Cook County State's Attorney's Office:
Press Releases

Richard A. Devine
Cook County State's Attorney
500 Richard J. Daley Center
Chicago, IL 60602
(312) 603-3423
www.statesattorney.org

Action follows cancelled "Family and Friends" group cruise to the Caribbean

The Cook County State's Attorney's Consumer Fraud Division filed a lawsuit today against the owner of a Dolton travel agency for failing to give refunds to travelers following cancellation of their "Family and Friends" cruise to the Caribbean.

Terry H. Merchant, who does business as WindiCiti Tours, located at 14429 Sanderson, Dolton, Illinois, has been charged with violating the Illinois Travel Promotion Consumer Protection Act and the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act.

According to the lawsuit, Terry Merchant took deposits and other payments from more than 30 people for a "Family and Friends" group cruise to the Caribbean on the Carnival Cruise Line ship that was set to sail on November 14, 2004. Merchant subsequently cancelled the "Family and Friends" cruise tour package, claiming that people failed to pay for the cruise on time, even though the cancellation was before the expiration of the final payment deadline that he himself had set. Merchant failed to refund money that the "Family and Friends" customers had given him toward the cancelled cruise.

In addition, Terry Merchant allegedly failed to refund money to two families who had fully paid for their cruise packages. Merchant included those two families, totaling seven individuals, into another tour group of 40 or 50 people that he was purportedly organizing for the same cruise to the Caribbean. Later, Merchant told the two families that the second group's cruise had been cancelled by Carnival Cruise Line because the ship to be used was a "sick boat," infested with vermin, and had been put out of commission. When the consumers contacted Carnival Cruise Line to check out the story, representatives denied that the ship was an out-of- commission "sick boat," and that the cruise on September 14, 2004 had been cancelled. Also, the representatives could not find cruise reservations for the two families under any name. When the consumers confronted Merchant, he insisted that he made reservations for the families, but claimed that he could not remember the name of the larger travel broker under which he booked the reservations. Merchant subsequently never followed through on his offer to refund the money paid by the families.

According to the complaint, the defendant promoted his business through advertising circulars for WindiCiti Tours printed on Carnival Cruise Line letterhead stationery that created a false impression of WindiCiti services and sponsorship. Terry Merchant sold travel services to consumers without the use of written contracts. He is accused of failing to include statutory disclosures in contracts and failing to maintain an escrow account, as required by law. In addition, Terry Merchant is alleged to have forged his own name on the payee line of a personal check that a customer made payable to WindiCiti Tours.

The State's Attorney's Office is seeking to prohibit the defendants from operating a travel agency in Illinois, restitution to consumer victims, and civil penalties of $50,000 for each violation of the Consumer Fraud Act and the Travel Promotion Consumer Protection Act.

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