Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine today filed a consumer protection lawsuit against Discovery Tours, a tour company accused of taking money for services it never provided to families and schools across Ohio.
The lawsuit accuses the company of violating Ohio’s Consumer Sales Practices Act by failing to deliver promised services and operating in a precarious financial situation.
“We believe Discovery Tours violated consumer protection laws and must be held accountable,” Attorney General DeWine said. “Families and schools across the state trusted this company, and their trust was betrayed.”
Since May 2, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office has received over 700 complaints about Discovery Tours, primarily from parents who said they had paid the company hundreds of dollars for a school trip before the company canceled trips and shut down. In some cases, they said their kids had been looking forward to the trip for years or that they had held fundraisers to be able to travel to Washington D.C. or another location.
An investigation by the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Section found that the company had continued to accept money from schools and parents when it knew (or should have known) consumers would not receive the promised services.
The Attorney General’s lawsuit, filed in the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, seeks an injunction to stop any further violations of Ohio consumer protection laws and an order requiring the company to reimburse affected consumers.
Affected consumers who have not yet filed a complaint with the Ohio Attorney General’s Office may do so at www.OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov or 800-282-0515.