I've been ripped off

GSPBASSES

Back in the summer my son-in-law booked a holiday in Iceland for the family. Part of the booking was for a hire car, he asked for four-wheel-drive people carrier or just a big car that has four-wheel-drive. Okay, no problem. The cost of the car was going to be £540, an email come back confirming the price and the dates. So went back online to pay, only to find out, you pay when you pick the car up. All seem very straightforward. What was odd they said the car had to be secured (for want of a better word) by a credit card not debit card.

 

We all arrive in Iceland, go to the hire car people, they asked for all the normal things driving licences for anyone who's going drive the car. They then asked for the credit card to pay for the car, except it wasn't to pay for the car, they just took all the details and scanned it, along with our driving licences. We were then told you pay for the car when you return it.

 

Holiday over, drive back to the airport, return the car. They check it over to make sure there's no damage. Go in to the office, they say the car is fine. I go to pay, the lady behind the counter says she's nothing to do with the hire firm they only checked the cars back in, we will receive the paperwork by email. Didn't think any more of it. However, when the email comes through when we're back in England. It's not for agreed amount £520, but for £821. On querying this, I was told the extra money was for extra insurance, for chip and ash damage I had ask for, I then explained I didn't ask for this extra insurance, but they insisted we did, and if we look at page 4 of their terms and conditions. It shows we did and I signed for (news to me). I then said, we have no paperwork with the page 4, they then said it was in an email that was sent to us as we left the airport. As we had no computers with us only phones, did try to have a look at it when we got our holiday accommodation but a contract small print on the phone you just can't read it.

 

Many weeks later. Loads of emails loads of phone calls, I discovered that when you let the company scan your credit card it is the equivalent of signing your fucking life away will your money any.

The company refused to refund the money climbing we know all about the extra insurance. The credit card company said there was nothing they could do as I've signed the paperwork, even though it was electronically sign for in my absence. I did ask the credit card company HSBC why don't they warn people about having a credit card scanned, that’s equivalent of signing for anything a company cares to put the on your bill without you knowing. Never got an answer.

 

The moral of this story is don't let companies scan your cards, make sure you pay in advance or at the end of whatever it is, making sure they are not adding on extras without telling you.

 

This car hire company is not some fly by night tin pot firm, but the worldwide organisation AVIS.

ToneControl

the other thing I learned was to buy the extra insurance here before travelling

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-car-hire#insurancetrick

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-car-hire#creditcardbalance

I got it for 1 week worldwide for £47

GSPBASSES

ToneControl said:

the other thing I learned was to buy the extra insurance here before travelling

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-car-hire#insurancetrick

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-car-hire#creditcardbalance

I got it for 1 week worldwide for £47

Yes did that but Avis do not accept that type of cover, so I wasted my money getting the extra cover from my own insurance company

stimpsonslostson

I'm having a similar experience with Enterprise- unexpected charges that I can do nothing about. 

I rented a car in their car club to go to the supermarket. 
A day or two later I got a call saying that the car was scraped on the wheel arch & as I was the last person to drive it I was to blame. I said I wasn't. They said I hadn't reported it when I took the car & it was there for the next driver therefore it's my problem. 
"It won't be more than your £750 excess & will come off your account when we find out how much it'll cost". It's in the T&C that any damage reported by the next driver at the start of their rental is your problem unless you can prove it wasn't you...which I can't. 
That was the start of October... Still no bill or further contact. 
From now on I photograph the car before & after the rental. 

quarky

Car rental is particularly arsey in Iceland. 

Call your credit card company.

chillidoggy

Thing is, whether you agree with it or not, no credit card swipe, no hire car. End of.

I’m sure I had a rant on here not long ago about AVIS, the only car hire company I’ve ever had any problem with, but I’ve probably been lucky.

mgaw

i had a similarly bad experience with Avis as well, some of these companies are so contemptuous of their customers its appalling

Dominic

The whole hire-car thing is one big scam
Usually they like to charge £400 for damages that don't even exist .........like you're going to fly back and remonstrate with them when the car is in front of you 

Roland

I had a team who flew into Milan every Monday, and hired a car to drive to the client’s office. One week they got stung for damage, which they denied. Two weeks later they got stung for the same damage to the same car. At this point we cried fraud, and got our money back. 

stickyfiddle

Always always ALWAYS walk around the car taking photos with your phone before driving out of the hire place. 

CarpeDiem

I always check the car and note any damage on the paper condition form, handing in the updated version before driving away. On almost every occasion, I note damage that isn't on the hire company's system. It seems they are much more attentive when checking the vehicle back in at the end of the rental.

kaypeejay

GSPBASSES said:

ToneControl said:

the other thing I learned was to buy the extra insurance here before travelling

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-car-hire#insurancetrick

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-car-hire#creditcardbalance

I got it for 1 week worldwide for £47

Yes did that but Avis do not accept that type of cover, so I wasted my money getting the extra cover from my own insurance company

They will accept the cover if you stand your ground.  They have no right to force their cover on you. We had similar experiences in Spain and had to be extremely firm before they would back down.