CONSUMER ADVOCACY

The Consumer Rescue advocacy team resolves problems between consumers and the businesses that they patronize. We do this via direct mediation with companies. These articles are the highlighted tales of our efforts to defend, protect and educate consumers.

This passport mistake caused a travel disaster that cost this family nearly $20,000!

This simple passport mistake ended in a $17,766 travel disaster. Here’s how

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Ted Kelly says his wife made a simple passport mistake last year that snowballed into a $17,766 travel disaster.

The couple had never heard of the Schengen area or its passport requirements for U.S. citizens. But when they tried to check in for their business class flight to Italy, a Lufthansa representative quickly explained the facts. Ted’s wife’s passport didn’t have the required 90-days validity from their return date, and the airline denied boarding to the couple.

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?

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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.

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?

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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

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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 consumer got caught in an online shopping scam.

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

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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.

This traveler says she didn't damage her vacation rental unit and doesn't want to pay for the repairs.

I didn’t damage this vacation rental! Do I have to pay for it?

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Could you be falsely accused of causing damage to your next vacation rental — and be forced to pay for it?

Colleen McKenna is sure that the answer to that question is “yes.” She just returned from what she thought was a peaceful and uneventful stay in a rented condo in Hawaii. But the property manager says she and her husband caused significant damage to the vacation rental during a domestic disturbance. As a result, he charged her credit card for cleanup and repairs — several days after the couple’s departure.

Colleen says she has absolutely no idea what this man is talking about and believes it’s a scam. Now she’s asking our advocacy team to investigate.

What happens if a drunk driver demolishes your rental car?

A drunk driver crashed into my rental car but I got the $22,158 bill!

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Just days into Joe Vandetta’s recent Florida family vacation, a drunk driver crashed head-on into his rental car. Luckily, the hit-and-run accident didn’t cause serious injuries, and the Vandettas — bruised but otherwise unharmed — completed their trip as planned.

But the shock of getting smashed by an intoxicated motorist was nothing compared to the jolt Joe received a month later. That’s when Budget Rental Car sent a $22,158 bill — the cost of the vehicle damaged by the drunk driver. 

Will Jetblue let this old cat fly home from the Dominican Republic?

Can JetBlue really refuse to let my cat fly home from vacation?!

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Flying with your cat internationally can be complicated — especially when an airline changes its pet policy mid-trip. Yekis Fortunato found out just how complicated after flying JetBlue to the Dominican Republic with her 19-year-old cat, Foxxy.

Shockingly, soon after arrival, the airline summarily canceled the feline’s return flight. The reason? JetBlue updated its policy prohibiting any pets from flying to or from the island on its aircraft.

United Airlines canceled a passengers flight and then sent his refund to a closed credit card account. Where did the money go? And can our advocacy team help?

Help! United Airlines sent my refund to a closed credit card account.

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United Airlines canceled Eric Noderer’s flight to India and sent his refund to a closed credit card account. Since then, he’s been in an endless battle between the airline and Chase to locate the missing $2,217.

Now he’s hoping our advocacy team can provide the backup assistance he needs to find and retrieve his money.

Can we do it?

It’s never a good idea to close a credit card when you’ve used it to pay for upcoming flight or cruise. There are many reasons this is so, but Noderer’s struggle highlights the primary one. Here’s his frustrating tale.

This Budget customer says she returned her rental car as scheduled. So why doesn't the car rental agency know that?

I left my rental car at the airport, but now it’s missing!

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Maureen Heller recently received a shocking message from Budget Security about a missing rental car. The letter accused Maureen of failing to return a Nissan Sentra that she had left at the Detroit airport weeks earlier.

But with no receipt to prove she returned it, will Maureen be on the hook for this missing rental car?