Tourradar

I booked a trip through Tour Radar in January on *** to go to South Africa this June/July. In April, Tour Radar informed me that *** cancelled the trip and that my only option was to accept a 110% credit for a future *** trip booked in the next two years. *** currently does not plan to offer my same trip (Hiking South Africa) beyond this September and I am not interested in their other trip offerings, so I requested a full refund instead, which was flatly denied by Tour Radar. I then contacted my travel insurance policy, which was obtained through my *** credit card, who informed me that the policy did not cover a trip cancelled by the Tour Operator - it only covered a trip cancelled on my end. Thus, I disputed my credit card charge to try to recover the $6500 that Tour Radar / *** are holding of my money last week. Today, I received the following threatening email from Tour Radar demanding that I drop my dispute or else risk losing my $1500 deposit. I could really use your advise and help with this mess.

Gratefully,
***

EMAIL RECEIVED 5/17/2020 FROM TOURRADAR:

My name is *** and I'm part of the Security and *** Team at TourRadar. We understand that you may not be satisfied with the options presented to you regarding your tour, which is why you have made the decision to open a chargeback dispute with your credit card provider.

Please be advised that submitting a credit card dispute acts in accordance with a violation of a failed (final) payment, as the transaction in this booking has effectively been blocked. This then means that you are in breach and subject to the following condition:

"Failure to make payment in cleared funds by the due date may result in your booking being cancelled and deposits forfeited."

We understand that COVID-19 has put measures in place that no one thought was possible and recognise that the options presented may not be of preference, however we would like to kindly ask that you re-consider the following credit for future travel options:

1 - Having your entire payment kept on file to use a credit for a future tour. Your credit will be valued at 110% of the full amount paid and can be used for any *** tour departure by 30 June 2022.
2 - Keeping only your 20% deposit as credit for a future tour in the form of a lifetime deposit. This will not be valued at 110%, this will solely be the deposit amount of $1487.52 but this lifetime deposit will never expire.

The options presented have been carefully considered and implemented by *** with the applicable legislation in mind.

As per the specified conditions, TourRadar will have no choice but to cancel your booking if the chargeback is not withdrawn. The cancellation of your booking will result in a loss of your 20% deposit ($1487.52), and will also mean that you forfeit the option to have your credits on file for a future tour or keep your lifetime deposit. If you would like to proceed with keeping your credit on file, we require your confirmation in writing that the chargeback has been withdrawn and which credit option you'd like to go with within the next 24 hours or we will be forced to cancel your booking and dispute the chargeback. As I am sure you can imagine, we have seen an increase in these types of disputes since COVID-19 began and we feel it is in your best interest that we be clear and transparent about the options you have and advise you of the potential negative outcomes before moving forward with the dispute.

We look forward to your response and hope that you will reconsider cancelling the chargeback in order to keep your credit on file to use in the future.

Kind regards,
***
Security and *** Team
17th May 2020