Doctor on the front lines turns to Tara to help get refund for canceled vacation

A Westchester doctor who is working on the coronavirus front lines turned to Tara for help getting a refund for a trip that had to be canceled.

News 12 Staff

Apr 5, 2020, 9:16 PM

Updated 1,491 days ago

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A Westchester doctor who is working on the coronavirus front lines turned to Tara for help getting a refund for a trip that had to be canceled.
Dr. Phil Calenda, who works at the New York Presbyterian Medical Group in Cortland, says he had organized a trip to Arizona before the coronavirus pandemic.
He immediately called up the vacation rental apartment company Stay Alfred to cancel, but it refused to issue a refund.
"I was pretty shocked," he said. "They said 'We will give you a credit to use by the end of the year,' I thought they maybe they didn't realize what was going on."
As a front-line health care worker in the invisible battle against the coronavirus in hard-hit Westchester County, Dr. Calenda says he was hoping for a little more compassion.
He even reached out to the CEO of the company via email to explain the situation, but did not hear back.
"I was frustrated, and I've seen some of your specials...News 12....thought maybe you can take this somewhere," he said.
News 12 called several times and followed up over email until the Alfred team responded, promising the doctor a full refund.
CORONAVIRUS TRACKER - Cases in the tri-state area
CORONAVIRUS PREVENTION: What you can do to protect yourself


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