Deposit lost with Rentalcars.com

supersons1972

Hi,  booked my rental car with rentalcars.com for Florida in July 2020 and paid £50 deposit.  My fight was cancelled by Virgin 2 weeks ago and I contacted Rentalcars.com to advise as the balance was due soon.  They advised if I contacted them nearer when the balance was due to discuss.  I contacted them yesterday and they advised they would not refund the deposit but I could pay the balance and move the dates (I have no idea when and if I will rebook at this point).  Therefore I had to chose to cancel as did not want them to take the remaining payment from my credit card.  Very disappointed as all the other companies have been very accommodating in these strange times.  Anyone advise if it is worth complaining about the bad customer service?

kennymcc

Does it depend on the contract you took out (and which car company your booking was with)? I've just done a search and if you hover over the "Free Cancellation"  text for several deals, you'll see that some exclude the deposit and some don't. So I think it depends on the car company rather than RentalCars. Have you looked the Ts & Cs for your deal?
I think it would be unafir to expect RentalCars to refund the deposit if they can't get it back from the car company. 
(I've cancelled RentalCars bookings twice in the past. One one occasion, I got the deposit back, one the other, I didn't.)

macman

It's not 'bad customer service'. They have made a policy decision that they will not refund customers who wish to break their contracts, even with good reason. It's not their fault that VA have cancelled the flights. They are under no obligation to refund you. so your only option is to try to claim under your holiday insurance.