I rented a car from Sydney Airport late last year, and found my Credit card charged with a huge amount for additional damage, which was,at best double dipping on existing damage, and at worst, just plain fraudulent.
So far, no progress with getting my money back, but I am happy to take it all the way.
Has anyone had experience with dealing with this type of behaviour?
Car Rental
LGOFYS on 15/03/2014 - 10:10
Comments
Yeah, agreed. We haven't had any issues with rental cars, but I remembered that every time my dad rents a car when we go on holidays, because he doesn't want to pay the extra $30 a day for insurance, he'd spend a good half an hour checking out every single damage on the car and take photos of each. These days, when me and my husband rent cars, we just pay the extra insurance just in case we get into an accident.
No. I didn't take photos. I have been renting 6-10 times a year on my Amex for 15 years, and never had any reason to query the service. This time I used my personal card.
I complained about severe damage on pickup, but the renters added further damage to the same panel, and sent me an undated quote. It's a scam,but they are obviously well practised at it, and rely on unsuspecting individuals rather than corporates. I wonder how many times they have used the same quote for the same damage on the same car.
Yeah. A bit slack, but there were gaps of up to weeks between email replies. First, I gather this was part of their strategy, and second, I have never had to, or even known about Credit card Reversals. That's in train now but, yes, its late, so I may have to take alternatives.
Slightly off topic…
We were once charged an addition $10, weeks after we returned the car. We were told it was petrol cost, as we didn’t have a full tank when we return the car. There was a petrol station opposite the car rental, and we did fill it up (why wouldn’t we?!). We even had the petrol receipt to prove that we bought some petrol just minutes before we returned the car. But the rental car company said the receipt only proved that we’ve put some petrol in a car (A car, not THE car!), and there's no prove of a full tank!
It’s less than $10, and not much we could do. It’s just wrong in principal. How much money do they make by scamming people like this!Open a dispute with your bank as soon as possible in case the dispute with the car rental company takes too long or is ruled against your favour. You'll still be able to take it to consumer affairs and complain but your bank can always help in the meantime they might help with getting a response faster so you have an idea on what to do next or what they're trying to pull next.
Your bank would classify the transaction dispute and an unrecognised/unauthorised transaction and get in touch with the company to investigate further.
Good luck!Done that, but late, and as i said above, these guys are obviously well practised at it, and I'm sure they will blow off the Credit cars companies in seconds.
Why no companies name mention here? Is it against the rule?
My $10 petrol charge was Budget in South Melbourne.
I didn't want to rant against the company. It looks like its common practice in the industry, and I came up as a first time private renter, rather than a corporate, so I was fair game.
Here is an interesting insight.
http://www.carsguide.com.au/news-and-reviews/car-news/hire_c….
I am interested in hearing about how much of it is going on.
Did u take photos?
Seems a bit late though, three or more months later.