Iowa Attorney General, Tom Miller, has worked with a Colorado-based travel company to get a refund of fees paid by Iowans who signed up for a high school band tour of Europe. That tour was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and a total of $610,430 is to be repaid to 307 Iowans. Voyageurs International agreed to settle allegations made by Miller’s office that the company violated the Travel Agencies and Agents law, the Iowa Door-to-Door Sales Act and the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act. The company denies the charges but agreed to voluntary compliance. “The pandemic was unavoidable, and travel companies are not necessarily responsible for refunding all money to customers in such situations,” Miller says. “However, Voyageurs misled Iowans in how it handled the unexpected event. We appreciate that the company worked with us to return money to Iowans.” Iowa students paid $6,345 each for the Ambassadors of Music 2020 tour while accompanying adults paid $6,745 each. About 40 paid for a side trip to Greece for an additional $2,075 to $2,265. Travelers were notified of the tour’s cancellation and told they would receive a refund, less a $1,900 cancellation fee, stating they had already paid vendors more than that amount. However, the Attorney General learned that Voyageurs had received partial refunds from some vendors. They also claim the company failed to register as a travel agency with the state of Iowa and failed to provide consumers with a required Notice of Cancellation form. Miller’s office is working to contact affected Iowans and they will send out their refund checks.
Trending
