Twenty-five years of books. One declined credit card. (Illustration by Dustin Elliott)
📚 Hey Amazon, I want my account back! — One of our readers had his credit card declined in Costa Rica. It cost him his Amazon account. And the loss was bigger than you might imagine. Can the A-Team help?
Confidentially: You grab a bottle of detergent tagged at $4.50 and the register says $5.25. The Federal Trade Commission and 20 states say Dollar General rang it up that way for years, and that it knew. The details are for subscribers only.
By the way, you’re reading about half of this newsletter. Today’s Confidentially report on shelf prices sits in the other half. Here’s how to subscribe.
🇲🇺 New executive contacts are live for Air Mauritius. Mari bon sa!
Over on Backchannel, Koji Baba wants to know whether Marriott really looked into his case before it closed the file, because Singapore Airlines was still asking questions when the file closed. I’ll have the answer. — Christopher Elliott
FEATURED ARTICLE
Amazon deleted his 25-year history. Here is how he got it back.
Citibank declined a $650 purchase in San Jose, Costa Rica, and within 48 hours Rafael Guimaraes had no Amazon account, no Prime membership and no Kindle library. Amazon’s American representatives told him the problem belonged to the German site. The German team told him it belonged to the American site. Can he get 25 years of books back?
OUR UNDERWRITER
EMBARK Beyond is a luxury travel advisory dedicated to creating thoughtfully designed experiences that go beyond a destination. Focused first on client needs, we have built (and continue to build!) relationships with the world’s most sought-after lifestyle and fashion brands to open the world - beyond imagination - to our clients. Find out more at EMBARK Beyond.
📌 Here’s what you missed this week
Catch up on the latest stories from the Elliott Report
Holiday flights are packed. Board last anyway.
Air travel is heading for its busiest holiday season on record, with the average domestic Thanksgiving round trip at $402, up 31% from last year, and most major U.S. airlines charging about $10 more for a checked bag. Frequent fliers who board last and deplane last say rushing saves them nothing, because everyone ends up waiting at the same baggage carousel.
Look who decided your airline seat is big enough
The Federal Aviation Administration told Congress this summer that it sees no reason to set a minimum seat size, closing out a fight that ran through two congressional mandates, a federal appeals court and 26,100 public comments. Its own peer reviewers at the National Academies had already found that the research behind that answer can’t establish whether cramped seating slows an evacuation.
Let’s end the gotcha clause that’s making your hotel room more expensive
Hilary Azzaretti found the same rate on a Croatian hotel’s own website and on Expedia, with better cancellation terms from the booking site, so she handed her reservation to the middleman. A lawsuit filed in Seattle says Expedia’s lodging contract bars a hotel from selling for less on its own site, which builds a commission of 15% or more into the rate you pay everywhere.
Secret tunnels, breathing lamps: How Capella created a sustainable resort in Sydney
Anthony Metcalfe runs a 192-room hotel inside Sydney’s restored 1915 Department of Education building, where a shared tunnel between two heritage landmarks let the developer avoid a new excavation and the turndown gift comes from a female-owned business on Groote Eylandt. Seven years of restoration produced a luxury hotel that hands guests a QR code pointing them to somebody else’s coffee shop.
Samsung sent my broken projector back and called the case completed. Is there a way out?
William Hunt bought a $365 Samsung Freestyle projector that stopped working eight months into its one-year warranty. The authorized repair center found the unit defective and couldn’t source the parts, so Samsung closed the ticket, mailed the broken projector back and marked the service completed. Two months of calls, emails and an executive complaint produced nothing until he sent a demand letter citing the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act.
American Airlines promised me a $650 refund for bumping me. Why did it only give me a $250 credit?
Nicholle Acciarri was denied boarding on an oversold flight from New York to Cleveland, and a gate agent promised her a $650 check or reimbursement for a rental car. She rented the car, drove home and received a $250 flight credit that expires in a year. American Airlines now says an equipment downgrade disqualifies her, even after one supervisor found records showing she was eligible for $353.
OUR UNDERWRITER
Faye Travel Insurance provides whole-trip travel coverage and care that brings out the best in each journey with industry-leading technology that enables smarter, faster, smoother assistance and claims resolutions. Our robust travel insurance covers your health, your trip, your stuff, and even your pet, via an app that provides real-time proactive solutions, quick reimbursements and 24/7 support from anywhere in the world. Wherever you go, we’re there too, taking care of the details so you can make the most of each moment, with the only travel protection that is by your side and on your side every step of the way.
💬 What you’re asking on Backchannel
Two companies, one broken link. Guess who gets to fix it.
Koji Baba linked his Marriott Bonvoy account to Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, then unlinked and relinked it on a Marriott representative’s written advice, and the fast-track status he flew four segments to earn never arrived. Marriott offered him 35,000 points and closed the case while Singapore Airlines was still asking it for answers. Did anyone look at the partnership problem underneath, or only at the agent who gave bad advice? Here’s our team’s advice on Backchannel.
OUR UNDERWRITER
Flying Angels provide medical transport anywhere in the world on commercial airlines with a Flight Nurse or Doctor. A Flight Coordinator handles the logistics. The client receives care during the entire transport—bedside to bedside. Visit FlyingAngels.com or call 877-265-1085 to speak with a flight coordinator.
CONFIDENTIALLY
Information and insights for Elliott Confidential PRO subscribers
The tag said one price. The register said another. Seventy-five cents at a time.
Paying more than the shelf price? The FTC says Dollar General did it for years
The Federal Trade Commission and 20 states say the discount chain charged more at the register than its own shelf tags, price tags and ads, and that it knew about the problem for years.
You pick up a bottle of laundry detergent tagged at $4.50. At home, you glance at the receipt and see you paid $5.25. Most of us shrug that off. But the federal government says the extra cents at Dollar General added up to millions of dollars.
The rest of this exclusive report is for members only.
Behind this line: the 20 states that joined the case, the $1 million Ohio settlement Dollar General already paid over the same practice, and the six things to do when the register price doesn’t match the tag.
A Members Only story like this runs in every issue, along with Backchannel and the vault. Annual membership is 30% off through this link.
The Federal Trade Commission and 20 states have sued Dollar General Corp. The lawsuit alleges the discount chain routinely charged customers more at the register than the prices on its shelves, price tags and ads. According to the complaint, the company knew about the problem for years. It failed to fix it, the FTC says.