ELLIOTT: When Your Bill's for the Birds

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When Your Bill's for the Birds
The Travel Tightwad · February 17, 2002

A few years ago I adopted a baby African Grey parrot I named Scarlett for her brilliant red tailfeathers and feisty disposition. But I didn't know that my baby girl was terminally ill when I bought her, and within three days of taking her home, she died of pneumonia.

A necropsy determined that Scarlett's condition was pre-existing, but the pet store refused to offer a refund or replacement. Fortunately, I had paid for the bird with a credit card, and even though my bank had a policy against disputing cases involving live animals, it decided to help when I told it what had happened. Within a few weeks I got my money back.

Scarlett, may she rest in peace, helped me develop what I call the "Parrot Rule" of credit card disputes: If a bank will fight for a refund on a dead parrot, there's not much it won't do.

See a charge you don't agree with? Did your hotel overbill you? Maybe your car rental company added one too many surcharges. Relax. Remember the Parrot Rule, and keep these pointers in mind:

A dispute is a last resort, not your first option. Try to work things out with the airline, hotel, cruise line, or travel agency before taking this to the bank. Exception: If the company files for bankruptcy, don't wait. Chris Leiter, a transcriptionist from Carrollton, TX, booked an American Hawaii Cruise last fall, just before the line declared bankruptcy. Leitner is now in the process of disputing a $600 charge, which any reputable credit card company should be able to quickly resolve.
Make sure your paperwork is in order. Read your credit card bill and keep your receipts. If you've booked a trip online, print your e-mail confirmation. "Most people who travel don't really keep organized records," says financial adviser Eva Rosenberg, who runs a website called Taxmama.com. She tells her clients to keep a master folder with all of their receipts in it. Whenever you pay for something, you can drop the bill into the folder. The first thing a bank asks for is evidence of your purchase, and the more detailed records you keep, the better your chances of success.
If you see a charge that you disagree with, and if the merchant won't budge, then contact your credit card issuer immediately to initiate a dispute. "The sooner you contact them, the easier it should be to get the charge removed," says Rudy Cavazos, a spokesman for Money Management International, a non-profit credit counseling service in Houston. Always follow up with a letter recapping the problem and the resulting phone conversation. Get the name of the representative you deal with. Most banks will remove the disputed charge during an investigation.

Remember: If it's on your bill you can dispute it. As a general rule, credit card companies allow you to protest a charge and withhold payment for the property or services, including any finance charges. However, you must show that you've made a good-faith effort to resolve the dispute with the merchant. Also, the value of the transaction must be over $50.

Here's the good news, though. In a dispute, the credit card company wants you to walk away happy, so it's biased toward you. "The issuer of the card wants a resolution in your favor, if at all possible," says Steven Camp, a partner in the financial services section at Dallas law firm Gardere Wynne Sewell. After all, the credit card company is interested in keeping your business.

In my experience, dealing with Scarlett's untimely demise and with other travel-related credit card disputes, the traveler has the upper hand in a disagreement with a merchant. If you file your paperwork on time, offer adequate documentation, and are polite, then the bank will take your side-and the merchant is more than likely to roll over and play dead. Often, even the threat of a credit card dispute will make a merchant remove a charge. And if the merchant resists, then it often faces a stack of paperwork and filing charges that make pursuing the matter prohibitively expensive.

Thanks, Scarlett.

Christopher Elliott is a travel commentator based in Key Largo, Fla. All e-mailed questions may be edited, condensed or republished at the site's discretion.