COVID-19 has wreaked all sorts of havoc for companies and consumers that purchased everything from airfare to sports tickets.
While some companies have done right by their customers, others have complained that they may be forced out of business if they are compelled to offer refunds. Of course that argument also works for consumers who are now struggling to pay their bills.
In the airline industry, American and Delta have generally done the right thing, while airlines like Air Canada, El Al, JetBlue, and United have resisted offering refunds.
Luckily if you have a ticket that involves US travel, most airlines have been compelled by the DOT to offer refunds for cancelled flights. If they don’t, you can file a DOT complaint to get a refund. Many DansDeals readers who were not able to get a refund from El Al were able to receive one after filing a complaint.
But it’s not foolproof, Air Canada has still resisted refunds and lied about the DOT’s position.
Those policies may make short-term sense, but it will bite them if they are hit with a fine or if they lose customers due to their policies.
Why would someone book a ticket on Air Canada or El Al today knowing that they may not get a refund if the airline cancels their flight?
You can try a chargeback on your credit card based on DOT rulings. Or you can try taking them to small claims court if that fails.
Back on Cyber Monday, I bought 10 Cedar Point tickets with Fast Lane access. Yes, I’m a hopeless roller coaster junkie, I even visited Ferrari World while in Abu Dhabi to try out the world’s fastest roller coaster. But nothing compares to Cedar Point.
Cedar Point is currently closed and when they reopen it will initially only be for season ticket holders and resort guests. All visitors will need to wear a mask.
Cedar Point wrote in their April 14th update that they would “work with guests who have prepaid single-day tickets during the time period of our temporary park closure,” so I figured it wouldn’t be hard to request a refund or ticket extension to use them next year.
However I emailed Cedar Point and they said they were not offering refunds and they were not offering extensions past 2020.
I tweeted at them, but there was radio silence.
@cedarpoint
You sold tickets on Cyber Monday 2019 good for 2020 and we even promoted the sale: https://t.co/ksenM3KfTyDo the right thing and refund or extend the validity to 2021 for people that planned visits and aren't able to come due to the park closure#CPDoTheRightThing
— DansDeals (@DansDeals) June 15, 2020
I could have tried to dispute the charge, but before I went down that route I filed a complaint with the OH attorney general.
The attorney general’s office asked for more detail and I sent them my purchase receipts and outlined my complaint and their empty promise about working with guests.
The very next day Cedar Point emailed me and the attorney general’s office apologizing for the “confusion” and wrote that effective immediately they would extend all of their 2020 tickets to be used in 2021.
After filing a complaint with the OH Attorney General, #CedarPoint responded that they will extend all 2020 tickets to be usable in 2021! Mission Success! #CPDoTheRightThing
— DansDeals (@DansDeals) June 23, 2020
You can find a link to your state’s attorney general here and file a complaint with your state’s attorney general on their site.
Which companies have you dealt with during the COVID-19 and what avenues did you utilize to try to resolve issues?
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81 Comments On "Companies Behaving Badly During COVID-19: Here’s What I Did And What You Can Do To Get Your Desired Result"
All opinions expressed below are user generated and the opinions aren’t provided, reviewed or endorsed by any advertiser or DansDeals.
I emailed Six Flags yesterday to ask about the season pass that I purchased for 2020 in August 2019.
They responded:
Thank you for contacting Six Flags Great Adventure.
We are committed to providing you with all of the value that you paid for. For each operating day that the park is closed during the 2020 Season, we will give you one additional operating day during the 2021 season. We will also be providing bonus free friend days and special benefits this summer when we re-open to make up for the inconvenience.
We will also have very special renewal offers on 2021 Season Passes just for 2020 Season Pass Holders to take into account the free days you receive. We’re committed to ensuring that you receive a great value on both your 2020 and your 2021 Season Passes.
Again, thank you for taking the time to contact us. We look forward to seeing you at our parks.
Six Flags announced that they are reopening July 3 – https://www.nj.com/entertainment/2020/06/six-flags-great-adventure-announces-reopening-plan-for-july-4th-weekend.html
I got the GoAnwhere 2020 pass for $20.20 and I haven’t been able to utilize so will try to get the date on that extended.
It seems like they’re extending their regular passes to 2021, have you checked the expiration date of your passes?
It’s not automatic on these. Working with a rep to extend it now. Looks like they’re giving a 2 year extension on most passes so hopefully they’ll extend that here as well. Would be a real treat…
Got 1 year expiration extension (apparently when they say 2 year extension they mean 2 years from purchase date, not expiration).
They’re also letting customers swap passes for different cities.
What do you mean swap passes for different cities? With a difference in price I’m assuming?
Well that would definitely be more beneficial than a refund
How about MLB not granting refunds for games that will never be played ?
1. Contact the team
2. File AG complaint
3. Dispute
4. Small claims
Great resolve! Dan kudos for not giving in to their unfair policies. You have always been a fighter!
by the way when are they reopening?
Has anyone tried chatting with amazon to complain about prime shipping taking a week or more? I understand why they had to prioritize however it’s a service we pay for and didn’t receive for a few months so I hope to contact them and get some sort of compensation.
Agreeed! Slower processing time is understandable. However they are taking advantage and sending items with slower shipping speeds. Whether or not they prioritize items they need to send with 2 day shipping!
In my opinion, Amazon is taking advantage of the situation. I had multiple shipments arrive later than promised, later than the prime terms would expect and still shipped late and shipped with a lower-cost shipping which was bound to cause problems. I would think that when Amazon ships late they would not use UPS handing to the post office since that adds an extra two days.
while d googling around I found that at least one law firm is starting a class action suit on behalf of prime customers that have not been getting the service they were promised.
Really? Slower? Big deal. Spoiled much?
The service offered by amazon requires amazon to offer free 2 day shipping in exchange for a yearly membership fee… not sure what world you live on, but amazon’s entire growth structure is built off of that program. Sorry, but being spoiled has nothing to do with it… and is definitely not admissible in court
Amazon has definitely taken advantage of the situation, especially with their definitions of “essential items” back in March and April. Things are definitely improving. Not all prime items are promised in 2 days, but everything I ordered for my daughter for camp last week came in 2 days, as promised. Including 1 item in the order that wasn’t promised until the following day.
My items are coming next day. Probably depends on your location and local warehouse staffing.
In the real bz corona days my items took a while to come. Now though they are coming regular timing.
i chatted amazon when they renewed my prime membership in May, explaining that I didnt get fair value for prime for the last quarter of my membership. They refunded half the annual membership fee.
Wahwahwah first world problem much?
We pay for it
For such a woke guy you sure got deep into the comments section
I got a 25$ credit
We got a full year refund of prime because packages were taking weeks to come
No, but every order that comes late ill ask for a $5 promo credit (sometimes more, depending on the order) and they ALWAYS give it.
Use the online chat
https://www.amazon.com/message-us?origRef=de_poc&ref_=de_poc
Priceline would not issue us a refund. We disputed charge with capital one. Priceline lied and said we cancelled the flight. We provided a letter from the airline (virgin atlantic) that the airline cancelled. Capital One sent us a pre-written message stating sorry your dispute is closed and we are not refunding money and they gave no explanation. We filed complaint with CFPB and got an apology from Capital One and the money refunded 1 week later.
Wow, nice!
Not on the same level but I just had a funny experience with Walmart today; Two separate times I bought hand sanitizer and went online to return them. For the 1st one it said to return in store by 7/11/20 and when I went to do the 2nd one it said to keep the item.
So I went to Walmart today and as soon as it’s our turn the cashier says there’s a BAN on returning such items. I guess hand sanitizer can’t sanitize itself. So I get back on the chat and after waiting 25 mins at least the chat rep processed a refund and said to keep the item.
You’ve got to much empty time, life is greater then this nonsense
Thank you zen master, your words of wisdom are open the eyes
I just emailed the Yankees regarding tickets I bought in Nov. of 2019 for 2 weeks ago, we’ll see what they respond with!
Careful! Make sure they don’t go the wahwah, “banging on a garbage can temper tantrum route”. It may lead to a strained rib cage for Giancarlo.
I booked 4 expensive tickets for the Omer Adam concert. Seat geek would not refund since the concert was “postponed” and not canceled. Although I doubt it’s going to take place in September. Either way, I declined the charge with Chase, got back my money immediately and so far have not heard back from anyone. It’s been about 60 days. I hope it stays that way.
What about sleepaway camp refunds?
Is that the new Pesach program fiasco?
Camps have been taking deposits this past week knowing the camp won’t open.
You can say its the new fiasco
Take them to Beis Din.
Dont be a chicken
I have quite a few positive, negative and yet undecided DPs.
Hyatt/MGM – positive – extremely efficient fast refund
Marriott – sent me to deal with the hotel directly, initially was fed some bs, warned that I will file all kinds of complaints including AG and got refund within a week
Hilton – no refund over 50 days now, been working with Diamond desk who promised to issue refund a week ago and then work it out with the hotel but did not come through yet
Air France – I was within chargeback time so after some bs from Air France I simply let Chase deal with it
Disney – this is the one I’m mostly concerned about. Have 3 CA resident tickets. Disney promised to extend them by the number of days they remain closed but this is not a satisfactory solution in my mind. I do not feel comfortable taking my family there any time soon and want a refund. Need to start working on it.
Do I contact the AG of the state I live in or where the company is headquartered?
I’d start with the AG where the company is HQ but you can also do your state’s AG.
Small data point, but I had a flight from France to the US for August booked through Flying Blue on AF. When I called AF they refused a refund unless I paid a redeposit fee. So instead I emailed customer service and simply asked for a full refund, and received it about 2 weeks later.
Always pays to HUCA 🙂
Dan what can we do about Air Canada? They are defiantly horrible and I stupidly bought a very expensive ticket for a friend who now no longer even lives in Canada. Never would I imagine they’d be so greedy and stupid.
Does it go to/from the US?
Amazing! I have the same situation with Cedar Point. Bought 5 tickets, FP, parking and all day drink vouchers during Cyber Monday also…they said they would not extend but offered me to buy season passes if i wanted to upgrade…no thank you. Can find ticket better priced on deal. Will get back to them now that I know you can contact OH AG. Thanks ton!!
My pleasure, enjoy CP!
LA Fitness makes it impossible to cancel. And won’t let you cancel if you aren’t paying anymore. And require ridiculous notice to cancel. Always been this way, but worse during COVID. Very bad behavior.
Dispute the cc charge
Why should we contact AG before going the route of dispute?
Really depends on your desired outcome. If you just want a refund and you deserve it, then go ahead and dispute.
I also bought a ticket to Cedar Point from Dan’s link when they had a sale. I had emailed them weeks ago and gotten a response that they would not extend it.
I’m glad to hear they changed their tune.
Is there any place that it’s in writing? Is it up on their website?
I’d suggest emailing them again as they just changed the policy yesterday according to what they told me.
I haven’t seen it posted elsewhere.
Same here! I’m going to email them too, again. Ridiculous of them.
Our company has season tickets in the Premiere level in Staples Center. Includes all Lakers, Clippers, Kings and Sparks games. It’s an annual contract and the price includes all playoff games played at Staples (could’ve, should’ve been good thing to have). Now that they cancelled 25 games between NBA and NHL, they are only refunding a small fraction of the cost of those cancelled games. (if you want to call it that, because they are rolling the money towards next year’s invoice). They are claiming some abatement clause in the contract, and claiming that most the money is for the license, and they are only refunding the unplayed games…..
Priceline. Disputed with Discover and included documentation on how their IVR refused to let me into the queue when stranded in Israel. Received refund of ENTIRE airfare, not just unused segments
I received a refund from Air Canada last week for five rt tickets to TLV
Thank you for the info @dan, any idea if sending complaint to DOT helps even if i bought a tkt via a travel agency on ELAL? credit card charge was ElAl but thru the agency
#2 Will sleepover camps give refunds?
Just emailed my daughter’s camp yesterday. They’re still working on other options but said they’d refund after July 1st. My son’s camp offered refunds for those who wanted, but at this point looks like they’re going to have modified camp, so we’re sticking with it. We didn’t look into refunding for day camp as it’s still open, but if it turns out to be to restrictive for the kids we will cancel for second half. Hope it doesn’t come to that.
hi dan any idea of what to do about airfrance miles that will expire because i cant fly to israel without 2 week lockup please?
Still nothing from ELAL even after DOT.complaint about 2 months ago! Acres you elal, real thieves, dirty slimy thieves.
Dispute the cc
Still waiting on my daughter’s seminary to give me a tuition refund since they closed their doors before Pesach. A dayan/judge at the Bais Havaad (Jewish court of law) in Lakewood said that it’s terrible how the seminaries are not refunding and I should take them to court, in Israel -sure.
The misrad Hachinuch in Israel (Ministry of Education) ruled that schools can only charge 50% tuition for months that they were closed with only zoom classes open. You can try and get at least 50% refunded.
Alternatively, “there’s power in numbers” – speak to other parents of students in the same sem and work as a group (maybe via din torah in the US) to get your money back
You heard the judge say it firsthand? Or you heard from someone who heard from someone…
Old Navy has been impossible! They have failed to deliver promised purchases and we have spent hours on hold on the phone and emailing in an effort to get someone to assist us. Unfortunately, the purchase was made using a Banana Republic card which is part of the Old Navy family. We do not want to cancel the order. We just want to receive it. Any advice? This is the most horrific customer service we have ever experienced and, like most people, we have had our fair share of bad customer service in the past.
I am waiting for a refund from virgin atlantic for a ticket from afew days after purim that they cancelled the flight it was for TLV-LHR any recommendations?
Here’s what I did. I liked your tweet, and the next day Cedar Point came around. I think once they saw over 20 likes, they caved!
In all seriousness, thanks Dan!! Thanks for posting the deal, and thanks for helping us get what we paid for.
LMK when you are going, maybe you can take one of my children! //s
Is there a “too late” to complain time?
Marriot-ritz cancelled my 3 nights at Ritz claiming it expired. I made a reservation but it didn’t show up on their systems. I told them I called a second time to confirm and it was there. But now it expired and they refuse to let me use it. This happened a couple months before covid-19 though. I’ve sent emails and complained on the phone but they are stubborn with this. Is it to late to complain to AG or something?
What’s my next move?
Thabjs
Its worth a try.
Any idea how to dispute an Elal ticket booked with Chase ultimate rewards? Chase keeps on shuffling me to different departments. They’ve sent two refund requests to Elal but obviously nothing happened. I filed a DOT complaint a while ago but so far hadn’t heard anything.
I had Iberian Air tickets booked through Student Universe for flights to Eretz Yisroel in late March. The flights were cancelled. Student Universe responded that for $40 per ticket, they would process the refund request and wait until the airline refunded the tickets to refund me, which they said could take several months. The Iberian Air tickets were for flights operated by El Al and American. I decided to dispute the charged on my Chase Sapphire. Student Universe sent an email telling me to undo the chargeback request, which I ignored. The purchase was fully charged back to my account by Chase.
ElAl still hasn’t refunded me despite getting “approved” on the online refund form. DOT said they can’t do anything because my flight itinerary was to UK. Not U.S. Can I still get a chargeback (chase saph preffer) even if it’s been more than 60 days?
chatted w/amazon about prime delays. they offered $10. we later settled on $50 promo credit.
If tickets were booked on Delta through a third party website. Who is obligated to give the refund?
I have appliance warranties through Mack Cam. They were closed until June 22 and did not offer any service. I had to pay for a repair on my own.
Well, I guess it helps when you have 88,000 Twitter followers.
I think you missed the entire point of the post.
The tweets did nothing, it was filing with the AG that got it done.
And the point is anyone can do that…
anyone have any experience trying to get statement credit on chase sapphire reserve since the PriorityPass is effectively useless in most places now?
” From Cedar Point
“Best of all, your ticket is valid to use through the entire 2020 season as well as the 2021 season through Labor Day, September 6, 2021.”