Several people have emailed me, or left messages asking for help in getting a refund from Florida based holiday companies (such as AmeriVacation, YourVIPTravel, etc), either because they have bought in haste, or feel they have been misguided by the sales person. In this article I hope to condense all the comments from other stories into a simple action plan.

Your Rights

According to Florida State Law “You have a right to cancel your purchase and receive a refund within 30 days of the date of purchase” after which, “the seller has 30 days from the time of receipt of your notice of cancellation to send you a full refund”. [source] [corroborating source]

The law exists to regulate Sellers of Travel to and from Florida, as well as Sellers of Travel whose place of business is in Florida – it helps to maintain the reputation of Florida as a welcoming vacation destination and protects the citizens of any country by forcing licensed sellers of travel to follow strict rules, including the ones about refunds; so the suggestions listed here are valid from any country.

Action 1 – Call

1. Call the number you originally dialled.
2. Politely and clearly state that you are calling because you wish to cancel a contract.
3. Ask them to confirm the company name and address to which you should send a cancellation letter.
4. If the person on the other end bluffs or prevaricates, remind them that Florida State Statute 559.933 is quite clear on your right to a full and prompt refund.
5. If they verbally agree to send you a full refund, accept this happily, but you should not stop yet because if they were to forget to send it, or lose the note to say that you’d called, or had a computer crash, (etc. etc.) then you’d have no evidence that you called within the 30 day cancellation period.

Action 2 – Write

1. Write a letter of cancellation.
   • This is a generic letter template.
   • This is an AmeriVacation template.
2. Send the letter by an international recorded delivery service.
   • From the UK you could use International Signed For.
3. Sometimes the companies will state that “you have to return the package”, this is usually just an obstruction tactic, but if they insist, take photographs (and scan or photocopy) everything that you return (example).

Action 3 – Complain always

If you you’re unhappy about the experience and wish to air your grievance, then please do. Lodging a formal complaint will quickly raise the profile of your scammer so the DOACS can monitor them better:

1. Complain to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (who regulate the selling of travel in Florida) using this form.
2. Inform your “local” national press so that others do not go through the same experience.
   • In the UK there is the BBC’s Watchdog Programme
   • In the Netherlands, there is Opgelicht.

Action 4 – Write to your credit card company

1. Write to your credit card company and tell them that you are seeking a refund from the vendor.
• Explain why you feel the company misrepresented itself.
• Include a copy of the letter you sent to the vendor.
2. Use local legislation if necessary:
   • If you’re in the UK and the vendor refuses (or is unable) to provide a refund, then the Consumer Credit Act 1974 section 75 is your fallback. It makes the credit card company equally responsible for any misrepresentation (which in the case of AmeriVacation there has been), so should attempt to claim the refund from your credit card company.

Action 5 – Help Others

If you succeed in getting a refund, using this or an alternative method, let others know by describing your success below, I’ll modify the above steps as appropriate.