Inertia Tours - Chad Hart Credit card charges a month after trip was over ripoff Austin Texas

Eric, the person that personally names me and our Company in this report but is wholly inaccurate in his allegations. It is incredibly easy to figure out the identities of people, as for our program last year, we had just (4) condos damaged.

1.) Our Company does not accept, nor take "damage deposits" on its vacations packages. We do, however, require (2) credit cards to be placed down on each condo that we check in to insure against damages to these units (some are valued over $1 million each). This information can be verified under the Tour Operator Participant agreement on our website.

This is standard-practice in the hospitality, travel, & hotel industry. If you place a credit card down, and you damage your accommodations, you get charged. We do require that the cardholders sign a document that the COMPLETELY understand that their credit card will be charged if that unit is damaged 45-60 days after the completion of all of our trips. They are also told this prior to check in, as well as signing prior to the trip in our travel agreement that this is the case. None of this information is hidden nor kept away from any public eye.

This is exactly what happened in this instance. This gentleman & his group chose to break a door down because they didn't have keys, lost keys, or people were passed out inside the condo. This is not OUR Company's responsibility. We were charged by the condo owner the EXACT amount we charged this individual's credit card.

2.) As we travel in excess of 5,000 college partiers per year to the Island, we cannot "same day" check units & assess damages. We do, however, take digital pictures of damages to the unit, as well as receive an itemized invoice from the Owner of the condo or the property management company. We do NOT mark up damages to condos.

As we are a small, family owned company, we simply do not have the staff to immediately process damages to units until our spring break program is completed in mid-to-late April. Once that occurs, we process claims to cardholders as assessed by our Owners.

3.) This individual complained to the BBB and they favored on our Company's side. This individual then attempted to commit fraud with his credit card company and say he didn't authorize the charge. That too, failed.

Our suggestions:
*Take care of your space on your trip. You are financially responsible as adults, or your mommy or daddy are, nor our Company. How about this novel idea? Drink less. Hold onto your keys
*Get credit card numbers upfront from your friends with a letter that says they know/accept if they do damage to your unit, they have to pay, and NOT you. Then, if we charge your card, you can call us and we will charge their cards instead.

This individual is pissed off his friends damaged his unit, and now won't pay...such is as it goes.

Our Company strives to provide the very best vacation experience possible, as well as the best service. Thank you for listening to our side / version of this story - but I can assure any readers, we can back up what we say with pictures, invoices, and detailed, exacting evidence.