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.
Cristina Falcon wants to know if her ticket refund problem is her mistake or a Lufthansa mistake. After all, the fare she chose said “refundable.” But is a refund from Lufthansa even possible for her?
Lindsey Clark wants to return her seven-year-old mattress. She claims it has a manufacturer’s defect. But is something else going on?
Did Renata Lambert steal a TV from her rental apartment in Warsaw, Poland? Lambert says she didn’t, but her host insists she did. Now the two parties are locked in a dispute over an Airbnb theft that she thinks I can settle. Lambert’s case raises questions that have no easy answer. How do you prove a guest took something from your rental? If you’re a guest, how do you prove it wasn’t you? And what’s Airbnb’s role in mediating these conflicts?
Catrina Smith is sure that the $2,231 she paid for her flight upgrade from Prague to Madrid was an Iberia error. After all, an unrestricted business class ticket booked at the last minute costs less than one-third as much — roughly $630. Something is wrong, she says.
The warning signs were there: blurry photos, a long gap between reviews, and a request to wire money. But Elizabeth Long still found the Paris rental impossible to resist. She ended up drawing me into yet another Vrbo problem, this time involving a fake rental and a request for a refund that will be difficult to fulfill.
How safe is Airbnb? Before you answer, consider what happened to Krystal Scott, who rented what she thought was a charming three-bedroom home in Lafayette, La.– until she moved in and discovered some Airbnb safety problems.
Eric Hochstein found something unusual on his bill at the Gregory Hotel in New York City recently.No, it wasn’t the mandatory $35-per-day resort fee that covers local and domestic calls, a 24-hour fitness center and coffee and tea. And it wasn’t the $259-per-night room rate, which was below average for Manhattan.
Alan Mileski has a Freedom Mortgage problem that’s making him feel trapped in a maze of bureaucracy and scripted responses. The solution should be so simple, but weeks of trying have left him frustrated. Is there a way out?
Turn off your cellphone. Downsize your luggage. And remember that your standards aren’t necessarily their standards.Ask the most experienced travelers for their advice, and that’s what they’ll tell you. And who are the world’s most experienced travelers? They are hard-working business travelers, including expatriates and foreign service workers, who live outside the U.S. for weeks, months, even years at a time.
Sungwoo Park made a currency conversion mistake. A big currency conversion mistake. By the time the dust had settled on Park’s purchase of a flight from New York to Mexico City, he says he lost $1,437.
