Company Ordered to Fully Refund Iowa Music Students for Nixed Trip

It would have been the opportunity of a lifetime for over 300 talented and hard-working high school music students in Iowa, but like so many other events and opportunities, their trip to Europe was canceled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The Iowa Ambassadors of Music program would have sent music students from across the state on the 2-week trip, which was called off in April of 2020. These students would have gotten to explore seven European countries last summer and perform in some of them. Imagine the bummer to have that opportunity taken away because of a pandemic, but then the travel company handling the arrangements, Colorado-based Voyageurs International initially only offered a partial refund.

Get our free mobile app

That's when the Iowa attorney general, Tom Miller stepped in. KCRG says Voyageurs International denied the charges but agreed to settle after the Iowa Attorney General’s Office alleged that it violated the Travel Agencies and Agents law, the Iowa Door-to-Door Sales Act, and the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act.

Miller acknowledged that the pandemic was unavoidable and that companies are not always necessarily responsible for refunds in these cases, but concluded that "Voyageurs misled Iowans in how it handled the unexpected event. We appreciate that the company worked with us to return money to Iowans."

Refund checks are in the mail as the affected students and their families are being contacted by the attorney general's office.

The total amount being refunded to all 307 students is $610,430.