Camera Treks Tours & Workshops Refund Policy

Refund & Cancellation Policy
Camera Treks Tours & Workshops

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IMPORTANT MONEY NOTE:

With the advent of a new era, that is, Covid-19, we have had dramatically increasing costs AND significant expenditures that we have not been able to recover (mainly deposits for travel and lodging in remote locations for trips that were ultimately cancelled with our pre-paid fees subsequently forfeited). The first years, 2020 and 2021, we absorbed these set-up costs and refunded 100% of Participants deposits. This practice is unsustainable, however.

Beginning in 2024 we now include a US$500.00 non-refundable cost in each of our International Tours (and the longer US Tours, as well.) Not only does this help defray expenditures we cannot recover in the event a Tour is cancelled for reasons beyond our control, it also helps pay for a new employee who is planning and conducting our new line of Camera Treks City Tours.

When we receive your written notice* of cancellation your refund will be based upon the following schedule:

91 days or more before the Tour start date: $1000 cancellation fee; PLUS Camera Treks costs for the published books and articles you will receive on a USB drive after registering and making an Initial Payment (currently US$300.00 – our actual cost – out of your Initial Payment) Please note that the above US$1000 is in addition to the new US$500 non-refundable fee we have instituted!
61-90 days before the Tour start date: $1500 cancellation fee; PLUS Camera Treks costs for the published books and articles you will receive on a USB drive after registering and making an Initial Payment ((currently US$300.00 – our actual cost – out of your Initial Payment) Please note that the above US$1500 is in addition to the new US$500 non-refundable fee we have instituted!
60 days or less before the Tour start date OR anytime after the Tour begins: No Refunds given regardless of the reason for your cancellation.
NOTE: As we are in the business of providing a photo tour, not in keeping your money without a tour, we will make every attempt to fill your spot if you have paid for a Tour. If we successfully fill your spot we will refund as much of your cleared payments as possible -- except for the money we spent for your USB drive of Tour books and articles AND the US$500 non-refundable fee. Please remember that some costs for our group may have risen because of our (hopefully temporarily) reduced number of participants caused by your dropping out of the Tour. If we cannot fill your spot with the Tour you may not receive any refund of your paid monies.
If you cancel your participation is an Tour and we cannot provide a Refund to you, we will make every possible attempt to give you a 20% discount on a future Tour, if taken within the following 18 months.
Payments made by credit card or a service like PayPal cost Camera Treks 3.6% of the payment. If a refund is required and given under any of the above rules, this 3.6% will be deducted off the top of any refunds against your payments made via credit card or other payment services that charge us fees, such as Paypal.

Additional money information

If you, the participant, cancels, we will make every attempt to refund any money owed you within 30 days based upon the criteria described above. We write 'attempt' because we may not fill your spot within 30 days. Your unfilled spot entitles you to less, or no, refund than if we re-fill your spot. But, if you decide you must have your refund within 30 days the refund we send to you will be the final one. Should we fill your cancelled spot and recover all our costs, you will not receive an additional refund.

If Camera Treks needs to cancel the Tour (e.g. less than 4 people sign up, on-going severe weather disturbance, a pandemic, etc.) you will receive your refund, less the US$500 non-refundable fee, within 30 days (or sooner if those services we have already paid issue a refund to us sooner.)

We do not provide rebates for activities or services that you choose to miss, or cannot partake of, while on the Tour. For example, if you decide to skip a dinner whose charges are included in the Tour price you will not receive a rebate for the cost of that dinner. A darker scenario: you fall on a broken street curb and spend a day and night in the hospital. You will not receive a rebate for meals, photo activities, the cost of lodging, etc. that you were not able to utilize. You should seek reimbursements from your insurance provider in such cases.

If your Initial Payment check reaches us before your signed Contract, the Initial Payment shall be deemed a good-faith intention to join one of our trips and will represent a Binding Agreement between you, the Participant, and Camera Treks. If you cancel after sending an Initial Payment that we have cashed and before we receive a signed Contract and we have already sent our USB drive with the books and articles we pay for, we will deduct the $300 cost of the USB drive Contents from your Initial Payment.

* You MUST email us (coupdefoudrellc@gmail.com) AND send a mailed letter (Coup de Foudre, LLC; P.O. Box 417, Tesuque, NM 87574) unless we inform you, via letter, email or text, that your cancellation email is sufficient. Why? Because we are often out of the office on tours and cannot reliably receive email in some of our locations!

Coup de Foudre, LLC (founded 1978) is the parent company of Camera Treks and is registered in the U.S. state of Delaware.