MICHELLE COUCH-FRIEDMAN - Page 25 of 29

Is this the worst booking mistake ever? This traveler wanted a beach, family vacation and ended up in the mountains of Kingston, Jamaica in a business hotel.

Here it is: The worst booking mistake I’ve ever seen

June 16, 2024September 22, 2022 by Michelle Couch-Friedman

What if you made the worst booking mistake ever — and realized it just moments too late?

Lori Korosek did just that. This novice traveler intended to book a relaxing all-inclusive beachfront hotel in Jamaica for her son and herself. But she accidentally ended up with a nonrefundable, landlocked business hotel that forbids children — located one hour from the beach.

Now Lori is asking our advocacy team if we can do anything about her $1,500 vacation planning gaffe.

Lori’s colossal booking mistake underscores the fact that not everyone should attempt to book their own travel. In this case, a professional trip advisor could have provided critical guidance to this rookie traveler. And although we don’t typically mediate self-created fiascos, Lori has an extenuating circumstance that I found difficult to disregard.

This traveler's car crashed in the sea! Now he's plunged into an insurance nightmare.

His rental car crashed into the sea. Now he’s in a $27,825 insurance nightmare!

May 7, 2025September 21, 2022 by Michelle Couch-Friedman

Last fall, Russell Wayne’s rental car inexplicably crashed into the ocean in a picturesque seaside town in Spain. Unfortunately, the strange accident totaled the Europcar-owned Audi and plunged Russell into an insurance nightmare with Chase Eclaims.

Now Russell is asking our advocacy team for help in getting his $27,825 insurance claim paid.

Can we do it?

Can Robinhood freeze a customer's account and keep their money?

Robinhood froze my account and kept my $3,000 inside! Is this legal?

April 27, 2023September 21, 2022 by Michelle Couch-Friedman

Robinhood, the online millennial-focused brokerage site, brags that “Investing is simple here.” That sounded great to Bryan Bryan when he was looking for an easy way to invest some cash. So, he followed the onscreen prompts, transferred $2,400 into his Robinhood account and prepared to make his first transaction.

Of course, as is true with any investment, Bryan knew there would be some risk involved. But what actually happened, he never saw coming. That simple investment he hoped to make turned into an instant nightmare. Robinhood accepted his money, immediately froze his account, and refused to explain why.

That was four months ago.

This car rental mistake was a doozy! Can Hertz charge its customer $951 for returning the car to the wrong location?

Is this really a $951 car rental mistake?!

September 5, 2023September 20, 2022 by Michelle Couch-Friedman

Andrew Dupuy made a “little” mistake when he returned his recent car rental in Seattle. He says an innocent oversight caused him to drop the vehicle off at the wrong place. Only after it was too late to fix the problem did he see the shocking price tag of his error.

Now Andrew is asking if he’s really stuck with the $951 penalty the car rental company charged for this mistake.

Can we help?

This Expedia customer's reservation at an all-inclusive went all wrong -- to the tune of a $7,000 hit. But who caused this problem?

My Expedia booking went all wrong! How did I end up owing $6,987 extra?

June 21, 2025September 20, 2022 by Michelle Couch-Friedman

Something went terribly wrong with Catherine Duffin’s last Expedia booking. She used the online travel agency to plan her family’s New Year’s getaway to the all-inclusive Xcaret Resort in Mexico. Assuming the cost displayed on her Expedia confirmation would indeed include everything, she received a shock at check-in. That’s when hotel management asked for not only the over $16,000 she expected to pay — but also an additional $8,000.

How did an Airbnb scammer book a trip to France with this consumer's account?

If an Airbnb scammer takes $1,942 from your account, can you get it back?

October 5, 2023September 19, 2022 by Michelle Couch-Friedman

Is your Airbnb account safe from scammers and hackers?

Berenice Anaya certainly thought so. In fact, the possibility of a criminal accessing her Airbnb account and causing havoc had not even crossed her mind.

However, this Airbnb user recently woke up to an unpleasant reality after a scammer successfully hacked right into her account. The Airbnb security team thwarted the thief and prevented him from completing his ultimate goal. But not before $1,942 was removed from Berenice’s bank account.

So why won’t Airbnb return the money to its victimized guest? That’s what Berenice is asking our team after repeatedly trying unsuccessfully to retrieve her cash from the company.

What’s going on here, and can we help?

This social influencer asked for a business class upgrade in a most terrible way

This “influencer” asked for a business class upgrade in the worst way

October 14, 2025September 18, 2022 by Michelle Couch-Friedman

Could asking for an upgrade to business class end with you getting kicked off your flight — and banned for life?

Maybe.

“Social Influencer” Jacqueline Ng insists that’s exactly what happened to her when she recently asked for an upgrade. Cathay Pacific agents turned down her request in no time and then kicked her off the flight. Worse, the airline accused her of fraud and banned her from all future flights.

Jacqueline says this is all a misunderstanding. Now she wants our advocacy team to investigate and ask the airline to reverse the banishment.

This family got left at the pier. Is the cruise line responsible?

This family got left on the dock! Is the cruise line responsible?

September 7, 2025September 18, 2022 by Michelle Couch-Friedman

If you show up with the wrong ID to board a cruise, you’ll get left behind on the dock as the ship sails away without you.

Unfortunately, Charishma Motwani and her family experienced this awful scenario firsthand. As a result of documentation confusion, they missed their much-anticipated Alaskan cruise on Norwegian Cruise Line’s Bliss.

Charishma says Norwegian Cruise Line is responsible for the mistake that caused her family to miss their voyage. She believes the cruise line owes her a do-over or a refund for their lost vacation.

And once you hear the facts of her tale, you just might agree.

This one day car rental turned into a $1,000 fiasco and this Hertz customer wants you to know about her experience. She also hopes our advocacy team can get her money back.

Here it is: the worst car rental experience so far this year!

May 12, 2023September 17, 2022 by Michelle Couch-Friedman

Beth Mowery just had the worst car rental experience of her life, and she wants you to know about it.

When you rent a car, you probably assume you’ll only pay for your own rental. But several days after Beth returned her last rental car, she received a nearly $1,000 upcharge. As it turns out, Hertz billed her for someone else’s rental. What followed was a series of careless mistakes that the car rental company refused to acknowledge or correct. And each mistake was more frustrating than the last.

Now Beth hopes our advocacy team can help fix these errors and retrieve her money.

These NCL passengers pushed their luck when they decided to fly to Alaska on the same day as their cruise began.

Here’s why you should never fly on the same day as your cruise

September 7, 2025September 15, 2022 by Michelle Couch-Friedman

Maybe you’ve chosen to fly on the same day as your cruise, and things went off without a hitch. But for Marcelino and Julieta Bautista, that’s a gamble they lost.

They redeemed a free Norwegian Cruise Lines “Casinos at Sea” cruise through the Alaskan glaciers. But they pressed their bets too far when they flew into Anchorage on the same day as embarkation. Although their flight arrived as scheduled, something went terribly wrong and the ship left without them.

As a result, that freebie cruise turned out to be no bargain at all. The couple was forced to pay thousands of dollars to catch up with NCL’s Jewel. Bautista says that the cruise line made the mistake that caused the ship to leave without them. He wants reimbursement for all their extra expenses, and he wants our team to help get it.

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