Two teachers who were in a dire strait while trying to get their students to Disney World were on the phone for about 30 minutes to make a reservation with a charter bus service. Little did either of them know that the phone call would cost them $18,000 in fees due to the company’s refund policies.
“ I don’t even know how to make this video, but I have to just let this out of what just happened to us,” said Heather (@hdlthegreat) in a video with over 11,000 views.
The Disney World trip hits a snag before even getting on the road
When Heather and her co-teacher arrived to supervise a Disney field trip, they quickly realized that a bus wasn’t going to come and pick them up. Stranded with dozens of children outside at 6 a.m., they called the district to ask what was happening.
Then they found out: The district made a mistake and did not book any buses for the school field trip, leaving everyone stranded. Tens of thousands may have been spent on the trip, something that was probably at the top of each teacher’s mind. Trying to avoid a catastrophic situation, they decided to look into charter bus services, thinking their district wouldn’t send any help.
They ended up finding one service, CharterUP, that had a day-of service and put their credit cards down. Heather’s co-teacher tried to put one payment method down, only for it to get denied immediately. Then Heather tried to put her credit card down, only for that payment method to get denied. Finally, they secured a payment method, but just as it went through, the district called again.
They have buses! But what about the charter service?
When Heather received news from her school district, she realized they were sending over two buses. That meant that they would have to cancel the charter bus service.
While still on the line with the company, Heather and her co-teacher asked about canceling the entire reservation. That’s when they were told that the company had a no-refund policy for day-of bookings, something that clearly was not fully explained to them when trying to make the reservation in the first place.
Despite sending no buses out and offering no service for the students, Heather’s co-teacher suddenly had a $7,000 charge in her account.
“ $7,000 for taking a 30 minute phone call for us and maybe even [calling] drivers to get the pre-check?” Heather asked incredulously.
Escalating, rude customer service
The company hung up on her when she tried to continue a conversation about a refund. The entire way to Disney, she and her co-teacher stressed about the situation with CharterUP. They were put on hold and simply told their refund policy was “really strict.”
This felt egregious to both teachers. “ Nobody was called to get dispatch buses over here just yet. Nothing happened, and even still, we offered to pay,” Heather said. “We’ll pay the full hour [or] two hours of work, but not $6,500 of our own personal money for nothing.”
It got worse, though. Heather quickly realized that all three of the credit cards they put down for the service got charged, leading to a near $18,000 total for both teachers.
Many commenters were baffled by the idea that CharterUP had such a policy to begin with. They urged the teachers to dispute the charges. “They did not provide any services. Report them to the Better Business Bureau and the State Attorney General for fraud. Dispute with your banks/credit cards and if that doesn’t work, sue,” one TikTok commenter said.
@hdlthegreat Beyond upset with the company of Charter Up, go go charter or whatever their company is called. How you think this is okay is beyond me. What should we do?
♬ original sound – Heather ?
Disney World Trip: CharterUP refuses to take the charge off
When Heather returned to the platform to update her audience, she had less-than-stellar news about the situation. While two of the three charges made by CharterUP cleared up, one charge did post on her co-teacher’s credit card.
CharterUP offered her co-teacher a $3,000 provisional credit for future use due to the cancellation. That offering is still significantly less than what they paid for the service.
It will take two months for her credit card company to investigate the claim. That means for now, nothing can be done. Despite this, Heather and her co-teacher want to fight to get the charge taken off.
The Mary Sue has reached out to Heather and CharterUP for more information.
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