Discovery Diving Company, Inc.

Refund not given for cancelled dive trip after spots were reported as filled.The refund policy of the dive shop requires that a cancelled spot be filled before it is refunded. The dive shop reported that the dive we cancelled was filled on their website. They again reported that the dive had been filled when we called and asked if there were available spots. Upon finding out that we were owed a refund, they told us that it was a mistake and the dive was not full, so we could not get a refund. We argued that we had just been told twice that there were no spots and when we asked for the name of the person on the phone, they hung up on us. This dive was for 7/22/2016 and is the night dive that is still being reported as full on their website. They have been dishonest and are actively preventing the spot from being filled or they are lying about it being filled to charge us for something that we did not receive. Desired SettlementWe would like a full refund for the dives that we cancelled with several weeks notice and that have been reported as filled again.Business Response Most of the [redacted] Charters had been refilled. We were waiting for the last 2 spots on the night dive to be filled, which they were not. It was an error of our employee, mistakenly telling them it was filled with a simple glance at the charter sheet that was laying in a slot in a rack. In going over it with said employee, they should have pulled the sheet out to verify whose names were on the sheet. The [redacted] called as if they were regular customers "seeing" if it was filled. If they had been honest and told us who they werein the first place (not some random customer) we WOULD have most definitely pulled the charter sheet out and verified if the spots had been filled. The [redacted] were made well aware of the refund policy when they booked. The gentlemen did not intentionally hang upon the [redacted]. A senior staff member called the [redacted] back immediately after returning from lunch and being made aware of the issue. We were ready and willing to refund the [redacted] back the refund they were due, which again they were made well aware of. They had impulsively claimed a chargeback on their credit card, and proceeded to file complaints. This matter could have been most assuredly handled and dealt with in the best possible way if the [redacted] had informed the first employee of who they were. We are not dishonest and we are fair with our refunds and always make sure the customers are made well aware of our refund policy when they book their charters.Consumer Response We called to check if the last charters were filled because we needed to keep track of what we would be able to have refunded. We did not go into the entire story of who we were, as there was no point in doing so prior to confirming that the slots were all filled. The answer should have been the same either way, and if it would have been different, then that would be dishonest on the business's part because it would prevent us from getting a refund when the spot was taken by another individual. In response to the comment that we would have been told they were empty if they knew who we were: the company was supposed to be trying to fill the spaces in good faith. If anyone other than ourselves was being told there were no available openings, then they were not doing as promised as no one could have signed up to replace us. In response to the comment that it was a simple mistake by an employee: We have screenshots from your website showing that the dive was marked online as completely filled. Also, the employee asked us to wait while he checked and then said there were no spaces. So both the employee and the online record stated the dive as full. This was not a one time mistake.In response to the comment about us acting hastily: We clearly told the employee about the website and the fact that he himself had said the dives were full. We clearly informed him that there was a problem if we were not given a refund and he stated that we would not get one. We then further informed him that if we could not resolve this with him or someone in charge, that we would be forced to do a chargeback. The employee continued to insist that we would not get a refund and it did not matter if they told everyone the dives were full. After AGAIN informing him that we would proceed with a callback, the call was ended on the shop's side. If there was a phone issue, he did not call back to say so. In response to the callback later that afternoon: We did speak with someone later in the day. We told her that following talking to the other employee that we had proceeded with the chargeback as discussed with the previous person. She informed us that she was normally the person who handled things and said that she would contact the owner and get back to us. We told her that if they made it right from their side, that we would cancel the chargeback and withdraw our complaint. Unfortunately, we did not receive any further communication following that call.