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 former 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) and the American Society of Journalists and Authors (asja). 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.

Hertz sent a customer to collections after it offered him a goodwill gesture. The car rental began and ended in Seattle, Washington.

Can Hertz give a goodwill gesture and still send you to collections?

December 16, 2024October 20, 2022

Hertz customer Aaron Baird made a costly mistake during his last car rental. Because he returned the vehicle to the wrong location, the car rental giant slapped him with a $780 upcharge. Ultimately, in the spirit of positive customer relations, Hertz offered Aaron a goodwill gesture and erased the debt.

Lesson learned, and all was well – or so Aaron thought.

A few weeks after Hertz offered the goodwill gesture, a different department within the company resurrected the invoice. That Hertz team sent Aaron’s account to collections and put him on the Do Not Rent (DNR) list.

United Airlines canceled flight, family left stranded in Morocco after canceled flight

United Airlines stranded us in Morocco! How will we get home now?

March 11, 2024October 19, 2022

It’s ok for United Airlines to sell a family a flight to Morocco and then leave them stranded there when the return flight is canceled. Right?

Wrong. But the airline seems to think so.

Norwegian Cruise Line's ship Epic. The couple in this article was denied boarding the cruise.

This cruise ship passenger arrived just in time — to be denied boarding!

December 17, 2023October 18, 2022

Could a cruise ship passenger be denied boarding even if they have all of the required documents for sailing?

Lee Bolland says he knows the answer to that question is “Yes” because it happened to him.

Last fall, he and his wife planned to cruise through the Mediterranean on Norwegian Cruise Line’s Epic. The couple flew to Spain to begin their adventure, and all was going well — until it suddenly wasn’t. At the port, NCL employees shockingly denied Lee boarding and abandoned the couple there.

What if you hate your vacation rental and leave? Will Airbnb give you a refund? That's what this traveler wants to know.

If you hate your vacation rental, can you leave and get a refund?

December 3, 2023October 17, 2022

Mary Shaw was confident that she had done everything right while planning her trip to Paris. She had carefully selected what she thought was the perfect apartment for her family. But when Mary arrived in the French capital, she hated the Airbnb vacation rental so much that she knew they couldn’t stay.

Now Mary wants to know how she can get a refund from the unwilling Airbnb host.

Hurt on vacation, travel insurance mistake, going to the hospital in Mexico, Expensive medical treatment abroad.

Hurt on vacation? Don’t make this travel insurance mistake

November 10, 2024October 15, 2022

After she was seriously hurt on vacation, Molly Brooks made a giant, but not uncommon, travel insurance mistake. She left the rural Mexican hospital where she received pricey emergency services and flew home without any documentation of treatment. Her only evidence of hospitalization was a non-itemized $6,000 credit card receipt. As could be expected, this lack of documentation presented an insurmountable problem when she filed her travel insurance claim.

This is how an NCL cruise consultant mistake caused this couple to miss their cruise.

How did a cruise agent make this type of mistake?

March 16, 2025October 14, 2022

Who is responsible when an agent of a cruise line makes a giant mistake that causes a passenger to miss their voyage? That’s what Linda Combs wants to know.

Her unpleasant experience included not just one but three errors by a Norwegian Cruise Line consultant. And it ended with Linda and her husband standing on the dock as they watched their ship sail away — and the cruise agent ignoring her pleas for help.

So why did Norwegian Cruise Line reject Linda’ refund request?

If you want to file a lost luggage claim with Blue Ribbon Bags, you actually have to report the luggage as missing. Otherwise, how can it be found?

What happened to his lost luggage? Blue Ribbon Bags knows

December 9, 2022October 13, 2022

Blue Ribbon Bags, a lost luggage tracking service, offers a $1,000 guarantee. If the company fails to find your lost luggage within 96 hours, you get the cash. That deal sounded pretty sweet to Vamsi Kosaraju, especially when his mother-in-law lost her bag on a recent flight.

The family patiently waited out the four days and then requested the $1,000 reward — which Blue Ribbon Bags swiftly rejected. Now Vamsi wants our advocacy team to investigate. So what’s going on here?

This tale is a bit hard to believe. But it points to Vamsi’s inherent misunderstanding of what this lost luggage tracking service can and can’t do. It should go without saying that if you don’t report your bag missing, it can’t be found. However, Vamsi insists that no one explained that basic premise to him. And he says Blue Ribbon Bags owes him $1,000 for the missing bag.

These travelers did not feel safe in her Airbnb.

If you don’t feel safe in your Airbnb rental, can you get a refund?

January 16, 2024October 12, 2022

What if you don’t feel safe after you check into your next Airbnb rental? That’s the frightening situation that confronted Ericka Wilson and her sister during a short vacation to Puerto Rico. They didn’t expect luxury, but they did expect to be able to lock the front door. When that wasn’t possible, they wanted to hit the eject button and get a refund.

So why was the refund request for their three-hour stay rejected? That’s what the sisters want our advocacy team to find out.

This Payless customer definitely didn't pay less for his recent car rental. The company made a giant pricing mistake on the vehicle's final bill.

Is this the most expensive car rental pricing mistake ever?

November 22, 2023October 11, 2022

Marvin Payne believes he’s uncovered the most expensive car rental pricing mistake ever, and I think you might agree. Several weeks after returning his most recent vehicle, he got the shock of his life — a $6,000 overcharge.

This consumer got caught in an online shopping scam.

How did I lose the credit card dispute after this online shopping scam?

February 19, 2024October 10, 2022

Before you do any more online shopping, you’ll want to read about the scam that just ensnared Susan Leipholtz. She paid an online “merchant” $129 through PayPal and received absolutely nothing in return. But getting blindsided by the internet thief wasn’t nearly as shocking as what happened next. That’s when Capital One sided with the scammer in her credit card dispute.

Michelle Couch-Friedman

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