Car Hire Overcharge Scam - Firefly Barcelona airport

cbm63

Too late for me but a heads up for anyone who's unaware of this particular trick car hire companies use.
Basically we were 3 hours late into Barcelona due to poor weather, but still well within office hours.
The chap on the desk said as we were late we would have to pay an additional charge of 5 euros per day, which as we were there for two weeks was an extra 70 euros.

Obviously unhappy, but having already paid for half of the car rental and knowing it would cost a lot more to hire a car in the terminal I paid.
They marked it down as My Choice which I thought nothing of.
To cut a long story short, having complained to carrentals.co.uk, and Firefly (who never even responded to 2 emails) they refuse to consider a refund.

The term My Choice basically means I wanted a specific car ( I didn't), and therefore agreed to pay extra.
Even tried ECRCS, but again as I agreed to My Choice, there was nothing they would do.

So be careful when hire companies try to pin extras on you as to exactly how it's worded on the paperwork, especially regarding Firefly and their little My Choice con.

EveryWhere

Where was the scam?? That you chose to sign to pay 5 euros per day. Even a child would understand that a daily fee is not likely to be a fine, but an upgrade to the originally chosen car.
Perhaps they claimed that your car was no longer available and that the available car was more expensive.

Seems other people got 'upgraded' when late.;



What does it state in your T&C about late arrival?

Don't see a scam. I just see you signing for a service, utilising the service and then trying to get your money back after using the service.

jimbo6977

The scam is twofold:

1. misleading the OP into believing they were being charged for lateness, for which no such charge exists (if it did exist, part 2 below would not apply)
2. putting the cost down against an optional product which the OP would have refused if it had been presented to them in an honest manner.

Yes of course they could have pored over many pages of T&Cs at the desk and perhaps eventually got to the bottom of the matter after many hours arguing, but who has the time or inclination?

Hiring cars in Europe is a proper ****-show. Best avoided.

EveryWhere

jimbo6977 wrote: »

The scam is twofold:

1. misleading the OP into believing they were being charged for lateness, for which no such charge exists (if it did exist, part 2 below would not apply)
2. putting the cost down against an optional product which the OP would have refused if it had been presented to them in an honest manner.

Yes of course they could have pored over many pages of T&Cs at the desk and perhaps eventually got to the bottom of the matter after many hours arguing, but who has the time or inclination?

Hiring cars in Europe is a proper ****-show. Best avoided.

Nonsense.

You have only the OP's word for what happened and you are supposed to check the T&Cs at the time of making the contract. Something I would have done as soon as i realised that I was going to be late.

No scam if the car was no longer available because the OP was late. The OP was offered a choice, They took it and then tried to get a refund via the backdoor, after accepting the upgrade.

AlexMac

70 Euros?

the OP got off light.

Google Goldcar... 450,000 accusations of scams (50,000 on TripAdvisor alone); fake damage/scratches / insurance scams / fuelling charge scams / arbitary sums charges to your credit card... Mostly in Spain

Lesson leanerd; search for reviews before you rent

Slinky

We got hit by a fuel charge by Firefly at Pisa. OH filled the car up before returning to the airport, as he hadn't noticed their policy is bring it back empty. Even though they could see it was full, they still insisted on charging for a tank of fuel as it was their policy. They wouldn't release the block charge on his card until he signed to accept the fuel charge. Our mistake, but damned annoying none the less. Short sighted on their part as we will never use them again.



We now insist that we get a hire car staff member to write on the paperwork whether they want a full tank or not.

cubegame

AlexMac wrote: »

70 Euros?

the OP got off light.

Google Goldcar... 450,000 accusations of scams (50,000 on TripAdvisor alone); fake damage/scratches / insurance scams / fuelling charge scams / arbitary sums charges to your credit card... Mostly in Spain

Lesson leanerd; search for reviews before you rent

Searching for reviews will always highlight the many many thousands of stupid and gullible people that will get scammed by hire car companies.

When you book a car, you need to realise that the headline prices that companies charge are near to break even and are often even positioned to make a loss.

If they weren't able to increase their revenue from certain customers they would go out of business really quickly. It's basically the same cost model as the low-cost airlines and in much the same manner as the likes of Ryanair you can get a bargain if you're savvy and go into renting with your eyes wide open.

fullagar1

Firefly are in the Hertz group.
I hired a car form Firefly via Easy Jet at Alicante airport. It was claimed that the car was damaged on return. The damage was under the front car bumper and did not show  clearly on the photos I took before hiring. This was because it was under the car front. I was suspicious because the rep went straight to the hidden damage when he checked it. I stated that I had photographed it prior to rental but the rep refused to accept my photo evidence and stated that they had photos and would check. 
Nothing happened for 2 months then I received a bill fro the damage by e-mail. I replied with my photos refuting the claim. I had no response. A few weeks later I received a letter stating that I had not replied to their claim and that my credit worthiness would be affected and I may not be permitted to hire cars because of my alleged poor credit worthiness. I then e-mailed again forwarding my original e-mail explaining the situation. No reply. I  then had an e-mail stating again that I had not replied. This is the current situation.
I guess this is an automated system to extort money with threat.
Therefore I suggest that anyone hiring a car should not use Hertz or their associated companies due to this sharp practice and would be interested if any one has had a similar experience.

brianposter

fullagar1 said:

Firefly are in the Hertz group.
I hired a car form Firefly via Easy Jet at Alicante airport. It was claimed that the car was damaged on return. The damage was under the front car bumper and did not show  clearly on the photos I took before hiring. This was because it was under the car front. I was suspicious because the rep went straight to the hidden damage when he checked it. I stated that I had photographed it prior to rental but the rep refused to accept my photo evidence and stated that they had photos and would check. 
Nothing happened for 2 months then I received a bill fro the damage by e-mail. I replied with my photos refuting the claim. I had no response. A few weeks later I received a letter stating that I had not replied to their claim and that my credit worthiness would be affected and I may not be permitted to hire cars because of my alleged poor credit worthiness. I then e-mailed again forwarding my original e-mail explaining the situation. No reply. I  then had an e-mail stating again that I had not replied. This is the current situation.
I guess this is an automated system to extort money with threat.
Therefore I suggest that anyone hiring a car should not use Hertz or their associated companies due to this sharp practice and would be interested if any one has had a similar experience.

Why are you dealing with "Firefly" and not Easyjet ?