✈️💸That's ridiculous! How a $428 Southwest Airlines ticket cost a scam victim $4,500

 ⛑️Consumer Rescue Presents 🛟

Tales from Consumer Advocacy Land

Real stories. Real Rescues. Real advice.

Bonjour from France, friends! ❤️🇫🇷

✈️I flew into Paris for a few days last week, before taking the train down to the Loire Valley, where I’m now on a riverboat attending a journalists’ conference. The weather was fabulous in Paris and I had a wonderful time walking all over the city (which happens to be one of my favorite cities in the world!).

🤧Unfortunately, I caught a cold while I was roaming around and now I’m a bit unwell. So if you’ve sent me an email in the last few days and I haven’t responded, that is why. I’m trying to keep up with the events I need to attend here and my writing schedule… and do a little resting in between while my colleagues and I make our way down the Loire River. I’ll be all caught up with my emails in the next few days.

🤣I have a funny story to tell you about getting locked out of my hotel room in Paris in my PJs. I’ll put that tale at the bottom of the newsletter so if it’s not of interest to some of our readers, they can skip it 😛   

🤿But now let’s dive right into what’s new in Consumer Advocacy Land. ⛑️🛟

This week I have two brand new articles for you.

First up: I’ll tell you the frustrating story of a young man who was just trying to take a getaway to Mexico on American Airlines. He missed his flight and things went all downhill from there.

☎️He’s not sure where he got the phone number from, but he ended up dialing right into scam call center posing as American Airlines. Somehow the con artist who answered the phone convinced his victim to hand over his credit card to be booked for free on Southwest Airlines.

That “free” ticket actually cost $428 PLUS a $4,000 service fee.

Four months later, the bamboozled traveler was at his wit’s end. He had lost his credit card dispute after the bold scammer fought the chargeback and won! Next he reached out to Consumer Rescue for help. Were we able to rescue this consumer? Find out today!

Then Consumer Rescue’s Registered Medicare Counselor Abe Wischnia will give you some types and warnings to help you navigate this year’s Open Enrollment. He will also tell you about a scammer who called to alert me that I qualified for “additional” Medicare benefits (even though I am not a Medicare beneficiary).

Of course, I also have some other articles you might have missed the first time around.

Will your next cruise be ruined by the bad behavior of other passengers? I’ll tell you the actual likelihood.

And can a credit card company reverse a chargeback decision a year later? The answer is: Definitely not! But that didn’t stop one small bank from trying.

Enjoy!🌈

Do you have an opinion about today's articles? Want to share a suggestion? I love to hear from you.

Our comment section on the site is open and ready for you to offer your thoughts. You can also add your comments under our articles on the Consumer Rescue Facebook page.

Or you can join our "Consumer Rescue: What's Your Problem?" Facebook group. It's a community where we can discuss consumer issues, solve real-time problems, chat about consumer news and our articles, and get quick answers to questions. Members can also share tips, guidance, and travel experiences.

It's a private group, so only members can see what's inside. We hope to see you there!

🤗Welcome to all our new subscribers! We're delighted to have you here with us. 

*Ps. If you've received this newsletter as a forward, here's how to subscribe. 

Friends! Don’t be shy. Sharing our newsletter with other like-minded consumers is a great way to show your support for our mission!

I picked a hotel in Paris this time purely based on its name: Hotel Amelie (my youngest daughter’s name). I knew it was a small, older, more traditional hotel, and it received nice reviews on Expedia. It’s also in a great location.

After I booked it, I noticed that some of the reviews mentioned there’s no elevator in the building — so if you mind stairs, you should ask for a room on the first floor.

I don’t mind stairs, so I didn’t ask for any particular floor ahead of time. When I arrived, I was given a room on the top floor — four flights up. And then I saw the staircase.

It was a narrow spiral staircase. A man was painting the walls along the staircase when I arrived, and he warned me not to brush against the wall on my way up with all my bags. This was no easy feat, lol — but I’m proud to say I didn’t get any paint on me or my belongings.

But then I got to the top floor and discovered my key wasn’t programmed properly. So I had to go all the way back down (minus my bags) to have my key fixed.

Now, this is also the type of hotel that requires you to leave your key at the tiny front desk when you go out. So each day, I left my key and got it back when I returned. And each time, I’d get to the top floor and find it had lost its programming — meaning another trip back down the spiral staircase to get it reprogrammed.

However, I have no one to blame but myself for what happened one evening around midnight. I got into my pajamas, climbed into bed, and turned out the lights. For some reason, that night the bright light in the hallway didn’t go off as it had on the other nights — and it was shining into my room through the cracks at the top and sides of the door.

Since it had always seemed to be motion-sensor–activated, I waited a few minutes for it to shut off.

But it didn’t. So I got up, figuring I’d find the light switch in the tiny hallway and shut it off myself. I took one step away from my door — and it slammed shut and locked me out!

😳There I was, in my PJs, on the top floor of this tiny hotel at midnight. And this is the kind of hotel where you have to ring someone to get in after a certain hour.

I made my way down the four flights of the spiral staircase and waited for the night attendant to show up. Then we had a bit of a “lost in translation” moment when he asked why I didn’t just have my roommate let me in. I explained that of course I would’ve done that if I had a roommate — but alas, I did not.

He finally realized he was going to have to climb all those steps to let me in. I don’t think he was particularly pleased with this late-night excursion… but neither was I. 😂

Overall, I enjoyed my stay at Hotel Amelie — but if you go there, be prepared for a serious stair workout every day. And be warned: your hotel room door might just swing closed and lock you out too! 🤓🧗🏻

Don't forget! Consumer Rescue is just a click away. One of us is always here to answer your questions. 

Of course, you can always reach me at [email protected]