Traj4/Shutterstock

“We didn’t do anything to it,” she says. “It won’t turn on. The red power button light blinks over and over.”

At the time, I had no idea how rare her complaint was — and how fleeting. I asked her to send me the documentation on the busted household appliance. But within hours, Beeman reported back.

“They fixed it,” she told me. “All for free.”

I shouldn’t have been surprised. The latest American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), one of the most authoritative surveys on service, suggests the TV and video players category gets the highest grades when it comes to customer satisfaction.

Consumers awarded the entire industry an 86 out of a possible 100 points. Wow.

That answers the question of which consumer product or service you’re likely to be happiest with (your TV) and why I don’t get that many complaints from angry TV owners.

But let’s dig a little deeper. What other kind of buys will make you happy — and why?

Here are the top categories when it comes to satisfaction.

Televisions and Video Players/Recorders (86)
Automobiles and Light Vehicles (84)
Soft Drinks (84)
Personal Care and Cleaning Products (83)
Food Manufacturing (83)
Internet Retail (83)

I can personally vouch for this list, as a consumer advocate. I almost never get complaints about TVs, as I already mentioned. Cars? Hardly a peep. I don’t think I’ve ever received an angry email about a soft-drink purchase or hair gel. The only category I sometimes hear about is Internet retail, but it’s usually a third-tier company offering an already questionable product.

But what is it about TVs that makes you feel so … satisfied?

In answering that question, it’s important to separate cable services from the TV. Americans are not at all happy with their subscription TV services, which received a cumulative score of 68 from the ACSI.

I think the truth might be much simpler: TVs and video recorders are a proven technology in a mature business. The industry has managed to squeeze most of the defects out of its manufacturing process. It’s also highly competitive, so if customers like Beeman don’t like their flatscreen TV from manufacturer A, they can buy virtually the same device from another company at the same price.

With the other categories, it may be an overstatement to say we’re “happy” with those purchases. After all, an 83 out of 100 is a low “B” if you were in school. Mom would not be pleased if you brought home a report card full of 83s now, would she? Not mine.

My kids might put it another way: They’d say those industry categories “suck less.”

Certainly, for some of these businesses, they’re just in the right place at the right time. I mean, who’s going to feel ripped off by a can of cola? Or by a box of cereal? But in another sense, it illustrates how little effort a company must exert to make its customers happy.

Beeman’s TV is a great example. The manufacturer responded to her desperate phone call quickly. It even gave her a special “executive” number to call if she had any further questions. It fixed the defective device quickly and without any hassle.

Taking care of your customer. Who thought it would be that simple?

In this week’s episode of The Christopher Elliott Show, I dissect my own scamminess, talk about force majeure events and Acts of God and travel.

What a fun discussion! Thanks for joining in.

Tune in to the hashtag #elliottshow on Facebook, Google Plus or Twitter on Tuesday at 10 a.m. EDT to see the next episode. Then click on my YouTube channel for a live afterparty wrap-up (see archived video, above).

By the way, there’s still time to answer this week’s question! We’re heading into that time of the year when thunderstorms and hurricanes throw a wrench in our travel plans. But has an airline, hotel, car rental company or cruise line ever invoked the weather or some other natural disaster in a way that didn’t make sense, or seemed inappropriate?

I’m writing a story about the right way, and the wrong way, to invoke the ol’ force majeure clause. What do you think? *protected email*

Menna/Shutterstock

It was February, and she and her husband were looking forward to escaping the cold Toronto winter. They’d booked a week at the Husa Cayo Santa Maria through Transat Canada. The trip was booked through her sister-in-law, who is a travel agent.

“We are not inexperienced travelers to Cuba, and know that you don’t go for the food but for the beaches,” she says. “But what we experienced has so soured our outlook on Cuba that we have decided to never travel there again.”

Blanchette calls it a “vacation from hell.”

How did the Husa Cayo, which describes itself as a “five-star” property, let them down? Let us count the ways.

No water. That’s right, they had no water in their room when they checked in. “The water did not come back on until Sunday night,” she says. “The water went off again on Tuesday all day and did not come back on until the evening for the entire resort.” It went out for two more days while they were at the hotel. The situation was so bad, she says, that the resort was directing guests to get water from the pool in order to flush the toilets. Water was not delivered to the rooms, guests had to go to the front desk in order to get bottled water and were limited to one bottle per person.

Food shortages. On top of the water outages, the couple reported frequent food shortages. When they tried to use the buffet on Sunday, they were met with a long line. A few days later, they decided to wait in a long line, only to find that there was no food left at the hot tables. “The line for the pasta and grill stations was one hour long,” says Blanchette. “By Wednesday there was a full-out brawl in the buffet due to the lack of food. People were frustrated and hungry.” (Riots at a tropical resort? That’s something you don’t hear about every day.)

Indifferent management. The couple contacted both the hotel’s management and their tour operator to complain. “Neither were willing to do anything to remedy the situation for the food or the water issues,” she says. “We spoke to other people at other resorts in the region and they assured us that they had water as we were being told that the whole island was out for water, which was a blatant lie. No compensation was offered or any alternative to the situation.”

After she returned to Toronto, Blanchette contacted Transat in writing. It didn’t respond to her, but sent a letter to her travel agent with the following explanation.

We are truly sorry to hear of your disappointment with the services and facilities of the Husa Cayo Santa Maria.

While every property may experience the occasional technical or operational problem, we do expect our guest to be provided with quality service and speedy resolution to any problem reported.

Transat strives to provide memorable holidays and we regret that it was not as expected. It is through this type of feedback that we can confirm the direction and quality of our services and that of our providers. The inconveniences you experienced during your stay are not to the standards of service Transat expects and we convey our sincerest apologies.

A constant and rigorous follow-up is performed to make sure our clients receive all the inclusions they are entitled to.

Regretfully, in some countries there is sometimes an unforeseen lack of supplies or a sudden shortage of hotel staff which prevent the hotel to deliver all the services in accordance with our contract.

This being said, we were assured by management of the resort that any problem reported is promptly attended to. One must keep in mind that conditions in other countries, both natural and man-made, may be significantly different from those we are accustomed to. As such, please know that your comments have been duly noted and a copy of the correspondence was forwarded to hotel management and our product department for their review.

Mrs. Maria Teresa Pont, General Manager of the Husa Cayo Santa Maria has responded and asked that we convey her sincerest apologies for any displeasure you may have experienced during your stay.

She has informed us that due to a major technical problem on the Island of Cayo Santa Maria, the Husa resort experienced a lack of water from time to time. Regarding the food and the lack of condiments, they are redesigning many procedures in the kitchen with new staff in order to offer more quality and variety of food.

Transat offered her a $200 voucher for a future Transat purchase. She wants a full refund. The company didn’t deliver the vacation it promised, plain and simple, she says.

I think a $200 voucher is a nice gesture, but Blanchette will need to book another Transat vacation, which I doubt she wants to do. If hers were a petty laundry list of complaints, I wouldn’t even be writing about this case.

But no water? No food? That’s unacceptable in any country.

Nevenm/Shutterstock

This is the online edition of Elliott’s E-Mail, my free weekly newsletter. Please join me Tuesday at 10 a.m. EDT for Travel Live, a half-hour conversation across Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus. Tune in to the hashtag #travel at 10 a.m., and I’ll explain the rest. Our topic: When travel companies invoke and “Act of God” to deny you a room, transportation or cruise. At 10:30 a.m., I’ll do a live YouTube broadcast, which will be archived on my channel.

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□ WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Has a travel company every invoked an “Act of God” in the wrong way?
We’re heading into that time of the year when thunderstorms and hurricanes throw a wrench in our travel plans. But has an airline, hotel, car rental company or cruise line ever invoked the weather or some other natural disaster in a way that didn’t make sense, or seemed inappropriate? I’m writing a story about the right way, and the wrong way, to invoke the ol’ force majeure clause. *protected email* As always, please include your full name, city and occupation.

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The stories you see in this newsletter are just a starting point. I hope you’ll take a minute to leave a comment, whether you agree or disagree with something I’ve written. Let’s continue the conversation on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or Google. I’m listening. And of course, I’m also here if you need me. *protected email*

□ POSTS YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS

Top 5 Industries That Bring the Lowest Customer Satisfaction Scores
Which industries deliver the lowest customer satisfaction scores? If you guessed airlines or cable TV, I’m sorry to disappoint you. It’s newspapers, according to the latest American Customer Satisfaction Index. Yep, newspapers. Here’s why.

“You are running a scam”
Maybe I should have said “no” to the case. All the warning signs were there. The complaint involved an experienced hotel guest who checked his luggage at the front desk of a chain property in Irving, Texas. One of the bags had gone missing, and the traveler filed a claim for thousands of dollars above the property’s legal limit of liability — one clearly disclosed on his receipt and written into Texas lodging law. But I didn’t. Find out what happened next.

Can you trust the cruise lines’ new passenger “bill of rights”?
Maybe it was the string of customer-service disasters, starting with the Costa Concordia tragedy last year and leading up to the recent Carnival Triumph “poop” cruise, on which passengers were left adrift in the Gulf of Mexico for five days without working toilets. Maybe it was the threat of government regulation from Sen. Charles Schumer (D.-N.Y.), a vocal critic of the cruise industry, that made it move. Then again, maybe we should just take the cruise industry at its word on its decision, announced just before the Memorial Day holiday, to introduce a passenger “bill of rights.” Read more.

I had an aneurysm, but British Airways is keeping my money
After Gavin King suffers an aneurysm and misses his flight to England, British Airways decides to keep his money. Requests for a refund or credit go unanswered. Looks like a case for the Travel Troubleshooter.

Oh no! JetBlue breaks guitars, too?
Add the word “breaks guitars” after any company, and everyone knows exactly what you’re talking about. “Breaks guitars” is synonymous with terrible service, bureaucracy and corporate arrogance. And you’d expect an airline to be particularly sensitive to it. Then again, maybe not.

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Maybe I should have said “no” to the case.

All the warning signs were there. The complaint involved an experienced hotel guest who checked his luggage at the front desk of a chain property in Irving, Texas. One of the bags had gone missing, and the traveler filed a claim for thousands of dollars above the property’s legal limit of liability — one clearly disclosed on his receipt and written into Texas lodging law.

Worse, the emails between the hotel and the guest showed that the customer quickly turned hostile, threatening to sue if he didn’t get more.

But the brightest flashing red light was the first sentence of his email, which boldly declared: “I am a Platinum member.”

Playing that card right up front is usually a sign you’re dealing with a dreaded “entitled” elite.

And yet I’m glad I tried to mediate his complaint. Because even though it led to a heated email exchange on a recent Saturday afternoon, I think it made me a better consumer advocate. And you’ll want to read the details, because they offer a riveting case study for how to not complain to a company, or to anyone else, for that matter.

“Let me check with my attorneys”

But first things first. Although I have written permission to name the hotel and the guest, I’m not going to. I don’t think the property deserves the bad publicity, because it handled this complaint by the book. And I suspect the guest will at some point realize how bizarre and irrational his behavior was, and will regret what he said.

(Let me note that apparently, English isn’t this customer’s first language. I will try to represent what he said in a respectful way.)

Last October, the guest had checked the bags during his stay.

“When I was leaving my luggage at your hotel, front desk didn’t indicate that I am leaving my luggage totally at my own risk and hotel won’t be liable in any case of theft,” he wrote in an email to the property after his belongings went missing. “Had they would have told me I would have made arrangements to secure my belongings at some other place.”

After several exchanges, the hotel’s general manager apologized, issued 50,000 hotel loyalty points, referred the matter to the hotel’s insurance company and offered to help the guest pay his insurance deductible.

But with each subsequent message, the customer appeared to become more aggressive. Finally, the exasperated guest fumed: “I thought your side will be baseless. Let me check with my attorneys what can be done and will get back to you.”

Normally, when someone threatens to litigate, the case gets forwarded to a company’s legal department and it’s more or less outside my ability to mediate. But the guest seemed to back off, instead contacting me for help.

Our first several exchanges were polite. He said he’d seen my website and my offer to help, and wondered if I could push for more compensation. I promised to review his case and asked if I could write something about his complaint.

He readily agreed.

Two weeks later, he asked about the status of his case. And that was my first mistake. I always try to reply to an email promptly, but I didn’t know what to tell this reader. A cursory review suggested he didn’t really have a case. Texas state laws and the hotel’s own agreement with the guest were not on his side.

I write a feature every week called Is This Enough Compensation, in which I ask readers to tell me if the compensation from a company was adequate, and was considering it for one of those posts.

But it wasn’t meant to be.

A few weeks later, I received an indignant email from the guest.

“Looks like you don’t intend to reply any further and really doubt if you could be of any help,” he sniffed.

He added that my offer to “help” consumers was bogus.

“I think you are interested in stories to be listed on your website for which you collect some basis from the individuals and mainly you are helping yourself,” he said.

“Well,” he added. “Good luck!”

On the case

I didn’t take his email personally. Sometimes, customers transfer their anger toward a company on me, even though I’m trying to help. But in retrospect, I probably should have let this one go. That was mistake number two.

“I’m still working on this,” I emailed him. “I have a backlog of thousands of cases. I apologize for the delay.”

I thought maybe I’d missed something in the correspondence that would favor the guest. I decided to share the emails with my hotel company contact.

That’s when things started to head south. Here’s a transcript of our conversation:

Guest: Is there any particular reason you didn’t reply to my last email?

Me: This may help. (I enclosed a link to my frequently asked questions, which explains why I can’t respond individually to the hundreds of messages I receive every day.)

Guest: Looks like you attract readers by gathering stories from individuals like me who approach you with a hope to get substantial help. You publish such stories on your website after gathering basis and authorization on emails to back the published story on your website. Further, you might be enjoying business revenues that you secure from commercial advertisements on your website.

(Hmm, my consumer advocacy website offers a free service that’s supported by advertising. That’s how most publications do it. I wondered: Am I missing something? At this point, I was still fairly certain the guest was projecting his frustration on me without realizing it. I decided to take the high road, but that was mistake number three — I should have ended it there.)

Me: I’m sorry you feel I haven’t addressed your question. I’ve looked at your case and I can tell you that the hotel has been contacted and that it is reviewing your complaint. I’ll let you know if I hear anything. Thanks for your patience.

Guest: If you contacted the hotel in my case, then why didn’t you keep me in loop? Please forward me all the communication that you did related to this issue of mine. You must keep me in loop regarding any communication on this issue of mine.

(I must? Actually, I consider the conversations between a company and myself to be private. But he made a valid point. My FAQ section never explicitly said that. In fact, it didn’t address the resolution process in any meaningful detail. It just assumed that readers would know that I’d try to help.)

Me: Unfortunately, the emails and calls between the hotel and me are private. I will update you when I have something to report. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Guest: That is not reasonable, if the issue is related to me, you don’t have any authority to communicate without my approval on my issue. If you have made any communications related to my issue, I have full rights to know what you communicated, please forward me all those communications and going forward keep me in loop on any communication related to my issue. Are you bluffing here? I don’t think you will ever have anything to report.

Me: I can assure you that I’ve contacted the hotel on your behalf. I will let you know when I have something to report.

(At this point, I suspected the customer wasn’t playing with a full deck. Time to back away … slowly.)

Guest: Why you contacted hotel on my behalf without my approval and consent? If you have contacted share all the communications.

Me: I’m sorry for any misunderstanding. You contacted a consumer advocate for help. That is what I do — I mediate consumer disputes. I would be happy to contact the hotel and ask it to drop the matter, if you are more comfortable with that.

Guest: First I need to know all the communications you did on my behalf. You can’t keep that private at your own wish without informing me. Share all the communications you did on this issue first then I will give you any further instructions.

(That did it. The guest didn’t have a firm grasp of reality, and engaging with him further wouldn’t make sense. Can’t believe it took me so long.)

Me: I’m sorry, I can’t do that. I’m afraid I’m going to have to close your case. I wish you all the best.

I contacted the hotel and said I was no longer in a position to advocate for this customer. It quickly dropped the matter.

But the guest couldn’t let it go.

“Ha ha,” he said. “You are a consumer advocate as you mentioned yourself and tell me in what legislation and law being a consumer advocate you are allowed to communicate on behalf of a consumer in private with the business without keeping that consumer in loop of all communication related to that issue. That stand of yourself possibly indicates that you are running a scam.”

He added, “You are doing this totally for your own benefit.”

Ouch.

Actually, the consumer advocacy I do has a long and established tradition in this country. My right to publish is protected by a little thing called the First Amendment. I’m not sure how anyone could twist a good-faith effort to help customers into something that is done “totally” for my benefit, but if anyone can do it, it’s a reader with chronic entitlement issues.

He has a right to my private emails? He deserves more than 50,000 points? I owe him a prompt response to every message?

Gee, if it only worked that way.

Am I running a “scam”? I think my body of work — the thousands of cases I’ve resolved on behalf of aggrieved consumers — answers that question better than I could.

But if you ever wanted to know how not to behave when you have a complaint, this would be Exhibit A.

I’m actually grateful for this case. Seriously. Thanks to the guest’s furious emails, I updated my FAQ section to address the mediation process, and what you are — and aren’t — going to get when you ask me for help. This reader’s hot-tempered email exchange with me will probably help countless other consumers.

Who ever said bad customers aren’t good for anything?

(By the way, have fun with today’s poll.)

Hellen/Shutterstock

Maybe it was the string of customer-service disasters, starting with the Costa Concordia tragedy last year and leading up to the recent Carnival Triumph “poop” cruise, on which passengers were left adrift in the Gulf of Mexico for five days without working toilets.

Maybe it was the threat of government regulation from Sen. Charles Schumer (D.-N.Y.), a vocal critic of the cruise industry, that made it move.

Then again, maybe we should just take the cruise industry at its word on its decision, announced just before the Memorial Day holiday, to introduce a passenger “bill of rights.”

But here’s what we have: a promise by the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) to add a list of “rights” to its ticket contracts, the legal agreement between passengers and the cruise line.

These include the right to leave a docked ship if it can’t provide essentials such as food, water, bathroom facilities and medical care; the right to a full refund for a trip canceled because of mechanical failures, or a partial refund if a trip is cut short for the same reason; and the right to timely updates about any changes in a ship’s itinerary caused by a mechanical failure or an emergency.

None of these rights are new. Instead, they codify “many longstanding practices of CLIA,” according to Christine Duffy, the organization’s chief executive. “The cruise industry is committed to continuing to deliver against the high standards we set for ourselves in all areas of shipboard operations,” she adds.

But would the bill have affected the outcome of any recent customer-service meltdowns, including the Triumph fiasco, or even the latest disaster, a fire that cut short a sailing on Royal Caribbean’s Grandeur of the Seas last month? Stewart Chiron, a consultant who founded a marketing company that specializes in cruises, says that the answer is “no.”

Rather, he thinks that the reason for the bill is political. Late last year, CLIA merged with several trade groups, including the European Cruise Council, the Asia Cruise Association and the Passenger Shipping Association, and is just taking the new organization on a “test drive” with this bill.

“It made sense to quickly agree on a consistent cruise passenger bill of rights,” he says.

Perhaps too quickly. Although CLIA representatives claim that they collaborated closely with Schumer on the bill, the senator appeared to be caught off guard by the sudden announcement, made at a time when no one was likely to pay attention to it.

In a letter to CLIA, Schumer pressed the association for specifics on its new pledge. Who determines that essential provisions such as food and water can’t be provided? What exactly are the cruise lines’ current reimbursement practices? How will passengers be notified of changes to their itinerary?

Schumer has called the bill “a step in the right direction” but has stopped short of endorsing it. “I still have many remaining questions, both on the content and how the bill of rights will be enforced,” he told the Associated Press. A CLIA representative said that the organization will answer him “soon.”

Passengers are skeptical, too. Some say that they’d prefer deeds to words when it comes to passenger protections. “If the cruise lines had any brains, they’d forgo some of their billions of profits yearly for their good name and get their guys trained in damage control,” says Richard Johnson, a retired naval officer who lives in Cedar Hill, Tex. “And firefighting.”

To others, the existing passenger contract is something of a joke, and adding passenger rights language is little more than a punch line.

Bruce Helenbart, an engineer from Hazelwood, Mo., says that he recently had to wade through a 20-page cruise ticket contract and sign it before setting sail. It included disclaimers stating that the cruise line wasn’t responsible for the ship’s doctor, provisions limiting Helenbart’s ability to sue the cruise line, and a clause that allowed the company to alter the itinerary any way it chose to. What’s more, the agreement was what’s known as an “adhesion” contract — a one-way agreement that bound him. If he didn’t sign it, he couldn’t board.

“It’s all there except about the volunteering to be turned into a manipede,” he says.

James Walker, a maritime attorney based in Miami, says that customers are correct to disbelieve the cruise industry’s new customer-service rhetoric. “It’s actually a step in the wrong direction,” he told me. “What this bill of rights does, in fact, is limit the liability of cruise lines.”

For example, if this bill had been in effect during the Triumph disaster, then Carnival would have been obligated only to refund part of the passengers’ payment — not to repay the cost of the entire cruise, cover passengers’ transportation expenses, zero out their onboard bills, issue a voucher for a future cruise and pay them $500 each, as Carnival did, he says.

“I would view this as a PR move that effectively limits the rights of passengers,” he adds. “They are proposing rights that are beneficial to the cruise lines, but not to their customers.”

The cruise industry needs the positive publicity that would probably come from an uncritical industry press. But more importantly, says Walker, it hopes to keep likely legislation by Schumer, which would have the force of law, from ever reaching the Senate floor.

Bill or no bill, the fact remains that you’re still giving up a lot of rights when you sign up for a cruise. Maybe too many. The only way to avoid that — at least for the foreseeable future — is to stay on dry land.

Tupungato / Shutterstock.com

Answer: I’m sorry to hear about your medical condition, and hope you’re feeling better. I’m also sorry that you missed your daughter’s wedding. British Airways should have answered your request for a refund or voucher, of course — even if to explain that it couldn’t do either. I’m puzzled that it wouldn’t even give you the time of day.

Here’s what appears to have happened: You were flying on a nonrefundable ticket, you had to have surgery, and you missed your flight. Either British Airways didn’t receive your voucher request before the flight, or it got the message after you left (at this point, it doesn’t matter). You were listed as a “no show” and the airline kept your money. It’s allowed to do that, by the way.

I reviewed your written correspondence, and while you’re clear and concise about what happened, you’re also borderline demanding. While I can understand your frustration, it’s always best to approach a request like this with your politeness-meter turned all the way up. Not because they deserve to be treated with extra deference (the don’t always) but because it’s more effective.

There’s no excuse, on the other hand, for British Airways’ delayed response. Even if you were completely obnoxious, you’re still a customer. I’m not sure if travel insurance would have helped in this situation. Many policies have pre-existing conditions clauses, and a clever claims adjuster might deny your claim because the condition that caused the aneurism existed before you purchase the policy. I’m no doctor, but I’ve seen things like that happen.

British Airways had four options: keep your money, offer a credit with a change fee, offer a credit but waive the change fee because of your circumstances, or give you a full refund. It probably could have kept your money, but that would seem heartless, given your circumstances.

British Airways offered you a ticket credit and waived the change fee.

“Breaks guitars” is synonymous with terrible service, bureaucracy and corporate arrogance. And you’d expect an airline to be particularly sensitive to it.

For those of you who missed the whole United Breaks Guitars episode, here’s a recap: Back in 2009, United Airlines destroyed country musician David Carroll’s checked guitar and then basically ignored his damage claim.

It resulted in a viral video that still haunts United to this day.

All of which brings us to Jonathan Pardo’s claim. Last year, he was flying from Boston to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on JetBlue. But when he arrived at the gate, an attendant told him he couldn’t board with his instrument.

“I told him that I have brought my guitar on as a carry-on in the past, on numerous flights, and it fits fine in the overhead compartment, but he insisted it be gate-checked,” he said. “He assured me that it would be placed in a safe area at the ground crew’s discretion and there would not be a problem.”

But there was a problem.

He explains:

When I arrived, I opened the guitar case to find extensive damage. We contacted JetBlue and were told that the claim needed to be made in person within four hours of arrival.

Due to a hurricane and tropical storm watch, we were not able to make the 50-mile round trip to Fort Lauderdale at nearly one in the morning.

Before going to the airport, I contacted JetBlue and verified that the guitar could indeed be carried on. The guitar should have been accepted onboard and if not, proper storage should have been used once in care of JetBlue personnel.

The guitar cannot be repaired and has a replacement cost of approximately $500.

The response from JetBlue? A form letter, essentially denying his claim.

After completing a final review of the claim, we have determined the total of your settlement to be a $250 JetBlue electronic voucher.

According to our Contract of Carriage, JetBlue Airways assumes no responsibility for certain items such as: glass, ceramics, mirrors, medication, money, jewelry, cameras, perfumes, video, audio and electronic equipment (including computers, software or music), wigs, optical equipment, dental and orthodontic devices or equipment and collectible, perishable, fragile or irreplaceable items among others.

These items, contained either in checked or unchecked baggage, are accepted only at the customer’s own risk. Please reference the complete Contract of Carriage online at www.jetblue.com under Legal/ Contract of Carriage.

Realizing that you have valued your claim at an amount greater than our settlement, we recommend that you may want to contact other resources, such as your homeowner’s insurance or credit card travel insurance, for any additional compensation that might be available to you.

As you’re aware, in the case of a reported mishandled baggage, our Baggage Service Offices, Central Baggage, and Customer Commitment team work closely with customers to determine what, if any, compensation is needed. We request customers report any mishandled baggage directly to the office of their destination airport within four hours of arrival to ensure integrity of records and actions. In the event that a customer attempts to file a claim after leaving the airport, however, our team will handle those instances on a case by case basis.

Nice form letter. But that doesn’t really work for Pardo, and it doesn’t work for me, either.

Pardo asked his uncle, an attorney, to call JetBlue on his behalf. He did, and received essentially the same response.

So I contacted JetBlue. A representative responded right away and promised to look into it, but added the following warning:

While I appreciate your interest in this particular customer’s case, we do prefer a direct relationship with our customers, and will not share any personal or customer information with outside parties.

I’m confident that proper lines of communication between the customer and our team have been established and the customer’s note you forwarded has been received by our Central Baggage Office along with the request for followup. Any additional followup the team feels necessary will be addressed directly with the customer.

In other words, I should mind my own business.

And that’s fine with me, as long as JetBlue does something. But after more than a month went by without Pardo hearing from the airline. I contacted JetBlue again. Nothing.

Here’s how I see this: If a passenger willingly surrenders a bag to an airline, then he or she is agreeing to its contract of carriage — which, as JetBlue points out, says it isn’t liable for damage to musical instruments.

But if someone is forced to check a guitar in a soft case, then there is no contract of carriage. The contract, if there is any, was the oral contract between the crewmember and Pardo, in which he’d been assured that his guitar would be safe.

Pardo and I have waited patiently for months to give JetBlue the chance to do the right thing. But it blew both of us off.

I guess JetBlue really does break guitars.

Spirit of America/Shutterstock

This is the online edition of Elliott’s E-Mail, my free weekly newsletter. Please join me Friday at 11 a.m. EDT for Family Travel Live. We’ll be talking about a side of Philadelphia visitors rarely get to see. Just follow the #familytravel hashtag on Facebook, Google Plus or Twitter for details and then tune in for our live YouTube wrap-up.

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Our biannual fundraiser starts in just a few days. If you’re not an underwriter yet, I hope you’ll accept my invitation to join a exclusive group of supporters. You’ll get your name in lights — and the warm, fuzzy feeling that you’re making the world a better place. We need to raise $20,000 for the second half of the year in order to keep this site running. Here’s how to become an underwriter.

□ WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Are you following our family travel adventure If you’re not tracking us via social media, then you probably didn’t see our story about offbeat Philadelphia. Or our funky video on its star attractions. No worries, you can catch up. You can find the whole gang on Away is Home and you can follow us on Twitter or Facebook.

Let’s talk!
The stories you see in this newsletter are just a starting point. I hope you’ll take a minute to leave a comment, whether you agree or disagree with something I’ve written. Let’s continue the conversation on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or Google. I’m listening. And of course, I’m also here if you need me. *protected email*

□ POSTS YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS

Top Products That Bring the Most Customer Satisfaction
Jessica Beeman paid $779 for her 50-inch TV, a purchase she was pleased with, until one day “it just stopped” working. And then she wasn’t so happy. Find out what happened next.

My phone doesn’t work — do I still have to pay my bill?
Joanna Morehead’s wireless phone bill has been referred to a collections department. Just one problem: She was never able to really use her phone, which she canceled shortly after receiving it. Does she still have to pay? I’ll let you know.

Help, the names on my kids’ airline tickets are wrong — what should I do?
Heather Matinde’s problem is fairly common, but when it happens to you, it can sure seem like the end of the world. She’d just paid a small fortune for airline tickets from Los Angeles to Brussels on Expedia, only to discover a serious problem with her sons’ reservation. Read the full story.

My river cruise turned into a bus trip – how about a refund?
Al Chapper’s trouble with Vantage Worldwide River Voyages isn’t just the most common river-cruise question I get. It’s the most common cruise complaint, period. Which is why I’m thinking of mediating it. Should I do it?

□ MY PARTING SHOT

Hey, there’s still time to send me your comments on the privacy — or lack of privacy — on your reservation data when you travel. Thanks to the NSA fiasco, everyone’s talking about it. *protected email*

sergign/Shutterstock

I have a major issue with being charged for service that was completely horrible — call quality, dropped calls, etc, could barely hear my callers. Yet they still believe these service charges of $106 are valid.

Now they have sent my account to collections and I can’t seem to make any progress with anyone in customer service. They keep transferring me to “financial services” and then back to collections, saying the charges are valid.

What I am hoping Verizon will do is at least credit me for most if not all of the service charges, as I already paid their restocking fee. If you can help me in any way I’d appreciate it! — Joanna Morehead, San Francisco

Answer: Under Verizon’s customer agreement, the contract between you and your wireless carrier, you have two weeks from the time of accepting the agreement to get out. If you cancel after that, you’ll have to pay an early termination fee.

It appears you ended your service within 14 days. But you still had to pay an activation fee and for service through the date of your cancellation. (You have to cancel within three days in order to get a refund of your activation fee.)

So according to the contract you signed, the $106 appears to be valid.

But here’s the thing: If Verizon gave you a phone that never worked right, shouldn’t you be able to return it for a no-questions-asked refund?

Another wireless carrier tried to do the same thing to me a few years ago, and it’s extremely frustrating. This was before the first iPhone was released, and the state-of-the-art technology wasn’t exactly user-friendly. Also, network coverage in my area was spotty, at best.

After my service was activated, I made the first of several calls to technical support to get a variety of problems resolved. Finally, I canceled my service within the 14-day window, and I expected a refund, minus maybe a restocking fee. But the carrier didn’t care that I’d called it almost immediately after the phone had been activated to try to resolve the problem. It only counted the actual day of the cancellation, and billed me accordingly.

While it was technically right in doing this, it was a terrible customer service move. After all, the phone never worked. All efforts to fix it were unsuccessful.

In a situation like that, the company should have apologized and taken its phone back. Instead, it billed me and a representative told me I was lucky I didn’t go over the two weeks in my contract.

Thanks for nothing.

What I’m saying is that Verizon is both right and wrong. And your case deserves a second look.

You could have appealed through Verizon’s online contact page, but as I’ve noted in the past, its “help” section isn’t the most helpful.

Another suggestion: take your problem to one of the executives listed on the Verizon website. That might persuade the company to do the right thing. Email addresses at Verizon are formatted either *protected email* or firstname.middleinitial.lastname@verizonwireless.

As it turns out, none of that was necessary. I contacted Verizon and it offered to cut your bill by 50 percent, which you found acceptable. Good luck with your next carrier.

Each boy had each others’ middle names on their tickets, and the airline was balking at making a correction. Unfortunately, Matinde didn’t reach out to Expedia and the airline, Jet Airways, within 24 hours and — you guessed it — the airline was refusing to fix the names.

But Matinde wasn’t freaking out about it. Instead, she’d stumbled across my site, and appropriately enough, my error page in which I quoted the great surrealist artist Salvador Dalí, who said, “Mistakes are almost always of a sacred nature. Never try to correct them.”

I love that quote, because halfway through my career as a consumer advocate, I feel as if I’ve made almost every mistake in the book. And as Salvador suggests, I have learned to embrace them.

“It puts a positive spin on the situation,” said Matinde.

I like that outlook.

I decided to contact Expedia to see if 1) she really needed to get this fixed; and 2) If it could help.

Before I get to Expedia’s answer, let me make one more point. Some of you will probably be saying to yourself, “She should have used a real travel agent.” I understand. But a lot of “real” agents don’t do these simple point-to-point airline tickets — there’s just no money in them. Most people turn to an online travel agency or book directly, and that’s where problems like this happen.

Turns out this is a borderline case. The TSA would have probably let her sons through, dismissing this as a small difference. Also, the airline should have fixed the names on the tickets at the airports without charging anything extra; most airlines do.

Expedia takes it from here:

Thank you for contacting Expedia on behalf of Ms. Matinde. Expedia’s records found that the customer booked a flight reservation validated by Jet Airways for four travelers online for roundtrip travel beginning September 3, 2013 from Los Angeles, California to Brussels, Belgium. There was also a connecting flight in Newark, New Jersey.

Expedia’s records show that the customer misspelled the names of children, age 13 and 6, as Cody Joseph Matinde and Ian Ochieng Matinde. The names should have read as Cody Odhiambo Matinde and Ian Okinyi Ishmael Matinde.

Expedia advocated on the customers behalf and was told by Jet Airways that without exception, tickets are non-transferable and the names cannot be changed. The Expedia representative was also informed that although middle names are not required, to avoid problems they suggest splitting the incorrect names from the ticket and exchanging them for a fee of $100 per person for a total of $200, as long as the same flights in the same class of service are available. This change would cover all airlines associated with the ticket, preventing additional name correction fees.

It’s an offer Matinde gratefully accepted.

There are at least two really important lessons to be learned. First, and most obviously, always double-check the names on your tickets before you click the “buy” button. Remember the DOT 24-hour rule, which allows you to fix the mistake, with certain limitations.

But second, I think these name changes are too often used to generate more money for the airline. Look at these reservation change fees for 2012: $2.5 billion, according to the U.S. government.

Does anyone really think another passenger named Cody Joseph Matinde would steal Cody Odhiambo Matinde’s ticket and use it for nefarious purposes on a flight to Belgium?

Yeah, neither do I.

I’m happy Expedia helped resolve this DIY error, but I think I’m leaning towards Dalí’s interpretation of this case. Why correct it?

Note (June 13, 2013): Some of the comments on this post went a little sideways yesterday, veering into territory this site tries to avoid. After a slew of flaggings by readers, our moderator team consulted late today and early yesterday and deleted some of the threads that violated our comments policy. We didn’t take this action lightly. We favor an open debate, but we also want the comments to be reasonable — and readable. Thank you for your understanding.

Anibal Trejo/Shutterstock

Which is why I’m thinking of mediating it.

Chapper just got off a “river” cruise of France’s Burgundy and Provence region. And I put “river” in quotes because although they followed the Saône and Rhône rivers, they were not on a ship.

They were in a bus.

“The company did bus us to some of the sites we were supposed to visit but had to cancel some others,” he says. “The result was that we missed perhaps two or three days out of the 13-day itinerary.”

To its credit, Vantage addressed the problem right away in a letter:

On behalf of of Vantage Deluxe World Travel, I’d like to thank you for your patience and understanding over the course of your French Waterways journey. As you know, dangerously high water levels along the Rhone and Saone prompted French authorities to close all navigation along these rivers.

We regret that this act of nature forced us to cancel our river travel as scheduled in order to ensure your safety, which is always our top priority.

We of course recognize the disappointment this may have caused you. I would like to extend a $500 per person future travel credit as compensation. Feel free to use it toward any advantage trip of your choice departing by December 31, 2014.

As a seasoned world traveler, you know that acts of nature and other unforeseen events often require us to change the best laid plans. We are glad that in spite of the sailing ban we were still able to deliver the majority of our scheduled sightseeing and cultural activities, and we appreciate the hard work of our regional teams, who acted quickly to arrange alternate activities for you.

Hmm, a $500 voucher for another river cruise? That assumes Chapper wants to come back to Europe within a year, and considering that a river cruise is a once-in-a-lifetime vacation, that’s highly doubtful.

“Is that reasonable?” he asks. “We have reason to believe that they knew of the problem in advance of the trip and should have given us the opportunity to cancel without penalty. We do not want to be greedy, but we feel that the $500 offer is too low.”

Vantage’s tour participation agreement (PDF) is pretty clear.

Without limiting the foregoing, Vantage is not responsible for any losses or expenses due to delays or changes in schedules, overbooking or downgrading of accommodations, defaults by any third parties, including Suppliers, mechanical or other failure of airplanes or other means of transportation, or the failure of any transportation mechanism to arrive or depart on time. Vantage is not responsible for acts of God or force majeure events, sanitation problems, lack of medical care, sickness, weather conditions, strikes and other labor activities, acts of terrorism, acts of war (declared or undeclared), quarantines, embargoes, blockades, criminal activities or any other act or event beyond the direct control of Vantage.

In other words, it lets itself off the hook for the river closures. (Incidentally, Vantage’s terms are a really fun read. Did you know that by going on one of its tours, you agree to be photographed and for the images to be used in a Vantage ad? Wow.)

Vantage’s adhesion contract is meaningless, because it’s an agreement that says it doesn’t have to deliver a meaningful product. I believe there’s an implied agreement that Chapper would get a full 13-day river cruise. I’m not at all persuaded that an unredeemable voucher represents a good-faith effort to fix a problem that Vantage may have known about well in advance.

I’m very tempted to take Chapper’s case, even though I know that the cruise line will point me back to its terms and will tell me that $500 represents more than the three missed days as a prorated portion of a trip.

It’s just that I’ve seen too many of these river navigation problems to turn a blind eye. If they can’t navigate the river, they should start selling motorcoach tours. N’est-ce pas?

Bloomua/Shutterstock

This is the online edition of Elliott’s E-Mail, my free weekly newsletter. Please join me Tuesday at 9 a.m. EDT for Travel Tuesday Live. We’ll be talking about data privacy, the recent NSA dustup and what it all means to you with Charlie Leocha of the Consumer Travel Alliance. Check my website for details or tune in to the #Traveltuesday hashtag on Twitter or Google Plus.

□ PLEASE SUPPORT THIS SITE

Our biannual fundraiser starts next week. Are you an underwriter yet? If you join this exclusive group of supporters you’ll get your name in lights — and the warm, fuzzy feeling that you’re making the world a better place. We need to raise $20,000 for the second half of the year in order to keep this site running. Here’s how to become an underwriter.

□ WHAT DO YOU THINK?

How “private” is your personal data when you travel?
Last week’s revelations about the NSA have many industry pundits wondering how “private” your personal information is when you fly, drive and stay at hotels. What do you think? Have you ever received a pitch from a travel company and wondered: How did they know that about me? Do you think travel companies ask for too much personal information? Are they careful to protect it, or do they share it with too many third parties? *protected email* I realize it’s a little ironic, but please don’t forget to include your name, city and occupation. I may use your response in a story.

Let’s talk!
The stories you see in this newsletter are just a starting point. I hope you’ll take a minute to leave a comment, whether you agree or disagree with something I’ve written. Let’s continue the conversation on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or Google. I’m listening. And of course, I’m also here if you need me. *protected email*

Hello, Philly!
We had a terrific time in Philadelphia this weekend, and can’t wait to tell you about it. Meantime, here’s Kari’s funky video about the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. Our next Family Travel Live broadcast on Thursday will be about Philadelphia, so don’t forget to tune in. Details are right here.

□ POSTS YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS

Summer travel advice? Try being nice
Are you still forgetting to pack your manners when you travel? If you are, then please meet Grace, a flight attendant who recently turned to me for some career advice. She’s had it up to here with her job, and she wants to know what to do next. Here’s what I told her.

Would you care to hold that plane?
Holding a plane for a passenger is an iconic customer service gesture. In a different era of commercial aviation, before on-time arrivals became so important that aircraft doors closed 15 minutes before departure, planes were almost routinely kept at the gate for passengers who were trying to make a connection or who were just late. Not anymore. Here’s what happened.

Did she wait too long to file a damage claim?
Susan Young has waited too long to file a damage claim with here credit card company. But it’s not her fault – a car rental contract employee told her to do it. Who’s responsible?

“Apparently with Carnival, the passenger does not always come first”
Kristen Hernandez thought she’d found a bargain on the Carnival Breeze next month. Or, to be more precise, she thought her travel agent had found one. She booked two separate balcony cabins for her 8-night Eastern Caribbean cruise for $3,440 each. Turns out she and her travel agent were wrong.

□ MY PARTING SHOT

Are you on Twitter or Google Plus? If you are, I hope you’ll join me for my new interactive feature that combines Google Plus, Twitter and a live YouTube conversation. It happens every Tuesday morning. Just look for the hashtag #Traveltuesday and join the conversation!

Please join me Tuesday morning for a special live event with Charlie Leocha, director of the Consumer Travel Alliance, to discuss the privacy of your travel reservation data in the wake of the NSA wiretapping fiasco.

The action starts at 9 a.m. EDT with a live conversation on social media. You can join in by following the hashtag #traveltuesday on Twitter or Google Plus.

Be sure to follow me on Twitter and Google Plus so we can talk about this important topic for consumers. You can follow Leocha on Twitter and Google Plus, too, to see all of his responses.

How, exactly, do you participate? It’s really easy. Just search for the hashtag #traveltuesday or pull up my Twitter or Google Plus profile to see the discussion. Then join in by adding your comments. Remember to add the #traveltuesday hashtag to your comments so we can see you.

Then at 9:30 a.m., tune in to this page to see a live interview with Leocha on YouTube. We’ll wrap up the social media conversation and I’ll as him a few pointed questions. It’ll be fun!

The video will be archived here at about 9:40 a.m.

See you there.

Steve Wood/Shutterstock

She’s had it up to here with her job, and she wants to know what to do next.

“I’m very aware that I’m in a service position,” she told me. “I am polite, not surly or rude.”

But passengers rarely return the favor.

“I got injured yesterday three times on the same flight,” she added. “I had my hand slammed in the lav door opening it for someone who I suppose had an emergency bathroom issue and could not wait for me to move. Someone rolled over my foot with a rollaboard. And my shoulder is on fire from helping with bags and such during boarding.”

Of course, I can’t reveal Grace’s full name and airline because she’s sure the company will fire her for talking to me. But I feel her pain.

She and her colleagues are suffering from low morale, and at no time will it be lower than during the summer, when inexperienced leisure travelers board her flights and treat her and her co-workers like a sky waitress.

“Nice isn’t working”

Grace says she’s confused. She can’t help but notice that colleagues who “bark orders” get results from their passengers. What’s more, airline management pats these grouchy crewmembers on the back for being so strict with regulations.

“Nice isn’t working,” she says. “I’m so confused. What should I do?”

At the beginning of the new year, I urged you to mind your manners on the road. Those of you who already do weren’t offended. But those of you who think the Graces of the world are sub-humans who are only there to serve you, were outraged.

Today, with the summer travel season just getting started, I want to talk to those of you who still don’t understand. You think your hotel bellman, flight attendant and restaurant server is some kind of indentured servant who is required to smile while you step all over that person like a doormat.

I’m sorry, but you’re wrong.

Don’t like travel? Get a mirror

When I hear from folks like Grace, it sheds a new light on other complaints I receive from travelers. Like the elderly couple flying from Palm Beach, Fla., to Newark recently — no need to give names, because I don’t want to embarrass them — who were kicked off their JetBlue Airways flight.

The reason? They allege a flight attendant “ordered” them to move a jacket into the overhead bin during boarding, and when they balked, they were shown the door. Refusing to comply with a flight attendant’s instructions is a violation of federal law, after all.

Now, I know there are flight attendants out there who let this whole “we’re-the-law” thing go to their head. But when I hear from employees like Grace, I wonder how many of them are pushed to it by passengers like us.

Are travelers to blame for the demise of politeness? It pains me to write this, but I think the answer is yes, at least partially.

Too many travelers have no concept of good manners. They don’t give a rip about civility. I know, because after my previous story about bad manners, they went on the offensive, vandalizing the comments in my blog with angry, ad-hominem attacks.

What’s your response to my simple, common-sense suggestion that a positive travel experience starts with you? If it’s self-righteous indignation — if you say to yourself, “I paid good money for that ticket, I’m entitled to some respect — then maybe you’re part of the problem.

Maybe you’re ruining travel for everyone else.

Politeness is a two-way street. When you give, you get. You should try it before you travel.

To all the flight attendants out there like Grace who are considering a career change, or worse, are thinking of turning mean, I honestly hope you don’t.

Stay right there, Grace. Please. And don’t change a thing.

We need you.