JedFonner.com

I’ve been organizing groups of 7-20 people to go tubing on the Shenandoah River for the past 5 years. We’ve always gone with River Riders, not because they were the best but because they were the first we tried and they were decent. But sadly, the era of my friends and I tubing with River Riders has come to a close. From now on, we’ll be going with Butts Tubes. They look like a more fun bunch of people anyway!

The reason for the switch that I recently had to cancel our annual trip because of unforeseen problems. That’s when I ran into River Riders’ ridiculous cancellation policy. First of all, their cancellation policy is no where to be found on their website (as of this post). The only time you are made aware of the policy is in the email you get after you’ve given them your credit card info and made a reservation.

First of all, $15 per person is ridiculous considering tubing only costs $26 per person (total cost of the trip with “extras” had grown to $210). That’s almost 60% of the cost. So I already had a bad taste in my mouth from that, but those were the terms and I was ready to abide by them. So I called up and asked to cancel. That’s when the ridiculousness began.

First they pulled up my reservation from 2005 (instead of 2007) and tried to charge the $15 for 11 people, not the 7 we had reserved this year. After getting that straightened out, they called and left a message saying they’d be refunding me $188.15. Great, although that’s way MORE than they should be refunding! Then I got an email saying they’d be refunding me $99 of the total $210 they’d charged my card.

Now, for those following along with the math:

• 7 people times $15 = $105.
• $210 - $105 = $105, not $99.

So I asked them where the $99 came from? This was their answer: They were charging me tax on the non-refundable portion of my reservation. At this point, I was like, WTF, mate. I told them that their cancellation policy didn’t say anything about tax, and specifically just said $15/person was non-refundable, so I’d like my $105, please.

Their response: suck it (I’m paraphrasing). They were going to charge me the extra fees in spite of my protestations. At this point, I don’t have any more energy to fight them (I do have a real job after all).

So let this be a warning to anyone thinking of going with River Riders - unless you’re absolutely sure you won’t need to cancel, don’t risk their crazy cancellation policy - go with another group.

People having fun on the river, they must not have used River Riders.