MICHELLE COUCH-FRIEDMAN

Michelle Couch-Friedman is an author and consumer advocate. She is the founder of Consumer Rescue. Michelle has successfully mediated thousands of problems for troubled travelers and other consumers during her career as an advocate.

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. However, when they attempted 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-day validity from their return date, and the airline denied boarding to the couple.

Complaining about getting the worst view on the cruise and asking for a refund after a voyage through Norway.

I got the worst view on the cruise ship! Can I get a refund?

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Sevil Macmot found the view from her guaranteed oceanview cabin aboard Costa Cruises Mediterranea stunningly terrible. She says her dream vacation was ruined when the cruise line assigned her to the cabin with the worst view.

Now Sevil wants to know who selected her for this disappointing cabin with the worst view — and why.

Oh, and she wants a refund, too. But is that a reasonable request?

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.

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!

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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?

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

How did a cruise agent make this type of mistake?

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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

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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?

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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.

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