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AVIS unexpected credit card charge
TonyM19
Posts: 161 Forumite
Hi
LOng post - sorry. I'm looking for suggestions for the best way to deal with a problem relating to a £300+ charge on my credit card bill following a rental with AVIS from LAX.
We arrived at the AVIS LAX rental office following an 11h flight from Heathrow to a long queue of customers and stood in line for 40 minutes. Once we got to the desk, we spent a further 15 minutes booking the car out. By then the line had doubled in length behind us. The assistant told us that they had to wait until a car became available for us before they could allocate one and that was what was causing the delay. We were eventually allocated a Mitsubishi Lancer and told to pick it up outside. During the conversation with the assistant he made it clear that I had no further charges to pay and that everything had been paid up front. He did not ask me did I need any further insurance. He asked did I want to upgrade my rental to a sportier car or to add a GPS, but I clearly declined both. I asked could I opt to have a full tank of fuel and return the car empty. This was agreed and I was told the cost, which I accepted. I was then asked to sign and initial a print out. I assumed that nothing else had been added to the cost other than the cost of a tank of fuel (approx $67.00).
We then moved outside and waited a further 30 minutes for our car. There were a number of other British families outside waiting for vehicles i n fairly chaotic circumstances. eg One family started to load their car but another family had been allocated the same car. After 30 minutes, we approached the branch manager. She walked over to a garage type area to investigate where the car was. The car arrived 10 minutes later.
We had booked a car to fit 4 bags. The Mitsubishi clearly did not fit this many bags (we couldn't get 2 bags in the boot). We approached the manager again. She went back into the office to check our booking. She then came out and directed us to a Mazda 5 (which had been there throughout our wait). In terms of mileage, this is the oldest rental car I have ever rented (31, 000 miles). By now it was 11pm (7am with time difference) and we still had a 50 mile drive to our accommodation. A quick check of the car revealed a very minor scuff on the passenger side bumper. We decided to cut our losses and move on
At the end of the rental we r returned the car on time, to a long and busy line of traffic. I received a receipt which I glanced at briefly, saw the line that said 'Your Total Due 0.00' and moved to the waiting shuttle to LAX.
On returning to England, I found a £300+ charge on my credit card. Further inspection of the receipt I received on returning the car does say (underneath the part that says Your Total Due 0.00) that I will be charged this amount. The company that I booked with are investigating this for me, but it would appear that I have been charged for a range of other insurances including roadside assistance
I appreciate that this is making me look incredibly naive but I have been using rental cars in the USA for the past 19 years and this is the first time that I have been charged for services that I did not need or request. The statement that I had nothing further to pay led me to believe that I would have nothing else to pay. I did not accept any further charges or services. I was told that I had nothing else to pay and signed the form under that understanding. I absolutely did not request or accept any charges other than a tank of fuel.
Any advice on how best to proceed?
PS I know that I should have checked everything more closely - that won't help me now.
LOng post - sorry. I'm looking for suggestions for the best way to deal with a problem relating to a £300+ charge on my credit card bill following a rental with AVIS from LAX.
We arrived at the AVIS LAX rental office following an 11h flight from Heathrow to a long queue of customers and stood in line for 40 minutes. Once we got to the desk, we spent a further 15 minutes booking the car out. By then the line had doubled in length behind us. The assistant told us that they had to wait until a car became available for us before they could allocate one and that was what was causing the delay. We were eventually allocated a Mitsubishi Lancer and told to pick it up outside. During the conversation with the assistant he made it clear that I had no further charges to pay and that everything had been paid up front. He did not ask me did I need any further insurance. He asked did I want to upgrade my rental to a sportier car or to add a GPS, but I clearly declined both. I asked could I opt to have a full tank of fuel and return the car empty. This was agreed and I was told the cost, which I accepted. I was then asked to sign and initial a print out. I assumed that nothing else had been added to the cost other than the cost of a tank of fuel (approx $67.00).
We then moved outside and waited a further 30 minutes for our car. There were a number of other British families outside waiting for vehicles i n fairly chaotic circumstances. eg One family started to load their car but another family had been allocated the same car. After 30 minutes, we approached the branch manager. She walked over to a garage type area to investigate where the car was. The car arrived 10 minutes later.
We had booked a car to fit 4 bags. The Mitsubishi clearly did not fit this many bags (we couldn't get 2 bags in the boot). We approached the manager again. She went back into the office to check our booking. She then came out and directed us to a Mazda 5 (which had been there throughout our wait). In terms of mileage, this is the oldest rental car I have ever rented (31, 000 miles). By now it was 11pm (7am with time difference) and we still had a 50 mile drive to our accommodation. A quick check of the car revealed a very minor scuff on the passenger side bumper. We decided to cut our losses and move on
At the end of the rental we r returned the car on time, to a long and busy line of traffic. I received a receipt which I glanced at briefly, saw the line that said 'Your Total Due 0.00' and moved to the waiting shuttle to LAX.
On returning to England, I found a £300+ charge on my credit card. Further inspection of the receipt I received on returning the car does say (underneath the part that says Your Total Due 0.00) that I will be charged this amount. The company that I booked with are investigating this for me, but it would appear that I have been charged for a range of other insurances including roadside assistance
I appreciate that this is making me look incredibly naive but I have been using rental cars in the USA for the past 19 years and this is the first time that I have been charged for services that I did not need or request. The statement that I had nothing further to pay led me to believe that I would have nothing else to pay. I did not accept any further charges or services. I was told that I had nothing else to pay and signed the form under that understanding. I absolutely did not request or accept any charges other than a tank of fuel.
Any advice on how best to proceed?
PS I know that I should have checked everything more closely - that won't help me now.
0
Comments
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Why would you explicitly ask for this policy, to which most consumers object? This gives you no advantages and gives the following disadvantages:I asked could I opt to have a full tank of fuel and return the car empty. This was agreed and I was told the cost, which I accepted. I was then asked to sign and initial a print out. I assumed that nothing else had been added to the cost other than the cost of a tank of fuel (approx $67.00).- You pay for a full tank of fuel, even if you don't use all of it.
- You pay the car hire company's price for fuel instead of your choice of petrol station's price.
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I toured California and did 2000+ miles. I used more than a full tank.
I have tried full to full before. It isn't the most salubrious of neighborhood around LAX and I didn't want to have to top up just outside the airport. I've tried it before. Once. I'm not doing it again.
Any suggestions on the best way to get my money back?0 -
It makes no difference. Unless you returned the car with no fuel in it (whereby it had insufficient fuel even to start the engine), then you paid for fuel that you didn't use. Because this is almost impossible to achieve, full-empty fuel policies are therefore always a rip-off.I used more than a full tank.
Dispute it with your credit card issuer. If your card issuer won't cooperate, then claim against it under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, under it is jointly liable for any breach of contract.Any suggestions on the best way to get my money back?0 -
Exactly. I once hired a diesel car in Sitges near Barcelona and drove it to Andorra. I filled up with diesel in Andorra and drove back to Sitges. Because it was a diesel car and it's downhill all 130 miles from Andorra to Barcelona, it hardly used any fuel and the fuel gauge was still showing as full. I didn't fill up again and wasn't charged.PeacefulWaters wrote: »I usually fill up around 20 miles from the airport. Never had a charge.
Hire car companies look only at the fuel gauge and they don't try to top it up when it already looks full.0 -
Quote:
Originally Posted by PeacefulWaters View Post
I usually fill up around 20 miles from the airport. Never had a charge.
Exactly. I once hired a diesel car in Sitges near Barcelona and drove it to Andorra. I filled up with diesel in Andorra and drove back to Sitges. Because it was a diesel car and it's downhill all 130 miles from Andorra to Barcelona, it hardly used any fuel and the fuel gauge was still showing as full. I didn't fill up again and wasn't charged.
Hire car companies look only at the fuel gauge and they don't try to top it up when it already looks full.
Just the next poor renter that is diddled out of a full fuel tank then? Guess one day that might be you!0 -
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The rental companies have fuel pumps on site at larger locations.0
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Did you drop the car off at a different location by any chance?0
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Same location.
The company I booked through (Holiday Autos) are investigating for me. If there's no joy there I'll go down the credit card route.
It's not really relevant to why I posted, but I was charged $4.73 per gallon which was about 50c more than I was paying everywhere else (expect Vegas, bizarrely, which was $3.99)0 -
Same location.
The company I booked through (Holiday Autos) are investigating for me. If there's no joy there I'll go down the credit card route.
It's not really relevant to why I posted, but I was charged $4.73 per gallon which was about 50c more than I was paying everywhere else (expect Vegas, bizarrely, which was $3.99)
You are paying for the convenience of not having to pump fuel - they have to pay people to fuel vehicles.0
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