I am appreciative to have received my refund check today 12/27/05. I feel compelled to relay the events that have caused me to never consider suntravel for any of my or my family and friends future travel needs.
In June I was approached by Mr. William (Rick) Churchwell presenting what seemed to be an exciting opportunity. Mr. Churchwell informed me that he and his wife owned a travel agency "Wakulla Travel" and that my family could get a great deal financially on a cruise that would be in April destined for Mexico and the Cayman Islands by having him and his wife as our travel agents. I researched the pamphlets that he gave to me and decided to give a deposit of $300.00 in the form of a check signed by my spouse. Before handing Mr. Churchwell the check I had many questions. One of the questions was that if for an unforeseen reason my family were unable to attend the cruise would we receive a refund of our deposit of $300.00. He not only stated yes to me, he showed me in the carnival catalog the written schedule of cancellation dates and what percentage of a refund one would be entitled.
My husband was assigned to a different post and because of his new responsibilities we unfortunately would not be able to attend the cruise in April.
My spouse contacted Mr. Churchwell the first week of August explaining the reason we would be unable to attend. Mr. Churchwell seemed genuinely sympathetic and explained that he would relay the information to Carnival Cruise Lines. Two weeks later my spouse again contacted Mr. Churchwell. Mr. Churchwell then stated that Carnival required an "explanation letter" in order to pay the deposit refund. My spouse complied the following day by handing the letter to Mr. Churchwell who stated that he intended to mail the letter to Carnival that same day, and that we should expect a refund in 4-6 weeks.
At the seventh week of that date my spouse contacted Mr. Churchwell once again, Mr. Churchwell stated that it would be approximately 2 more weeks.
After complying to all of Mr. Churchwells' requests with no resolve I searched online and found that SunWorld Travel was indeed the home office for Wakulla Travel. My spouse contacted Mrs. E. Churchwell. Mrs. Churchwell stated that the refund check had been ordered by Carnival on 11/29/05 and that she would contact Carnival to find out what the hold on the check was. Mrs. Churchwell contacted my spouse and explained that Carnival stated to her that the refund check would be mailed to our home and that we should receive it by 12/09/05. On 12/15/05 Joseph contacted Mrs. Churchwell, she stated that Carnival used a third party to issue their business checks and that "that company" had mailed the refund check to the incorrect business. At that point my spouse requested for her to give him the number to Carnival, she complied. My spouse contacted Carnival on 12/15/05. Carnival stated that an "explanation letter" was not needed and that the only requirement was for our travel agent to inform them of the cancellation. Carnival did inform my spouse that a refund check was not ordered to be cut on 11/29/05 but instead had been cut on 12/15/05 to SunWorld Travel in the amount of $800.00. Carnival further stated that we were being deceived by our agent, Mrs. Elta Churchwell. My spouse called Mrs. Churchwell, she was "busy on the other telephone line" Approximately 5 minutes later Mr. William Churchwell called my spouse stating as soon as they received their check we would receive ours. Once my spouse explained that he had contacted Carnival and all of the information that was given to him including that the $800.00 check would be issued to SunWorld Travel on 12/23/05 Mr. Churchwell then stated "Well you seem to know more about it than I do."
On 12/23/05, at 9:30A.M. I called Mrs. Churchwell inquiring about the check. She stated that she was continuously calling Wakulla Bank to see if the check from Carnival had posted since 9:00 that morning. She further stated that it had not as of that time posted. She requested that I call back at 2:00 PM. Because the employee that has authority to sign checks would not sign a check for us until the Wakulla Bank posting. I complied once again only to find that SunWorld Travel closed sometime before 2:00pm.
At 4:00pm. On 12/27/05 my spouse received a refund of our deposit per Mr. Churchwell.
This letter may be written in vain, but this is no way to conduct business and I feel that all should know that they too are entitled to a deposit refund upon their cancellation. I am curious to know whether the remaining $500.00 was given to the unfortunate persons that entrusted it to the employees of SunWorld Travel, Mr. William and Mrs. Elta Churchwell.
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