Photo of author

Michelle Couch-Friedman

Consumer reporter and ombudsman columnist

Michelle Couch-Friedman is the founder and CEO of Consumer Rescue. She is a journalist, consumer advocate, travel writer, mediator, and trained psychotherapist. Michelle is also the travel ombudsman columnist for The Points Guy, contributing author at Fodor's Travel and previously served as the executive director of the nonprofit Elliott Advocacy. During her six years managing that organization, she resolved thousands of cases for troubled travelers and other consumers. You can read hundreds of 5-star reviews Michelle earned during her service to the nonprofit on Great Nonprofits. Michelle is a public speaker, and her expert guidance has been cited in the Washington Post, MarketWatch, Consumer Reports, Travel & Leisure, the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Popular Science, CNN, CNBC, Boston Globe, CBS News, National Geographic, Travel Weekly, Reader's Digest and more. You might even catch Michelle on TV reporting on a situation. :) Professionally, Michelle is a member of the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW), the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA), and the North American Travel Journalists Association (NATJA). Today, she continues to spend as much time as possible fiercely defending consumers and traveling the world. Contact her at Michelle Couch-Friedman or on Linkedin, Twitter or Facebook. You can also check out Consumer Rescue's "What's your Problem?" Facebook group to get quick answers to your consumer questions.
Norwegian Cruise Line passengers miss their cruise, bad weather led to a missed cruise, NCL refund rejection

We missed our Norwegian cruise ship. How do we get our $4,500 refund?

Norwegian Cruise Line passengers Shirley Russom and her friend Robert intended to sail to Alaska last May. Unfortunately, the weather had different plans for them. En route to the cruise, severe storms rolled into Denver, Colorado, during what was supposed to be a two-hour layover.

That layover morphed into an unexpected two-day detour, and the friends never made it to Seattle, where Norwegian Encore waited. The ship sailed to Alaska, and the devastated friends flew back home to South Carolina.

Driving through tropical Florida with a Sixt rental car, getting wrongly billed for rental car repairs, Consumer Rescue to the rescue

AI scanner proves Sixt wrongly billed customer $1,428 for car repairs

If an AI scanner fails to flag pre-existing damage on your rental car, you could be wrongly charged for repairs. But could those same images actually vindicate you in the end? One Sixt customer just discovered that, with a little help from Consumer Rescue, the answer is “Yes.”

These Vrbo guests were snookered by a vacation rental bait and switch scheme in London, London vacation rental scam

Booked a $12,000 luxury Vrbo vacation rental – ended up in a flophouse. Help!

Joanne May and her extended family got a terrible surprise when they arrived in London. The luxurious eight-bedroom, six-bathroom Vrbo vacation rental May reserved for the group of 15 was suddenly unavailable. 

The rental host assured the family not to worry; he’d already moved them to a similar Vrbo nearby. Not only that, he claimed the new apartment was actually a complementary upgrade… it definitely wasn’t.

Fake job scams on LinkedIn target college students, A college student thought she was buying part-time work supplies, Scammed via Zelle

A LinkedIn fake job scam cost this college student $9,000. What now?

Could you fall for a fake job scam?

If you’re like Sam Erin, you probably answered “no!” She’s a college-educated young adult who was sure she knew how to spot a con game. That is until a phony employment crime ring preyed on her naivety and stole nearly $9,000 from her.

Now, after draining her bank account, the scammers have vanished, leaving Erin jobless and cashless. She’s hoping our advocacy team can help. But how?

UPS insured a mammoth tusk and then rejected the $1,850 insurance claim.

UPS smashed my artwork and won’t pay the $1,850 insurance claim!

On their recent Alaskan adventure, a Tennessee couple spent $1,850 on an engraved mammoth tusk to commemorate the trip. But by the time United Parcel Service delivered the delicate artwork to their home, it was smashed. Even worse, UPS quickly denied all responsibility and rejected the insurance claim. Now what?

Fake British Airways agents lurking on the Internet, Scams, scam airline customer service

Fake British Airways charged me $12,516 after a flight cancellation. Help!

Ron Samborsky and his family were on their way to Europe to board Norwegian Cruise Line’s Breakaway… until they weren’t. After American Airlines canceled their flight and offered no replacement until the next day, the trip was in serious jeopardy. 

Then a scammer stepped in to save the day.

Princess Cruises, missed cruise, flight delay

We missed our Princess cruise. Did we really just lose $21,000?

A Florida couple missed their much-anticipated Princess cruise after a flight delay caused them to miss their connection to Australia. However, that’s not the worst part of this story – not by a long shot. The real shock came when the stunned duo learned the fate of the $21,000 they spent on the 41-day sailing aboard Crown Princess.

According to their travel insurance company, the couple would receive just $1,000 for their missed cruise.

Illegal Airbnb in Las Vegas

This Las Vegas Airbnb rental was a $2,000 gamble this guest lost

An Airbnb guest planned a trip to Las Vegas. She was not anticipating that her biggest gamble would be on her Airbnb rental. Unfortunately, this thoroughly unsatisfactory illegal Airbnb rental in Sin City was anything but a winner, and now Mary wants a complete refund.

Can we help?

A Parisian vacation rental, shady Airbnb host, false damage charges

$3,500 for a coffee stain in a vacation rental? This Airbnb host says “oui!”

A shady Airbnb host charged former guests of his Parisian vacation rental $3,500 for a coffee stain. But even more shocking than that outrageous payment request was Airbnb’s response to it. 

Despite the host having no evidence of damages to his vacation rental, Airbnb approved his claim.

Consumer Rescue Fiascos and Fixes at the foot of the page in the logo box

Categories

Consumer Guides

News and Alerts

Cruise Fiascos

Travel Troubles

Problematic Products

Popular

Get Free Help

What's your consumer problem?

Executive contact finder

Quick Question

Michelle Couch-Friedman

Meet the team

Contact

Legal

Advertising Policy

Cookie Policy

Privacy Policy

Corrections Policy

Media outlets citing Consumer Rescue, CNN, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Media citations, Michelle Couch-Friedman in the media

Advertise on this site

Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Info

© 2025 Consumer Rescue / Michelle Couch-Friedman