With the return of warmer weather comes an opportunity to take part in so-called fun runs, often with a chance to help out a charity. The Better Business Bureau serving Maine says, in recent years, the number of events such as 5K races, color runs, obstacle courses and mud runs has skyrocketed, and so have the number of complaints.
Better Business Bureau spokeswoman Paula Fleming says most races deliver on their promises, but some have been canceled and entry money not returned.
“In some cases promoters do advertise that they don’t offer refunds, but many consumers don’t read the fine print. So reading the fine print when you are signing up for any of these extremely important; making sure that it is a legitimate fun run, going to the website, doing some research,” she says.
And Fleming advises putting the charges on a credit card. She says there have been scams in which promoters have created an official-looking website and collected fees for races which will never happen.
