Decode Car Hire going bust!! BEWARE

grayfray

I booked a car with Decode back in March for use in Sept, received an email a month ago saying sorry we are not using the old payment system anymore and your car hire is cancelled a refund will be made and you have to re-pay again, payment will be made within 20 days...... 28 days later and 12 emails I have not had my refund of £92. I have today received an email from customer support (thats a laugh) Elizabeth Carr saying they are having payment problems and cant issue my refund and they dont know when they can. On ringing there office their phone number just rings out and their website live chat does not answer.....so just a warning to any prospective customers, beware I think this company is in the dying throws if they cannot refund a customer £92 after 5 weeks.
PS I paid by credit card can I claim back against them?

spiro

Did you not check their reviews before using? See http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews244620.html

grayfray

obviously not

StuieUK34

And there not going bust either, there just good at ripping a few people off (well, quite a few) and getting away with it, and have been doing so for many months (done a lot of reading in this company)....

teralin

Do not use decode car hire, they take your money and you have to pay again for your car at the point of hire. avoid decode at all costs

grayfray

Can we not get their website closed down by their isp or host, it is obviously a fraud site. You would think the credit card companies would do something. this money is going somewhere is it funding drugs or terrorism?

Nuck_the_king

(sung to the tune of New York, New York).

I booked (and paid for) a car through Decode in March with a Spanish car rental company for this summer on my (Tesco) Mastercard credit card.

Picked the car up, dropped it off, no problems.

Just checked my credit card statement - the Spanish car rental company have billed me for the entire rental cost again (on my Santander Zero card, the details of which they took when I collected the car). Called them - they claim that Decode never paid them the money.

So, I have tried to contact Decode - but no joy on "online chat" or phone number. Called Tesco credit card - "we've had a few of these - we'll raise a claim against them". So I am to be sent a form to complete and then we'll see if I get a full refund.

A few questions -

1) Whilst I appreciate that the Spanish car company has a living to make, are they allowed to take the money from me because they were not paid? It seems a bit iffy to me. They say that they tried to contact all of the affected clients, but I hadn't heard anything. To be fair, they were very helpful on the phone and have promised to send me an e-mail detailing what I do next.

2) Will I get a full refund, or will I only get part of it?

3) Do I have to wait until Tesco get their money, or are they obliged to pay me as soon as I make a claim that they can't argue with?

4) Am I obliged to battle with Decode myself, or is it immediately Tesco's problem?

Any thoughts / help / advice would be very much welcomed!

Thanks,

Nuck.

StuieUK34

Good question, i read quite a few people on here have there credit cards billed to the full rental amount..... But when the rental firm takes a 'security deposit' when you rent the car, surely your only authorising the use of the card for damages only....
If the rental firm bills you for the full amount on your card, and you havent authorised them to do that, surely thats a big breach somewhere ? (which makes you wonder why people dont like using credit cards for car rentals!)

teralin

In my case with my own credit card company, they charged the amount back to DECODE and a refund was made to my account very quickly. However, there was a 45 day period during which Decode could contest the charge back. Decode didn't contest it.

So if Tesco operate a similar system, they shoud refund your money immediately and then take it up with Decode.

kayell

On 2nd July I booked a car hire via Decode Car Hire (London) for use in Malaga Spain from 2nd October. However just a few days before travelling I got an email from Decode saying that the car was not available. I checked with the actual car hire company they should have used in Spain and was informed that the car WAS available but Decode had not paid them since booking it at the beginning of July. I have tried 'phoning, sending letter and emails but no response. On checking the internet I find that they have been ripping off many other people in this way for a long long time. THEY NEED TO BE NAMED AND SHAMED!