Complaint Review: Memory Tours

My mom purchased a 7 day Caribbean Cruise with Carnival Cruise Line from Memory Tours a few months ago for a cost of $1659.00. She paid by personal check. The cruise departure date was Sept. 03, 2006. On August 5th, she fell and broke her hand and had to have a cast placed on my arm. So, she was unable to dress herself and was not able to go on this cruise.

We contacted Carole T. of Memory Tours of Branson to cancel the trip and as well as Carnival Cruise Line. Carnival told us that as long as my mom cancelled by August 26th, she would be entitled to a $585.60 partial refund. I asked Carole at Memory Tours to confirm this, so she contacted Carnival, then called us back to confirm that we had until August 26th to cancel and would get the $585.60 partial refund for this $1659 trip due to my injury.

So, we cancelled the trip and Memory Tours cancelled our reservation with Carnival on August 24th. We have confirmed this with Carnival. However, after the cruise, Memory Tours only refunded $66.60 - which is the government fees and taxes portion that is required to be refunded by law, not the amount of $585.60 as originally promised. That is, they kept the additional $519.00 for themselves citing the reason as this: "we lost our group rate so we could not give you your partial refund [sic]". This statement, however, was false, as we learned from discussions with Carnival Cruise Lines.

Instead, it appears that Memory Tours, because they did not have a full compliment of 8 guests for the cruise, lost their Free Birth Credit or "TC", which allows one of their representatives (namely Carole Treadwell) to enjoy the cruise for free.

However, our refund, according to Carnival, was not contingent on this perk being available to Memory Tours, and should not infringe upon us receiving our refund. In fact, we have spoken with Carnival 5 or 6 times since we received a letter from Memory with the small $66.60 refund check. In every conversation with Carnival, they insist that we are entitled to the full $585.60 refund and that Memory Tour should not be withholding the $519.00 balance. They even spoke to Carole at Memory Tours on our behalf last week.

We also contacted Carole T. at Memory Tour on Friday October 6th requesting that the $519.00 balance be refunded and she flatly refused. I asked her to no longer book any trips for my mother, too, and she refused this as well, in spite of comments she made during the call that she thought that "my mother was unstable and should not be going [on her trips]", which was insulting and demeaning to my mother.

Clearly, Memory Tours is taking advantage of my mother, as a Senior Citizen, by not issuing the partial refund. Had she paid by credit card, as Carnival Cruises pointed out, she would have no problem getting the entire $585.60 that she was entitled to.

In summary, I am shocked that Memory Tours would act this way, first offering a refund and then denying it for a flimsy excuse, taking advantage of an injured Senior citizen, all the while still taking more of my money for yet another trip she planned to take. It is my opinion that Memory Tours is taking advantage of Senior citizen customers, and may also be violating state laws regarding fraud and deceptive business practices. My mother lives on a fixed income and cannot afford to throw away so much money for nothing.

I would not recommend that anyone ever buy a cruise, trip or tour from Memory Tours of Branson based on our experience with them.


Joe
Gainesville, Florida
U.S.A.