Credit card charged abroad by car rental company

mad_cereal_lover

Wasn't sure where to put this - I had it in the holiday forum but about 13th page in and no replies. Any help appreciated:

OK here is the scenario, any help appreciated. I booked car rental for 8 days, from 31st May - 7th June in Spain at Genrona airport. I booked it through TravelSupermaket which found the best deal with auto-europe.co.uk and the rental was with GoldCar.

The amount was pre-paid for £117.28, which came off my card before I went overseas. There were no additional charges stated.

When I got to the airport, Goldcar said that I needed to pay for petrol for a full tank and return empty. I also wanted to pay for my partner to be a named driver, this totalled about £70 and I paid on my Mastercard. this is the only time I used this card (used cash for the rest of the holiday). It came out under "Goldcar rental" on my statement.

I returned the car on the 7th June. I dropped off the keys, the car was fine and no damage had been done. Additionally, I was told when picking it up that any damage I noticed on the bodywork didn't matter - just tyres and windows. They were all fine when I returned it.

A few weeks later, I checked my CC statement and thought it was a bit high. I went through the payments and shockingly saw a payment taken out on the 7th June (the day I dropped off the car), for 250EURO, and one on the 17th June, 10 days later, for 50EURO. These totalled about £253 I think. The company name next to it was something like AutoEuropa.

I googled this name and it was GoldCar's parent company name. The funny thing is, the address where the first (250EU) payment came out was the Gerona airport on my statement, but the 50EU one was showing as San Juan something or another - a different place.

I queried this with my bank and said I did NOT authorise these payments and was given no explanation or contact for these payments to be taken from my card. I also emailed the company (GoldCar) through their website email addy provided, and asked for an explanation giving the details.

I've had NO reply from GoldCar and still waiting to hear from the bank as they are querying the company.

Where do I stand on this? I know no damage was left but no doubt they are going to claim that I did? But why would they take 250EUro on the SAME DAY I returned the car??? Surely it would take a few days to process and assess if it was damage related. What are my rights and how long will the bank wait to hear from the company for an explanation?

Thanks for any help.

4743hudsonj

s75 charge back (s75 is a part of the consumer credit act that and credit providers are equally and severably liable for any transactions made over £100)

say that to your bank

as for the smaller charge, visa/matercard chargeback

Simples.

Sailor1983

I had exactly the same thing with auto europe. I booked online and then collected the car from Europecar. After I returned the car Europe car charged me without authorisation for 373 GBP. I still haven't got the money back. Steer clear of this company