Originally Posted by Blumie

I think the OP's compensation is learning this lesson: when you need to dispute a charge on your credit card, it almost always is easiery to deal directly with the cc company than with the merchant. (The cc company will typically ask you if you contacted the merchant, but it's ok to say that you have not.)

Years ago my parents rented a car in Europe, and when they returned, the rental car company had significantly overcharged their credit card. My mother sat down and wrote a long letter to the cc company and included copies of her cc bill and the car rental receipt. When I saw this, I told her to forget the letter and just call AMEX. One 10-minute call later, everything was taken care of.

Similarly, I cancelled a hotel reservation in Paris last year, but was charged a no-show fee nonetheless. One call to AMEX and it was all taken care of.

Note that it is very important to keep cancellation numbers when cancelling hotel reservations. With the number, it makes the whole process much smoother.