This is the “after” picture of Christy Nidle’s Hertz rental last year in Perugia, Italy. “I changed lanes and scraped a car passing me from behind,” she says.
CREDIT CARD
Here’s an update on a car rental case that was denied and then un-denied. It involves a Rent-A-Wreck franchise, a customer from Philadelphia, and corporate Rent-A-Wreck.
Serban Constantinescu’s Scandinavian tour didn’t get off to the best start. He missed a flight connection from Cleveland to New York because of bad weather, and was a no-show for his hotel in Copenhagen.
When it comes to airline fees, you’ve probably stopped asking yourself, “What’s will they think of next?”
Jennifer Alpaugh is denied boarding on a South African Airways flight because she can’t show the credit card with which she booked the ticket. So she buys a new one, hoping to get the first one refunded. But SAA only credits her the taxes on the original ticket. Isn’t she entitled to more?
It’s no secret that airlines make a bundle by upselling customers on extras when they buy tickets, and one huge moneymaker is the affinity credit card. While you’re booking a ticket, a pop-up asks you if you want to save a little money by applying for a credit card. (What they often don’t tell you is that certain, highly-restrictive terms may apply.)
The tab for lunch at the Hatzikeli Fish Tavern in Rhodes, Greece, came to €219 for Siyun Kim. At least that’s what he thought.
Here’s a novel idea for eluding a bogus car rental damage claim while you’re overseas: cancel your credit card and change your email address. That advice comes to us by way of reader William Muto, who used the strategy to fend off a fraudulent claim in Frankfurt recently.
The pop-up ad Kathy Agosta says she saw after finishing a reservation on Travelocity recently looked like a confirmation screen from the online travel agency, and it offered $20 cash back if she signed up for a service. Although she never shared her credit card information with the advertiser, she found a troubling connection.
Here’s a tip that’s worth repeating: If you’re waiting for an airfare refund, don’t cancel your credit card.
“I’m feeling Montezuma’s revenge — in a different way,” Anita Sim wrote to me recently. The problem? Two unauthorized credit card charges by the Fairmont Acapulco Princess in Acapulco, Mexico. “It turned out to be a nightmare,” she said.
Now it’s gone too far.
On second thought, maybe you should leave home without it.
When Best Western bills Angela Williams-McGill twice for the same night, she incurs a bank overdraft fee and then waits months for a refund. But the hotel never pays her back, and all she has to show for her efforts is a claim number. Is there anything she could have done to prevent this? And what about the refund?
Here’s a balloon disaster with a happy ending.
Elliott is consumer advocate 
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