Travel Troubles

Here’s what happens when things go wrong for travelers on the road, in the air, at hotels and vacation rentals. Each cautionary tale ends with solutions and ways you can avoid a similar fiasco.

Red Mustang convertible rental car.

I returned my rental car to the wrong airport. Can Dollar charge me $2,081 extra?

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Dollar Car Rental customer Kuno Zurkinden recently discovered how a surprisingly common mistake can end in a giant financial headache. At the end of an adventurous road trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles, he made a navigational error: He returned the rental car to the wrong airport.

As a result of that miscalculation, Dollar voided the original contract Zurkinden had through a third-party provider. On the spot, the rental car company created a new contract with new charges – astronomically high charges.

Now, Zurkinden is asking Consumer Rescue for assistance. He wants to know if his “little” geographic mistake really allows the car rental company to charge him $2,081 extra.

Something tells me he isn’t going to like the answer.

An eBay thief came to this guy's house.

Here’s why you should never give an eBay buyer your home address!

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An elaborate PayPal scam led an iPad thief directly to eBay seller Steven Sanderson’s front door. The brazen predator came disguised as a friendly eBay buyer willing to purchase the digital device from Sanderson for $650. And it was weeks before the fraudulent nature of this transaction became clear.

Now Sanderson’s iPad is gone and so is the money he made by “selling” it. He blames PayPal for this fiasco and wants our help getting his $650 back. But who really is responsible here?

Alamo rental car in the desert.

Alamo billed me $662 for rental car damage. Why won’t insurance pay?

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After Robbin Yeh’s last car rental, Alamo surprised him with a repair bill for mechanical damage to the vehicle. Despite Yeh’s protests that the rental car had pre-existing problems, Alamo continued to pursue him for $662 to fix it. Reluctantly, Yeh agreed to let Alamo file an insurance claim through his credit card company.

At least, that’s what he thought Alamo was doing to pay for the damage to the car.

It wasn’t until four months later that Yeh discovered that he was responsible for filing that insurance claim, not Alamo. 

Now with the deadline for filing an insurance claim long since passed, Yeh is asking Consumer Rescue for help. He’s hoping we can convince Chase eClaims to make an exception and pay the repair bill for the rental car. 

Can we do it?

Palm Springs is the location of an Airbnb host who seems to have tried a bait and switch vacation rental scheme.

My Airbnb host pulled a $13,314 bait and switch on me. Help!

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Isaac Chambers says an Airbnb host just hit him with an expensive bait and switch scam of sorts. After you hear his troubling story, you’ll likely agree.

Many months after Chambers booked the perfect vacation rental for his wedding party, his Airbnb host abruptly canceled the reservation. Citing “synchronization” issues as the cancellation reason, the management company suggested several undesirable replacement properties in Palm Springs. 

Now just two months before his wedding, Chambers’ group has nowhere to stay. That is unless they want to rent the exact same Airbnb vacation rental with this host – for an additional $13,341. 

So what are those “synchronization” issues that allowed the host to cancel this Airbnb and relist it at a much higher rate? That’s what Chambers is asking Consumer Rescue to find out.

Super 8 hotel

Surprise! The hotel says you broke a $500 TV. Now what?

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A Canadian Super 8 hotel blindsided Mirko Dulic, accusing him and his boys of damaging the TV in their room. After checking out, the franchise helped itself to $500 from Dulic’s bank account without even a shred of documentation to support its accusations. When pressed to provide some concrete justification for the $500 charge, the management went silent.

And Dulic went straight to our advocacy team for help.

Hotel room, bed, light, softly lit hotel room

If your hotel price drops by $1,000, this is how to get a refund

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What happens if your hotel price drops after booking your room — by $1,000? That’s what Jackie Ng wants to know.

She booked a hotel in Singapore that dramatically reduced its rates after Ng prepaid for her nonrefundable stay. Ng thought that the Hotels com best rate guarantee would protect her. But the online booking agent swiftly rejected her $1,000 price reduction refund request.

The surprising reason why might leave you as bewildered as Ng.

car rental nightmare mistake, Thrifty, Hertz car rental counter

How did this $145 car rental turn into a $4,320 nightmare?

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Rishabh Gupta expected to pay approximately $145 for his recent one-day Thrifty car rental. So imagine his surprise when the final bill rang in at just under $5,000. 

Gupta’s surprise turned to shock when he asked the car rental company to correct the outrageous billing error. 

That’s when Thrifty explained that the super-sized invoice wasn’t a mistake at all. The car rental giant informed Gupta that he had returned the vehicle to a competing agency, where it remained undetected for a month. 

Now with Thrifty’s parent company, Hertz, confirming that Gupta owes the $4,320 tab, he’s asking for help. He hopes Consumer Rescue can investigate and prove he returned the rental car to the correct location. 

But with no evidence to support his claim, will he remain stuck with this nightmare car rental bill?

Vantage Travel Ocean Explorer, a cruise ship on the ocean at sunset.

Help! Vantage Travel canceled my cruise. What should I do now?

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In the past month, pleas for help from distressed customers, vendors and even employees of Vantage Deluxe World Travel have flooded my inbox at an alarming rate. That’s the Boston-based company that announced bad guys had hit it with ransomware at the end of April. At that time, the tour operator’s website went offline, as did its call center – for an entire week.

Since then, it’s been all downhill for the customers of the once well-respected and beloved operator of luxury tours. Today Vantage Travel appears to be in a state of suspended animation. It has officially canceled all its cruises and land tours through June 10. 

Although Vantage Travel has not publicly announced that it will continue to cancel more cruises, it is inevitable. In fact, a Vantage Travel employee sent me an internal memo yesterday that announces that it will cancel all tours through Aug. 28.

The once-lively vessels of Vantage Travel are turning into immobile ghost ships without passengers or crews.