CULLOWHEE, N.C. — A Charlotte woman says she was initially denied a refund for a booking in one of the areas hit hardest by Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina until she threatened to take the story to WCNC Charlotte.
Brittany Jackson booked a home through Vrbo for this upcoming weekend. When she had to cancel plans because of Helene, Jackson said the host wouldn't give her her money back until she told him she'd contacted WCNC Charlotte. She's sharing her experience because others are in the same situation.
"Our daughter is a sophomore at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee," Jackson said. "It is family weekend this weekend."
After Helene hit, Jackson reached out to the host about the reservation. At first, they thought about trying to make the trip anyway.
"Once NCDOT announced that travel should be restricted to the area just for safety reasons, that's when we requested the refund on the house," Jackson explained.
She says the host responded that they should have purchased insurance.
"This is a natural disaster that came through and I almost felt like he was taking advantage of the situation," she said. "So that is when I kept pushing."
Jackson said the host initially agreed to a 50% refund with 50% as a credit.
"I unfortunately wasn't happy with that, just simply for the fact that he wasn't just taking into consideration the situation that you physically could not get to Cullowhee at the time," Jackson said. "So I kept pushing, contacted Vrbo and unfortunately, Vrbo's hands were slightly tied just simply because the host was handling the bookings on his end."
Eventually, her persistence paid off and Jackson got her $1,700 back.
"Finally, after we stated that we reached out to the news, he changed his tune and refunded all of our money," Jackson said. "What does that tell you? That tells me that he was willing to take advantage of the situation. I mean, some of the roads are missing. People have lost their lives, people are still missing. And the fact that he was adamant that we come to the area and put not only ourselves but first responders at risk."
A spokesperson for Expedia and Vrbo says they're aware that the host agreed to give Jackson a full refund. The company also refunded her service fee.
Contact Jane Monreal at jmonreal@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.