I just had my little dust-up with an airline over their failure to give a prompt refund after they canceled the flight.
Tactics (which could be adapted in this case):
—Complaint filed with US Department of Transportation
—Complaint filed with Better Business Bureau
It worked (slowly, but it worked).
Congrats on it working!
Decades ago, Crocker Bank “lost” a $25,000 account of mine when I was working overseas (worth about $250,000 today). The branch manager lamely said “You must of have bounced a check.” I went to the library and got the addresses of the state banking commission heads and the corporate executive staff at the bank, all whom got a personal letter from me wherein I called out the branch manager by name. Thereafter, whenever I went into the branch, he was all “Yes Sir Mr. ABCD” and “No Sir Mr. ABCD” I recall him squirming a lot when he walked, too. Got my money back in no time at all.