My Nonprofit Reviews

I cannot say enough about what this organization does and what their work on our behalf meant to my family this month.

I am having a difficult time with my health, and as a bit of reprieve, we lobbied hard for some time off of work so my husband could take our 11 year old daughter and I on a trip to California to for some fresh air and to see the Redwoods. We had a very narrow allotment of days off and booked tickets through Expedia well in advance. About a month before our trip, we called Expedia and had our return trip changed from LAX to SFO. Expedia changed the trip and issued us new documents — or so we thought.
On the night before we were to fly home, I went to check in for our flight and was told by the airline that we had no tickets. Internally, Expedia had never actually booked the changed flight. I missed the grand finale of our trip, spending hours on the phone with Expedia trying to get them to fix their mistake and find us a replacement flight home. Twice I was told they would call me back with a supervisor to figure out how to get us home, but they simply never called back. Because I couldn’t get a response and we were stranded, we ended up having to book last-minute flights independently through the airline at several times the cost of our original flights, and the only flight available got us home the following day, causing us to have to both miss work, extend the hotel and car rental, parking, pet sitter, etc — all with our child who has become ill during the trip. We were both urgently due back at work and facing professional consequences for not getting back as planned. All said and done, including the original cost of the tickets and the lost wages from missing work, we were out over $2k — a loss I was not in a position to absorb. Expedia was not answering my persistent emails or returning my calls. The one reply I did get said simply “I am unable to confirm your request.” I was incredibly frustrated and at a loss regarding what to do, as my voice seemed so small and inconsequential trying to get the attention of this giant global company. Then I remembered Christopher Elliot’s column in the Washington Post and that he ran a consumer advocacy nonprofit.

I submitted my situation to the Elliot Advocacy website and got a reply within an hour. It was a weekend and an evening but after receiving the paper trail they requested, one of their advocates, Dwayne, responded to me immediately with his questions. It was the first person who had listened to me since the fiasco took place.

After reviewing everything closely to get a clear picture of exactly what happened, Dwayne reached out to Expedia on my behalf. I was asking for reimbursement for the tickets they never issued, the replacement tickets, and the costs of the extra hotel and rental car day. Within a week, I got an email from Expedia admitting their error and saying they were processing a reimbursement for the exact claim amount I had submitted to Elliot Advocacy. I received the funds yesterday. Despite the fact that this was a clear and egregious failure of Expedia, I have zero doubt that I would never have gotten a reply or a resolution without Dwayne and Elliot Advocacy. Companies have gotten too big and powerful, and when they take consumers’ money and don’t deliver —and repeated appeals to them to make it right go ignored —we have little recourse and little power to fight them. For many companies, indeed this seems to be a part of their whole profit model. Elliot Advocacy helps even out the power dynamic and get things resolved. And they do it for free. I can’t thank them enough and will support them in any way I can.