Legal responsibility of a company offering 3rd party services

mad_cereal_lover

I'd be grateful for any advice regarding this issue.

If you make a contract (i.e. payment) with a company for services provided by a 3rd party, what legal responsibilities does this company have for the actions of the 3rd party?

For example, you use a website to hire a car overseas. This UK based website takes payment for the hire of the car from you. You get the car from the 3rd party, return it, then they falsely accuse you of some damage (which you believe you can prove is false) and take money from your credit card retrospectively for the damages.

As the overseas company is not accessible by phone and not replying to email correspondence, but the company you initially made the contract with is, can you legally demand a refund from the initial UK based company you made payment to, even though the 3rd party has taken money off of your credit card themselves?

Thanks.

garth549

It might be easiest to just phone your credit card company and dispute the charge on your card. You havent authorised it so its likely you can get it back.

Im unsure where you stand legally with the 3rd party website, but the hire company would surely have to prove that you caused the damage to hold you liable for it.

Note this could also be some kind of scam - is it a well repected hire company?

mad_cereal_lover

garth549 wrote: »

It might be easiest to just phone your credit card company and dispute the charge on your card. You havent authorised it so its likely you can get it back.

Im unsure where you stand legally with the 3rd party website, but the hire company would surely have to prove that you caused the damage to hold you liable for it.

Note this could also be some kind of scam - is it a well repected hire company?

Thanks for your reply.

You would have thought so, wouldn't you! But no, after 2 disputes with my CC, they've resorted to telling me that car rental companies charge things retrospectively such as petrol or damages, thus I need to take it up with them.

The company I booked the car through is Auto Europe, a US company with UK based offices and headquarters. I paid them, for a rental in Spain, the company they provided me with was Goldcar, a spanish company. They have a place at the airport and most people were renting from them (cheapest I think).

On return they took 250Euros then 50Euros from my CC.

Dispute with bank, email Goldcar. 4 weeks later Goldcar said I filled up with wrong petrol (it was a diesel car), hence the charges for repair and tow truck. 1 week after that they got back to my CC (I disputed) saying that 150Euros was for "cleanliness deposit" and 150 Euros was for tow truck (no explanation why).

Challenged again with CC, challenged now with Auto Europe (who my contract is technically with as they took payment?).

CC just came back saying what I've said above (not interested, not their problem, which means now I'm paying interest).

I wrote a detailed letter/fax to Auto Europe explaining why the charges couldn't have been true. They just came back saying Goldcar says I filled with wrong fuel, and as it is diesel, filling it with petrol immobilises the car, hence the charge for a tow truck.

Yet I pointed out in my letter that I was required to buy a full tank (pre-filled), I did less than a full tanks' worth of miles so never opened the fuel cap, and if it was filled it would be immobilised so how did I drive it to the airport and park in the 2nd story of a multi-story carpark where I was meant to return it (nearest fuel station is 1km from airport)?

Furthermore, the latest correspondence from Auto Europe attaches the final invoice from Goldcar with the charges added - and this includes the starting and ending mmileage, and the starting and ending tank guage reading (from 8/8 to 2/8 so I used 3/4 tank). I did 263 miles and there is no way I used more than 3/4 tank to acheive this mileage in a 1.4l diesel ford fiesta, therefore there is too little fuel left in for any to ever have been added by me.

I've also researched the car and found out that ALL fiestas after the end of 2008 were fitted standard with Fords "Easy Fuel" System which has an adapator valve making it impossible for you to put in the wrong fuel pump.

Therefore, the charges are illegal and ungrounded, but my CC company doesn't want to know, the car rental company is in Spain and not answering my emails, and so my only hope really lies with the company I booked the car with and paid - AutoEurope.

I've explained this scenario before but had little to no help from forums, which is why what I need to know is does this company have a legal responsibility with regards to the 3rd party making such charges, considering I entered a contract with them for the car hire which they provided a service which has ended up with me being wrongfully charged execss.

If they have a legal responsibility as such, I can start quoting legal jargon about this and have a hope of getting my £270 back. If not, I'm screwed I think.

Any help appreciated.

Thanks

Vomityspice

You contract is with the company you contacted originally. If they sub-contracted the car hire thats not your problem!

The CC debts in dispute are fairly straight forward, the 3rd party only have your details because the original company forwarded then on.

Your action should be against the original company. Write a letter before action (LBA) and if they don't refund within 14 days, issue a claim for damages. It will be for Auto Europe to defend the action (they could make a Part 20 CPR application against Goldcar but that is not your concern).

If you can prove the charges are spurious then Auto Europe will have to pay up and then they can chase Goldcar for the money.

Don't forget to add Stat. Interest at 8%.

As a fallback, your CC are also liable, so explore that avenue as well. Make a complaint to your CC and then move it on to the Financial Ombudsman. It will cost your CC when the complaint goes to the FO so make their life unhappy by ensuring that if the complaint is not remedied, the FO are then involved. I believe the current cost to banks is around £300 per complaint so logic would suggest that refunding you £270 is a cheaper way to resolve this dispute.

mad_cereal_lover

Vomityspice wrote: »

You contract is with the company you contacted originally. If they sub-contracted the car hire thats not your problem!

The CC debts in dispute are fairly straight forward, the 3rd party only have your details because the original company forwarded then on.

Your action should be against the original company. Write a letter before action (LBA) and if they don't refund within 14 days, issue a claim for damages. It will be for Auto Europe to defend the action (they could make a Part 20 CPR application against Goldcar but that is not your concern).

If you can prove the charges are spurious then Auto Europe will have to pay up and then they can chase Goldcar for the money.

Don't forget to add Stat. Interest at 8%.

As a fallback, your CC are also liable, so explore that avenue as well. Make a complaint to your CC and then move it on to the Financial Ombudsman. It will cost your CC when the complaint goes to the FO so make their life unhappy by ensuring that if the complaint is not remedied, the FO are then involved. I believe the current cost to banks is around £300 per complaint so logic would suggest that refunding you £270 is a cheaper way to resolve this dispute.

Thank you very much for this, its very useful and I will go down this avenue now with more confidence!

Regards

Sailor1983

Thanks Vomity Spice, this is useful to me too. I was charged (without any reason) my Europcar when my contract was with Auto Europe. I might follow your advice.