BEWARE: OARS river trips

they are confiscating my $1000.00 on a Yampa trip because I broke my heel climbing last month.

THey will not let me re-schedule my trip and they won't accommodate my injury.

They claim their accounting office can't manage any accommodation and that its too bad I didn't buy their "insurance."
So, they get either an undeserved $windfall or insurance $$$.

lin, missing only a completely healed foot bone

How much advanced notice did they get?

Sounds pretty standard to me. Even on private trips you forfeit your cash if you bail without a replacement.

I imagine this and other policies were all communicated very clearly prior to the booking of the trip. OARS is a quality operation and is not to blame here. Regardless, I wish you a speedy recover and hope you get to float the Yampa soon.

Cheers

Did you pay with a credit card? If so, call and have they company remove the charge. Say you didn't authorize it. Let me know how it goes!

Sounds like a great way to go to court.

I feel for the OP as I once had to cancel a trip hours before leaving. We lost a good chunk of money. Almost all travel related businesses have a limited to no refund policy such as OARS:

Cancellations and Refunds
If you find it necessary to cancel your trip, notify us as soon as possible. The cancellation fee after you’ve made your deposit can range up to the entire trip cost, based upon the number of days prior to your trip that we receive your cancellation notice. We regret we cannot make exceptions for personal emergencies. For this reason, we strongly urge our participants to investigate trip insurance (see Insurance).

res.oars.com/reservation/po…

The problem for a business is trying to fill the spots once they are canceled so close the trip date.

And most all travel related businesses suggest travel insurance. As such, it is hardly fair for the OP to say OARS is confiscating their money. Further, it is not fair to say they get an "undeserved $windfall or insurance $$$" as I do not see OARS selling trip insurance.

That said one does hope a business will do things like try to fill your spot so you can recoup some of your moneys. In this case look at as if you canceled 60 days outs and refund everything but $100.

That said talk with your credit card company as they might have some protection for something like this incident (do not take Riesberg's bad advice). Otherwise try to sell your spot at a discount. You never know who might want to do the trip.

It looks from Allen's link that they are treating the deposit as a penalty rather than a liquidated damages provision. In which case, it's likely unenforceable. They also seem to be keeping the entire cost of the tour (which presumably includes profit) rather than what could be said to be a reasonable assessment of damages.

The OP's problem is that getting actual legal advice, or fighting it, will likely cost more than the kilodollar he's already out.

Note: I'm not a lawyer; I just semi-randomly Google stuff and spit back up what looks reasonably plausible. I'm sure there's some lawyers floating around here who can make some non-specific comments on the topic.

The season on the Yampa is very short - usually not much more than a month or maybe two. A client bailing is a big opportunity cost for the outfitter on top of the losses incurred for permit fees, food, guides, etc. They just don't get to guide it very many times a year, and each trip is 5-7 days so there is a fair bit of commitment there for them.

I'd personally like to see way more private trips, way fewer guided trips, and the fees for those guided trips to skyrocket to represent the true cost of denying permits to people who know what they are doing and have equipment so tourists can get guided down a river.

Jeremy B. wrote:It looks from Allen's link that they are treating the deposit as a penalty rather than a liquidated damages provision. In which case, it's likely unenforceable. They also seem to be keeping the entire cost of the tour (which presumably includes profit) rather than what could be said to be a reasonable assessment of damages. The OP's problem is that getting actual legal advice, or fighting it, will likely cost more than the kilodollar he's already out. Note: I'm not a lawyer; I just semi-randomly Google stuff and spit back up what looks reasonably plausible. I'm sure there's some lawyers floating around here who can make some non-specific comments on the topic.

We don't know how much advanced notice was provided to the tour operator. From the vendor's perspective, they have limited slots to fill and those slots are income. If someone prevents them from filling a slot they are withholding income from the vendor. It's not complicated. I'll guarentee the tour operators don't have a mansion on the French Riviera, get a grip.

Rick Blair wrote: We don't know how much advanced notice was provided to the tour operator. From the vendor's perspective, they have limited slots to fill and those slots are income. If someone prevents them from filling a slot they are withholding income from the vendor. It's not complicated. I'll guarentee the tour operators don't have a mansion on the French Riviera, get a grip.

That's true; he could have booked the tickets 60 days in advance and tried to get the refund two days later. Or, booked them 90 days out and cancelled the week before the trip. Who knows?

My take is that OARS should have someone review the wording of their terms to make them more enforceable. They did make the cancellation costs clear right up front, so it is hard to have sympathy for the OP if he feels surprised at them.

Go on the trip there is one rapid and you are rafting which means drinking beer and sitting on your ass. Perfect for rehab. I worked two seasons raft guiding on crutches people do way tougher things than rafting with way less don't be a pity party be part of the party

I worked in guiding and outfitting for a dozen seasons. If you didn't buy either their insurance, or have some sort of travel insurance on your own, that's your problem.

Cancellation policy seems to be clearly stated at time of booking. So as a consumer you have two choices - buy insurance or assume the risk of loss of deposit / payment.

Sounds like the OP made a decision to assume the risk and now wants to gripe that the operator is doing bad business by "confiscating" his money.

I sure don't see it that way. The OP just needs to "suck it up" to a lesson learned.

Mark NH wrote:Cancellation policy seems to be clearly stated at time of booking. So as a consumer you have two choices - buy insurance or assume the risk of loss of deposit / payment. Sounds like the OP made a decision to assume the risk and now wants to gripe that the operator is doing bad business by "confiscating" his money. I sure don't see it that way. The OP just needs to "suck it up" to a lesson learned.

Technically, this is true. In this particular instance, due to the truly unexpected reason for the cancellation (injury), and in the spirit of maintaining a good name and image, it MIGHT be a nice thing on the part of the company to offer at least a partial refund - but, legally speaking, it's entirely up to their discretion.

On the business end of this, it points out that OARS, and many guided tour companies
Must have the decency to take each case as it happens, it is bad business policy to deny anyone
a partial refund,.
just a bad policy if having a good reputation is important, give a little back and keep the client smiling not posting negative crap.

If, as some one pointed out, the timing and the rarely available trip is a constant sell-out, then the story makes more sense. Still it would seem a better course of action to try and work out a
Rain check or a 'voucher' to go on a future trip.

I was the booking department of a mountain travel company many years ago,
as well as having contacts, with cash, money, and a known itinerary that was pre -approved,
We insisted that trip insurance was purchased and on record in the country of destination, at the embassy or with the contacts in country as well as back at home.