Already having my first "Adventure"

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…with their refund policy.  So Carrie and I signed up to join Events and Aventures on June 11, and we had pretty much the same experience all of the yelp and other online reviewers had- we went in there thinking they just needed to see that we weren’t freaks and then they’d sign us up.  We weren’t expecting the sales pitch and the crazy-high fees.  I was wavering, thinking about the condo I’m hoping to buy at the end of the summer, but then the saleslady, Lena, shrieked, “but you don’t want to live in your condo ALONE!” and I looked over at Carrie.  She was smiling and looking encouraging and enthusiastic (for a second I must’ve forgotten this is how Carrie ALWAYS looks) so I thought, “ok, she really wants to do this” and I said yes.  We regretted our decision almost immediately, and then decided the healthiest way to deal with our shame and outrage was to blog about it.  But while we were still in this lady’s office (laden with tacky “personality” items like ceramic shelf-sitting frogs) we decided our first event would be the “Private Sunset Sail” on June 22.  So the next day I went online and reserved a spot ($39) on said sail, but later in the day Carrie told me she couldn’t go.  When we signed up I was kind of excited about getting to go on a wooden schooner or whatever so I sort of mentally glossed over the fact that it is in Annapolis and I live in DC without a car.  So, without my ride (and moral support) I felt I had to cancel the reservation.  As soon as I hit the button a little message pops up, “Adventure dollars are not awarded for this event.”  So, Adventure Dollars are what you get, supposedly, if you have to cancel and they take the place of a refund, kind of like store credit.  So I see that and I’m like, fine, I guess they’ll give back my $39.  So I wait a few days, keep checking my credit card records, to see if a refund comes through and then this morning I check one last time before I call them. 

I call E & A and I explain what happened and the woman says I had to have cancelled two weeks before the event to get a refund.  I say we hadn’t joined yet two weeks before so that would be impossible.  She’s like, well we put the refund policy in big red letters on the event page and this is why.  Apparently since this sail is through an outside vendor, two weeks before is when the vendor took payment from the company.  I try to tell her it was going to be my first event ever and I’m sad that I can’t go and doesn’t she think it would be good business to at least credit me some adventure dollars because I’m a brand new member?  Apparently not.  I pause a few seconds and I say, dripping with sarcasm, “Wow, I’m SO glad I joined.”  Silence.  She finally says she’s sorry that the policy doesn’t make me happy but that there are no exceptions.  I think I used the phrase “you’d think it would be good business” once more before I hung up.  I thought for the ridiculous amount of money these people are charging me that they might actually have decent customer service.  By the way, looking at the event listings it seems the refund policy is written in red letters indeed but they are certainly not “big.” Now I’m paying for a boat ride that I won’t even be taking.  Cue the obvious jokes about the two of us getting taken for a ride.