Church members says they were swindled out of Alaskan cruise

Moral of the story: Never do business$$$ with anyone from a religious organization cause criminals know that patrons of such are trusting and believe that "THEY WOULD NEVER DO THAT!!"

Really? I'm sure there have been honest members of a church that have organized trips. The article said it was a member but no one here knows if it was one in good standing.

I remember reading about this occasionally happening with travel agencies maybe 20 or 30 years ago.

Customers would sometimes even be stranded in foreign countries. I think now all travel agencies have to have a trust account and insurance??

A good lesson is to never use check or cash. When using a credit card the cruise or tour operator actually makes the charge and that charge can be seen on your credit card. Then if you do not receive services say in a scam or bankruptcy your credit card can refund you the money spent. So sorry this happened to these people. If there was no written contract they may not have any recourse.

Well, I haven't heard an update on this story by WSB.

That's why we have tall trees

Really? I'm sure there have been honest members of a church that have organized trips. The article said it was a member but no one here knows if it was one in good standing.

We had 2 very successful trips booked through our church. That being said, we also had to go to the travel agent to arrange credit card payments -which also in my case has insurance if my purchase was fraud or stolen

A good lesson is to never use check or cash. When using a credit card the cruise or tour operator actually makes the charge and that charge can be seen on your credit card. Then if you do not receive services say in a scam or bankruptcy your credit card can refund you the money spent. So sorry this happened to these people. If there was no written contract they may not have any recourse.

If a dozen people can prove they have given money to a certain person, and have evidence that it was for a holiday, and the certain person can't come up with any valid story for why they received the money, then the courts will order repayment. Contracts don't have to be in writing, and the court will use best available evidence from both parties.

Whether the money will actually be recovered is more questionable. Chances are some or all of it has been spent.

Googled to see if I could find an update

Bit more info, and it seems a TA of some kind was involved... All very murky, but the case has been closed it appears...

http://hub.onlineathens.com/local-news/2015-09-18/northeast-georgians-confused-loss-trip-alaskan-ship-cruise

Googled to see if I could find an update

 

Bit more info, and it seems a TA of some kind was involved... All very murky, but the case has been closed it appears...

 

http://hub.onlineathens.com/local-news/2015-09-18/northeast-georgians-confused-loss-trip-alaskan-ship-cruise

A very confusing story. Was the HAL cruise for the same period of time (and an equivalent cruise) or will these people now have to arrange for time off from work for a different time, etc. And what connection did this travel agency have with this Jane Crabbe (did the agency have to cough up the $ that apparently was paid directly to Crabbe?)?

And what happened to Crabbe?

This really should send a message that you should always pay the travel agency or cruise line directly and with a credit card (and double check your credit card statement to make sure the payee is the cruise line and not the TA or any person). Even if there's a person trying to get a group booking going, that person should be only the source of info which should include the contact info for the actual booker (who handles the payment, not the person).

The story leaves more questions than it answers

sounds like they got their money back from the TA

Maybe the TA was using their money to pay for other people & missed the FP date for these people

it is not the 1st time TA's have been playing with people's money

sorry these people missed their vacation but glad they are not out of pocket

Very sad situation.

It will be interesting to hear about what happens when the woman returns from the cruise.

Good luck to everyone who lost money.

She sounds really stupid as everyone she swindled as well as the police could be waiting at the dock when she gets home.

Never, ever pay for a major item, like a cruise, with a check! Always use a major credit card (for USA folks) since this gives you protection (Federal Law) against fraud. You can simply put a credit card charge under "dispute" and you will have your money credited to your account the same day.

Hank

Wouldn't it be nice if there's a follow up story by the hometown newspaper as to this woman? Did she flee or did she go on that cruise?

I was hoping for a follow up from the news also. There was another person who got their money taken from a previous person they used for cruises before also. I was going to post that but I'd rather see the follow up for the church cruise.

Still haven't heard anything else but check out some on the comments from WSB TV's FB page.

I find it interesting that this story has just disappeared and died.... No follow up, just silence!

This is from a couple weeks later, apparently they all got their money back so no charges ever got filed.

http://m.onlineathens.com/local-news/2015-09-18/northeast-georgians-confused-loss-trip-alaskan-ship-cruise#article=6887982873B59EFFC33205900D1DA221A3A7

This is from a couple weeks later, apparently they all got their money back so no charges ever got filed.

 

 

http://m.onlineathens.com/local-news/2015-09-18/northeast-georgians-confused-loss-trip-alaskan-ship-cruise#article=6887982873B59EFFC33205900D1DA221A3A7

This story is strange in many aspects.

I'm guessing that the Travel Agent mentioned in the story coughed up the refunds out of their (her) own pocket. Perhaps because she wanted to remove the stain on her reputation or because one of her agents messed up the booking process.

I cannot fathom the problem rests with NCL. At a minimum, if they had the deposit and final payments, there's no way they would back out.

Also, I can't believe that among all those who were denied passage there wasn't someone who questioned the lack of any cruise documentation.

In any case the folks apparently got their money back so they can try again booking in the usual manner this time.