider doing if the response comes back without a resolve.

[sidekick180]

12 hours ago, Canberra forever ! said:

The same thing happened to me, asked for the 125%FCC but received a refund instead which means that I’m £420 out of pocket, was told they couldn’t do anything about it, not really acceptable especially as I’d waited 81 days for them to do anything & they’d assured me my FCC was on its way !

I actually contacted a lady who works in Paul Ludlow dept who’d helped me last year and she still couldn’t sort anything !

Very disappointing, I’ve cruised with P&O since 1986 and I was trying to keep money with them !!!

I forgot to ask a few questions. Which cruise were you booked on, had you already paid for the cruise in full and can you please give me the contact details of the person you communicated with in Paul Ludlow's department. Many thanks

[pete14]

4 minutes ago, sidekick180 said:

I forgot to ask a few questions. Which cruise were you booked on, had you already paid for the cruise in full and can you please give me the contact details of the person you communicated with in Paul Ludlow's department. Many thanks

We had some discussion about naming employees and posting their email addresses a few months back. The moderator reminded us that giving out such information is against t&cs and posts were removed. 

[sidekick180]

42 minutes ago, pete14 said:

We had some discussion about naming employees and posting their email addresses a few months back. The moderator reminded us that giving out such information is against t&cs and posts were removed. 

Really sorry, I wasn't aware that members were not allowed to share contact information for P&O. I wasn't asking for the name of the person. I was just trying to find out how to get in touch with someone from Paul Ludlow's department. Guess I will just have do some investigative work and find this info myself. Thanks for letting me know.

[Canberra forever !]

2 hours ago, sidekick180 said:

Really sorry, I wasn't aware that members were not allowed to share contact information for P&O. I wasn't asking for the name of the person. I was just trying to find out how to get in touch with someone from Paul Ludlow's department. Guess I will just have do some investigative work and find this info myself. Thanks for letting me know.

Sorry I can’t give you the name but last year I emailed josh Weinstein (I got his email address off the Internet just by searching his name ) with a complaint that was not getting resolved and he passed it on to this lady who was able to sort it for me, so maybe worth a try.

We were booked on the 2nd April cruise and cancelled on I think the 13th March as my cousin was over 70, we had paid in full,  they told me I would get 125%FCC, we booked through a TA 

Hope that helps, please post if you get anywhere.

[Swanseasailor]

On 7/7/2020 at 10:37 AM, No pager thank you said:

This appears to be a combination of P&O intransigence and an administrative error. 

 

I would not hold out too much hope for Customer Services, either on the response time, or the content.  However, escalate the issue within Customer Services if they do not propose what you feel is a reasonable solution / compromise.

 

My advice to you would be to cancel the 13 night cruise next year and apply the deposit, notionally, on any short cruise of your choice - so you will not have to pay anymore.  Then when the 2022 brochure is released, transfer again to a 7 night cruise of your choice.  Then you won't get stung.

 

I don't know how open you are to moving away from P&O.  What I would say is that we costed up a Fred Olsen cruise on the same dates (one week) of our cancelled Iona cruise.  The price was cheaper, with OBC and a drinks package, and gratuities included.  You do not have to get stung if you are prepared to consider other lines.  Doesn't have to be Fred, just an example.

 

The only way to avoid getting stung in P&O 2021 is to look at a lower season alternative, where fewer passengers have used FCCs.  Do this quickly if that's your choice, as you now have potentially tens of thousands of Oceana passengers doing the same from 10am this morning.  The pricing problem on P&O is only going to get worse in 2021.

 

Hi No Pager on subject of FCC if a person were to decide to accept FCC on a deposit paid for cruise. Then use FCC for a booking which is then cancelled by P and O would the person be able to claim a refund in cash for the cancellation. Kind regards Rob

[No pager thank you]

9 minutes ago, Swanseasailor said:

Hi No Pager on subject of FCC if a person were to decide to accept FCC on a deposit paid for cruise. Then use FCC for a booking which is then cancelled by P and O would the person be able to claim a refund in cash for the cancellation. Kind regards Rob

Hi Rob,

 

My understanding is that if P&O cancels a cruise (as opposed to you preferring to transfer), which you have booked using a FCC, then you have the same options as a passenger who paid wholly in cash and also had the cruise cancelled by P&O.

 

This means that you can either claim a 100% refund of the total cash that you originally paid (not the increased 25% amount of the FCC), or you can opt to "re-use" the FCC against another cruise. 

 

However, the value of your second FCC does not go up by another 25%, only a 25% increase on any extra amount you paid in cash towards the second cruise deposit, if applicable.

 

This should be claimed via completing the online form.  Screenshot the submission for proof.  Ignore any dodgy cancellation invoice you receive.

 

Some people have been reimbursed back to their original method of payment within 60 days (quoted time), others are waiting 120 days plus.  The payment may come through a TA if you did not originally book direct with P&O. The law is 14 days and whilst technically you should not have to claim the refund, P&O are requiring customers to complete the online form.

 

If P&O mess you about, then you may be able to pursue a "chargeback" or "section 75 claim" with your debit or credit card company respectively.  Consider taking this step if P&O breach the 60 day timeline.  You can do this from 14 days, but I found it easier to claim when I was able to flag that the company set Covid-19 timeline (60 actual days) had been missed.

 

Hope this helps you.

[Swanseasailor]

10 hours ago, No pager thank you said:

Hi Rob,

 

My understanding is that if P&O cancels a cruise (as opposed to you preferring to transfer), which you have booked using a FCC, then you have the same options as a passenger who paid wholly in cash and also had the cruise cancelled by P&O.

 

This means that you can either claim a 100% refund of the total cash that you originally paid (not the increased 25% amount of the FCC), or you can opt to "re-use" the FCC against another cruise. 

 

However, the value of your second FCC does not go up by another 25%, only a 25% increase on any extra amount you paid in cash towards the second cruise deposit, if applicable.

 

This should be claimed via completing the online form.  Screenshot the submission for proof.  Ignore any dodgy cancellation invoice you receive.

 

Some people have been reimbursed back to their original method of payment within 60 days (quoted time), others are waiting 120 days plus.  The payment may come through a TA if you did not originally book direct with P&O. The law is 14 days and whilst technically you should not have to claim the refund, P&O are requiring customers to complete the online form.

 

If P&O mess you about, then you may be able to pursue a "chargeback" or "section 75 claim" with your debit or credit card company respectively.  Consider taking this step if P&O breach the 60 day timeline.  You can do this from 14 days, but I found it easier to claim when I was able to flag that the company set Covid-19 timeline (60 actual days) had been missed.

 

Hope this helps you.

Hi No Pager thank you Kind regards Rob.