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Car rental deposit charged without notice
Hi, I'm new on here so thank for your advice.
Recently hired a car for a couple of days. It's the first time I've done this, so was unfamiliar with how it usually works.
Was told to bring both parts of license and a credit card for deposit purposes, which I duly did. However when I arrived the man on the desk explained how I had paid online to reduce my damage deposit from £1000 to £250, and that for an extra £6/day (£12 total for my hire period), I could reduce the excess to zero. So I did that, and gave him my debit card for the (£12) payment.
He swiped the card, did a few things on his computer then gave me the car keys and sent me on my way. Great, only I hadn't given him my credit card at all which I just failed to notice (it was late and I'd had a long day).
I'm now back home (returned the car yesterday), and checked my bank balance online to discover that there was a charge to the rental company for £262 pending on my account. The account didn't have £262 in it to begin with, so this meant that although my statement balance was in the black, my available balance was £0.00. Correct me if I'm wrong but this seems to imply that I was into an unplanned overdraft.
I called the rental company to ask what this charge was for and they said it was my deposit for the rental, which would be held against the account and returned to the account within 10 days. I couldn't understand what she was trying to explain but I got the impression that the funds hadn't actually been withdrawn from my account.
At no point did the man at the desk explain that he was charging £262 to the card I was handing him, all we had talked about when I handed the card over was the £12 insurance cost. In fact the value of the deposit was never even mentioned in any of the paperwork I got when I booked the rental online, it just said to being a credit card for deposit purposes.
When I called customer services to ask about the charge, I mentioned to her that none of this was explained to me when I collected the car, to which she replied that "yes, he should have explained all this at the time".
After taking the car, (which effectively put me into unplanned overdraft although the transaction was 'pending'), I continued to use the card without realising what was happening. The card continued to work so I never realised anything was wrong. I must have used it at least 5 or 6 times.
My most pressing question is, am I going to be charged for going into an unplanned overdraft? That is, does the fact that this was a 'pending transaction' where the funds were never transferred to the rental company mean that I won't be charged the usual unplanned overdraft fees by my bank?
Thanks,
Tom
Recently hired a car for a couple of days. It's the first time I've done this, so was unfamiliar with how it usually works.
Was told to bring both parts of license and a credit card for deposit purposes, which I duly did. However when I arrived the man on the desk explained how I had paid online to reduce my damage deposit from £1000 to £250, and that for an extra £6/day (£12 total for my hire period), I could reduce the excess to zero. So I did that, and gave him my debit card for the (£12) payment.
He swiped the card, did a few things on his computer then gave me the car keys and sent me on my way. Great, only I hadn't given him my credit card at all which I just failed to notice (it was late and I'd had a long day).
I'm now back home (returned the car yesterday), and checked my bank balance online to discover that there was a charge to the rental company for £262 pending on my account. The account didn't have £262 in it to begin with, so this meant that although my statement balance was in the black, my available balance was £0.00. Correct me if I'm wrong but this seems to imply that I was into an unplanned overdraft.
I called the rental company to ask what this charge was for and they said it was my deposit for the rental, which would be held against the account and returned to the account within 10 days. I couldn't understand what she was trying to explain but I got the impression that the funds hadn't actually been withdrawn from my account.
At no point did the man at the desk explain that he was charging £262 to the card I was handing him, all we had talked about when I handed the card over was the £12 insurance cost. In fact the value of the deposit was never even mentioned in any of the paperwork I got when I booked the rental online, it just said to being a credit card for deposit purposes.
When I called customer services to ask about the charge, I mentioned to her that none of this was explained to me when I collected the car, to which she replied that "yes, he should have explained all this at the time".
After taking the car, (which effectively put me into unplanned overdraft although the transaction was 'pending'), I continued to use the card without realising what was happening. The card continued to work so I never realised anything was wrong. I must have used it at least 5 or 6 times.
My most pressing question is, am I going to be charged for going into an unplanned overdraft? That is, does the fact that this was a 'pending transaction' where the funds were never transferred to the rental company mean that I won't be charged the usual unplanned overdraft fees by my bank?
Thanks,
Tom
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Comments
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Your post is confusing, you complain about the charge you weren't told about but ask a question about your bank account, overdraft and charges.
The best people to answer the question you asked is your bank, nobody on here will be able to give a definitive answer on whether you have gone into any unplanned overdraft or whether you will be charged any fees. I'd be phoning them up to see the state of play if I were you.0 -
Strange, they usually take a deposit from a credit card, anyways just because it's your 1st time and do not understand the process, doesn't mean the company is wrong or they are trying to rip you off!
The process the rental company use is the same as at hotels, they card is tagged with a debit request.
As for the unplanned overdraft baldy blah.....!
Somewhere along the line you have to pay for the rental, where was the money supposed to come from?
Often these places do not deal with cash transactions, as handling cash is expensive compared to cards, after all they have to securely store it, transport it safely to a place where they can deposit it and the bank may well charge a good fee for depositing.
As to your pressing question, some charge a holding fee and refund it, some just tab the account. It's worse if you are abroad as they charge the account, but refund it, however you lose out on the foreign transaction fee.0 -
Strange, they usually take a deposit from a credit card, anyways just because it's your 1st time and do not understand the process, doesn't mean the company is wrong or they are trying to rip you off!
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Somewhere along the line you have to pay for the rental, where was the money supposed to come from?
For one thing, I wasn't suggesting that because it was my first time that the company is wrong. However when the man asks if I want to pay £12 for insurance and I say yes and hand him my debit card, I justifiably expect him to charge £12 to that card, not £262. If he intended to charge a much larger deposit to that card too, the very least he should have done is actually inform me that is what he's doing. That's just common sense, and tellingly their own customer service department confirmed that he should have explained that before making the charge.
As for paying for the rental, I had already paid in full online. The charge he put on the account was a deposit, which was never at any point detailed to myself (the customer) [EDIT] When I say 'detailed' I mean quantified and explained at the point of sale, prior to taking the payment [/EDIT]. Again, it's common sense to inform someone of the value you are about to charge to their card before you take payment.
When someone says "would you like to pay £12 for ....." and you then say yes and immediately hand them a card to pay for it, you don't expect them to charge £262 to that card without even mentioning this to you.
So yes, the guy behind the counter was at fault for this.Your post is confusing
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The best people to answer the question you asked is your bank
Ok, thanks for the advice. Wasn't trying to be confusing, just tried to give all the details.0 -
For one thing, I wasn't suggesting that because it was my first time that the company is wrong. However when the man asks if I want to pay £12 for insurance and I say yes and hand him my debit card, I justifiably expect him to charge £12 to that card, not £262. If he intended to charge a much larger deposit to that card too, the very least he should have done is actually inform me that is what he's doing. That's just common sense, and tellingly their own customer service department confirmed that he should have explained that before making the charge.
As for paying for the rental, I had already paid in full online. The charge he put on the account was a deposit, which was never at any point detailed to myself (the customer) [EDIT] When I say 'detailed' I mean quantified and explained at the point of sale, prior to taking the payment [/EDIT]. Again, it's common sense to inform someone of the value you are about to charge to their card before you take payment.
When someone says "would you like to pay £12 for ....." and you then say yes and immediately hand them a card to pay for it, you don't expect them to charge £262 to that card without even mentioning this to you.
So yes, the guy behind the counter was at fault for this.
Ok, thanks for the advice. Wasn't trying to be confusing, just tried to give all the details.
Don't take it as an attack, I would have preferred to be standing at the counter with you to beleive the full sequence of events, are you sure the £12 was not a collision damage waiver?
There is no way you could have the car on rental without insurance.
Also the card transaction, you either have to sign or enter a pin, so at that point you get to check the amount being debited, it is at that point you are agreeing the price on the screen or slip.
As mentioned earlier, there maybe an authorisation for £262 or whatever it was, but it doesn't mean they will deduct that amount.0 -
Don't take it as an attack, I would have preferred to be standing at the counter with you to beleive the full sequence of events, are you sure the £12 was not a collision damage waiver?
There is no way you could have the car on rental without insurance.
Also the card transaction, you either have to sign or enter a pin
Ok. Well obviously there is insurance by default, but there is a voluntary excess of £1000, (I paid online to reduce this to £250). When I got to the desk the guy asked if I wanted to pay £6/day (£12 total) to reduce this from £250 to £0. To which I said yes let's do that and handed him my debit card.
Actually no, there was no point at which I had to sign or enter my pin. He just took the card, swiped it (which didn't work so he typed the number manually into his computer) and gave me the car keys. I guess this is reflected in the "pending transactions" section of my online banking statement which lists the type of transaction as "card not present". Similar to if you had paid for something on the phone by giving your card details to the teller. Only you would expect the person on the phone to tell you how much they were charging.
Anyway I'll call the bank to ask about any potential bank charges or impact on my credit file.0 -
Ok. Well obviously there is insurance by default, but there is a voluntary excess of £1000, (I paid online to reduce this to £250). When I got to the desk the guy asked if I wanted to pay £6/day (£12 total) to reduce this from £250 to £0. To which I said yes let's do that and handed him my debit card.
Actually no, there was no point at which I had to sign or enter my pin. He just took the card, swiped it (which didn't work so he typed the number manually into his computer) and gave me the car keys. I guess this is reflected in the "pending transactions" section of my online banking statement which lists the type of transaction as "card not present". Similar to if you had paid for something on the phone by giving your card details to the teller. Only you would expect the person on the phone to tell you how much they were charging.
Anyway I'll call the bank to ask about any potential bank charges or impact on my credit file.
The £250+£12 = £262, I suspect the £250 is what will be removed after the car is returned intact.0 -
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The £250+£12 = £262, I suspect the £250 is what will be removed after the car is returned intact.
It was obvious to me from the outset that the £262 consisted of £250 (deposit) and £12 (reducing the insurance excess to zero).
However the £250 deposit can't be to cover the insurance excess, since the whole purpose of the £12 charge was to reduce the excess to zero. I imagine the deposit has more to do potential fees for returning the car late, or things going 'missing' from the car (obvious example being the car stereo).
Unless the £250 was to cover the original insurance excess, and was charged in error alongside the £12 which was supposed to reduce the excess to zero.
Either way it would still be common sense for the guy to state the value of the payment he was about to take from the card to the customer. Especially when the customer has just handed the card over in response to the question "would you like to pay £12 to reduce the excess from £250 to zero?".
Anyway I called my bank and all is well. Now I just need to try to convince the rental company to send my bank a fax allowing them to release the funds back to me earlier than normal. Otherwise I'm living with beans for the next 10 days.0 -
It was obvious to me from the outset that the £262 consisted of £250 (deposit) and £12 (reducing the insurance excess to zero).
However the £250 deposit can't be to cover the insurance excess, since the whole purpose of the £12 charge was to reduce the excess to zero. I imagine the deposit has more to do potential fees for returning the car late, or things going 'missing' from the car (obvious example being the car stereo).
Unless the £250 was to cover the original insurance excess, and was charged in error alongside the £12 which was supposed to reduce the excess to zero.
Either way it would still be common sense for the guy to state the value of the payment he was about to take from the card to the customer. Especially when the customer has just handed the card over in response to the question "would you like to pay £12 to reduce the excess from £250 to zero?".
Anyway I called my bank and all is well. Now I just need to try to convince the rental company to send my bank a fax allowing them to release the funds back to me earlier than normal. Otherwise I'm living with beans for the next 10 days.
The £250 is a deposit, you done well, as in the past when I have hired a car (all be it abroad) the deposit worked out to about £600.
Please note the deposit is different to a collision damage waiver.0 -
Yeah, I figured it was a deposit and not related to the insurance excess. The fact that it was low vs. what you have experienced in the past doesn't help me much, but is good to know anyway.
Still though, I think the point remains that he should have told me he what he was about to do. It's pretty poor service to just mention a £12 fee, take a card out of the customer's hand and then put a £262 charge on it without at least explaining what you are doing.
When he took the card I (understandably) thought he was about to charge £12 to it. I was aware that there would be a deposit, which I intended to put on my credit card separately (their paperwork stated as much although it didn't specify the value of the deposit).
When he then handed me the keys and explained some things about the car and told me where to find it, I got distracted and didn't think to ask about the deposit. At no point did he even mention the deposit.
A simple: "there is also a £250 fully refundable deposit which will be held against your card, bringing the total to £262" would have sufficed. At which point I'd have asked him to put the deposit on my credit card. I don't think it's unreasonable for me to expect this information to relayed at the point of sale.0
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