You should never skip parts of your flight, this is why
Thinking about skipping parts of your next flight? Charlie Williams can tell you from experience — it’s a very bad idea.
Here’s why.
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 — always free of charge.
These articles are the highlighted tales of our efforts to defend, protect, and educate consumers. Michelle Couch-Friedman is a consumer advocate, reporter and ombudsman columnist. She is also the founder of Consumer Rescue.
You should not buy two one-way airline tickets to save money. Here’s why
Airline passengers can sometimes save money by booking two one-way tickets instead of a round-trip flight. But Sharon Sanborn found out the hard way that there’s a downside to this practice.
Now she wants to know if our advocacy team can do anything to help her out of the financial headache in which she’s landed.
A hotel billing error ends in a lost chargeback. Or will it?
Linda Ralston has been fighting an expensive hotel billing error for months. Several weeks after her 3-night stay at the Westin La Paloma in Tucson, Arizona, she discovered an extra night’s charge on her credit card. Now her battle seems to have ended in a lost chargeback, with the resort coming out the winner.
But with all the evidence on her side, how did she lose?
If American Airlines changes your schedule, here’s how to get a refund
Can American Airlines make wild changes to your flight schedule and, if you object, refuse to issue a refund?
With $8,171 on the line, that’s what Michael Spanel wants to know after his recent experience with American Airlines.
Now Michael is asking the Consumer Rescue team for help. He wants American Airlines to give his money back, and he’s hoping we can make that happen.
So what is a passenger really owed when American Airlines changes their flight schedule? Let’s find out.
My $7,762 American Airlines flight credit expired! Can I get it back?
Tom Suminski intended to redeem his stockpile of $7,762 American Airlines flight credit for a Hawaiian vacation. But he says an airline representative gave him faulty redemption instructions that led the vouchers to expire right under his nose.
The entire $7,762.
That put the family’s tropical dreams in jeopardy. Tom hopes we can convince American Airlines to reinstate his flight credit. But is this just a lost cause?
Are automatic subscription renewals a scam? Here’s what consumers need to know
Have you ever found yourself stuck paying for a subscription you didn’t want after a company “gotcha” with an automatic renewal? I bet you have.
It happened to me recently. Here’s how I fought it and what you can do to protect yourself from this predatory business practice.
Why is Santa Claus the target of this Macy’s customer’s anger?
Yes, Jeff, there is a Santa Claus.
And Macy’s can prove it.
Editor’s note: I wrote nearly 400 articles to promote and support the nonprofit Elliott Advocacy for over half a decade. This is the very first article I wrote and published there in December 2016.
Will Home Depot save our family’s Christmas? This pre-lit tree is a dud
Home Depot sold Marcea Cazel a beautiful 7-foot pre-lit Christmas tree with an extended warranty two years ago. The family loved the tree’s realistic look and soft twinkling lights and hoped to enjoy it for years to come. Unfortunately, the tree turned out to be a dud.
Last year, the family spent hours placing sentimental ornaments on their tree and reminiscing about each one. After the decorating was complete, the family gathered around for the big reveal. To their great disappointment, when Marcea flipped the switch, the bottom of the pre-lit tree remained completely dark. Since that time, Marcea has repeatedly asked Home Depot to honor the warranty and replace the tree. But she still has a pre-lit tree that only lights up on top.
Hackers stole $34,250 from this Airbnb host. How did this happen?
Airbnb host Nancy Isa recently got a terrible shock when she discovered hackers had broken into her payout account. Unfortunately, by the time she noticed something was wrong, Airbnb had been making regular payments to the scammers – for five months.
In total, the hackers stole $34,250 from Nancy’s Airbnb host account.
Then things went from bad to worse. With all that money on the line, Nancy contacted the listing giant in a panic. She was hoping for some calming reassurance that all was not lost. Instead, Airbnb immediately locked the host out of her own account and then went radio silent.
That’s when Nancy reached out to the Consumer Rescue team. She’s hoping we can convince Airbnb to give back her access to her host account – and her $34,250.
But after six months, is that possible?
Can United Airlines really give me a voucher instead of a refund?!
United Airlines canceled many flights early in the pandemic and routinely shoved vouchers instead of refunds at its disgruntled passengers. This unorthodox (and illegal) practice continued until the Department of Transportation put the brakes on it in April 2020.
Earlier that month, United Airlines canceled Michelle Noppenberger’s flight and automatically issued her a voucher instead of a refund. Over two years later, she’s still fuming about the situation and wants the airline to give her money back. And she’s asking our advocacy team to help her get it.
But after all this time, will United Airlines take back this unwanted voucher and refund her $1,764?
Let’s find out.
