New York State Attorney General Letitia James announced Wednesday morning that the Greentree Country Club in New Rochelle has agreed to return $427,000 in deposits to 76 customers who had booked events at the club that did not take place because of Covid-19.
James”™ office began investigating the situation after having received a number of complaints from Greentree”™s customers who had asked for their money back, but instead were only offered the chance to reschedule an event or receive a credit against the cost of another event.
James reported that her office was able to negotiate the refunds with M.N. & G Restaurant and Caterer Inc., owner of the Greentree Country Club at 538 Davenport Ave. in New Rochelle.
A letter to the firm”™s attorney signed by Sandra Giorno-Tocco, assistant attorney general in the Attorney General’s Westchester Regional Office in White Plains, outlined details of the refund agreement.
“Greentree will refund the entire deposit amount to all customers who have requested a refund of their deposit, or who have not re-scheduled their event or agreed to a credit for the full amount of the deposit to be applied toward a future event,” Giorno-Tocco”™s letter said.
It added that Greentree”™s attorney is charged with sending out the checks to the customers; any that cannot be delivered are to be turned over to the New York State Comptroller”™s Office of Unclaimed Funds.
Giorno-Tocco stated: “New York State required commercial establishments such as Greentree that operate as indoor catering or banquet halls to close their business. Consequently, pursuant to the state mandate, Greentree closed its business and events that had been booked did not take place. When Greentree reopened, health and safety restrictions permitted it to host only events of a significantly reduced capacity, and therefore many events could not occur.”
In announcing the agreement under which Greentree will issue refunds James said, “The pandemic caused a wave of disruption throughout New York state as we saw weddings, religious ceremonies, professional conferences, and many other large gatherings canceled or delayed. Most of those events required deposits, totaling thousands of dollars paid upfront.
“Since the start of the pandemic,” she continued, “we now have returned almost $800,000 to New Yorkers and will continue to fight for more, especially as the pandemic continues to take a financial toll on our state”™s residents.”
