Need some advice to help a friend

[Jim Lapenta]

This is one of the reasons that I don't get into booking trips. It is a lot of work and can have it's problems when stuff like this comes up. Coupled with the fact that anyone with a little internet savvy can book a great trip on their own for not much more money and sometimes less.

That said the morally and ethically right thing to do would be to refund her money. What I'd like to know is what kind of trip is this and to where? What's included? Did the shop already pay for rooms, boat, fills, etc.? One thing you may not also realize is that on top of the owner making a profit off of her he is likely getting one or more free spots for him and whoever else he decides to take.

And for the record reputable shops don't worry about credit card surcharges, they build them into the cost just as we do on equipment sales. So that's total BS. And I'm with DoctorMike on this. What shop is doing this trip? Maybe if you post it they will get a few more people to go?

It's not like she canceled just for the hell of it. She got hurt and found people to take her place. If no plane tickets were involved that means no tickets to change so it should not matter who goes unless they are illegal. She should have sold her spot to the couple and then they could have just bought an extra for the spouse. Shop could not say a word about it. I'm guessing you are staying in the US so no one needs to provide passport info that had to be changed.

If he doesn't give her money back he deserves to never be able to book another trip. All cash or checks and different LLC? Ask to see the LLC paperwork for that entity.

And the no paper contract thing - BIG RED FLAG on a trip. Who is responsible if something goes wrong? What if the hotel rooms come up short or not available? All reasonable contingencies need to be spelled out. Another reason I don't try to organize them. Too much work to set things like that up and I don't have the time to do that. In addition there are a couple shops local that run great trips and have been doing it for a long time. I'd rather book with them as they have those things covered.

 

[Crass3000]

Sounds pretty shady. Given I don't know the whole story so I'm not going to damn the store but it sounds like if I knew I sure would. Sounds like you should have everyone go in at once to work it all out reasonably. Seems like the most reasonable way to work it out. Otherwise small claims court. What the heck else can you do when people screw you over. I had a shop that will remain un-named in Florida that screwed my mom over $500. They didn't provide training in any sort of schedule that was agreed on before. We were sitting all day waiting for her class and they kept canceling late in the day. Was a total waste if vacation and hotel/expenses while they screwed around. She ended up going to another shop that was REALLY cool Force-E. They hooked her up.

This guy was really cool. I guess his dad was the owner of the small chain. I can't say anything except good things about them though. They seem to be a class act store.

 

[shmuggy]

At most the dive shop might be able to justify keeping a nominal amount to cover the cost of changing the reservation with the hotel and dive shop at the location but that would be it. Is she upset about it? Unless she is too ill- she should raise a ruckus about it with the Dive Club and everyone she knows who dives so they don't do further business with it. Let us know the outcome if any further efforts are made- please.

 

[spectrum]

If I didn't miss anything the injured diver did a poor job of communicating and handling the substitution.

If the additional diver just showed up and booked a spot then the shop had one more booking period.

If the injured diver then showed up looking for a refund since "so and so" took her spot it then puts the shop owner in the position of second guessing if the referral or the booking came first. It would have been much more clear cut if they were all there together for this game of musical chairs.

Now as a goodwill measure it's a no brainier to accept that a replacement has been found and the injured diver is entitled to a refund, or at least a future trip credit if such an option were ever agreed to in a contract or even as a verbal agreement. When all else fails the Golden Rule always works.

Pete