Kane In Your Corner: Runners say company won’t refund them for canceled event

Some New Jersey runners say that they're tired of getting the runaround from a company that apparently took their money, but hasn't held an event they can take part in. Maryanne Opiekun tells Kane

News 12 Staff

Jul 15, 2016, 4:14 AM

Updated 3,002 days ago

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Some New Jersey runners say that they're tired of getting the runaround from a company that apparently took their money, but hasn't held an event they can take part in.
Maryanne Opiekun tells Kane In Your Corner that she and her friends enjoy participating in organized races known as "color runs."
Opiekun and her group signed up for an event organized by the company Color Buzz, which was supposed to take place in Lakewood at BlueClaws stadium. However, Lakewood BlueClaws announced last week that "this event will not be happening and the BlueClaws have not had any contact with event organizers over the last several months."
The runners finally heard from Color Buzz the following day and were told that the event had to be rescheduled due to circumstances behind their control. Color Buzz also apparently told Opiekun that her money would not be refunded.
Opiekun says she feels like she was "ripped off."
This apparently isn't the first time Color Buzz has done something like this. Kane In Your Corner found that an event was scheduled last year at Brookdale Community College and then canceled.
Color Buzz blamed campus construction, but the college says that it never signed a contract to host the event.
Anna Kousoulis registered for the event last year. She says that Color Buzz stopped responding to her emails.
"If you have a whole set of runners giving you money to do a run...and then you don't hold a race, what do you want people to think?" asks Kousoulis.
Kane in Your Corner found that the Better Business Bureau gave Color Buzz an "F" rating due to a "pattern of rescheduling events and refusing all refunds."
The owner of Color Buzz, a company based out of Arizona, says that the company is trying to do the right thing.
"We're a small shop, we're a mom-and-pop shop. We do our best to put on a quality event," the owner told Kane in Your Corner.
The owner also says that the company has been in contact with the Lakewood BlueClaws. "I'm looking at a string of emails through May, through June," the owner said.
According to Kane in Your Corner, those emails don't completely back up the story because they show the BlueClaws repeatedly asking Color Buzz for a contract and deposit for the event.
Color Buzz says that it will give New Jersey customers refunds, but only if they give the company one more chance to reschedule the run.