Ruth to the Rescue helps customers get money back

Ruth helps man Wayne with fence company, woman in Dearborn with Expedia.com

WAYNE, Mich. – Ken Gilbert spends a lot of time working on his home in Wayne, but when he wanted a new privacy fence he went to a professional. Sadly, he said, things did not go well.

"You spend all that money and somebody just disappears," Ken Gilbert told Ruth to the Rescue.

Ken called Total Fence Company, now based in Wayne, to do the job in 2010. Most of the fence went up, but the back gate was not delivered.

Eventually Ken canceled delivery of the gate and asked for a refund, but he says the owner of Total Fence Company, Bernie McMahon stopped returning his calls

"I just never heard from the guy, and I took him to court twice, and he never even showed up for court," Gilbert said.

Customer asks Ruth to the Rescue for help

Days after, Ruth to the Rescue spoke with McMahon. He then gave Gilbert a refund for the gate and about $1,400 in court costs.

"Yeah the court's couldn't do it, Ruth to the Rescue sure did," Gilbert said.

According to McMahon, the gate was originally delayed because it was a special order. Then, He said he was trying to re-sell it to raise the money for Ken's refund.

Ruth to the Rescue also contacted the Better Business Bureau about this story. The agency reached out to McMahon, who is now in the process of trying to clear previous complaints lodged against the Total Fence Company.

The Better Business Bureau has suspended its rating for the company until McMahon has some time to take care of those previous complaints. It's always good to check with the BBB before hiring someone to do a major renovation project like a new fence.

Travel trouble with Expedia.com

Tracy Stop of Dearborn also reached out to Ruth to the Rescue after running into a problem with Expedia.com.

"I felt like I wasn't getting anywhere with them," she told Ruth to the Rescue.

After a death in the family, Tracy tried to book hotel rooms through Expedia for her husband and uncle, so they could clean out the apartment of the loved one who died. They didn't know how long that project would take.

Tracy said she was told if they checked out of the hotel early, they could get a refund for the unused nights. But when the bill came, something was not right.

Her credit card will bill for the full seven days on two reservations, even though her husband and uncle had checked out two days early. Even worse, somehow charges for a third room also appeared.

For days, Tracy said that Expedia claimed it could not verify an early checkout and could not authorize any refunds.

"They did not in the slightest care that they were taking the money, " Tracy said.

Once Ruth to the Rescue contacted Expedia, the company verified the early checkout, confirmed a booking error, and refunded more than a thousand dollars to Tracy.

"I really want to thank Channel 4 and Ruth to the Rescue for getting this taken care of," Tracy said.

If you have a consumer problem you think should be investigated, call Ruth to the Rescue at 313-298-WDIV. Or, send an email to ruthtotherescue@clickondetroit.com