Rental car taken more then they should! Nearly had a heart attack

gloryninja

Hello,

This is a long post but i would appreciate if you give it a read, if more details is required then i will urgently update/add more info but please have a read.

Im really sorry if i posted this in the wrong place but i am not lying when i say to you that i nearly had an heart attack when i logged into my online banking.

Basically, i have been renting a vehicle with europcar. Originally i was suppose to have it for 3 days but i kept extending it as i was up north of England due to two of my sisters passing away from an accident. I kept extending it over the phone so in total i had the car for 27 days.

Every time i extend it, the money they charge usually goes out of my account a day after but wont show up on a statement. for an-example. I have £1600 in my account... I extend the rental for 2 days and they charge me £50, a day after my account balance would be £1550. I gave the vehicle back yesterday and TODAY i log into my account as i had £200 which i was going to transfer over to my other bank account and i see my balance at -£1434.87 (Negative). I literally was about to have a heart attack. I already suffer from depression and severe anxiety, and what makes it worse is that i am going on holiday this monday morning for 4 nights and i needed that money and i use this account.

When i look at the online statement, i can see in total 16 charges from europcar. They have been overcharging me each time and i also assumed that they already take the money out a day after i call in to extend it as it does disappear from my balance (it was on hold/reserved so i could not really spend that money as i was thinking that must be europcar which it was). I do not understand where this all charges came from. From my calculation, my rental should of cost me in total £500-£650 but they charged me £1600!!. There are many charges that contradict what the branch employee quoted me. For example, when i call up to extend, they will quote me £30 but when i look on my statement i got charged £60! the biggest charge in the account is £315!!. No one in there right mind will pay £1600 for a rental when i could of purchased a small car with that amount of money. What can i do about this? I am very desperate to the point that i will pay anyone who can help me resolve this issue. I have this constant anxiety that is eating me inside and also im worrying about the holiday im suppose to be going on monday.

In short: I was being overcharged. The person on the phone will quote me £30 but really and truly i was getting charged £60. Unfortunately, i have no evidence as i did not record the calls and they did not give me any sort of documentation either then the form which shows pre existing damages to the vehicle.

1. What can i do to get my money back? I have been lied to over the phone when quoted. No one on earth will pay £1600 for 27 days. If i knew that was how much they charging me i would of given the car back within 3 days. As i kept extending it every two days or so, they kept giving me a constant quote which is always around £28-35. I should of got charged around £700 from my calculation and even then i am being generous.

2. There was a day when i wanted to extend my vehicle rental and the employee of the europcar branch told me that she can take the money out of my deposit instead of my card (which was around £30), so i agreed to do that as it will be easier. two days later i wanted to extend it further and called up again. I do not know if this is the same person but I asked if it can be taken out of my deposit instead of my card and she goes this is impossible and we do not do such a thing. I was very confused. I ended up paying by card but was still confused and wondering if my £200 deposit was down to £170 or still remains £200. I just found out today as i was speaking to europcar and my bank (nationwide) that the deposit has been refunded and it can take 10 working days. I asked how much, and the europcar head-office employee goes to me £200. So the person in the europcar branch (the women that told me she can take it out of my deposit) was lying and made a charge to my account without my authorisation.

3. What options do i have? I am really worried. I have recently been struggling with depression, anxiety and just recent death of my two beloved sisters. My negative balance is not worrying me much but the money i had in before has been eaten by europcar leaving me with little to no money for my holiday. I have spoken to nationwide and they have told me that if i were to do a visa dispute it would come back as rejected. I have spoken to europcar head-office and they emailed the branch where i got the car from and they stated that i authorised all the payments and i was not overcharged. I was overcharged... by nearly a grand!!! The biggest mistake i made was not recording my calls. If i did, i would of had some evidence of them telling me the quote and how much they actually charged me.

I do not know what else i can do now... Europcar head office told me to go directly to the actual branch and speak to them but i really do not want to do that (personal/mental issue). I really need some advice on what i can do or do next? I cannot accept the fact i paid £1600+ for a vehicle for 27 days when it should of been charged £700 but i think it may be slightly less. These are all charges for extending the vehicle. When a staff came to collect the vehicle, he went around and said the car is fine and made me sign something as he goes there is no damage or anything so all the charges on my account are from the actual rental and extending my rental.

Please, someone... what shall i do? What action can i take?

Thank you very much

~Beanie~

gloryninja wrote: »

I do not know what else i can do now... Europcar head office told me to go directly to the actual branch and speak to them but i really do not want to do that (personal/mental issue). I really need some advice on what i can do or do next? I cannot accept the fact i paid £1600+ for a vehicle for 27 days when it should of been charged £700 but i think it may be slightly less.

Please, someone... what shall i do? What action can i take?
Thank you very much

You need to speak to them and get them to check/expain what they have charged you, there really is no other way of sorting it out.

Lmh71365

Is there someone who can speak to them for you? It may be that there was an extension charge on top of the quote for just that time. It might be errors, anything. You need to speak to them properly.

How did each conversation go? Eg. When I pay a bill by phone I usually get:

So that would be x amount, can I have your card details?
*gives card details/confirms security code if they already have my details*
Ok so I am taking x amount from this card, are you happy for me to go ahead with that?
Yes.

Is that what happened?

gloryninja

Lmh71365 wrote: »

Is there someone who can speak to them for you? It may be that there was an extension charge on top of the quote for just that time. It might be errors, anything. You need to speak to them properly.

How did each conversation go? Eg. When I pay a bill by phone I usually get:

So that would be x amount, can I have your card details?
*gives card details/confirms security code if they already have my details*
Ok so I am taking x amount from this card, are you happy for me to go ahead with that?
Yes.

Is that what happened?

Yup, However, over the phone they would for example quote me £30, i am happy to authorise and then i check statement and they charge me £50 instead. I got reply from europcar stating my charges are correct and there is nothing else they can do. I got my full deposit back which is odd since one of the employee said that she will take amount from the deposit instead of my card but of course she lied. Is there anything i can do about this? i will update once i get more info from these guys.

thank you all for the replies

baldelectrician

There has to be a burden of proof-
Do you have any paperwork showing the lower rental cost- even 1 day would make it hard for them to justify adding a higher cost?


Do a SAR (Subject Access Request) for all paperwork they have on you, as well as info on computer as well as telephone calls.
The max they can charge you is £10 for a SAR


Call your card company and inform them you remove any implied (or otherwise) card authority in relation to your account forthwith
Back up this by a letter


Don't call them- they will get you all flustered and try to catch you out


Remember you could take them to court for the overcharge- they will have to prove to a judge why the cost is higher, not you.
A small claim online may be an idea

bearcat16

As difficult as it may be, the best way to sort this is to go to the branch and discuss it. They will be able to explain what has happened. Could you take a family member or friend with you to help?

I really feel for you, that is a horrible feeling when you log in and realise something big has been paid that you weren't expecting, worse because you needed it for your holiday.

I always pay for things like car hire on a credit card as there (in theory) more protection if things go astray. A mate of mine uses a prepaid Mastercard, and as soon as the rental is paid for, transfers the rest of the cash off it (so it has a zero balance) just in case the hire company later decides to add some extra charges without his permission, as they once did.

Once my car insurer took the whole amount of my car insurance for the year in one go, instead of the usual monthly payment, putting my account in unauthorised overdraft to the tune of £1,100.

I phoned them and screamed about it and they couldn't work out what had happened. So I yelled even more and they finally refunded it...twice!

Did I tell them they'd overpaid by more than £1,000? Nope! Shouldn't have been idiotic in the first place!

MacMickster

bearcat16 wrote: »

Once my car insurer took the whole amount of my car insurance for the year in one go, instead of the usual monthly payment, putting my account in unauthorised overdraft to the tune of £1,100.

I phoned them and screamed about it and they couldn't work out what had happened. So I yelled even more and they finally refunded it...twice!

Did I tell them they'd overpaid by more than £1,000? Nope! Shouldn't have been idiotic in the first place!

Idiot!

This site is for money SAVING - not money STEALING.

bearcat16

MacMickster wrote: »

Idiot!

This site is for money SAVING - not money STEALING.

Yeah yeah, I know. It was 20 years ago when I was young and carefree!