Princess Cruise Line: I HAVE to VENT!!!!!

[nycglitter]

Let me start this by saying that I am a pretty reasonable and level-heded person, however, I have my limits.

 

I made the mistake of placing a deposit for a future cruise while onboard the Crown Princess on the July 23, 2007 sailing. Chalk it up to living in the moment...big mistake!

 

When I returned home and saw my credit card statement, I saw the correct charge for my on-board purchases, including the future cruise credit, and several RANDOM charges that could not be accounted for ($800 total). After a series of phone calls to their billing department it was clear that they had issues with their accounting practices and as they had trouble clearing up the $800 in additional charges. It was at that point that I asked that my future cruise credit be refunded.

 

Fast forward 2 weeks and 5 additional phone calls and that brings you to today. I just got off the phone with a supervisor regarding the fact that despite being told that my depost had been refunded, it hadn't been. She told me that they just discovered that the requests for refunds were being sent to INDIA and ending up dead. No one was ever going to see the requests and without my 5 phone calls, the refund would never have been processed. The supervisor blamed it on their technical department (:confused:?)

 

The process left such a bad taste in my mouth, it will be quite some time before I would ever consider another Princess Cruise. It's a shame too because we rather enjoyed the cruise (for the most part) and would have tried them again (as evidenced by the future cruise credit). I have literally spent more time post cruise with Princess Customer Service trying to remedy this than I did to book the cruise. Go figure.

 

Sorry about the rant (believe it or not, this is the condensed version of the actually run around), but just thought you should know that if your are expecting any refund, or for that matter a certain level of customer service, you are in for an uphill battle.

 

Pheww! I feel better now. Thanks for listening!

[Toto2Kansas]

Question: Were the excess charges on your final bill onboard (delivered the last morning) or did they just come out of nowhere and appear on your credit card bill?

[nycglitter]

Came out of nowhere and weren't mine. They were eventually refunded, but with no apology for why it was such a painful process. I have no problem paying for what I buy, and a $1500 folio to back it up, but seriously another $800 that can't be explained as a post cruise surprise??? Yikes!

[PescadoAmarillo]

Sorry for your trouble...keep us posted. I hate that kind of stuff too...somedays I feel like all I am doing is pushing a rock uphill, dealing with companies' errors.).

 

Accounting is not one of Princess's strong points, I've found, but we've always known about our issues before we left the ship (unfortunately, sometimes not until the final morning, necessitating a wait in that horrid line on disembarkation day). Good luck. After 9 Princess cruises, we've never had an unresolved issue.

[nycglitter]

Sorry for your trouble...keep us posted. I hate that kind of stuff too...somedays I feel like all I am doing is pushing a rock uphill, dealing with companies' errors.).

 

Accounting is not one of Princess's strong points, I've found, but we've always known about our issues before we left the ship (unfortunately, sometimes not until the final morning, necessitating a wait in that horrid line on disembarkation day). Good luck. After 9 Princess cruises, we've never had an unresolved issue.

 

 

I totally understand that there can be "glitches" in the system and have no problem working on resolving them, but being hung up on, transferred numerous times and later yelled at was just much too much for me. When it was all said and done I did thank the manager for taking the time to listen to my complaints as I did realize that she was not the actual source of my frustration.

 

I am happy to say that everything has been resolved, it was just a battle that shouldn't have had to have been fought!

 

Thanks for the well wishes!

[nycglitter]

Sorry for your trouble...keep us posted. I hate that kind of stuff too...somedays I feel like all I am doing is pushing a rock uphill, dealing with companies' errors.).

 

Accounting is not one of Princess's strong points, I've found, but we've always known about our issues before we left the ship (unfortunately, sometimes not until the final morning, necessitating a wait in that horrid line on disembarkation day). Good luck. After 9 Princess cruises, we've never had an unresolved issue.

 

 

I totally understand that there can be "glitches" in the system and have no problem working on resolving them, but being hung up on, transferred numerous times and later yelled at was just much too much for me. When it was all said and done I did thank the manager for taking the time to listen to my complaints as I did realize that she was not the actual source of my frustration.

 

I am happy to say that everything has been resolved, it was just a battle that shouldn't have had to have been fought!

 

Thanks for the well wishes!

[happyscot]

Now now. Large drink. Another large drink. Pace up and down and shout. Then look at cruise photos. Consider why you bought FCC in the first place. Curse the idiots who screwed up mightily - but then consider they won't be driving the boat, fishing diapers out of the pool or defrosting your lobster tails. Then go on the cruise.

 

Your mistake was of course buying your FCC on my birthday without sending me any. Karma, you see, it always gets you in the end.

 

If Princess are now doing the India call centre/accounting department thing, stand by for more of this. Loads of UK companies have exported these functions to India, and whilst the Indian individuals concerned are always polite and nice, the operation as a whole just doesn't seem to work well and customer service levels have dropped like a stone.

 

:)

[jacketwatch]

Agree with the above. And don't forget the vast majority of those working on the ship are geared for customer service. Okay, now have a Scotch in honor of HappyScot who posted a great reply and put your mind in quiet seas. :)

[Lynda90]

Couldn't you have just disputed the charges with your credit card company and let them do all the leg work? They usually are able to rapidly resolve this type of situation. I know AMX is great with this.

[phillipahain]

Do not even mention Indian Call Centres

 

every single one of them have my Blood Pressure at boiling point

 

They do not speak English even if they think they do

You cant hear them because their voices are soft

They do not understand English

They can only work from a code book

 

I have totally given up hoping they will ever get anything right

 

However sooner or later they rip companies and individuals off and then things get bought back in house meanwhile our estimation of any company who outsources call centres to India goes down the pan

[sept10dsm]

I thought Princess was in CA. We had booked 2 cabins recently and had to cancel one. I had the refund the next business day. I know about the India call centers. my bank was using one until recently. Now they are back in the US thank God!!

[Coral]

This could happen under any cruise line.

 

I booked a cruise with RCCL awhile back - it was book an outside cabin and get a balcony but the catch was you had to pay for the cruise all at once (in my case 9 months in advance).

 

I cancelled the cruise and according to the cruise line, I only paid a deposit. It took me a month to straighten out and I had to get the credit card company involved as I couldn't resolve it with RCCL.

[scamper]

Couldn't you have just disputed the charges with your credit card company and let them do all the leg work? They usually are able to rapidly resolve this type of situation. I know AMX is great with this.

 

Yeah, this was my thought exactly. Make a call AND put it in writing, tell them they have seven days to resolve the matter. If by midnight on the seventh day the matter has not been resolved to your satisfaction, you will dispute it with you CC company. Let them do all the leg work.

 

The downside is, the deposit for the future cruise could not be seen as a potentially fraudulent charge therefore you probably would lose that part of the dispute. Still, you could have handled that part on your own.

[nycglitter]

Thanks for all the input! As for the India portion of the story, it wasn't the call center. The call center filled out a report to request the refund (so they say), but emailed it to India. Apparently wherever it went in India, it wasn't any place Princess had connections with. The customer service rep said that hundreds (if not thousands) of requests like mine had been lost to this mysterious place in India. She said they have been getting tons of angry calls from people like me who had not seen refunds on their credit cards.

 

And, yes, I would have turned to my credit card company if I had not gotten the situation cleared up by Princess. At first I thought maybe they were legitimate charges that my family had incurred, in which cased once they were explained I would have been more than happy to pay for them. Once I was sure they were not mine it became a matter of principal. I thought Princess should be able to offer a reasonable explanation as to how the charges got there and then clear them up. In the end they did, it just had to be a source of frustration first.

 

I don't think Princess should get a "pass" on these types of things, or any other cruise line for that matter. We work hard for our money and deserve a little customer service for our purchase. The more we let these things slide, the more "normal" they become.

[Bucky3]

Our future cruise credits have always been charged directly to our credit card and have never been a part of our onboard ship account.?

[Chivalrygirl]

OMG, I hope this does not happen to us when we sail in Sept. because we will only have another 9 days in the US before we return home. That would be the last thing we need. Besides we hope to pay for everything in cash which we have already purchased.

 

Actually I am surprised anybody has employment in the US anymore having discovered that United has their call centre in the Phillipines, and that is another story. The all speak English, but I don't believe they totally understand it! Say no more :(

 

Val

[jakzak]

Keep up the fight you will win. I know I'm keeping a positive attitude that Princess will do the right thing and offer me additional compensation for the problems we had on the cruise. If not you live and learn. Right now I have 3 cabins booked on the July 1 Caribbean Princess with the possiblity of that number growing. If Princess does not at least make an attempt to make it right I will talk with the rest of the group about rewcheduling. Its the people you sail with and meet that make a cruise a vacation. As I said in the past we met some real good people on this trip.

 

Alan

[lysolqn]

I feel your pain, but for whatever it's worth, your Princess run-around is really no different than the run-around you get from most companies these days. Customer service is pretty much non-existent and while it boils our blood to think that we can be treated so shabbily, there doesn't seem to be much we can do about it. "The customer is always right" is no longer the motto by which businesses live. Once they've got your money, you're history.

[detroitwingsfan]

Wow, I needed to start this thread today and someone did it for me. THANKS!

 

I booked a FCC with Pricess in Dec. 2005. I booked my cruise through an online travel agent and provided my FCC Id#. Once the deposit from the TA showed up on My Princess I sent a quick email to Princess as an extra reminder that the Booking ID and FCC go together. For months I have waited and waited for the onboard credit to show up on My Princess. I also have contact the TA numerous times about the FCC $200 I had already paid. Both the TA and Princess told me the "deposit" would be applied to my account and the onboard credit would show up when I embarked.

 

Fast forward to today (2 weeks to go!), I called Princess with a few other questions. First, the guy at the so called customer service center could not answer any of my questions. (He told me I am the only customer that has ever asked which pier the ship leaves from, what time I can check in and if there is a luggage hold for early flights). Then, he proceeded to tell me that since my cruise was paid in full, I would have to use my FCC on ANOTHER CRUISE!

 

Still going back and forth with TA and PCL, hope to get my money before I leave for the cruise!:mad:

[janetz]

This is another reason why Princess will not have a CC number from me...Cash all the way. :)

[Guest LoveMyBoxer]

Came out of nowhere and weren't mine. They were eventually refunded, but with no apology for why it was such a painful process. I have no problem paying for what I buy, and a $1500 folio to back it up, but seriously another $800 that can't be explained as a post cruise surprise??? Yikes!

 

 

You're lucky you got a refund, I'm still waiting for over $500.00 of charges, not made by me, from last year's disaster on NCL.

[bdjam]

Couldn't you have just disputed the charges with your credit card company and let them do all the leg work? They usually are able to rapidly resolve this type of situation. I know AMX is great with this.

This is the correct procedure. If the original poster had done this, the credit card charges would have been reversed immediately while the credit card company handled the dispute with Princess.

[belder]

(Janetz or anyone with advice)....I was wondering how does the process work if one wishes to use cash only for onboard account vs. providing Princess with a credit card #? I have only cruised Princess once before and used a credit card which I thought was mandatory at check in. I did have minor problem which was resolved fairly easy enough, but I would feel more comfortable using cash only after reading some horror stories here...I would hate to come home from a wonderful cruise only to face credit card "h.e. double toothpicks"... (LOL) Dont know if i can say the "H" word here! :rolleyes: Thanks for the advice.....

[bjkTX]

To the OP - sorry all that happened and I hope the abbreviated rant helped :-) It's gotta be frustrating, and unfortunately it's becoming more common in lots of areas. We've taken 4 cruises, all on Princess, and haven't had a glitch (yet) - if and when we do I'll post my rant and ya'll can pat me on the head and say "there, there" and hopefully I'll feel better too :-)

[Co. Cruisers]

I agree our FCC also were charged directly to our CC; - did not appear on our shipboard account. I'm a control freak, sooo, on a 7 day cruise, I always request an interim statement and reconcile up to my last charge. The last day I reconcile the remainder, if I come to within $10.00 of what the staement says, I'm good with it. Have cruised Princess 7 X now with the 8th this 11/26 - 12/06; - Emerald 10 day! Sorry for all your aggravation but glad it eventually worked out. I absolutely agree with all the comments re: India call centers. Hopefully businesses in this country and others will wake up! We're cruising!