Rustic Pathways Australia (USA) Reviews (%countItem)
Rustic Pathways Australia (USA) Rating
Address: 6082 Pinecone Drive, Mentor, Ohio, United States, 44060
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Prior to COVID, Rustic Pathways stated that their policy was to provide full refund if trip is cancelled by Rustic Pathways. As COVID concerns arose, Rustic Pathways reiterated their commitment and continued taking installment payments for the scheduled trip and again committed to provide full refunds for trip payments if the trip was cancelled due to COVID. They have since reversed their position and is only offering travel vouchers. Despite citing their statements of full refunds, they said they cannot provide them at this point. We do not have any confidence in Rustic Pathways' ability to fulfill their proposed vouchers.
The following is from an email dated March 7, 2020 from a Rustic Pathways employee:
"That means, if Rustic cancels the program due to an escalation of risk (as determined by the global monitoring bodies - CDC, WHO, iSOS, etc.) that is beyond the level of our Safety and Risk Management policies; then we will suspend travel to that destination. If this happens, we will give the group options to postpone travel, divert locations, or cancel with full refund to families."
Our apologies for your frustration, the scale and scope of the global pandemic and its impact on our customers, our local partners and communities all around the world is unprecedented. We are trying to do our best to serve everyone responsibly in a tough situation. In this case, Rustic Pathways did not cancel this program, the customer school did a few months away from the program. In those circumstances, the cancellation policy you cite only allowed for a percentage refund, which seemed an unfair penalty given that it was out of your control as well. In an effort to provide a more valuable outcome for you, we have provided a voucher for the full value of your program, that is fully transferable. We understand that is not ideal for everyone, and we're always happy to talk with you about your voucher to see if there is a way it can be more satisfactory to you. A member of our team will reach out to you.
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, we would like to know your view on the matter.]
1. It is our understanding that our school did not cancel the trip, Rustic Pathways did. See attached copy of March 17, 2020 email from Rustic Pathways that was forwarded to families from our School coordinator.
2. Per Rustic Pathways email of March 7, 2020 (copy attached), Rustic Pathways committed to providing a 100% full refund to families.
That means, if Rustic cancels the program due to an escalation of risk (as determined by the global monitoring bodies -CDC, WHO, iSOS, etc.) that is beyond the level of our Safety and Risk Management policies; then we will suspend travelto that destination. If this happens, we will give the group options to postpone travel, divert locations, or cancel with fullrefund to families.
Our concerns are three-fold:
1. At this point, we do not see travel in the immediate future, much less through any programs that Rustic Pathways may offer, rendering the voucher useless. While they offer to transfer the voucher, we do not see that as viable either, as who would purchase a travel voucher at this time?
2. We have not been provided any confidence that Rustic Pathways will remain in operation if and when travel opens up again. With the state of the global economy and the numerous bankruptcy filings, there is no guarantee that the voucher will be valid at any time in the future.
3. Our trust in Rustic Pathways has been eroded due to their lack of commitment to standing by their initial statement of providing full refunds.
Rustic Pathways is obligated to fulfill their commitment of providing a full refund.
Regards
Rustic Pathways changed their cancellation policy on their website after Covid 19. Up until mid-March, the policy was that if they cancel a trip for any reason, we would get a hundred percent refund (I have a screenshot of this). Once Covid hit, they took that page down and replaced with some very vague language. Just because they changed the website page doesn't mean it wasn't there when we purchased the trip.
They cancelled my daughter's educational service trip to Costa Rica for June 23rd and refused to honor their cancellation policy of 100% refund if THEY cancelled a trip (we stayed signed up waiting to see what would happen). They are offering a travel voucher which is of no use to us, as my daughter cannot take the trip at another time. The trip was part of a school requirement she had for this coming year. And she will be graduating next year. They continually strung us along changing their offers for partial refunds, and overall have been very sketchy with the whole operation.
I'm sorry to hear about your frustration with our ability to offer full refunds in this current global pandemic. Our cancellation policy has never guaranteed a full refund in the case of cancellations or changes that are out of our control. The change you saw online was posted for new student travel sign-ups after the WHO declared a global pandemic, but the policy you enrolled under is still available and has been emailed to you. (Screenshot of the website pre-COVID is to large to attach here but is available to email to anyone who asks for it.) We have consistently offered you the percentage refund available to you when you first reached out to us in March, and are happy to still honor that and provide the full value to you in the form of remaining funds in a voucher.I do apologize for the miscommunication at one point regarding whether or not you enrolled with a nonrefundable discount, that was a misread on our part. You are still eligible for the original percentage refund you requested, plus the remaining amount in a voucher, to reach your full value. Finally, you will receive your refund as promised -- we have been consistently sending refunds to customers who are eligible for them, starting with programs which were supposed to travel in February, March, and April. As we continue to move through departure dates, customers are receiving their refunds. We apologize for the slowness at this time but hope that people understand in these historic circumstances. Please feel free to reach out to us if you would like to discuss further.
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID. This is the first I am hearing of a voucher for the incremental 40%. I will keep that documented and expect to see an email. Is it possible to get that date extended beyond August 2021? If that is the case, my other child may actually be able to use it.
I did not see the email that you referenced in your reply with the cancellation policy. I would appreciate the 60% refund as soon as possible. Once I get the credit to my account, I'll accept that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Regards
To Whom it May Concern:
On March 18th, I contacted Rustic Pathways to cancel a trip to Costa Rica. I was informed that I would not be able to cancel my trip even though I had purchased an Optional Cancellation Waiver for the amount of $195 (see invoice provided by Rustic Pathways). I was told that my only option was to reschedule the trip for a later date. According to Rustic Pathways the Optional Cancellation Waiver allows you to cancel your trip for any reason up to 24 hours before departure (see attached documents labeled Rustic Pathways Optional Cancellation Waiver) as long as you provide written notification. (see email dated 3/17/2020) . I had tried multiple times to resolve this issue with Rustic Pathways with no avail so I contacted *** to dispute the charges.
Within days of initiating the dispute, Rustic Pathways contacted me and informed me they would refund the money if I canceled the dispute (see transcript). I contacted *** and the representative that I spoke with at *** told me the dispute was closed and advised me not to cancel the dispute.
On April 10th, the charges were put back on my credit card. Rustic Pathways is claiming that I purchased a $3000 dollar gift certificate. When I made my purchase with Rustic Pathways on 12/24/2020, I was never informed that I was purchasing a $3000 gift certificate, I was told that I was purchasing a $2500 credit that could be applied to any trip, and as part of their holiday promotion I would receive an additional $500 gift card. See invoice dated 12/24/2019.
I have tried for several months to work with Rustic Pathways and *** to resolve this situation. I expect with the documentation provided the total amount of $1978.00 will be refunded to my credit card.
Summary:
$2500.00
-327.00 (amount refunded)
-195.00 (cancellation waiver)
Adjusted total $1978.00
Thank you, ***
Email to *** on Tuesday, March 17th, 2020
On Tue, Mar 17, 2020 at 2:58 PM *** <***> wrote:
Hi ***,
I left you a message on your voicemail and wanted to send an email too. Given the current circumstances with travel bans, *** is no longer able to participate in the Costa Rica trip. I would appreciate it if you could refund my account.
Thank you
apologies for any frustration you may be feeling with our organization, no doubt compounded by this difficult time and its impact on you and your family. Respectfully, much of what you represent is not an accurate depiction of the many attempts we made to resolve this matter for you. WHO declared a global pandemic on March 11th, at which point our office was inundated with a high volume of calls. You contacted us in writing on March 17th to cancel your program, we called you on March 19th (a Thursday), and the representative merely referred your request for a refund to a manager at that time, an understandable procedure given the volume of requests we were receiving. Less than two business days later, we came into the office on Monday to learn you had filed a chargeback with *** before we could get back to you. While we apologize for that delay, most clients were understanding if our responses took a couple of days during that period.
Despite the fact that you did indeed purchase your trip with a nonrefundable gift card (Terms presented at point of sale are attached) we offered to make an exception to your terms in part due to error in our system that allowed you to purchase the Optional Cancellation Waiver, but more importantly because these are unusual times and we understand the pandemic impacted you hard as well. We merely asked that you either withdraw your dispute or give us permission to recharge you for just the waiver and other nonrefundable fees. You replied that you would not drop the dispute, and then ignored our emails and calls. After four documented attempts to reach you in late March and April, we filed paperwork as part of the dispute process (which we are required to do when a resolution is not reached).
We remain interested in resolving this for you amicably. You have nevertheless not provided any formal documentation from *** to indicate that you have withdrawn your dispute (or conversely, won your dispute and given us permission to assess the nonrefundable fees). It is entirely possible you have done as you say, but ***, our credit card processor, floats the funds for at least two months before returning them to the merchant in cases that are resolved or withdrawn in the merchant's favor. (This is publicly available on their website). If that is the case, once the funds are returned to us or you can send us formal documentation as proof, we can take additional steps to work with you again.
[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
Revdex.com:
As requested by Rustic Pathways, I have submitted a letter from *** reflecting the cancellation of the dispute. Please see attached document. It is my expectation that with this letter of cancellation, Rustic Pathways will credit my *** for a total of $1878.00. This amount reflects the nonrefundable fees: $195 for the cancellation waiver and $100 for the enrollment fee.
Please note the total amount paid to Rustic Pathways was $2173.00 but the dispute amount is $1978.00 as documented in letter from ***. The difference in the amount is $195.00 which accounts for the cancellation waiver.
Regards
Scheduled a trip with Rustic Pathways for our daughter to travel to Thailand for spring break service trip. (March 13-22, 2020) With the now Global Pandemic for COVID-19, Rustic Pathways refused to cancel the trip, and refund the dollars paid for the trip. Continuing to stand by their policy, left no options for parents to cancel their reservations. Rustic has been poor to communicate and I feel has not fulfilled their marketed statement of "Ensuring the safety of your teen as they travel with Rustic Pathways is a top priority." How can they say this if they would travel with teens under a CDC "Global Pandemic"?
we are working to resolve these now. I will keep you updated
Under our cancellation policy <45 days from program start date qualifies for $0 refund when the family cancels the trip. In order to reach middle ground during this unfortunate pandemic, we offered these families travel vouchers for 100% back of the money they paid to be redeemed when they felt comfortable to travel again, or a 10% cash refund on the program cost, both exceptions made by Rustic Pathways due to the circumstances. I have not been able to contact the *** family to discuss the offer above, but they do have this information.
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
The 100% “voucher offer is new; the first offer was 10%
refund or 60% voucher. On this complaint
we figured in the 10% offer in our requested action, not the 60% because it is
only a voucher for future trips. One of
the main points of the trip was the kids would be with classmates to build relationships
in their high school lives. A proposed
100% voucher will not be able to be a school “official” event so each girl
would make a decision to take a future Rustic Pathway trip disregarding a major
objective Rustic states they have
reached out, I have received 1 phone call that I could not take due to being on
my other line, they did not leave a message or attempt a 2nd call. I did call the number back but was
an auto attendant where I could not get to a live person. This complaint has been filed due to Rustic Pathways objecting
to NOT taking the SAFETY of high school aged young adults into consideration. Rustic Pathways would have no possible way to
assure the girls would not have been subject to quarantine on the return trip
which would have been the past Sunday. Rustic
Pathways obviously has no intent to refund paid dollars (except for 10%) and it
speaks volumes to the type of business we are dealing with and any future
customer just needs to understand that their main objective is not the SAFETY
of your traveler. We did not cancel this
trip due to not wanting to go, we canceled due to the reality of a Global Health
Epidemic and the fluidness of the situation. Which Rustic Pathways refuses to address in a acceptable manor. We remain, requesting a 100% refund (not a voucher)
for our daughters paid trip.
Regards
My daughter is scheduled for a trip through Rustic Pathways. We are in the midst of the Coronavirus outbreak, which is spreading worldwide. The trip is to Thailand, and her flight goes through South Korea. At this time, the U.S. Department of State has travel to South Korea listed as a “Level 3 warning - Reconsider Travel”. The CDC has travel to South Korea listed as a “Level 4 warning - Avoid Nonessential Travel”. This is the highest travel warning given by the CDC, and the third highest travel warning given by the U.S. Dept. of State. Thailand’s Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul announced that, “Japan, Germany, South Korea, China "including its special territories Macao and Hong Kong," Taiwan, France, Singapore, Italy and Iran have been declared as "dangerous communicable disease areas.
Anyone traveling from those places will have to self-quarantine for 14 days "with no exceptions.” Rustic Pathways is refusing to cancel the trip because they don’t want to give any refunds. When the U.S. government AND Center for Disease Control are recommending people to not travel to South Korea, Rustic Pathways should have to follow their recommendations and give refunds. The flights are scheduled through Delta Airlines, and Delta is waiving all cancellation fees, and giving a 100% refund. I spoke with a supervisor at Delta, and she confirmed that my daughter’s ticket qualifies for the full refund, but Rustic Pathways still refuses to cancel the trip. Rustic Pathways is not concerned about safety, the Coronavirus risk, or whether their customers will be quarantined in Thailand or when they return to the U.S. The only thing they are concerned about is making sure they keep our money.
Under our cancellation policy <45 days from program start date qualifies for $0 refund when the family cancels the trip. In order to reach middle ground during this unfortunate pandemic, we offered these families travel vouchers for 100% back of the money they paid to be redeemed when they felt comfortable to travel again, or a 10% cash refund on the program cost, both exceptions made by Rustic Pathways due to the circumstances. I did speak with *** today, we came to an agreement on 30% refund on program cost due to internal documentation on her scenario and emails exchanged with Rustic Pathways. Technically she missed that window for the 30% refund opportunity, but I did make an exception here. I also sent her written confirmation via email.
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
I read the response from Rustic Pathways today that was emailed to me. *** stated he made an exception and is giving me a 30% refund of their cost, and that I missed the window to be allowed this refund. I talked to *** on Jan. 24, 2020 about cancelling and getting a refund, and *** told me it was too late. However, it was more than 45 days before of the travel date. It’s very disappointing that Rustic Pathways cannot even accept responsibility for their mistakes, and have to lie about it, even after he saw documentation of how many times I spoke to someone there and the initial email to *** on 1/23/2020. The 30% he offered to refund me was already owed to me. He also failed to mention that they are making me wait 4-6 months before I get refunded!