My son has just returned from Stalis to find a credit card bill for 586 Euro.
He hired a car for a week and paid cash but he had to give them his card details to cover the excess in case he had a collision or damaged the car in any other way.
Anyway on returning the car he and the hire boss inspected the car and agreed that no damage had occurred they then went into the office where the Boss shredded the Excess forms with the credit card details on.
Looking at his credit card bill he noticed that the said amount was taken from the card on the very first day of the hire!
He has made several phone calls to the company in Stalis and been told that this is "normal practice" and that he would receive a refund after two weeks, this has not happened and he was not told that this would be what they would be doing or he would never have hired the car in the first place.
My question is has anyone else come across this type of rip off ( sorry "normal practice")? And can anything be done about it?
His credit card company have told him that they will take the case on if he gets nowhere with the car hire people, but this is no guarantee that he will get his money back.
I wont name the car hire company for the time being just in case they do decide to refund it, but not looking good at the moment!
Thanks in advance for any advice offered.
TF
Message for Wizard HT Mod
Can you suggest a different forum where this may get a better response please?
As an update he still has not had his money back
Thanks in advance
TF:smokin
Can you suggest a different forum where this may get a better response please?
As an update he still has not had his money back
Thanks in advance
TF:smokin
his next move is to again contact the card issuing company, in writing stating in a clear and concise manor what has hapend, if this fails then tru Ross out travel solicitor but you must run up the flagpole before you set fire to the flag. .. you will find ross,es number in the safe and sound booklet click link below my signature
yasus
wizard
yasus
wizard
Hi Wizard thanks for the reply.
He has been in touch with card company and done exactly what you suggested re the letter.
If he reaches the top of the flag pole and he still has not had his money back he will indeed be "setting fire to the flag"!
There are an awful lot of Crete and Stalis forums on the web
Many thanks again I will pass this info on.
TF:smokin
He has been in touch with card company and done exactly what you suggested re the letter.
If he reaches the top of the flag pole and he still has not had his money back he will indeed be "setting fire to the flag"!
There are an awful lot of Crete and Stalis forums on the web
Many thanks again I will pass this info on.TF:smokin
the Boss shredded the Excess forms with the credit card details on.
Think this may possibly be where the problem lies. When I ran a car hire operation we used to take a credit card rubbing but not process it until the end of the hire. It is quite possible they have a different system.
It may be that they are actually unable to credit the amount back as having destroyed the rubbing they do not have the correct details to carry this out. On the rubbing system to do a credit you do a rubbing on a refund/credit form for which you need the card.
fwh
Hi fwh
Thanks for your input.
He is hoping that the credit card company will be able to contact the bank that has the money, he has a reference number that the Crete bank has used. The suspicious part of the whole thing is that the money was taken on the very first day of the hire.
TF
Thanks for your input.
He is hoping that the credit card company will be able to contact the bank that has the money, he has a reference number that the Crete bank has used. The suspicious part of the whole thing is that the money was taken on the very first day of the hire.
TF
Sorry to read about your problem Teamfloyd. Many years ago I was held to ransom by the girl who delivered our car for a CDW, after our car had been paid for 'in full' prior to going on holiday. It was in fact one of the big name companies in car hire! We had no option other than to pay up an extra £100, or spend time arguing for a full refund which would not have been made to us until we returned to UK.
Nowadays I use local hire firms which are all in and have had no problems whatsoever with them. Hope you get sorted out.
Camilla
Nowadays I use local hire firms which are all in and have had no problems whatsoever with them. Hope you get sorted out.
Camilla
Hi camilla
It was with a local company in Stalis and we WILL be naming them very soon, but at the moment Its now in the hands of his credit card company so until he is sure of the finale outcome they will remain unnamed.
With the cost of the weeks hire and the rip off amount it cost him almost as much as the holiday
TF
It was with a local company in Stalis and we WILL be naming them very soon, but at the moment Its now in the hands of his credit card company so until he is sure of the finale outcome they will remain unnamed.
With the cost of the weeks hire and the rip off amount it cost him almost as much as the holiday
TF
Although I cannot help you with the particular issue you have - I feel its necessary to say that to take the amount for excess on the "first" day of the hire is not necessarily a "rip-off".
The exact same thing happened to us last week in Glasgow when we hired a car - £600 was debited to our credit card immediately to cover excess - this was not refunded for over a week - cheeky yes!
I agree with fwh that the problem seems to have been an error in the company refunding the funds back on to the credit card and I hope that as you have the reference number - this can all be resolved for you very quickly.
But it does seem to be quite common practice to debit the money at the START of the hire - I suppose the companies work on the premise that if they leave it till the last day you could have maxed your card out and not have enough funds left to cover the excess?
Especially if you are on holiday!
cheeky - certainly but not a rip off as such
Good luck and hope you get your money back very soon.!
The exact same thing happened to us last week in Glasgow when we hired a car - £600 was debited to our credit card immediately to cover excess - this was not refunded for over a week - cheeky yes!
I agree with fwh that the problem seems to have been an error in the company refunding the funds back on to the credit card and I hope that as you have the reference number - this can all be resolved for you very quickly.
But it does seem to be quite common practice to debit the money at the START of the hire - I suppose the companies work on the premise that if they leave it till the last day you could have maxed your card out and not have enough funds left to cover the excess?
Especially if you are on holiday!cheeky - certainly but not a rip off as such
Good luck and hope you get your money back very soon.!
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