Debt collection agency due to credit card chargeback

Davereid82

Hi, I hired a car in Italy and when I got back they had charged roughly £200 to my card. The company would not respond to tell me what the charges were for so I rang MasterCard who charged it back. This all happened in September. This weekend I received a letter from an Italian debt collection agency demanding repayment plus fees (around £250 to £300). Any idea what I should do? I've spoken to the bank who said that officially the company can't do anything else through MasterCard. Are they doing anything illegal? Surely I shouldn't be in the situation where I could now be worse off than to begin with? And what should I reply to the Italians?

Thanks to anyone who can help!

grumbler

Neither the fact that they didn't respond (to emails?), nor the fact that the bank refunded the money, invalidates the charge that might be correct or not. I don't see anything illegal in the company chasing you for the money plus the fees. You can challenge the charge or ignore the DCA.

The challenge is unlikely to be successful, but have a look at MSE article: Car hire firms promise to treat customers fairer

GingerBob_3

You've got the worst of a few things here; debt collectors (aka scum) and foreign ones at that, then a car hire company, and a foreign one at that.


Write to the car hire outfit requiring them to justify the charge. If it's right then pay it. If it isn't, or they don't respond, then don't pay it.


You can probably safely ignore it - credit report blacklisting doesn't (yet) operate on a Europe-wide basis.

planteria

i think getting some proper legal advice is wise with this one,

but do you mean that when you got back you discovered that they had charged you An Additional c£200, and so you did pay for the car hire?

how did you request an explanation from them? hopefully in writing.. i guess Mastercard were satisfied that it at least 'sounded' right to them..

System

I would simply put their demands in the bin.

The hire company had the opportunity to (at the very least) dispute your chargeback and chose not to do anything.

Their only other recourse is the European Small Claims Procedure

Davereid82

Hi all and thanks for the replies. I paid upfront for the vehicle (to add complications into the mix it was booked through atlas choice who are just a booking agent). When you get there they take a swipe of your card in case of damage. Our flight was very early so we returned the car at 6.30am when no-one from the rental agency (called Locauto) was there. They said this was fine and just park the car and drop the keys in the key box. As I mentioned, I then got charged £200 odd quid with no explanation. I eventually did manage to get an invoice but all it said was 'damage'. They later sent a blurry picture of a scratch down a car door. It could have been any car. I am 99% sure that I didn't put a scratch down the car door but stupidly didn't take a picture when we dropped it off (something to do with the 4.30 wake up).

pvt

Davereid82 wrote: »

The company would not respond to tell me what the charges were for

Davereid82 wrote: »

I eventually did manage to get an invoice but all it said was 'damage'. They later sent a blurry picture of a scratch down a car door.

You stated that the car hire company did not respond, but then say they sent you an invoice, and later again, a picture of damage.

So it is pretty clear they are trying to claim off you for damage they claim occurred whilst the car was in your care.

If they pursue it through via a European Small Claim, this comes down to your word against theirs - and they've got pictures; you haven't.

planteria

good point..
as Heng says though, they had the chance to dispute the chargeback.
perhaps you can try to get something in writing from Mastercard. if they will outline the process, and in effect 'advise' you that you have followed the procedure, you ought to be able to ignore them unless they take you to court, on the basis that you went through the process.

Davereid82

So the reason I originally disputed it was that firstly they didn't tell me what the charge was for (took around 3 weeks to get through to anyone - they had my email address so could have emailed me immediately) and secondly I had to pay the credit card bill so didn't want to be £200 out of pocket for something I don't think I caused. I had already disputed the transaction by the time I got the photo and the bill. The point about the photo is that it shows nothing other than a black car door with a scratch on it. It could be any car! A little Internet research suggests this is not uncommon for this company.

I thought that by going through MasterCard I would be reasonably well protected. I disputed it and the company should have responded to the dispute within the timescales (45 days I think) to prove it was genuine. I've spoken to MasterCard who say that the company cannot reclaim the money now from them so there is nothing more that MasterCard can do. They also suggested I take legal advice so I will try and ring someone this afternoon.

I would rather just pay it and not have it hanging over me then try and get it back but I think if I pay it then I will definitely never see my money again.

grumbler

Davereid82 wrote: »

I thought that by going through MasterCard I would be reasonably well protected. I disputed it and the company should have responded to the dispute within the timescales (45 days I think) to prove it was genuine.

Chargeback is just an internal Mastercard procedure that has no any legal bearing.

What if the company disputed the chargeback and shown the photo to its bank? Would you expect the bank to conduct an investigation? Yes, the company failed to do this, but generally this doesn't prove that it is in the wrong.

In many respects chargeback is similar to the DD Guarantee. One can claim the money back almost without any genuine reason, but has to settle everything with the company directly regardless.

TheDebtinator

Very dirty trick by them really.

I know it isnt of use now, but should you need to hire a car again then it may be worth using https://www.icarhire.co.uk. this covers you for claims against you from hire car companies for damage, and is a lot cheaper than the initial £200.