“They’ve had my money all along and I haven’t received any service at all,” said nurse Jennifer Perkins.
The cruise scheduled for spring 2020 was called NurseCon at Sea. Billed as the ultimate nursing conference, it was hosted by Nurse Blake, a famous social media influencer. However, the inaugural cruise never took off due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Perkins and three other friends paid for the cruise in full, so they were disappointed to see it delayed and wanted a refund. “I have a lot of bills. I’m the only source of income for a family of four, so there’s no denying it would be useful at this point,” said Perkins.
Also out of money is Raleigh nurse Julie Walker. “For me, they have had my money since 2019, and with no services rendered,” said Walker.
Instead of refunds, the cruise was moved to the spring of 2021. Now, however, the 2021 NurseCon cruise has been postponed again due to the pandemic and moved to April 2022.
“Many of us have asked for refunds, and we’ve been told absolutely no. There are no refunds we can issue in 2022,” Walker said.
In addition to the frustrations of these nurses, the cruise line offers refunds to its customers who booked directly through them. But these frontline workers booked through the third-party NurseCon site and not directly with the cruise line, and NurseCon’s policy is no refund.
“Most discouragingly, Sister Blake is a nurse,” Perkins said. “2020 was the year of the nurse and one of us refuses to admit that this is a pandemic, we don’t know when it will end and we keep our money without providing any kind of service.”
More than 63 cancellations complaints have been filed with the Florida Attorney General’s Office.
NurseCon said in part, “NurseCon at Sea is a small company founded by a registered nurse, to bring nurses together and celebrate our profession as primary health workers. Like so many small businesses, ours has been greatly affected by the unprecedented and unforeseen effects of this global pandemic. “
They added that their event is directly related to the cruise line’s ability to sail; Unfortunately, they had no choice but to reschedule the conference. The company also added, “It is important to note that our refund policy has always been clearly explained on our website and during the registration process and that participant confirmation is required at the time of purchase. Participants who do not wish to sail next year apply for full credit, and we have also waived the fee for participants who want to transfer their registration to someone else. As nurses and a small business, we are just like everyone else, just trying to survive this global health crisis. stay grateful for the support that we keep getting from our nursing colleagues. “
Those are options that neither Walker nor Perkins consider fair.
“I just want my money back because we don’t know,” said Perkins. “There’s just no way to say, ‘OK, we’re going April 2022’. That was the plan this year and cases have started to decline and now we’re in the middle of a new wave, so who should even go with the vaccine say there won’t be another wave. It’s just so unpredictable. “
Troubleshooter takeaways:
This is a good reminder if you are booking a trip in the future, read the fine print. If you’re using an outside company, rather than booking directly with the cruise line, airlines, or hotel, know that refund and cancellation policies sometimes differ. It’s also a wise idea to research travel insurance and make sure it covers the COVID-19 pandemic.
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