Bad Rep doesn’t want its name to be its motto.
The event promoters of the Bad Rep Cruise have changed from their position of not giving refunds to patrons who were unable to board the MV Harbour Master on August 1, and will fully repay the near 70 patrons who were left stranded.
On August 5, the DAILY NATION published the story stating that the promoters initially said they would not be issuing rebates.
But that all changed last weekend.
The promoters reached out to this newspaper via email to announce that after consultation with their attorney and the organising committee, they have started to issue the rebates to patrons who were barred from attending the cruise.
“Notwithstanding the publication of no refund on our page, patrons who have contacted us with legitimate requests for refunds have indeed been refunded . . . It has never been our intention nor have we ever rejected a legitimate request for a refund.
“We understand that the post would have caused some concern but I can assure you that the refund process has already started in respect of the few requests that were made via [our] official IG page,” the promoters added.
Earlier, an official at the MV Harbour Master said that the decision to not let the 70 cruisers aboard was not made in isolation, but rather in consultation with the promoter, when they realised the vessel was quickly reaching its maximum capacity.
“At that time we had 720 people and we could have allowed 30 more people; however, there were more than 30 people. It is likely that the promoters had oversold the event. We were about to take 30 more when they were acting violently and if we had opened up the gate more than 30 would have come on and the vessel would not have been able to sail, which we believed would have caused more hostility on the boat,” the vessel management said.
However, controversy erupted after an apology and notice posted on Bad Rep Events’ Instagram page also stated in bold that tickets were non-refundable. When questioned on this matter, they did not respond. (KOB)
