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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 also hosts a weekly consumer advocacy podcast on Spotify. He's the author of numerous books on consumer advocacy and writes weekly columns for King Features Syndicate, USA Today, and the Washington Post. If you have a consumer problem you can't solve, contact him directly through his advocacy website. You can also follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, or sign up for his daily newsletter.
Read more of Christopher's articles here.What if your train ride in a comfy sleeper compartment turns into an unpleasant bus ride? That’s what happened to David Papay on a recent overnight journey from Paris to Venice on Thello, a European rail company.
Now Papay is asking for help retrieving the refund that Thello employees promised him.
Read more “He wanted to take a Thello train to Venice. How did he end up on a bus?”
If your refrigerator stops working after just two years, shouldn’t the manufacturer replace it? That’s the question for today. Brent Wilkinson just wants Sears to replace his broken refrigerator. Can we help? Read more “Why won’t Sears replace my broken refrigerator?”
TaxRise took $900 of Jack Maxfield’s money without his permission after he used the service to try to fix a tax problem. Worse, he disputed the charges on his debit card — and lost. So is that the end of the story? Read more “Can TaxRise really help itself to $900 of my money?”
My family got stuck in France during the coronavirus lockdown. It happened in slow motion. First, the museums closed. Then, about two weeks later, they shuttered the cafés and restaurants. And a week after that, authorities blocked access to the beach. Read more “We’re back in the USA after our coronavirus lockdown. This is what happened to us”
Francis Popiel recently fell for an imposter booking site and now he wants his money back.
Although he booked the right hotel, he found it by Googling “Holiday Inn Alexandria.” Instead of taking him to the official hotel site, the search results led him to a third-party company called Guestreservations com.
And that’s where all his problems began. Read more “How can I get my money back from an imposter booking site?”
After coronavirus recently closed the ski resort Linda Huber planned to visit, she asked for a refund of her Vail Epic Pass. The answer she received from management left something to be desired. Can we help? Read more “The coronavirus closed the ski resort, so where is my refund?”
Jill Kaiserman wants to travel. This summer, she’s driving to her cabin in Maine. “It’s the perfect kind of place for social distancing,” she says.
It seems as if everyone has a touch of cabin fever after the worldwide coronavirus lockdowns. So maybe it’s no surprise that people want to travel soon, trading one cabin — their home confinement — for another.
Whether it’s a cabin in the woods or a cruise ship cabin, Americans are dreaming of their next trip. And not just dreaming, but booking.
Read more “Want to travel? Surprisingly, so does everyone else!”
Elena Lopez wants to know how to get a refund from Airbnb during the pandemic. She had to cancel her stay in London and thought she could get her money back. Is getting an Airbnb refund impossible? (Editor’s Note: We have updated this story with new information about Airbnb’s refund policies.)
Read more “How to get a refund from Airbnb during the pandemic”
Travel insurance is nonrefundable, right? If you think so, then meet Diane Horban. When Road Scholar canceled her tour of Russia, she asks Allianz Travel: Can I get a travel insurance refund? Find out the surprising answer.
Read more “Can I get a travel insurance refund? Meet someone who did”
