Princess incredibly slow in refunding credit balance from Ship Account - over $200

[Coral]

1 hour ago, Italy52 said:

Joining the group.  Princess owes us OBC for unused transportation vouchers and a dollar amount that appeared on our final bill that I have no idea what it means or what it is for.  Has anyone ever had a dollar amount appear on their bill with a comment that states:  Referred to Corporate Finance???

I think that means you will eventually get a refund in a white envelope. It will be from Bottomline and will have Princess underneath that.

[Italy52]

29 minutes ago, Coral said:

I think that means you will eventually get a refund in a white envelope. It will be from Bottomline and will have Princess underneath that.

Thanks, Coral.  "Eventually" is the mystery word --- wonder if it will take as long as the Covid refunds.  😞

[Coral]

8 minutes ago, Italy52 said:

Thanks, Coral.  "Eventually" is the mystery word --- wonder if it will take as long as the Covid refunds.  😞

For your sake, I hope not!

[Princess Cruises Fann]

I got off the Emerald Princes on August 13th and had a balance of $248.32. The check was issued on August 25th and I received it in the mail on August 30th. 

[Italy52]

1 hour ago, Coral said:

For your sake, I hope not!

Thanks.  I forgot to mention I am also waiting for a refund from my June 18-July 2, 2022 cruise.  So now my backlog is 3.

[pklein9747]

We were on the Majestic Princess July 31-August 6 sailing.  Got our refund check on Monday.

[Rubynic]

We have just disembarked Enchanted Princess and any refundable balances under $250 can be obtained from Customer Services onboard on the last night/morning of the cruise.

[Ombud]

Disembarked 9/17/22 and USPS delivering refund today. Onboard notice stated amounts under $25 not $250 

[Italy52]

Interesting, we never received a notice regarding small refundable credit on our June 2022 cruise on the Majestic.  Guess we will never see that money.  We did receive our larger refund for our August 2022 Discovery cruise; it arrived in an envelope like shown above.  Thanks for the information.  For future cruises, I will make sure we get our smaller refundable (if any) before we leave the ship.

[NownZen]

I have been wondering about the issue of these refunds taking so long since they can charge you in seconds but it takes months to do refunds.  How much of this has to do with the drink packages? In the old days I asked the customer service desk what would happen if we had a credit at the end of the cruise and they told me that normally did not happen. So maybe the mechanism was not in place for them to refund money easily. With the drink package taking care of internet, drinks and tips, there is not much left to charge so there will be a lot more accounts with a credit at the end of the cruise. This may have overwhelmed the finance department. Or they just are this slow in paying all their bills. Viking took care of this problem by making on board credits nonrefundable (so I have a collection of Viking coats and nicknaks).

[NownZen]

I have been wondering about the issue of these refunds taking so long since they can charge you in seconds but it takes months to do refunds.  How much of this has to do with the drink packages? In the old days I asked the customer service desk what would happen if we had a credit at the end of the cruise and they told me that normally did not happen. So maybe the mechanism was not in place for them to refund money easily. With the drink package taking care of internet, drinks and tips, there is not much left to charge so there will be a lot more accounts with a credit at the end of the cruise. This may have overwhelmed the finance department. Or they just are this slow in paying all their bills. Viking took care of this problem by making on board credits nonrefundable (so I have a collection of Viking coats and knickknacks).

[emairs]

On our final stateroom account which was recently emailed to us after our TA cruise, it showed one amount -“Referred to Corporate Finance” of $272.99. Is this a refund? When I added everything up, it should be a refund in this amount. 

Why can’t they just say refund so that people understand?

[Tonsoffun44]

So if we put down say $500 Cash at the beginning of the cruise for Onboard account and already have drink package/special dining/excursions/tips paid for they'll take weeks/months to give us our unused money back??  All the other lines we've ever sailed gave it back in cash the morning of debarkation. 

[macmax]

Just back from Emerald Princess British Isles cruise, and I had purchased $200 OBC which I did not use. I was refunded the full amount in cash onboard on the 2nd last day.  I was told that they will refund up to $250 in cash and any balance would be sent as a cheque.

[cruzsnooze]

I'm still waiting for my refund after an Aug 31 disembarkation

[Kay S]

Once Princess has your money, they will keep it for as long as they can.  It's sitting in their bank collecting interest for them and not in yours doing the same for you.  It's really sad how far Princess has sunk.  I remember when they at least pretended to care what customers wanted.

[NownZen]

5 hours ago, Kay S said:

Once Princess has your money, they will keep it for as long as they can.  It's sitting in their bank collecting interest for them and not in yours doing the same for you.  It's really sad how far Princess has sunk.  I remember when they at least pretended to care what customers wanted.

I take a somewhat different view. We had something over $1000 to be refunded after our most recent cruise. I assumed they would send it back at some point. They did at about 9 weeks.  If I were to be dependent on a few dollars, I should not be cruising.

[Kay S]

2 hours ago, NownZen said:

I take a somewhat different view. We had something over $1000 to be refunded after our most recent cruise. I assumed they would send it back at some point. They did at about 9 weeks.  If I were to be dependent on a few dollars, I should not be cruising.

I don't think the OP here is "dependent on a few dollars."  Princess owes him money and he wants it back.  There is nothing wrong with that.

[leck57]

8 hours ago, cruzsnooze said:

I'm still waiting for my refund after an Aug 31 disembarkation

 

Unfortunately I can beat that. I disembarked 21 May and still waiting. I sent them an online enquiry 6 weeks ago, received the standard email saying they had received my enquiry. Two weeks ago I engaged in an on line chat and the woman I was "chatting" with said she would refer my issue to the Customer Solutions team and mark my case as urgent.

I assume my next step is an email to that customer relations address I see on here.

Beyond words, and I have a cruise booked with Princess in 6 weeks. I will not say it will be my last but I do have a long memory when I get effed around. 

[caribill]

14 hours ago, NownZen said:

I have been wondering about the issue of these refunds taking so long since they can charge you in seconds but it takes months to do refunds.

 

When it comes to refunds, they are not automated the way charges are that quickly go to your charge/debit card.

 

Refunds are handled manually as each one has to be approved by a human. I assume this is supposed to prevent fraud.

[Jadn13]

On 8/19/2022 at 3:33 AM, caribill said:

 

Because Princess policy is only to refund $25 or less in cash on board. Of what you are owed is more than $25, it must be a mailed check.

Or take it out the magic way 

[Ombud]

13 hours ago, Kay S said:

Once Princess has your money, they will keep it for as long as they can.  It's sitting in their bank collecting interest for them and not in yours doing the same for you.  It's really sad how far Princess has sunk.  I remember when they at least pretended to care what customers wanted.

According to the thread many of us are getting it within the 4-6 week posted timeline. How long have you personally been waiting for your post cruise unused refundable OBC to be refunded? 

 

 

[emairs]

I don’t mind waiting, but I’m unable to confirm the refund amount, number of days to be credited due to Covid isolation and the number of days $100 pp/day food allowance for hotel quarantine.

[NownZen]

10 hours ago, Kay S said:

I don't think the OP here is "dependent on a few dollars."  Princess owes him money and he wants it back.  There is nothing wrong with that.

You are right but the question is how much emotional energy you want to put in on worrying and fretting about it. It will come when it comes. I prefer to think about the good times on the cruise.

[caribill]

2 hours ago, emairs said:

I don’t mind waiting, but I’m unable to confirm the refund amount, number of days to be credited due to Covid isolation and the number of days $100 pp/day food allowance for hotel quarantine.

 

I think that is a separate issue from onboard balance refunds. Those are surely handled by different people using a different work process.