Elliott Advocacy is a nonprofit organization that mediates cases between consumers and businesses. These are commentary articles that detail our efforts and provide educational information for consumers.
If you’re in the market for a car, you’re probably also in the market for some car buying legal advice.
Consider my recent purchase of a Honda CRV. The sales contracts my dealership put in front of me made my head spin. Like the 17 million other Americans who bought a car, truck or SUV last year, I felt broadsided by paperwork.
Car rental mistakes can be avoided. But you need to know what to watch out for.
Before you click the “book” button on your next car rental, consider what happened to Elizabeth Thorp on a recent trip from Washington to Denver.
Before she boarded her flight from Santiago, Chile, to Buenos Aires, the unthinkable happened to Barbara Rowan: a security screener tried to confiscate her needles.
Rowan, who is a diabetic, needs to carry hypodermic needles with her for medical reasons. So she struck a deal with the Chilean airport officials: The chief purser would hold the packaged needles until the plane landed in Argentina.
Sean Cummings helped put New Orleans back on the map after Hurricane Katrina. As one of the thousands of small business owners in the city, he faced a difficult choice in the storm’s wake: rebuild his hotel, the iconic International House in the financial district, at a price that exceeded its value or leave.
If you think you’ve seen it all when it comes to shady debt collectors, move to Jackson County, Miss. That’s where criminals have been calling residents with fake power bills and threatening to turn off their electricity if they don’t immediately pay them. Talk about a debt collection scam.
What happens when they run out of rental cars? Hyapatia Lee found out when she arrived at a National Car Rental counter in Detroit with her two young sons, and a representative told her they’d run out of sedans.
When the lease on his Nissan Leaf ran out, Paul Evans knew exactly what kind of car he wanted: None.
Instead, Evans downloaded an app called Clutch. He registered his driver’s license and noted his vehicle preference and delivery address. A few hours later, Clutch delivered a late-model Audi A6 to his front door, and he joined an up-and-coming travel trend — car subscriptions.
If you’re thinking of taking your travel complaint to the top, here’s a little good news: someone’s listening.
When I started advocating for consumers more than 20 years ago, executive email addresses often were dead ends. Managers would order an assistant to comb through their messages and forward the important ones — or they’d ignore them altogether. Now they are far more likely to read every message personally.
The majority rule — the one that says the needs of a group outweigh those of an individual — has always been a travel industry standard. When there’s a convention or a wedding, regular guests sometimes feel like second-class citizens when they find attractions, dining areas or other facilities closed to them without apology.
When Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) canceled most of the Senate’s August recess, lawmakers and staffers didn’t have to worry about one thing: airline ticket change fees.
