ComplaintsforCCUSA

• Initial Complaint

  05/31/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  In January 2020, I applied to CCUSA to spend the summer on the camp ******* program, I paid an application fee of 40 and an acceptance fee of 190, in March I paid the final deposit of 145 - total 375, however when the covid pandemic hit, the camp made the decision in May 2020 to cancel. 20.05.2020 in an email under "rollover policy update", I was asked if I wanted a refund or to roll my fees over to the following year (2021). At no point was it communicated that after this point, the program terms would be updated and refunds would no longer be made available. I decided to rollover my fees to the next year, however on the 25.08.2020 (3 months later after being asked to commit to a decision), I was asked to sign the 2021 program agreement, I never did sign this or progress my application, I was chased multiple times but I was wary about travelling to America and was wanting to explore my options of transferring my application to ****** so held off as you can see in the emails, the same thing happened again and on 21.06.21, the camp again decided to cancel. As these decisions were affected by covid and ultimately made by the camp, I contacted CCUSA to issue a refund to me but have been totally refused any form of refund telling me that the updated program agreement stated this and that only rollover options were available, however they asked me to sign this updated form after first asking me to commit to a decision without communicating these updates until 3 months after the decision was made and the form was never signed. I do not feel it is fair or right that CCUSA should hold my money when they did not provide any service or goods and did not fulfil what I signed up to receive, particularly when the decisions were out of my control, no updated terms were signed and these were updated in a unfair and deceiving way. I appreciate any advice on my rights and in gaining a refund for the payments that were made. 
  
  Many thanks in advance, 
  Bronagh

  Business response

  06/22/2022

  In reply to this specific complaint, the following occurred.

   

  In 2020, ************** paid GBP 594 in total in program fees to be placed at a ** summer camp as a camp counselor.  The fees paid by participants are to cover the cost of recruiting and screening them for suitability.  ************** was placed at a ** summer camp and her **** paperwork was issued by us.  We are a J-1 **** sponsor designated by the US ********** of ************ style="color: rgb(32, 31, 30); margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Unfortunately, due to the ******19 pandemic, the US embassies in ****** were shut down, preventing ************** from obtaining a **** appointment at the embassy. On top of that travel bans were put in place severely limiting international travel.  CCUSA was in no way obligated to provide refunds to anyone based on the terms of the contractual agreements with the participants. Many of our competitors did not offer refunds at all.  We took a moral position of offering a refund or a rollover of the majority of Ms. ****** fees, GBP 566 in her case, to the 2021 summer season.  ************** opted for the rollover option which waived her rights to a refund. 

   

  In 2021, due to the continuing pandemic, travel to ******* was restricted for ** countries and most of the ** countries.  Unfortunately, ************** did not continue to completer her 2021 application process and a new **** form was never issued. It also was unlikely she would obtain a **** appointment in ******.  That being the case we had to again cancel Ms. ****** 2021 application.  ************** was offered the opportunity to have her fees rolled over again to 2022.  We reminded her several times that she could rollover again to 2022.  Many of our participants did exactly that and took part in the camp counselor program in 2022.  ************** never seemed to reply to the request from our ** office staff regarding participating in 2022. We had ample time to find a placement for her as most summer camps in ******* have been open since 2021. 

   

  Unfortunately, there is no refund possibility for participants in these instances. 

   

  Kind regards,

  *******************

  Customer response

  06/28/2022

   
  Complaint: 17293857
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  The cost breakdown outlined by CCUSA stipulates fees for an own flight option and a CCUSA flight option whereby the flight would be organised by CCUSA, I proceeded with the CCUSA flight option. It also outlines an application fee, an acceptance fee and a final deposit. I would see it as fair for the application and acceptance fee to be non-refundable but do not see the fairness in the final deposit i.e. the cost to organise flights to be non-refundable. No consumer should or would ever expect to pay for a product or service that they do not receive anything in return for. No flights were ever organised or purchased and so there would be no cost incurred by CCUSA.

  CCUSA are holding money from me that they did not use or incur a cost for.

  Guidance on it outlines that:
  consumers will normally be entitled to a refund for any services they have already paid for but that are not provided by the business or which the consumer is not allowed to use because of lockdown laws (this may be a partial refund of the total amount the consumer has already paid, to reflect the value of the services already provided)
  
  In the CMAs view, for consumer contracts the above rights to a refund will usually apply even where the business says part of the payment is a non-refundable deposit or advance payment.
  
  The payment was made in 2020 under the original terms and conditions.
  
  It was never communicated that by choosing to rollover, the rights to a refund would be waived, had this been communicated, I would have opted for a refund in 2020 instead. 
  
  CCUSA admitted that the updated program agreement, stating that refunds wouldnt be an option, was only made available after I had made the decision to rollover. Again, I dont see the fairness in asking someone to commit to a decision and issuing the terms and conditions/agreement after the decision is made. 
  
  To be clear, in 2021, The US Embassy werent processing J1 appointments, so it was impossible for me to get to camp and not due to me not completing my application. 
  
  My circumstances had changed by this point as I was being offered to attend camp 2 years later (2022) and I am no longer able to move away for 3 months so a rollover would be of no benefit to me.
  
  I would ask that at the very least, a partial refund is made.
  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  Bronagh

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