Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita has obtained nearly a half million dollars in restitution for Indiana consumers who bought trips to travel in 2020 from a Colorado-based company that sells European tours to music students. The company – Voyageurs International Ltd. – later canceled the excursions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rokita
“There is no good reason that Indiana consumers should be left holding the bag for circumstances quite outside their control,” Rokita said.
Nominated by high school band or choir directors, most Hoosier students registered for the “Indiana Ambassadors of Music” tour between March and May of 2019, with an application deadline of June 15, 2019.
The tour, which involved playing music and sightseeing, was scheduled to occur in late June of 2020. Cost per traveler was $6,345 per student and $6,745 per adult chaperone. Several additional Hoosier consumers signed up to participate in a similar “Kentucky Ambassadors of Music” tour, which included the option of an expanded itinerary with higher rates.
Upon cancellation of the trips, Voyageurs issued refunds to each purchaser that in most cases fell $1,900 short of the consumer’s costs (and more than that for the handful who selected the expanded itinerary). In a letter, Voyageurs informed consumers they were keeping those funds for the company under the contract because they had spent money the company would be unable to recoup.
Following an investigation by the Office of the Indiana Attorney General, however, Voyageurs agreed to issue full refunds to 236 Indiana residents who purchased the trips. The additional payouts totaled $451,900.
“The only fair resolution in this case was one in which Hoosiers who paid for trips got all their money back,” Rokita said. “We made a strong argument to this effect, and I am grateful that Voyageurs International eventually reached the same conclusion.”