I couldn’t get a customs stamp — is a refund out of the question?

A stamp for you. / Photo by Sarah Parrott – Flickr Creative Commons

Note: You’ve probably noticed two things about today’s post. 1) It wasn’t available this morning; and 2) We’re back to Disqus 2012. The two are not related. We had server problems this morning. Disqus removed the ability to view comments on mobile from the “old” version, so we were forced to upgrade. (I am very unhappy with Disqus, but feel I have no choice.)

What’s an immigration stamp worth? If you said $61.55, you must know Nancy Bestor. She’s been fighting with her credit card over a tax refund after a recent trip to Italy, and she wants me to help.

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Three years later, Alitalia still owes me $528 for my lost baggage and ruined Italian vacation

Noah Markewich’s lost-luggage case had “lost cause” written all over it when he contacted me last week.

Why? It involved Alitalia, the historically troubled Italian airline.

It was more than three years old. Old cases are almost always unsolvable.

And it involved misplaced baggage, which is a problematic complaint category.

Still, Markewich epic, four-page, single-spaced letter is such a stunning documentation of an airline’s awful customer service, that I wish I could publish it in its entirety. It describes how Alitalia ruined his Italian vacation by losing his luggage — and when I say “ruin” it may be something of an understatement.

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