Refund after soured travel plans
Scottsdale resident Russell Jurgenson wanted one thing for his family summer vacation this year: Paradise.
And he said he believed he’d found it at the family-friendly Beaches Resort in the Turks and Caicos Islands in the Caribbean.
The family booked the trip through AAA, and they were scheduled to embark on their adventure in June. But they never got a chance to enjoy the resort.
Just before the Jurgenson family boarded a plane in Florida, a loudspeaker announced that Beaches Resort was closed due to a virus that had left several guests ill.
Like many vacationers headed to the resort, the Jurgensons were disappointed. American Airlines offered the family options for other Caribbean destinations, including St. Lucia and Jamaica, but Russell worried they were not family-friendly.
“I just wanted to come home to the West Coast.” Jurgenson CALL 12 FOR ACTION said.
When the family returned to Scottsdale, Jurgenson sought a refund. Having bought travel insurance through AAA, he was immediately reimbursed for the resort costs.
However, AAA would not reimburse the family for $2,500 in airfare, saying they had flown to and from Florida, which accounted for the bulk of the airfare.
“I was pretty upset, very upset,” Jurgenson said. “We thought we deserved our full refund because we never received our end product.”
A month later, the Jurgensons were at a hotel in Utah where they ran into Channel 12 anchor Joe Dana. Jurgenson told him about AAA’s refusal to refund the family’s airfare costs and Dana suggested he contact Call 12 for Action.
A Call 12 volunteer made contact with AAA Arizona, which quickly issued Jurgenson a refund for his airfare costs.
In a statement, AAA spokeswoman Linda Gorman said the Jurgensons’ situation was unique. She said travel insurance covered the trip cancellation. But since the family used the round-trip flight from Arizona to Florida, it was not covered.
Gorman said AAA worked to get a refund directly from the airline, enabling the Jurgensons to receive a 100percent reimbursement.
Jurgenson said he continues to book family vacations through AAA. And he said he is thankful that Call 12 For Action was able to assist him in recovering the expenses on his aborted trip to paradise.
“I felt really good once I got that check,” he said.