ONLY ON 3: Moving Obama’s speech costs Columbus Co. woman thousands

COLUMBUS COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — President Obama’s cancelled outdoor speech did more than disappoint. It will cost one Columbus County woman thousands of dollars.

Ann Brown co-owns Rolling Tours Charter Bus Company. She was contracted to take people from our area to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte Thursday to see President Obama speak at Bank of America Stadium.

She needed three extra buses, so she hired them from Double M Charters out of Ocean Isle Beach.

“The event was cancelled due to weather conditions, which we knew would be an act of God,” Brown said. “The contracting parties did not cancel the event, but the event was cancelled.”

Brown paid Double M Charters $5,400 for the three buses. That money came from the passengers who were expecting to go to the DNC. Brown contacted Marty Biddle, the owner of Double M Charters, to try and get them a refund.

“In this case, Mr. Biddle refused to refund anything,” Brown said. “He said he had bills to pay, so he was not refunding anything.”

Brown has been in the charter bus business for nearly 25 years. Maintaining her good reputation is why she’s making sure her customers get refunds.

“I’ll do whatever I have to do to give the money back to all the people who paid to go to the Democratic Convention,” she said.

That means Brown is going into debt to pay everyone back.

We contacted Biddle, who told us his attorney said he did not have to return the cash, because he would be out thousands of dollars. When we asked to explain what this cost him, he was not happy.

“Who the f*** are you to be asking me this, lady?” he said. “Are you a f****** attorney? Who are you?”

He then hung up.

Brown says she is contacting an attorney to see if there is any recourse.