Travel Agent Forced to Make Refunds

Defunct Travel Agent
Must Make Refunds
by Lillian Hurley

August 1, 2002

After more than 50 Long Island consumers requested his assistance, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer obtained a settlement with a defunct local travel agency which requires full monetary refunds to individuals whose scheduled tours last spring were suddenly canceled.

The agency, Good Friends Travel Club, Inc., was based in Farmingdale and was primarily engaged in the business of organizing tours. According to Spitzer's office, the firm organized a tour for 37 consumers who each paid between $259 and $329 to travel to Amish County in Pennsylvania last April. At about the same time, Good Friends Travel scheduled a second trip, this one for approximately 60 people at a price of $69 per person to a Westchester dinner theater to take place in May.

Shortly before the tours were to commence, representatives of the agency informed consumers that both trips had been canceled but gave no explanation and offered no refunds. After unsuccessfully requesting their money back, several people took their cased to Small Claims Court and won judgments against the agency but most encountered great difficulty in trying to collect on the debt.

In July of this year the Nassau County Office of Consumer Affairs found the company guilty of "unconscionable trade practices," levied a $2,500 find and instructed the firm to offer each client a voucher for a future trip equivalent to the monetary value owed, or a refund if the client did not want the voucher. Good Friends Travel did not pay the fine, nor did it offer refunds as directed.

In response to consumer complaints, Spitzer's office opened an investigation into Good Friends and its owner, Bill Stoudt, who also owns another agency called Moody's Travel which operated out of the same address.

Spitzer's office said that the investigation revealed that, of the affected consumers, only 30 had received refunds, eleven exercised the voucher option, and the remaining 56 had unwanted and unused vouchers.

Under the settlement with Spitzer's office, Good Friends Travel is required to offer a monetary refund to anyone who requests one. In addition, the company will pay $3,000 to cover civil penalties and costs. The Attorney General says that Stoudt is personally liable for each of these obligations.

"My office will monitor this case closely to ensure that this travel agency's promised refunds are forthcoming," said Spitzer.