Vendors demand answers while waiting for refunds following cancelation of Frontera Fest in Harlingen
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Three Rio Grande Valley vendors are still waiting for refunds weeks after Frontera Fest in Harlingen was cancelled the day before it was scheduled to start.
Channel 5 News spoke with several vendors about their concerns and with the event's organizer.
Erika Gonzalez, owner of RGV Tooth Co., paid $450 for her spot. In the weeks leading up to the three-day event, she bought supplies to prepare for the festival.
"It's upsetting because it's our money," Gonzalez said. "I did buy a whole bunch of gems and supplies and all of that just to go ahead and provide the services for the people."
Jimena Lozano, co-owner of The Goat Michelada Mix, paid $500 to get her business into the festival. Lozano said leading up to the event, something felt off.
"We're like, we don't know where this is going. There's no direction, there's no communication; let's not spend so much just yet," Lozano said.
Margarita Casanova owns La Sirenita Pink Pot Boil, a Weslaco restaurant that offers seafood boils. She paid more than $1,200.
The city of Harlingen, which was not involved with Frontera Fest, issued a statement on Sept. 10 saying that the festival organizer Louie Guillen assured city officials that all vendors would be issued refunds. Two weeks later, these vendors are still waiting.
"He was giving a one-time refund on the first call. And after that I kept checking my bank statements. I never received anything," Casanova said.
Channel 5 News reached out to Guillen to ask about the refunds.
"We told them that we refund them as soon as we can. We've been refunding little by little. Obviously it's not refundable, but we're still refunding what we can," Guillen said.
Guillen explained the vendor agreement included a "no refund" clause. He said some vendors have received refunds, and payments are being processed in the order they were received.
Channel 5 News also asked about the last-minute cancellation.
"I don't feel comfortable talking about that at this moment," Guillen said.
As they wait for their refunds, the three vendors said they are now thinking twice before signing up for events.
"Sadly, we as vendors blindly believed them. Just give us back what is ours, that's all we ask," Gonzalez said.
Sandra Morin from the Better Business Bureau said vendors should file a complaint with the police department, as this can be considered theft of services.
Watch the video above for the full story.
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