Elliott Report

Tony Rogozinski thought he followed the rules when he called StubHub to cancel his Lady Gaga ticket listing. But when the site sold the tickets anyway and billed him $864, he found himself in a customer service loop that led nowhere. Can he get his money back, or is he stuck paying for a mistake he didn’t make? I need your help getting a reimbursement of $864 from StubHub. I recently listed two Lady Gaga tickets for sale on its platform.

After Holland America discovers a pricing error on a last-minute cruise, it cancels Cindy Woodring’s ticket and asks for twice her original fare if she wants to keep her plans. She wants the cruise line to honor its original deal. Who’s right? My husband and I are loyal Holland America Line customers. Since we live in South Florida, we often look for last-minute deals. A few months ago, I saw a 10-day cruise on the Zuiderdam posted on its website.

Jerry Auer thought he’d bought great seats to see AC/DC at Notre Dame Stadium in Indiana. But he was thunderstruck when the seating chart on StubHub didn’t match reality. Auer believed he had front row seats. He checked the map on StubHub, saw Section 121 was right by the action, so he dropped $506 on his tickets. Just one small problem. StubHub’s map didn’t reflect reality. When Auer cross-referenced his purchase with the official venue map, he realized he hadn’t bought front-row access.

On a recent flight from Queenstown, New Zealand, to Melbourne, I discovered the limits of luggage tracking technology—theirs and mine. At the baggage claim, Virgin Australia delivered all of our belongings except for my son’s. It was a hard-to-miss purple Peak Design rollaboard. What happened to it? Even the airline didn’t seem to know. Its system showed it scanned at the origin and destination, and then it vanished.

Remember that new rule on unfair or deceptive fees that went into effect back in 2025? You know, the one that was supposed to kill resort fees? Since then, a hotel or booking site that advertises a room to an American traveler is supposed to show the total price, mandatory fees included, in the first number you see. Or not. Our readers are still running into these annoying extras. It turns out that exterminating these dishonest charges is more difficult than it first appeared.

If you’re in Topeka, Kan., next year, you can tour the state capitol, spend an afternoon at the Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Park or catch a concert at Evergy Plaza. Oh, and you’ll pay more for your hotel room. On January 1, the city’s transient guest tax rises from 7% to 8.5%. The City Council approved the increase unanimously in May.

When is a room guarantee not a room guarantee? Omer Malik discovered the answer when he booked a few nights at a chain hotel in Germany. Malik, the CEO of a computer security firm in London, always reserves rooms on lower floors. His expertise is in infrastructure and risk management, so exits, evacuation routes, and stairwells aren’t abstract concerns. When his confirmation came through for a king room on a low floor, he thought the matter was settled. It wasn’t.

Tracey Croisier bought a high-end Lenovo laptop expecting a powerhouse, but the battery died faster than a cheap phone. After five repair attempts and some truly bizarre advice from tech support, she’s stuck with a “portable” computer that only works when it’s plugged into a wall. Is it time for the company to give her money back? I paid $1,866 for a new Lenovo Yoga 9 a little over a year ago. I’m a writer and keynote speaker, so I need a device that works when I’m on the move.

Mila Schoun and his wife paid for a comfortable ride in premium economy, but Swiss bumped them to the back of the plane on their return flight. The airline then claimed it had already paid them at the airport with a mysterious cash card. But did it? My wife and I recently purchased tickets from Miami to Prague through Lufthansa. We paid $3,274 for premium economy class, including specifically reserved seats. On our return trip from Prague to Miami, our flight was rebooked.

One of the last things you’d expect at this time of year in a place like Chino Valley, Ariz., is a problem with a freeze. But that’s exactly what Robert Boisvert got when he tried to buy a new car. At his request, Boisvert’s Experian credit report had been frozen for the better part of a year.