Mis-sold car hire upgrade

WiltshireMum

Hi everyone I'm hoping one of you can tell me where I stand with a mis-sold car hire upgrade.

I hired a car from Europcar at Bristol airport last month for 19 days. We were offered an upgrade to a slightly larger car for £10. No charge appeared on my credit card which I said to my husband weeks later was strange but he thought he maybe paid cash, he couldn't remember. We'd been travelling all day and our 2 year old was playing up so we just wanted to get in and out the car hire office asap.

We returned the car on Monday and I was emailed an invoice which showed 19 days x £10 plus VAT for 'customer choice' and now my credit card has been charged £228. I am therefore concluding that the £10 was per day not for the whole rental period.

At no point was my husband told it was £10 a day. He saw a charge for £228 on the invoice at the office and asked if that was a deposit to which the reply was yes. I was present in the office but not at the desk with him but he told me we were having an upgrade to which I replied we can't afford an upgrade and he said it's ok it's only £10 as they are short on compact cars so were doing a special price for an upgrade. We've had free hire car upgrades in the past so I just assumed they wanted to make £10 on something they'd have offered for free anyway because they didn't have many of the compact cars we originally booked.

We paid £284 for 19 days hire, we would never have agreed to upgrade at an additional charge of £228 expecially at Christmas when money is really tight. I am happy to pay the £10 plus vat even though vat was never mentioned but I feel like I've been conned out of £218.

I feel like my husband has been a bit silly as 'customer choice' on an invoice clearly isn't a deposit but he did question it and I'm sure at least some of the staff in the office would have overheard him tell me it's £10 for the whole hire period.

Additional information, it was my credit card used and I was not asked to review or sign an invoice.

Has anyone else been mid-sold a car hire upgrade? How was it resolved? I'm so disappointed I feel like we've been totally ripped off but maybe it's our fault for being stupid and thinking the hire company were doing us a good deal.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Caz3121

not miss-sold but I have had the "oh we don't have any of that class left, we can give you a better vehicle...then I saw the charge on the paperwork (think it was about $30 per day) and asked them to remove it as we did not want to pay for an upgrade....they took it off and we still ended up with an upgraded vehicle because they didn't have any of our class left.

WiltshireMum

Thanks Caz. You were smart and identified the upgrade charge on the invoice. I can't believe we didn't pick up on it, I'm trying not to be mad at my husband as he did question it but I wonder if the sales guy thought he was pointing at a different charge? I don't like to think we were deliberately mis-led. Wish I'd checked the paperwork myself!

Caz3121

last time I left my husband to deal with car hire paperwork we ended up with a prepaid tank of fuel!....I deal with car hire now...and say 'no' a lot

WiltshireMum

Oh no! Oops. But good plan, I'll double check everything from now on!

Smevchenko

although not the same issue, I had a problem with a Europcar when a rental was not ready, they offered a token gesture as compensation, but in reality, they had caused a big problem with failing to provide the car I had booked and paid for. I did get a car the same day, but many hours after I should have had one. I sent an email explaining the issues that had been created and was given a sizeable discount on the rental.

You may struggle to prove that they have miss-sold the upgrade, but if you send a detailed email explaining your concerns at how the upgrade was sold, lack of info, rushed into accepting etc, you may find they will discount the rental fee.

SandraX

Dear OP
I wish you luck but IMO they have done nothing wrong and it's for you to be alert.
ATB

parcival

Just had a big problem with Europcar. In the end I googled the email address of the MD in Leicester. Had a reply and sorted very quickly.

WiltshireMum

Thanks Smevchenko and Sandra. With all due respect they have done something wrong because they failed to make it clear the charge was £10 per day and then they lied when my husband asked what the £228 charge was but I agree, he should have looked more closely as all he saw was £228, he failed to identify that this was £10 a day and therefore missed an opportunity to catch out then lying sales person

WiltshireMum

Thanks Percival! I've emailed customer services and will se what they say. If I don't get anywhere I'll try your method

photome

SandraX wrote: »

Dear OP
I wish you luck but IMO they have done nothing wrong and it's for you to be alert.
ATB

Maybe not legally, they have upsold rather sneakily though. but many car hire companies are guilty of the same.


you do need to double check everything.


Hope you get a result OP but I fear not