Commentary

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.

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.

At first, Beverly Parker's Greyhound bus problem looked like a slam dunk case. Valuables had gone missing from her checked bags. But then I kept reading.

This Greyhound bus problem is an expensive travel lesson

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At first, Beverly Parker’s Greyhound bus problem looked like a slam dunk case. Valuables had gone missing from her checked luggage during a recent trip from Birmingham, Ala., to Albion, Mich. And Greyhound wasn’t exactly breaking a land speed record to help her. But then I read the details of her request, and a simple case suddenly became complicated. It wasn’t the $150,000 claim amount that fazed me. My computer adds a few extra characters if I don’t release the zero key fast enough. I was certain that was a typo.It was everything else.

An Airbnb host recently accused Renata Lambert of stealing a TV from the rental. She says this charge is outrageous. Can we sort out this Airbnb theft case?

Who’s really responsible for this crazy Airbnb theft?

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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. Here is why.

An Iberia error cost me $2,231. Help!

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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.