Problem with car hire company not returning deposit

Tyler_Du

This is the situation, my brother is a uk citizen currently living in hong kong. He came back to the uk for a few weeks holiday earlier this year. During that time he hired a car, they met him at the airport with the car and it was returned the same way. As far as my brother was concerned everything was fine when the car was returned, however they have not returned his deposit (which is in excess of £500). Emails and phone calls are not being returned, a quick google search of the company name later and it seems this is a common problem with them, ie customers living outside of the uk having difficulties getting the deposit back.

Obviously the best course of action would be a letter before action and the small claims court, this is complicated by the fact that by brother is not in the uk, can somebody else attend the court on his behalf ?

My brother has spoken to his credit card company, who claim they cannot help him since it's been 2 months since the initial deposit was taken.

arcon5

I didn't think there was a time limit on section 75 claims :huh:

Maybe contact them again and enquire about time limits, after you get your answer then make another attempt to make a claim...

Flyboy152

Tyler_Durden_UK wrote: »

This is the situation, my brother is a uk citizen currently living in hong kong. He came back to the uk for a few weeks holiday earlier this year. During that time he hired a car, they met him at the airport with the car and it was returned the same way. As far as my brother was concerned everything was fine when the car was returned, however they have not returned his deposit (which is in excess of £500). Emails and phone calls are not being returned, a quick google search of the company name later and it seems this is a common problem with them, ie customers living outside of the uk having difficulties getting the deposit back.

Obviously the best course of action would be a letter before action and the small claims court, this is complicated by the fact that by brother is not in the uk, can somebody else attend the court on his behalf ?

My brother has spoken to his credit card company, who claim they cannot help him since it's been 2 months since the initial deposit was taken.

There are no time limits under section seventy-five of the consumer credit act. However, many debit card issuers do have a one hundred and twenty day time limit. Is it possible that he asked about their charge back facility, or that it was a debit card and not actually a credit card?