REFUND

These Surfbouncers really know how to sweet-talk a girl

screenOne of the first questions I ask when someone needs help is: Could I see the correspondence between you and the company? When Steven Price showed me his back-and-forth between with a company called Surfbouncer, I was speechless.

And then I asked the company for its side of the story.

Normally, here’s what happens when you have trouble with a business: You send it an email with your problem, and it replies with a pre-fabricated form response that vaguely addresses the issue and offers non-apologies like, “We’re sorry for the way you feel.”

Surbouncer, which offers VPN services for international travelers who need to stay connected, is not one of those companies.
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120 comments

I paid an extra $8,250 to fly home — can you help me get a refund?

jalAnyone who needs a case study about the perils of airline codesharing should look no further than Kun-Yang Lee’s story.

He was flying from Geneva to Kaohsiung City, Taiwan, last month. The ticket, booked through Expedia, was issued through Japan Airlines, had Japan Airlines flight numbers, but one leg of the flight — from Geneva to London — was on codeshare partner British Airways.

But that’s not the problem. At least not entirely.
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107 comments

US Airways tells customer her cancer isn’t terminal enough for a refund

Not the friendly skies. / Photo by wbav - Flickr
Not the friendly skies. / Photo by wbav – Flickr
Ben Coleman and his wife were supposed to fly from New York to Oakland last November on US Airways. The couple had purchased nonrefundable roundtrip tickets on US Airways for just under $1,000.

But in October, Coleman’s wife was diagnosed with cancer.

“Her diagnosis is positive and the doctors tell us — nothing is certain, of course — that it will be a hard year, but expect that she will lead a long healthy life.”

That’s when things got a little complicated.
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211 comments

My hotel was infested by bedbugs — can I get a refund?

Jareynolds/Shutterstock
Jareynolds/Shutterstock
Sarah Gaines wants a refund for her short-lived hotel stay at the Windsor Hotel on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The reason? She claims the property was infested with bedbugs.

The site through which she booked the hotel, Hotels.com, refuses to refund the $750 she paid, even though she checked out after staying in her room for just a few hours. Appeals to her credit card company have been unsuccessful, and now she wants me to get involved.
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98 comments

Hey, where’s that refund on my all-inclusive vacation?

cancunQuestion: I’ve read your columns frequently over the past several years and always wondered if I’d ever need your help. Well that day has come. I need assistance in obtaining a refund from Palace Resorts. I paid $2,785 for a seven-day, all-inclusive vacation at their Aventura Spa Palace resort in Cancun, Mexico a few months ago. I had no problems whatsoever with that reservation.

But last fall, the Palace had a sale, and I was able to cancel that initial reservation and book a new reservation for a cheaper rate, saving me $278. I was told by the agent that my refund would be processed in six to eight weeks.

It didn’t happen. The credit card with which I made the original reservation was lost, so I had to send additional information to the company. Since then, I have not received any communication from anyone at Palace Resorts regarding my refund. I have sent multiple emails, and have been told each time that someone else who can help with refunds would contact me. I’ve tried everything, including contacting their public relations manager on Twitter and using “live” chat.
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36 comments

Help, my BMW dealership is holding my title hostage!

highway2Question: I bought a BMW 750 Li from my local dealership recently. Last week, I tried to sell the car to a private party and was told by my bank that I could not sell the car because the dealership hadn’t supplied them with the title.

It doesn’t look as though they will be able to find the title in time for me to sell the car, so I’ve spoken with the dealership about buying the car back. But we can’t agree on a price.

I’ve been told that they’ll pay me $28,000 for the car. Then a representative backpedaled and said, “If the tires are bald or there are dents or dings, maybe not that much.”
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55 comments

Should airlines charge a change fee even if they can resell the seat?

Christopher Parypa/Shutterstock
Question: We recently booked a one-way ticket from Los Angeles to San Francisco on Virgin America to get us home after our trip from Tahiti. But about a month later, our travel agent informed us that our return flight from Tahiti to Los Angeles had been canceled.

I called Virgin America and was told that it would cost us $180 to change the flight to the next day, when our new flight was scheduled.

There are more than four months between now and then to resell those two seats. If those four seats were not rebooked in the next four months, I would be OK with getting charged or losing my money.
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104 comments