Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:19/03/2025

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I am writing to formally request a refund of $595.25 for my registration fee for the H2O Conference, as I strictly adhere to the criteria outlined in the conference's refund policy. Despite my attempts to follow the established procedures for requesting a refund, I have unfortunately received a denial from the H2O Conference Event Secretariat. Furthermore, I have not received any response to my email inquiries since December, when my refund was originally due.

  Business Response

  Date: 09/04/2025

  Response from Agenda Managers regarding dispute ID: 23067820
  
  The complaint in question refers to a conference
  registration for the 2024 H2O Conference, held in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada,
  over the dates of June 3 – 5, 2024.
  
  For reference, our stated cancellation/refund policy, which is clearly
  identified on the invoice that was provided by the registrant (consumer) as an attachment
  to this complaint is as follows:

  CANCELLATION POLICY
  Cancellations received in
  writing prior to May 3rd will be charged a
  $50 administrative fee.
  Cancellations received after this date will
  not be refunded.
  Substitutions received in writing from the registered
  participant will be
  accepted. Cancellations and substitutions should
  be
  forwarded to [email protected].

  The trail of emails to support the timeline of communication
  outlined below is available if required.

  On April 9th, 2024, the registrant in question
  submitted and paid for his conference registration with a credit card ending in
  numbers 2415.
  On that same day, the registrant requested a Letter of Invitation
  to support his VISA application, as he identified as a Nigerian resident, to
  the best of our understanding.
  On April 10th, 2024, we sent him a Letter of
  Invitation to attend the conference.
  On May 23rd, 2024, after the stated May 3rd deadline for cancellation refunds, the registrant informed us that his VISA
  application was denied, and he requested a refund for his conference
  registration. We have a copy of the denied VISA, including the reasons why it
  was denied.
  On May 24th, 2024, being that we were told the
  registrant’s VISA application was denied, we considered an exception to our
  cancellation/refund policy and told the registrant that if we were provided
  with a photo of the credit card used for the transaction, along with a photo of
  a matching government ID, that we would issue a refund within six months of the
  event. At this point, we had suspicions that a fraudulent credit card might be in
  use, and we wanted to give the cardholder time to potentially dispute the
  charge with their credit card provider.
  On May 27th, 2024, the registrant sent photos of
  the credit card in question, along with an image of a photo ID that did not
  match his (registrant’s) name.
  On May 28th, 2024, we expressed to the registrant
  that due to the inconsistency between the name on the registration, the name on
  the credit card, and the name on the photo ID, we would not be providing a
  refund.
  On May 28th, 2024, the registrant expressed that
  while the registration was under his name, that his registration was paid for
  by a colleague by a different name.
  On May 29th, 2024, we asked the registrant to
  provide an image of a photo ID with his own name on it.
  On May 29th, 2024, the registrant provided his
  own ID by sending a scan of his passport.
  On June 13th, 2024, the registrant again reached
  out to express his disagreement with our refund policies and requested his
  refund again.
  On June 14th, 2024, we told the registrant that
  we would refund the registration within six months. In this same email, we told
  the registrant that if the six-month time frame was of concern, to follow up
  with the credit card provider to dispute the charge. Again, we had concerns
  that a fraudulent credit card was in-use, and we wanted to provide a window of
  time for an unsuspecting person to dispute the charge on their card if it was of
  concern.
  On October 1st, 2024, the registrant reached out
  to ask again for his refund.
  On October 10th, 2024, we responded again by stating
  that we would be waiting the full six months and encouraged him to dispute the
  charge with the credit card provider.
  Throughout November and December of 2024, he persisted with
  phone calls and emails asking for the refund.
  On December 3rd, 2024, six months after the conference,
  we reluctantly attempted a refund to the original card ending in 2415, which
  was declined. We were not made aware of the reason for the decline. On that
  same day, we told the registrant that the refund attempt was declined and told
  him that he would need to follow up with the credit card provider to investigate
  the reason and dispute the charge.
  

  Since then, the registrant continues to call us and email us
  asking for his refund. He is aware that we attempted to refund the card and is
  now asking that we refund a different card than the one that was originally
  used, which to us is a red flag for fraud/scam.
  

  The H2O Conference is an established event celebrating its
  10th anniversary, and since its inception has never had a delegation
  or attendees coming directly from Nigeria nor any African Countries. To mitigate this from happening again, we have implemented a process for delegates requiring a VISA to request/receive their VISA before paying for their conference registration. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 13/04/2025

   I am rejecting this response because:
  
  
  I am writing to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated April 9, 2025, and to clarify the current situation.
  
  Mr J***** ******* ************ the cardholder of the credit card ending in 2415, registered for the H20 conference on my behalf. The registration fee was charged to his card, and the merchant assured us that refunds would be processed back to that card. However, the transaction was declined after an initial attempt to process the refund, and our subsequent inquiries have gone unanswered.
  
  I want to emphasize that no fraud has been involved in this matter. We have acted in good faith, and the merchant's apparent lack of cooperation raises concerns about their commitment to resolving this issue.
  
  My manager has also attempted to dispute the charge, but the delay is due to the merchant's failure to issue the refund before the dispute period elapsed after six months. We request that the funds be returned to the original credit card used for the registration.
  
  Thank you for your attention to this matter. We look forward to your prompt response.  

   

  I hope to provide you additional information from thier card owner bank response if you need it and further information to prove the transscation was real