CC registration changes

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oldtimer
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CC registration changes

#1

Post by oldtimer »

When registering your Credit Card before boarding you will now have to input your 4 digit code and also £50 debit will be put on your account to register your card. Cannot understand why, no explanation from P & O.

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david63
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Re: CC registration changes

#2

Post by david63 »

It is not a £50 debit but a £50 pre-authorisation - exactly the same as you do when checking in at an hotel.

I would guess that there has been an increase in the number of credit/debit cards not being valid and causing problems later.


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Re: CC registration changes

#3

Post by BrianI »

A pre-authorisation, not a debit, will be put on your account. This effectively ring fences some or your credit to ensure that you have sufficient funds to make a payment when it becomes due.
https://ask.pocruises.com/help/PO/fleet/pay_onboard
Most hotels operate a similar system.
Your card will not be charged until your final account is issued at the end of the cruise.
You should also be aware that once your on board account goes above £50, then the pre-authorisation will be increased accordingly on a daily basis.
This has always been the case but you may not be aware as the pre-authorisations do not appear on your account other than your remaining credit will be reduced.
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Boris+
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Re: CC registration changes

#4

Post by Boris+ »

Whaaat?

Ok, so they are doing this £50 block and hoping that a passenger is going to spend that or more. What happens then if a passenger blocks the auto top and doesn't spend anything? Does the £50 block still stay on the card? Blasted cheek, and so is the business of adding the auto tip shortly after embarkation - before any length and appropriate standard of service is provided.

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Jan Rosser
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Re: CC registration changes

#5

Post by Jan Rosser »

This was a topic on Facebook last week - people were getting very uptight about it - it was being presumed that you had to tell P&O your 4 digit code and they definitely weren't doing that and the arguments became very heated - for the life of me I don't see what all the fuss is about
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Re: CC registration changes

#6

Post by BrianI »

The only difference I can see is that you now have to enter your 4 digit PIN when you check in just like any other purchase. Previously, they just swiped your card, so you could present any old card, not necessarily yours.
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david63
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Re: CC registration changes

#7

Post by david63 »

Jan Rosser wrote: 12 Sep 2017, 21:13
for the life of me I don't see what all the fuss is about
Me neither

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Re: CC registration changes

#8

Post by david63 »

Boris+ wrote: 12 Sep 2017, 21:08
Does the £50 block still stay on the card?
It will "roll off" after a week to ten days depending on the bank.
Boris+ wrote: 12 Sep 2017, 21:08
so is the business of adding the auto tip shortly after embarkation - before any length and appropriate standard of service is provided.
You can remove at any time up until the last night.


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Re: CC registration changes

#9

Post by Boris+ »

The fuss is all about what I will call being taken advantage of. I firmly believe that people shouldn't be press-ganged into ( for instance) tipping. To add a charge for service which is yet to be provided is nothing short of extortion, and with the benefit of experience that's how I feel. In the past, when I've looked at an onboard account, the tip is normally applied at the start of a cruise. I most certainly do not approve of having to enter my pin, and doing so then means that during a cruise I shall have to check the account regularly for peace of mind. Previously, another passenger on a cruise has taken goods from an onboard shop and mistakenly given my suite number to charge the purchase to. It wasn't a cheap item, it might have been an innocent mistake, but I wasn't amused at how open the charging system was to such a situation.

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Re: CC registration changes

#10

Post by david63 »

Boris+ wrote: 13 Sep 2017, 06:30
To add a charge for service which is yet to be provided is nothing short of extortion
I could possibly agree with that if you paid it at that time but you do not pay your account until the end of the cruise (certainly that is the system with P&O - other cruise lines may operate a different system)
Boris+ wrote: 13 Sep 2017, 06:30
I most certainly do not approve of having to enter my pin, and doing so then means that during a cruise I shall have to check the account regularly for peace of mind.
Do you mean your onboard account or your credit card account? Actually it makes no difference, it is exactly the same as now just with an added level of checking for a valid card. All charges to your account are pre-authorised each night now - with or without a pin and checking one's onboard account during the cruise is something that I have always done - mistakes do happen.

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Re: CC registration changes

#11

Post by david63 »

I wonder if this entering pin number is something that the card processing company have enforced after the debacle earlier in the year.

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Re: CC registration changes

#12

Post by barney »

I must admit that I didn't give it a thought on my last cruise.

The Lady asked me to authorise with my pin and I did.

I just assumed I'd always done that. :roll:

I really don't see it as an issue.
Empty vessels .. and all that

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Re: CC registration changes

#13

Post by barney »

Boris+ wrote: 13 Sep 2017, 06:30
The fuss is all about what I will call being taken advantage of. I firmly believe that people shouldn't be press-ganged into ( for instance) tipping. To add a charge for service which is yet to be provided is nothing short of extortion, and with the benefit of experience that's how I feel. In the past, when I've looked at an onboard account, the tip is normally applied at the start of a cruise. I most certainly do not approve of having to enter my pin, and doing so then means that during a cruise I shall have to check the account regularly for peace of mind. Previously, another passenger on a cruise has taken goods from an onboard shop and mistakenly given my suite number to charge the purchase to. It wasn't a cheap item, it might have been an innocent mistake, but I wasn't amused at how open the charging system was to such a situation.
Boris, you do realise that you can take any tips off if you want to, don't you?

Personally, I've held the belief that if you can't afford the tips, you probably can't afford the cruise, but each to their own.

I know a guy down here in Kent who is absolutely loaded but always removes gratuities when cruising.
He did a Caribbean and back last year and not only didn't pay a penny in tips (24 nights) but was actually boastful of it.
I just think that's mean.
Empty vessels .. and all that

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Mervyn and Trish
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Re: CC registration changes

#14

Post by Mervyn and Trish »

I don't get the fuss. Hotels do this all the time. And surely the point is it protects us from someone else registering a bogus copy of our card. If I have to use my PIN in a supermarket why not on a cruise?


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Re: CC registration changes

#15

Post by Boris+ »

Firstly, I'll admit that on our forthcoming cruise I am definitely going to remove the suit tips as soon as is practical on embarkation day. I fully intend to discreetly tip anyone who provides us with good service, and that at the end of the cruise if good service has been provided then envelopes with thank you notes and tips will be left in the suite before we go up for breakfast.

Secondly, I always check accounts daily, it's part of my routine, but I check the onboard account sometimes twice daily. That means that any faults are seen and corrected quickly, and we don't get involved for queueing with account queries at the end of a cruise.

What's the difference between giving a pin in a shop as opposed to an hotel or cruise ship? Simple, in a shop the transaction is over and done with, it's closed. With a ship or an hotel it's very much an open situation. Ignoring it is crass. Ok, the would hopefully be a track able trail, by t having had to tolerate theft before, I simply don't play that game.

Two sorts of people I don't like.... (a) people who had had reasonable service and don't tip, (b) those who tip loudly and brashly and brag about it. It should be done discreetly.

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Re: CC registration changes

#16

Post by david63 »

Boris+ wrote: 13 Sep 2017, 09:46
What's the difference between giving a pin in a shop as opposed to an hotel or cruise ship? Simple, in a shop the transaction is over and done with, it's closed. With a ship or an hotel it's very much an open situation. Ignoring it is crass.
The answer is simple - if you don't like the system of using a CC then pay in cash - or perhaps don't use cruise lines that have this system.

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Re: CC registration changes

#17

Post by Manoverboard »

I would suspect that it is being done to counteract increasing levels of fraud ... no big deal as far as I am concerned but then we don't travel on the edge financially.

ps ... Fred Lines hadn't put this in place as of Sept 8th 2017.
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Re: CC registration changes

#18

Post by qbman1 »

I'm definitely with the "so what" brigade here. It is standard practice with most major hotels and I cannot see what the fuss is about. No one quibbles about entering a PIN when buying a bag of apples in Sainsbury's.....do they ?! I think it is a positive thing and helping to prevent fraud and protect us all. Get over it !

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Re: CC registration changes

#19

Post by Stephen »

qbman1 wrote: 13 Sep 2017, 10:06
I'm definitely with the "so what" brigade here. It is standard practice with most major hotels and I cannot see what the fuss is about. No one quibbles about entering a PIN when buying a bag of apples in Sainsbury's.....do they ?! I think it is a positive thing and helping to prevent fraud and protect us all. Get over it !
Can't afford they're prices ;)

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Re: CC registration changes

#20

Post by david63 »

qbman1 wrote: 13 Sep 2017, 10:06
No one quibbles about entering a PIN when buying a bag of apples in Sainsbury's.....do they ?!
No need - my card is "contactless" so just tap the card on the machine and job done!


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Re: CC registration changes

#21

Post by Boris+ »

qbman1 wrote: 13 Sep 2017, 10:06
I'm definitely with the "so what" brigade here. It is standard practice with most major hotels and I cannot see what the fuss is about. No one quibbles about entering a PIN when buying a bag of apples in Sainsbury's.....do they ?! I think it is a positive thing and helping to prevent fraud and protect us all. Get over it !
When I make a shop purchase, whether it's contactless or pin entry that's ok, I take the items, I get a receipt, case closed.

I am not happy about giving anyone freedom with any of my accounts. Personally I think that anyone who has a cavalier attitude to their personal finance is a complete wally. Whether that person can afford it is irrelevant. So playing the 'what if' game, how would you like it if someone helped themself to pecuniary gain at your expense? Even worse, what if that gain through theft lead to someone obtaining and misusing drugs, then driving and killing somebody you care about?

Ok maybe the odds are against that, but the odds are still there.

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Re: CC registration changes

#22

Post by towny44 »

Boris+ wrote: 13 Sep 2017, 12:15
qbman1 wrote: 13 Sep 2017, 10:06
I'm definitely with the "so what" brigade here. It is standard practice with most major hotels and I cannot see what the fuss is about. No one quibbles about entering a PIN when buying a bag of apples in Sainsbury's.....do they ?! I think it is a positive thing and helping to prevent fraud and protect us all. Get over it !
When I make a shop purchase, whether it's contactless or pin entry that's ok, I take the items, I get a receipt, case closed.

I am not happy about giving anyone freedom with any of my accounts. Personally I think that anyone who has a cavalier attitude to their personal finance is a complete wally. Whether that person can afford it is irrelevant. So playing the 'what if' game, how would you like it if someone helped themself to pecuniary gain at your expense? Even worse, what if that gain through theft lead to someone obtaining and misusing drugs, then driving and killing somebody you care about?

Ok maybe the odds are against that, but the odds are still there.
Since we are only discussing the cruise lines request for passengers to input their PIN to allow them to cover your spending whilst on board, then I assume when you refuse and they deny you boarding you will walk away without creating a fuss and, since you will be in breach of their T&Cs, without any refund or recourse to compensation?
John

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Re: CC registration changes

#23

Post by suespud »

I wonder if Boris is TRYING to be controversial again, as suggested by another poster on a different thread.

Drama Queen ....would be more apt I think.
:roll:


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(another Wally I guess, as I don't see anything wrong with what is requested by the cruise line.)

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Re: CC registration changes

#24

Post by Dancing Queen »

I'm another 'so what'(er) it doesn't bother me when the gratuities are added to the account as I fully intend leaving them there, IF ( and this has never happened yet ) I were to receive bad service then I have the option to remove them before disembarking the ship so I certainly wouldn't be worrying about it on day one.

I may be quite strange but very often I don't even look at the final account until we arrive home, not really a lot of point as I would certainly not queue on the last morning to have something corrected, I would do one of two things .. contact the cruise line in question and if I got no joy there I would wait for the credit card statement to arrive and request them to withhold payment as it was a disputed account, it would then be up to the cruise line to prove I had made the purchase they were charging me for .. simples !!
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Re: CC registration changes

#25

Post by Boris+ »

Towney, I won't refuse to provide the pin if asked, but will send a strongly worded email, and I will also both remove the auto tip and keep a watchful eye on my accounts.

To assume is foolish, and if cruise ships think I'm going to be spending (well what I call spending anyway) then they've got it badly wrong? We don't drink. the jewellery clothing and accessory offering is poor, any excursions are dealt with before leaving home, and we're neither bored nor vain enough to use the spa treatments, which leaves just about zero to spend on. Oh yes I forgot, the so called art gallery is hideous, and we can do our own photography.

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