P&O on Rip Off Britain this morning

[scarlet ohara]

Don’t know if anyone else saw Rip Off Britain. There was a section on travel this morning which included a lady who had had a med cruise cancelled in the summer. She was offered a move of cruise to next summer which she accepted. It must have been on Oceana as this was cancelled because the ship was sold. She was offered another transfer but she didn’t want to accept it (I think it was going to be much more expensive as she could only travel in school holidays) so asked for a refund of the money paid- a deposit of £1000. P&O refused the refund and only offered a voucher, although they had cancelled the cruise. Simon Calder was on the programme and said that P&O’s stance was acceptable as having accepted the offer to rebook following the first cancellation, she no longer had the right to a cash refund. However the programme had contacted P&O and they had agreed to a cash refund!!
It will be interesting to see whether a cash refund becomes a general policy given the number of vouchers and rebooked cruises that must be in existence and at risk of further cancellation.

[sweep2907]

Thst sounds plain wrong. I had a weekend booked at holiday resort in June. They cancelled it and I either took a refund or they kept my money for a year until I told them a replacement break. It got to September this year and I decided I wanted my money back now. I called them and within a week they swiftly refunded me. If a customer changes their mind they must have the right to a refund surely? I'm not the one who cancelled the break in the first place. 

 

I've rebooked on Azura June 2021 but we are starting to change our minds. It seems now then that as I've used my FCC I cannot now cancel or move it again? 

[Son of Anarchy]

58 minutes ago, scarlet ohara said:

Don’t know if anyone else saw Rip Off Britain. There was a section on travel this morning which included a lady who had had a med cruise cancelled in the summer. She was offered a move of cruise to next summer which she accepted. It must have been on Oceana as this was cancelled because the ship was sold. She was offered another transfer but she didn’t want to accept it (I think it was going to be much more expensive as she could only travel in school holidays) so asked for a refund of the money paid- a deposit of £1000. P&O refused the refund and only offered a voucher, although they had cancelled the cruise. Simon Calder was on the programme and said that P&O’s stance was acceptable as having accepted the offer to rebook following the first cancellation, she no longer had the right to a cash refund. However the programme had contacted P&O and they had agreed to a cash refund!!
It will be interesting to see whether a cash refund becomes a general policy given the number of vouchers and rebooked i cruises that must be in existence and at risk of further cancellation.

 

I did wonder whether PandO's policy of not refunding monies if you had re-booked was legal.  I thought it was just them bamboozling people with b******* to hang on to money for longer.

 

It seems that travel guru Simon Calder thinks that PandO are acting legally then.  It's not right though, and I'm a shareholder!

[Eglesbrech]

13 minutes ago, sweep2907 said:

Thst sounds plain wrong. I had a weekend booked at holiday resort in June. They cancelled it and I either took a refund or they kept my money for a year until I told them a replacement break. It got to September this year and I decided I wanted my money back now. I called them and within a week they swiftly refunded me. If a customer changes their mind they must have the right to a refund surely? I'm not the one who cancelled the break in the first place. 

 

I've rebooked on Azura June 2021 but we are starting to change our minds. It seems now then that as I've used my FCC I cannot now cancel or move it again? 

The difference you describe for the holiday weekend is that your money was held, not used for a firm booking. You had not created a new contract.

 

As I understand it once an FCC is used you have created a new discrete contract. The normal rules apply to that new contract. Harsh but otherwise the liability could go on for ever, some folks have had several cruises cancelled and rebooked with the same money.

 

That is why I asked for all my refunds in cash, while I lost the added bonus I avoided the issue with any further 2nd cancellations.

 

I suspect that P&O bowed to the bad publicity. 

[kalos]

6 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

That is why I asked for all my refunds in cash, while I lost the added bonus I avoided the issue with any further 2nd cancellations.

 

I suspect that P&O bowed to the bad publicity. 

 

Just my opinion but a wise move when you look at the cruise situation .

P&O offer people a new contract they can sign up to by being offered 25% more money to cruise with

under the proviso they keep your money.

People are lured in by the 25% freebie forgetting they have forsaken the right to their cash back in 14 days .

Now if those cruises do sail then they are quids in, that is unless P&O start jacking the prices up by lets 

say 25% to cover ships now sailing half empty ... They wouldn't do that would they ..or would they ? 

[scarlet ohara]

2 hours ago, Eglesbrech said:

The difference you describe for the holiday weekend is that your money was held, not used for a firm booking. You had not created a new contract.

 

As I understand it once an FCC is used you have created a new discrete contract. The normal rules apply to that new contract. Harsh but otherwise the liability could go on for ever, some folks have had several cruises cancelled and rebooked with the same money.

 

That is why I asked for all my refunds in cash, while I lost the added bonus I avoided the issue with any further 2nd cancellations.

 

I suspect that P&O bowed to the bad publicity. 

I agree that P&O bowed to the bad publicity. But hopefully it might have set a precedent that could help others, who have moved cruises once but have had the second one cancelled. 

[Windsurfboy]

I have read somewhere ,  that once you've accepted a refund  voucher even if the company goes bankrupt you then cannot use section 75 with your credit card.  I think this was in relation to CMV bankruptcy. 

[WECRUISEUK]

We had excepted 110% fcc earlier this year when they started offering all  this and initially thought it's better than what the banks are offering.It could still work in our favour now the vaccine's being distributed,maybe cruise in april or may?I've always thought,up untill very recently,that we would be entitled to a cash refund,minus the 10%.The reason being that they cancelled the cruise,not me.Hindsight and all that........live and learn by it and stay away from vouchers.I'm hoping,like the rest of us that the vaccine will open up the travel industry quite soon.It all depends on other nations getting vaccinated because without that happening there's going to be nowhere to dock.

[funinhounslow]

When my second P&O cruise was cancelled (that I had booked using FCC) the email said this at the bottom

 

If a cancellation of the whole cruise is necessary due to COVID-19, guests who had used their FCC for that cruise will be offered the same options as other guests are offered at that time. 

 

I took to mean that I could apply for a full refund of money paid - I don't see how else to interpret that sentence. I have applied for a cash refund and am now playing the "waiting game"...

[terrierjohn]

Just now, funinhounslow said:

When my second P&O cruise was cancelled (that I had booked using FCC) the email said this at the bottom

 

If a cancellation of the whole cruise is necessary due to COVID-19, guests who had used their FCC for that cruise will be offered the same options as other guests are offered at that time. 

 

I took to mean that I could apply for a full refund of money paid - I don't see how else to interpret that sentence. I have applied for a cash refund and am now playing the "waiting game"...

I didn't use an FCC but transferred a fully paid April cruise to one in Feb 2021, and successfully got a cash refund for that one.