Make the McKenzie Connection!

Articles written by christopher elliot


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  • TRAVEL TROUBLESHOOTER

    Christopher Elliott|May 11, 2023

    Michelle Sprekelmeyer is chasing down a missing $1,632 Hotels.com refund from the early days of the pandemic. What's taking so long? We booked a room at the Oasis at Grace Bay Hotel & Lofts in Turks & Caicos through Hotels.com in January 2020 for accommodations in early April 2020. When we booked the reservation, we could not reserve the same room for our entire stay, so we made two separate reservations. We had to cancel because of the pandemic. I emailed the hotel numerous times to resolve...

  • PROBLEM SOLVED

    Christopher Elliott|May 11, 2023

    Justin Carrier's GE Profile washing machine breaks, flooding his house. One month later, GE hasn't repaired the appliance or paid for the damages. What's going on? We bought a new GE Profile washing machine about seven months ago. We were awakened one night last month to a flooded laundry room, bathroom, foyer, family room, and office. The water valve in the washer failed and filled the machine, and eventually, our home, while it was not even on. A technician diagnosed the faulty valve, but the...

  • TRAVEL TROUBLESHOOTER

    Christopher Elliott|May 4, 2023

    When the price of Lai Mun Yip's airline tickets doubles, she goes looking for a refund. But who has her money? I booked four airline tickets from Gotogate for AirAsia flights from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur. The site displayed a price of $400. After I filled in my details, there was a lag in the website and a new price of $1,002 popped up through another window in my mobile browser. I do not want to make this booking anymore, but it wasn't immediately clear how to cancel. Gotogate charged my cred...

  • PROBLEM SOLVED

    Christopher Elliott|May 4, 2023

    If a pharmacy gives you too much medication, can you get a partial refund? That's what one reader wants to know after he receives $13,000 worth of pills. While I was a patient at a nursing home in Grants Pass, Ore., I contracted Clostridioides difficile, a bacteria that causes diarrhea and colitis, an inflammation of the colon. C. diff. is a truly horrible intestinal infection that is potentially fatal. Since the treatment wasn't curing me, I found a gastroenterologist who prescribed 30 tablets...

  • TRAVEL TROUBLESHOOTER

    Christopher Elliott|Apr 27, 2023

    Daryl DeCrow cancels his Tauck cruise after it imposes a COVID vaccine requirement. Does he deserve a refund? In early 2021, my girlfriend and I booked a fall foliage riverboat cruise with Tauck. At the time, there was no requirement for us to be vaccinated for the COVID-19 virus. A year later, just before our cruise, I received a "COVID-19 Policy Update For Your Upcoming Journey" email. It required all guests to be "up to date" with their vaccinations. We would have never booked this tour if...

  • TRAVEL TROUBLESHOOTER

    Christopher Elliott|Apr 20, 2023

    When Airbnb bans Svitlana Marchenko from the site, it won't tell her why. Could it have something to do with her residence? The answer is complicated. Airbnb has suspended my account, but it won't tell me why. Now it won't even respond to me. I've used Airbnb frequently. The last time I rented a room in a hostel in Romania was in August when I left Ukraine. Everything went well, including the payment. In November, I again wanted to rent an apartment through Airbnb, but I could not log into my...

  • PROBLEM SOLVED

    Christopher Elliott|Apr 20, 2023

    One of John Edmunds' new American Tourister bags is defective. Does he have to ship it to Texas at his expense, or can he get an exchange? Last summer, I bought two pieces of American Tourister luggage: a 24-inch and a 28-inch Pirouette NXT. On the second trip with the luggage, the stitching that holds the zipper mechanism to the luggage frame started pulling loose on the 24-inch piece of luggage. Suspecting this was a manufacturing defect, I went to the American Tourister website for a...

  • TRAVEL TROUBLESHOOTER

    Christopher Elliott|Apr 13, 2023

    Krista O'Brien accidentally pays $449 extra for her checked luggage on an Aer Lingus flight. Why won't the airline help her undo the mistake? I recently booked tickets through the Aer Lingus website. When I did, the site only listed a carry-on as included with the fare rather than both a carry-on and one checked bag before the final purchase. I was confused, and I unknowingly added three extra checked bags, which was unnecessary. I overpaid Aer Lingus $449 because it included an additional...

  • PROBLEM SOLVED

    Christopher Elliott|Apr 13, 2023

    When a U.S. Customs agent confiscates Adriana Cordero's passport, she tries to get it back. But government bureaucracy is standing between her and her ID. Last year, U.S. Customs confiscated my passport in Montreal as I was returning to the United States. The reason the officer gave me was that it had been reported as “lost or stolen.” It was neither because I was holding it in my hands! What I had reported as “lost or stolen” was my passport card. I applied for both a passport and a passpor...

  • PROBLEM SOLVED

    Christopher Elliott|Mar 30, 2023

    Quest Diagnostics charged Ro Dobkin an extra $353 for services. Can she get it back or is it lost forever? I received two bills from Quest Diagnostics for tests that my insurance denied. I paid the bills myself, not knowing that my doctors had already recoded them and resubmitted them to Medicare. Quest used my payments and applied them to all services provided even though Medicare already covered them. Quest is also sending me a bill for services performed last spring, which Medicare denied....

  • TRAVEL TROUBLESHOOTER

    Christopher Elliott|Mar 16, 2023

    Celeste Rubanick loses 80,000 Marriott Bonvoy points when she books a hotel in Scotland. Why won't the company restore the points? I made reservations at the Residence Inn, Edinburgh, Scotland, for two nights, using 80,000 Marriott Bonvoy points. I recently received a notification from Marriott claiming that I had used the points for a stay almost three weeks earlier. I called Marriott, and they assigned me a case number. I have been going back and forth with the company ever since. I was on the...

  • PROBLEM SOLVED

    Christopher Elliott|Mar 16, 2023

    Victoria Sims's Frigidaire refrigerator has never worked. It's been almost a year since she bought it -- can she get a replacement? I'm writing to you about my Frigidaire refrigerator, which I purchased for $1,499 less than one year ago. The refrigerator has an irreparable problem with its temperature controls and has never operated correctly. Food placed in the refrigerator frequently goes bad in a matter of days. I've included photographs of avocados and cucumbers in the refrigerator covered...

  • TRAVEL TROUBLESHOOTER

    Christopher Elliott|Mar 9, 2023

    Carmen Santos thinks she lost her engagement ring in an Enterprise rental. The company looks for the ring and then sends her a $452 bill. Can it do that? I recently rented a car with Enterprise in Miami. While I was using the vehicle, I lost my engagement ring. I told an employee about it, and he agreed to look for my jewelry. The next day, I called Enterprise to see if they had found the ring. An employee told me they would charge me for some repairs while looking for the ring and that the...

  • PROBLEM SOLVED

    Christopher Elliott|Mar 9, 2023

    After Jamie Reynolds cancels her appliance orders from Sears, a representative promises her a prompt refund. But three months later, she's still waiting. What can she do to get her money back? I recently placed online orders for a refrigerator, washer, and dryer with Sears. After weeks of stringing me along with delivery dates, Sears said they didn't have the products I ordered, so I canceled by phone. A representative told me I would receive a refund to my credit card within 7 to 10 business...

  • TRAVEL TROUBLESHOOTER

    Christopher Elliott|Mar 2, 2023

    Lyft surprises So Do with an $80 charge after a recent ride. The driver claims she damaged the car. But she says it wasn't her. How does she prove her innocence? I have a problem with Lyft. After a recent ride, the company charged my card an $80 cleaning fee. When I got into the car, I told the driver that there were some leaves from the previous passenger on the floor. It had nothing to do with me. Lyft did not send me any evidence of the damage. When I asked about the claim, it finally sent...

  • PROBLEM SOLVED

    Christopher Elliott|Mar 2, 2023

    John Baldwin's Samsung tablet won't hold a charge. He wants to file a warranty claim. Samsung says the device is out of warranty. Is it? Last year, I ordered a Samsung Tablet 7A Lite online directly from the company to replace a Samsung Tablet S2. I replaced the S2 because it could no longer hold a charge after several years of use. The new tablet worked fine until about two months ago. I hadn't been using it very often, mainly because every time I tried to use it, the battery was dead. A month...

  • TRAVEL TROUBLESHOOTER

    Christopher Elliott|Feb 23, 2023

    Louise Panicali's husband receives a $1,000 Marriott gift card for doing a good deed. But the card doesn't work. Will Marriott do a good deed by fixing the problem? My husband received a $1,000 Marriott gift card as a "thank you" for remodeling a bathroom for a needy family. We tried to use the card a few months later at a Westin property in Boston. But when we gave a representative the gift card number, he said someone had already used it at a J.W. Marriott in Orlando. I immediately contacted...

  • PROBLEM SOLVED

    Christopher Elliott|Feb 23, 2023

    Christy Prince's new GE refrigerator hasn't worked for three months. Should GE replace the appliance? I purchased a new GE refrigerator three months ago. The refrigerator portion stopped cooling approximately 60 days later. The retailer only allows returns before 30 days. But my GE warranty still covers the appliance since it is almost new. I contacted GE, and it scheduled a service call. I had to wait three weeks for a technician because they only had one person who services my area. When the...

  • TRAVEL TROUBLESHOOTER

    Christopher Elliott|Feb 16, 2023

    When Maureen Entwistle and her husband check into a Vrbo rental in North Carolina, they can't breathe. Can they check out and get a refund? My husband and I recently booked a stay through Vrbo in Lake Tuckasegee, North Carolina. When checked in, we noticed a strong, musty smell. My husband and I began to cough, and my husband felt a constriction in his chest. We contacted the manager and Vrbo. The manager did not respond and Vrbo put us on hold twice for nearly an hour. A Vrbo representative...

  • PROBLEM SOLVED

    Christopher Elliott|Feb 16, 2023

    Lyft charges Peter Leung $80 for spilling a drink in one of its cars. But he says he didn't drink anything. Does he still have to pay? Lyft charged me an $80 damage fee for spilling a drink in one of its cars. However, my friend and I certainly did not bring any drink -- not even water -- on the ride. We are not responsible for the spill. The driver has sent me photos that show liquid on a floor mat. But I've asked Lyft multiple times to provide evidence of when it took the picture. Lyft has ign...

  • TRAVEL TROUBLESHOOTER

    Christopher Elliott|Feb 9, 2023

    AeroMexico cancels Patrizia Azzellini's flight and offers her a ticket credit. She'd prefer a refund. Who's right? I recently booked a ticket on AeroMexico from Sacramento, Calif., to Sao Paulo, Brazil, with two stops in Mexico. The airline canceled my flight three weeks later and rebooked me on a different flight. The new itinerary added a ten-hour stopover and no longer met my needs, so I asked for a refund. I called AeroMexico three times to ask for my money back. Although the...

  • PROBLEM SOLVED

    Christopher Elliott|Feb 9, 2023

    When the door on Lauren Butcher's new GE range shatters, the company makes her wait two months for a repair. She wants a new oven. Who's right? I purchased a new GE electric range. I had it for 12 days. On the 13th day, the door glass shattered. When a technician came out, he discovered that there was no insulation in the door. All oven doors are supposed to have insulation. There was a product defect. GE says it is covering the replacement part. It has been two months, and the insulation is...

  • TRAVEL TROUBLESHOOTER

    Christopher Elliott|Feb 2, 2023

    When ​​Neale Gonsalves' train trip from Stockport, England, to London is canceled, he rebooks on another train. But Trainline, his ticket agency, charges him a $43 ticket change fee. Is that allowed? I booked a ticket on Trainline several weeks ago for a journey from Stockport, England, to London. When I checked the ticket on the day of departure on the Trainline app, it showed that the train scheduled for 2:24 p.m. had been canceled. There was another train leaving at 2:19 p.m., so I reb...

  • PROBLEM SOLVED

    Christopher Elliott|Feb 2, 2023

    BG&E agrees to waive Larry Bauman's monthly service fee but then charges him anyway. Is there a way to get his money back? I have a problem with Baltimore Gas & Electric (BG&E). I bought an air conditioner service plan through BGE Home, an independent service arm of BG&E. BGE Home has an agreement with BG&E to charge me the $42.90 monthly service fee for two air conditioning units and two furnaces through my monthly utility bill. In June 2022, I bought a new air conditioning unit from BGE Home....

  • TRAVEL TROUBLESHOOTER

    Christopher Elliott|Jan 19, 2023

    Kimberli Eicher and her daughter just experienced the worst Amtrak train ride imaginable. It was so bad that they canceled their return trip and flew home. Do they deserve a refund? I took my seven-year-old daughter on our first Amtrak trip, from Chemult, Ore., to Oklahoma City to visit her cousins this summer. The trip was a nightmare. Amtrak delayed our first train by seven hours. It failed to provide all the meals on our 26-hour trip. I had paid for a sleeper, but Amtrak seated us in the...

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