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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.
