Christopher Elliott

Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that empowers consumers to solve their problems and helps those who can't. He's the author of numerous books on consumer advocacy and writes three nationally syndicated columns. He also publishes the Elliott Report, a news site for consumers, and Elliott Confidential, a critically acclaimed newsletter about customer service. If you have a consumer problem you can't solve, contact him directly through his advocacy website. You can also follow him on X, Facebook, and LinkedIn, or sign up for his daily newsletter.
Basic economy airfares are getting complicated. And that's leaving many travelers wondering if they should completely just avoid basic economy airfares.

Should you avoid basic economy airfares?

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Basic economy class airfares are getting complicated. And that’s leaving many travelers wondering if they should completely avoid basic economy airfares.

Sue Elwell is one of those travelers. She’s planning to visit her mother in Albany, N.Y., and is unhappy with the restrictions on the lowest-priced basic economy class tickets. On American Airlines, passengers with these tickets are allowed no upgrades or schedule changes, they’re the last to board and they’re not assigned seats until they check in.

Al Tulone's Razer laptop problem is common. He returned the new computer, and then the company lost it -- and kept his $3,252! Can our advocacy team help?

This Razer laptop problem cut deep. Refund, please?

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Al Tulone’s Razer laptop problem is common. He returned the new computer, and then the company lost it. Instead of trying to find Tulone’s device, Razer apparently decided that was his problem — and kept his $3,252.

Caught in the middle of this debacle: PayPal, with its sometimes customer-unfriendly policies. This made this Razer laptop problem practically unsolvable. But then our advocacy team got involved.

Christopher Elliott and his children have spent the last two years traveling -- nonstop. Here he shares his parenting advice from the road.

Here’s a little unsolicited parenting advice from the road

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I’m as averse to unsolicited parenting advice as the next dad. But when the advice comes from the road — which is to say, the lessons learned from more than two years of nonstop travel — it feels a little different.

The road, an inanimate thing, won’t get its feelings hurt if I reject its lessons. Instead, I’ll just have to learn them for myself each time I travel.

Jim McClenathan found a better deal for his upcoming fishing adventure with his buddies. So he canceled. Now he's fishing for his trip refund. Can we help?

Is this fishing trip refund dead in the water?

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Jim McClenathan was looking forward to a fishing trip to Montana this summer with a group of friends. But then the men found a better deal and asked for a refund. Even though the fishing lodge promised to quickly return the money, the checks haven’t arrived yet.

Is this fishing trip refund dead in the water?

Edd Vinci has an expensive Ritz-Carlton problem. He canceled his reservation within the allowable time. So where is that refund?

Help! I want this $261 Ritz-Carlton problem to disappear.

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A day isn’t 24 hours. More like 41 hours, as Edd Vinci discovered when he had a Ritz-Carlton problem involving a cancellation and Expedia.

Some hotels allow you to cancel a reservation up to 24 hours before your arrival without penalty. So Vinci, who had booked a night at the Ritz-Carlton Dove Mountain in Tucson, believed he had plenty of time when he canceled his stay a full 41 hours before his arrival.

He was wrong.