REFUND DELAY

Illustration of an unhappy woman holding up two pale blue dresses on hangers over an open cardboard shipping box, preparing to return the gowns she ordered online.

I returned $3,990 in designer dresses — then my refund vanished

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Debbie Rivet ordered the same evening gown from the London designer Safiyaa in two sizes, the Serendipity Pale Blue Long Dress at $1,995 each, planning to keep whichever fit and send back the other. When the dresses arrived, the fitted style was wrong for her occasion, so she requested a return authorization, shipped both back by FedEx, and kept the receipts proving delivery. Then she waited for her refund. And waited. Her follow-up emails went unanswered, the phone line dropped to voicemail and disconnected, and when she filed a dispute with Capital One the bank reversed its initial credit, saying too much time had passed. There is a rule worth committing to memory before you give a silent company the benefit of the doubt: under the Fair Credit Billing Act, you generally have only 60 days from the statement date to dispute a charge in writing, and the longer you wait for a reply that may never come, the closer that protection slips toward expiring.

Stylized illustration of a distressed traveler clutching his chest in front of a palm-lined hospital as medical staff wheel a patient on a gurney toward the entrance, evoking a vacation cut short by a family emergency.

The hotel refunded his money, but the booking site kept it anyway

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When John Moss’s stepfather was rushed to the hospital, he knew his Florida vacation was over before it started. He contacted Traveluro, the site where he had booked a nonrefundable $615 stay at the Hilton Melbourne Beach, and sent hospital records proving the family emergency. The hotel understood and agreed to cancel without penalty, releasing the money back to the booking site. All Traveluro had to do was pass it along. Instead, weeks of silence followed, until Moss filed a dispute with his credit card company and Traveluro suddenly made him an offer: drop the dispute, and we will send your refund. Here is what every cardholder should understand before saying yes. A credit card dispute freezes the transaction while your issuer investigates, which means the merchant cannot touch the money until the matter is resolved. That is real, tangible leverage, and a company asking you to give it up in exchange for a promise is asking you to trade the one protection the law puts on your side.

Editorial cartoon of a disappointed woman with shoulder-length hair resting her chin on her hand while holding up a smartphone showing the orange StubHub app, seated at a table against a pink wall with a vintage-style concert poster for The Lumineers hanging on the wall behind her, illustrating a frustrated concertgoer who received the wrong tickets and struggled to get a refund through StubHub's confusing return policy

Help! StubHub’s confusing ticket return policy cost me $1,176

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Sharon McMonagle paid $1,176 for four club section tickets to a Lumineers concert through StubHub. The confirmation email included no seat numbers, and the day before the show StubHub sent tickets for a completely different section with no club access. StubHub asked her to accept the wrong tickets and transfer them back, which she feared would lock her into ownership. An agent told her to send a screenshot proving she had not accepted the tickets. After 45 days, StubHub said she would receive nothing because she had not returned the tickets through Ticketmaster, tickets she never accepted in the first place. StubHub advertises a FanProtect Guarantee promising that buyers who do not receive the tickets they ordered will get comparable replacements or a full refund.