REDWOOD FALLS, Minn — It was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime. Nearly 400 Minnesota teenagers selected as music ambassadors would have toured Europe performing this summer. But when the trip was cancelled due to coronavirus concerns, the tour company kept nearly $2,000 per student and families are crying foul.
Charlie Quast’s two older kids were both Minnesota Music Ambassadors, a program and trip he calls “phenomenal.” They toured London, Paris, Venice performing in historic venues. His younger son would have gone this summer.
Shyla and Shelby Burg were also selected for the program and excited to take the tour.
“I was really looking forward to seeing Paris,” Shyla said.
The trip was expensive; more than $6,300 each. It was a lot for their parents, Walter and Amy, to afford.
“It’s something we didn’t think we could do it. But we sacrificed a lot, saved our money for both the girls to go together as a trip,” Amy said.
The tour was organized and run by a tour company called Voyageurs International. They coordinate music ambassadors trips for kids all across the country.
This year all the tours were cancelled because of coronavirus.
“I cried when we got the letter. It was sad,” Amy said. Even more tears were shed when they read what was next. The company would be making a partial refund, but would be keeping a large deposit, $1900 per child.
“We’re keeping the money and that’s that. Sorry. Actually, without the sorry. They didn’t even give us a sorry,” said Walter Burg.
Per the contract, both the Quast and Burg families had already paid thousands of dollars.
“We’re currently both unemployed right now because of COVID,” Walter said, “That $3,800 would go a long way right now.”
Hundreds of people across the country are now petitioning the company for more refunds. They’ve set up a change.org petition and a Facebook group.
They wonder why, when airlines are offering refunds or travel vouchers and hotel chains are doing the same, Voyageurs International isn’t giving the same options to them.
“A reasonable person is hearing about travel companies and related companies being pretty flexible and in most cases refunding or at least crediting back people monies that they spent,” Quast said.
“We should at the very least have an itemized form saying what the money went for,” Amy Burg said.
Families say it’s hard to track down anyone from the tour company. They don’t provide an email. A voicemail at the company’s Colorado office says if families have questions they should send a written letter.
After several phone calls, KARE 11 Investigates was referred to the company’s lawyer, John Flanders.
Flanders pointed to the contract families sign. It does state that if there is a State Department travel advisory for Europe which “causes VIL to cancel a tour…refunds shall be made in accordance with the cancellation schedule.” That schedule spells out $1,900 forfeited after March 1.
“These tours are paid for in advance,” Flanders said in a phone interview. “But don’t just think of this as tour costs. This is an ongoing business. They have overhead.”
He says the company is devastated too. “Voyageurs at this time is just trying to stay in business.”
Both the Quast and Berg family says they understand keeping some of the money, including the initial $700 non-refundable deposit.
But with 3,200 kids signed up across the country, they say this adds up to more than $6 million.
“It just seems like a lot of money to keep and then just let the parents deal with it you know,” said Walter Burg.
Some parents are considering legal action. They say they weren’t even offered any sort of travel voucher or the opportunity to credit the money toward a future trip.
The company, which has an A-plus rating with the Better Business Bureau, says they’ve already spent more than those cancellation fees on expenses they can’t recoup.