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Schuylkill County Would-Be Vacationers Still Wait for Promised Refund

POTTSVILLE — More than 150 people in Schuylkill County were supposed to board a plane Monday and leave the cold behind for the warm beaches in Cancun, Mex...
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POTTSVILLE — More than 150 people in Schuylkill County were supposed to board a plane Monday and leave the cold behind for the warm beaches in Cancun, Mexico.

A travel company in Florida canceled the trip two weeks ago, when Action 16 Investigates showed it never booked flights or hotel rooms.

The company promised it would refund everyone the $959 everyone paid by Friday March 6th, but on that day no one has received their money back.

“I expect the money to be returned next week,” said Pottsville Attorney Albert Evans, who represents some of those who paid up in November to go to Cancun for the “Skook`s Vacation in Paradise.”

Some are upset because they committed to taking next week off.  Now, they don`t have money to go anywhere.  They`re stuck here.  And the snowy streets and fields of Schuylkill County are not exactly the beaches of Cancun.

“There`s been no reason for our money, the money of my clients to have been paid to anybody,” said Evans.

So where is the money?

Pottsville businesswoman Lisa McMullen says she collected it and says she gave it to Abby Young, an agent with “Simple Vacations” of Orlando, Florida.

Simple Vacations was to book the flights, and rooms at an upscale Cancun resort.

Travelers only learned last month the trip was never booked.

Albert Ellis showed us an email from “Simple Vacations” earlier this week promising, “we should begin disbursements (of the refund) Friday or Saturday. I don`t see this not being completed any later than Tuesday.”

“And if the money doesn’t get returned, we believe that criminally, these people will be prosecuted to the fullest extent, which could require jail time,” said Evans.

No one from “Simple Vacations” returned Action 16’s calls today.

In an email to some of those waiting for refunds, the company claimed wrote it’s waiting for money from United Airlines.

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