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Fiascos and Fixes
Consumer Rescue’s tagline is Fiascos and Fixes, and that’s because we receive tons of requests for help solving mishaps that travelers have encountered during a vacation. These tales are the most dramatic of the bunch and contain tips and guidance so that you can avoid a similar vacation fiasco.
Kathy Hoffath says she was convinced to buy a $16,000 diamond at Diamonds International during her Royal Caribbean cruise. Unhappy with that diamond, she exchanged it for a larger, more expensive one in Cozumel. But when she got home, Kathy realized she didn’t want that bigger, more expensive diamond either.
In fact, she didn’t want any diamond at all.
Just like their parents, kids need passports to fly internationally too. But Kim Ross wasn’t aware of this requirement. She says the travel agent she used to book her family’s dream vacation never informed her. But when the family tried to check in for their flight to Turks and Caicos, Delta Air Lines quickly broke the bad news. Without passports, Kim’s children weren’t eligible to fly internationally, and the airline denied boarding to the family.
Kim blames her travel agent for their ruined vacation. But is that a fair place to put the blame for being unaware that her kids needed passports?
What’s the worst nightmare that could happen if you land in Mexico with expired travel documents? Kush Kanna’s wife recently found out in a most unpleasant way. She thought she was heading for a relaxing tropical vacation in Costa Rica with her family. Instead, she ended up detained in Mexico after authorities rejected her expired green card and Indian passport.
Now Kush wants to know who will pay for this awful travel nightmare.
Hint: He isn’t going to like the answer.
If you’re about to travel internationally, take heed. Customs and immigration agents abroad will not overlook expiration dates on your travel documents, so you shouldn’t either.
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.
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.
It’s not likely that any airline would refund a business class upgrade after a passenger completes the trip. But that’s precisely what Juli Talec says an employee of United Airlines promised to do before her recent upgrade.
Juli insists that she never intended to pay to boost her seat into the elite section of the aircraft. So why did she sign a credit card receipt for the business class upgrade at the United Airlines check-in counter?
That’s the $999 question of the day.
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.
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.
Regular readers of Consumer Rescue know that our advocacy team tackles many fiascos involving car rentals. From surprise damage charges to accusations of grand theft auto, we’ve seen it all. A significant proportion of these problems could have been avoided had the traveler taken a few precautionary steps – before driving away with the vehicle.
In an effort to make sure you don’t end up in our case files, here’s everything you need to know about renting a car.
Traveling with $158,000 worth of anything is a risky endeavor. Rose Cohen found out just how risky when all her high-value jewelry went missing during her recent JetBlue flight.
She believes an organized crime ring targeted her, ultimately forcing her to gate-check the bag that contained the jewelry. Her theory? This move allowed the thieves to help themselves to her gems before the flight even took off.
Now she wants to know who is going to pay for her loss.
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© 2025 Consumer Rescue / Michelle Couch-Friedman
