Refund frustration looms after Winter Wonder Forest cancels event
Global News
A cancelled winter event has quickly turned into a stressful situation for some Albertans unsure they'll be able to get their money back just days before Christmas.
What was meant to be a magical stroll through a winter wonder forest quickly turned into a stressful situation for some Edmontonians.
This comes as people who bought tickets for the event which has since been cancelled, potentially won’t get their money back just days before Christmas.
For weeks Marnie Geddes and Will Martin were looking forward to the “Winter Wonder Forest” event in Gibbons, northeast of Edmonton but the day before their planned visit they got a surprise email.
“We were preparing to go, we spoke to kids about it and told them too that this was something happening and it was Friday evening that we got the email that it was being cancelled, so it was very last minute,” Geddes said.
Event organizers posted a notice of the cancellation online Friday. The notice said due to delays caused by harsh weather and a requirement to pay the full amount of rent for the season right away — which they couldn’t do — the event had to close.
“We never thought that we’d have to cancel this event, we didn’t expect mother nature to be this severe this year,” Winter Wonder Forest founder Steve Sande said.
The refund policy on the event’s website states “if our fundraiser is cancelled, you are eligible for a refund *or a donation tax receipt.”
But now some people who pre-purchased tickets said they’re only being offered the tax receipt rather than a refund.