A woman claiming to own the property quoted her a $645 rate for five nights if she wired her the money. “After a number of e-mails back and forth, I agreed to the rental,” says Schutte, a property manager from Phoenix. “I received a contract. Everything looked correct on the contract. It even had the rental property address and logo. I signed the agreement, and wired the money through Western Union to the U.K.”
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What if you could make the call on the proposed merger between American and US Airways?
It’s not a hypothetical question — at least not entirely.
Before you answer, let’s take a look at where we are. This proposed airline merger, which has been called “inevitable” by most observers, will form America’s largest airline. Supporters say it’s a win-win, creating a stronger company with a superior route system that will better serve its customers.
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From bankruptcies to terrorist attacks, air travelers have seen it all in the last decade or so. But I can’t think of a week that’s been jam-packed with so much bad news for airline passengers since 2001. Maybe you can, but stick with me for a moment while I review the list.
It isn’t just the sequestration problems that are causing unforeseen slowdowns — it’s a confluence of other events, some related to the mandatory cuts, but many not.
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This year’s race for best car rental company wasn’t even close. Hertz took a commanding lead from the beginning and never let go, crossing the finish line first.
Readers voted Hertz the agency with the combination of best service and prices. They also lauded it for it conservative approach to damage claims, noting that it pursued only cases where it was certain the damage was caused by a customer.
It was followed by Enterprise, the largest car rental agency, and Avis. National and Alamo, two other brands owned by Enterprise, gave that company a dominant presence in this year’s top 6 list of car rental companies.
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This week, I’m resuming my Elliott’s List feature by asking you to vote on your the car company you prefer when you travel. Which agency offers the best service and prices and stands behind its products without dinging you for unwanted insurance or damage claims? In other words, which one do you turn to when you need a set of wheels?
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Instead, she received an apologetic e-mail from the Excellence Playa Mujeres, saying that while the hotel was “truly very sorry” about her canceled flight, it would be keeping her money. “They were unwilling to refund a penny,” says Li, who works for the city of San Francisco. “Not even in hotel credits.”
She and her husband lost $1,656, the entire cost of the hotel.
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I’m researching an article about hotel cancellation policies for the Washington Post, but one of the stories shared by a reader resonated with me so much that I just had to pass it along. It’s another heartwarming, almost too-good-to-be-true tale of customer service.
Last winter, Lauren Staley and her husband were driving from Colorado back to California, where they live. They’d planned to spend the night at the halfway point, in Elko, Nev. But they never made it.
“A huge snowstorm caught us unaware,” she remembers. “We ended up stopped on the Salt Flats [in Utah] for several hours due to an accident, and by the time we got moving again the sun had gone down and the roads were completely iced over.”
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