Adventure rebooked for 2021, but we don’t want to go

A: OverseasAdventureTravel should have refunded your money for several reasons. First, because it promised it would. And also because a refund is required under your state’s laws.

Whywould Overseas AdventureTravel rebook youtheway itdid? Easy. Itwants you to keep your travel plans. That benefits the tour operator and all of its suppliers. So, of course it’s going to do everything it can to prevent a refund.

OverseasAdventure Travel can’t renege on its refund offer. You could have reached out to someone higher up atOver

Earlier this year, mywife andI bookeda tripwithOverseasAdventureTravel toGreece andTurkey in late spring. Whentravel started to get restricted due to the coronavirus, we contactedOverseasAdventureTravel to inquire as to the status of our trip.

AnOverseasAdventureTravel representative said that the tripwas going to be canceled. She advised us to wait for notification of this, because whenthecompany cancels a trip, the customer is due a full refund of all expenses. Thishad been specified in OverseasAdventureTravel’s terms and conditionswhenwebookedthe tripaswell.

Acouple ofweeks later, we received a notice fromOverseasAdventure Travel that ithad rebooked usona trip to thesamedestination in June 2021. It never notifiedus that our original trip was canceled nor consulted us about rebooking us to another date.

Whenwe contactedOverseas AdventureTravel customer service, a representative toldus thecompany “changed” its policy regarding refunds andwould not be honoring the refund policy thatwas in effectwhenwe bookedour original trip. We told the company thatwedonotwant our $21,157 withheldby it, andwe don’t want to plan a future trip in these uncertain times. Canyouhelp us get a refund?— Bruce Shickmanter, Lenox, Massachusetts

seasAdventureTravel to appeal your case. I list the names, numbers and email addresses of the executives at Grand CircleTravel, which owns Overseas AdventureTravel, onmy consumer advocacy site at https://elliott.org/company-contacts/grand-circletravel/.

But there’s also the legality of the tour operator’s actions. UnderMassachusetts state law, a tour operator must offer a refund when it cancels a trip. You could have complained to the attorney general as well. You can find the form at https://www.mass.gov/ how-to/file-a-consum

er-complaint.

What if that doesn’t work? Imighthavegotten in touch with your credit card company. Overseas AdventureTravel’s email offering a refundwould have made your credit card dispute an easy win.

I contactedOverseas AdventureTravel on your behalf. It refunded the $21,157, as promised.

Christopher Elliott is the chief advocacy officer of Elliott Advocacy, a nonprofit organization that helps consumers resolve their problems. Contact him at elliott.org/ help or chris@elliott.org.