CONSUMER ADVOCACY - Page 11 of 22

Taking a bus tour through Europe, cliffside in Spain,

If you get sick on a bus tour, can you get a refund?

March 11, 2024October 2, 2023 by Michelle Couch-Friedman

If you get sick on a bus tour, should the operator give you a refund — even if you completed the entire trip? Gay Hackney believes so.

She says that two fellow travelers aboard her bus appeared ill during a 13-day tour through Spain and Portugal. The father and son’s constant coughing irritated her, but the last straw came at the end of the trip when she woke up sick herself.

Now that she’s home, she wants to know if Trafalgar owes her a refund for this unpleasant bus tour.

Norwegian Cruise Line Joy, a cruise ship in the Caribbean, NCL cruise ship

Norwegian Cruise Line received a refund for our canceled flight. Is that fair?

March 12, 2024September 29, 2023 by Michelle Couch-Friedman

Norwegian Cruise Line handled all the details of Caleb and Karyssa Deslich’s honeymoon trip. So when American Airlines canceled their outbound flight, they expected NCL to come to the rescue. That didn’t happen, and the couple almost missed their Caribbean cruise.

Almost.

The Desliches came to their own rescue and spent an additional $700 on a replacement flight. They flew to Miami and arrived just in time to board Norwegian Joy before it set sail.

The couple assumed Norwegian Cruise Line would automatically refund either their canceled flight or the replacement one. But that didn’t happen.

Now Deslich is asking the Consumer Rescue team to intervene and get their money back. He says an NCL agent promised to send the $700 refund and then reneged on the deal.

So what does the cruise line have to say about the missing refund for the canceled flight? The answer will probably surprise you.

River cruise ship in Europe, Vantage Travel River Splendor ship.

How did I lose a credit card chargeback against a bankrupt company?

April 21, 2025September 20, 2023 by Michelle Couch-Friedman

There’s something very fishy going on with Eileen Whalen’s lost credit card chargeback against bankrupt tour operator Vantage Travel. It’s unclear who from the out-of-business company is fighting customer chargebacks for cruises it canceled, but someone is.

Whalen was plunged right into the middle of this bizarre mystery last month. That’s when a strange chargeback response allegedly from Vantage Travel caused Capital One to reject her valid credit card dispute.

In that rambling missive, the grammatically and factually challenged anonymous author claimed Vantage Travel hadn’t canceled any cruises in September. To add insult to injury, the letter implied Whalen was misusing the credit card dispute process. In summary, it asked Capital One to return the funds to the bankrupt tour operator.

And that’s what happened.

I returned my rental car to the wrong airport. Can Dollar charge me $2,081 extra?

July 29, 2024September 5, 2023 by Michelle Couch-Friedman

Dollar Car Rental customer Kuno Zurkinden recently discovered how a surprisingly common mistake can end in a giant financial headache. At the end of an adventurous road trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles, he made a navigational error: He returned the rental car to the wrong airport.

As a result of that miscalculation, Dollar voided the original contract Zurkinden had through a third-party provider. On the spot, the rental car company created a new contract with new charges – astronomically high charges.

Now, Zurkinden is asking Consumer Rescue for assistance. He wants to know if his “little” geographic mistake really allows the car rental company to charge him $2,081 extra.

Something tells me he isn’t going to like the answer.

A map of the world to illustrate an article about global Medicare coverage.

Will Medicare cover you on an international trip? (Don’t bet on it)

April 16, 2024September 4, 2023 by Abe Wischnia

If you have Medicare as your primary insurance and get hit with a health-related emergency while traveling in another country or on a cruise ship, will your treatment be covered? That’s the question many of our readers are asking. That’s the question many of our readers are asking.

Read on to understand what your Medicare coverage will and won’t do if you face a medical problem during an international trip. And, of course, I’ll also tell you how to make sure you are protected.

Here’s why you should never give an eBay buyer your home address!

May 28, 2025August 26, 2023 by Michelle Couch-Friedman

An elaborate PayPal scam led an iPad thief directly to eBay seller Steven Sanderson’s front door. The brazen predator came disguised as a friendly eBay buyer willing to purchase the digital device from Sanderson for $650. And it was weeks before the fraudulent nature of this transaction became clear.

Now Sanderson’s iPad is gone and so is the money he made by “selling” it. He blames PayPal for this fiasco and wants our help getting his $650 back. But who really is responsible here?

Vantage Travel ship called Ocean Explorer.

Vantage Travel assets sold to Pacific Travel Partners. What will customers get?

September 5, 2024August 20, 2023 by Michelle Couch-Friedman

The remnants of Vantage Deluxe World Travel have been sold to Pacific Travel Partners, a subsidiary of Aurora Expeditions, for $2 million.

Pacific Travel Partners will operate the new company as Vantage Explorations.

This outcome has surprised many following the Vantage Travel bankruptcy proceedings since late June, as competing bidder United Travel was widely expected to emerge as the winner.

And there were more surprises when the purchase agreement details were revealed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court on August 9. For Vantage customers, who are collectively owed $108 million, the offer from Pacific Travel Partners is considerably better than the initial sale proposal from United Travel.

Now that the assets of Vantage Travel have been sold to Pacific Travel Partners, here’s what customers should know.

Alamo billed me $662 for rental car damage. Why won’t insurance pay?

May 7, 2025August 14, 2023 by Michelle Couch-Friedman

After Robbin Yeh’s last car rental, Alamo surprised him with a repair bill for mechanical damage to the vehicle. Despite Yeh’s protests that the rental car had pre-existing problems, Alamo continued to pursue him for $662 to fix it. Reluctantly, Yeh agreed to let Alamo file an insurance claim through his credit card company.

At least, that’s what he thought Alamo was doing to pay for the damage to the car.

It wasn’t until four months later that Yeh discovered that he was responsible for filing that insurance claim, not Alamo.

Now with the deadline for filing an insurance claim long since passed, Yeh is asking Consumer Rescue for help. He’s hoping we can convince Chase eClaims to make an exception and pay the repair bill for the rental car.

Can we do it?

Palm Springs is the location of an Airbnb host who seems to have tried a bait and switch vacation rental scheme.

My Airbnb host pulled a $13,314 bait and switch on me. Help!

March 29, 2025August 7, 2023 by Michelle Couch-Friedman

Isaac Chambers says an Airbnb host just hit him with an expensive bait and switch scam of sorts. After you hear his troubling story, you’ll likely agree.

Many months after Chambers booked the perfect vacation rental for his wedding party, his Airbnb host abruptly canceled the reservation. Citing “synchronization” issues as the cancellation reason, the management company suggested several undesirable replacement properties in Palm Springs.

Now just two months before his wedding, Chambers’ group has nowhere to stay. That is unless they want to rent the exact same Airbnb vacation rental with this host – for an additional $13,341.

So what are those “synchronization” issues that allowed the host to cancel this Airbnb and relist it at a much higher rate? That’s what Chambers is asking Consumer Rescue to find out.

Carnival Cruise Line ship, cruise ship on the ocean.

We had our Real ID! Why couldn’t we board our Carnival Cruise?

February 17, 2024July 30, 2023 by Michelle Couch-Friedman

Although a Real ID and an Enhanced ID look nearly identical, there are critical differences between the two identifications. Diane Dipalma recently received a rapid and painful education on the topic while attempting to board Carnival Cruise Line’s Legend.

She and her new husband believed they could use their Real ID driver’s licenses to take the cruise. But the Carnival Cruise Line staff quickly clarified that they couldn’t, and the shocked newlyweds missed their honeymoon.

Here’s their story and what you need to know about the differences between a Real ID and an Enhanced ID.

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