Sharon Martell was recently looking over a stack of paperwork: The only memories she has of a Florida cruise she and her husband never took.
"We kind of had a bit of a medical emergency so we kind of had to cancel it and this was only two weeks later," she explains.
The trip was booked in November of 2007 after a call from Vacation Promotions in Florida.
"When I first answered the phone it said "this is your captain speaking," Sharon remembers.
She put the full $700 US on her MasterCard.
"We phoned and cancelled it. We phoned our credit card company and cancelled it and cancelled the amount on the credit card and we were told we would get a refund within 90 days," she says.
For months MasterCard told them it was investigating. Finally in February, the Martells were told MasterCard had found in the merchant's favour and they should seek legal counsel.
"Then we decided to email Chris Olsen to see if there was something anything we could do to get our money back."
Vacation Promotions has an F rating with the Florida BBB and 302 complaints filed in the last 36 months. But as a vacation telemarketing company they are subject to a Florida law that requires you get a full refund if you cancel your trip within 30 days -which the Martells had done.
We advised Sharon to contact the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services on line -- for help in claiming her refund.
"We had contacted the Florida government January 20th and in March we got a cheque from the vacation company," says Sharon.
The cheque is for the full amount.
"We were absolutely elated we picked it up at the post office walked straight over to the bank and cashed it -- didn't even go home!"
Sharon kept careful notes and all her correspondence and that's important in any transaction. When booking a vacation always ask about a company's cancellation policy and get it in writing.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Chris Olsen
