Care Hire problem

Dumdo

Looking some advice for a car hire at alicante airport booked through booking.com, problem was hire office not accepting my visa debit card which we end up with no hire car which we had booked for a month, now booking.com are refusing to refund our money,  can anyone help on the issue please..

Sandtree

Why was your card not accepted? Because it was a debit card rather than credit card or something more specific? 
Which hire car company was it?

Without the above info its difficult to advise but the last similar case on here was because it was a debit card and for the booking site that poster used it was very clear that a credit card was required to collect the vehicle, not only hidden in the T&Cs but up front and in your face before accepting. 

If it is a similar issue then there arent grounds for refund if you agreed to present a credit card and chose not to. 

Dumdo

Avis/Budget hire,  was a visa debit card,  guy at desk refused it said it had to be credit card only,  my visa debit card was the card I paid booking.com with, and there email to us was to bring drivers licence for main driver which was myself and card in the same name as main driver, which was my visa, when I explained this to booking.com they said that they accepted visa debit card and they should have give us the car yet they rejected our claim for a refund  ??

Westin

Did your debit card allow a deposit credit hold of €300?

“ At pick-up, the main driver will leave a refundable security deposit of 300,00 € on their credit or debit card.”

Dumdo

The guy went to take €90 payment for something,  my card declined it until I could verify payment with my bank, which I did and went back into office and he then said my card was no good and said he wanted a credit card instead,  he told us I needed €1050 security deposit and tried to say there was insignificant funds on my card, I had more than enough on my card to cover this, how could he possibly know what I had in my account  ??

Westin

If the card debit was deducted once, twice on the lower €90 amount, perhaps that was enough to spook them in to asking for a higher deposit. When any debit attempt failed perhaps understandable they might ask for another (credit) card to be tried.  Banks can sometimes block suspicious transactions which may have been the case with your debit card (first time used overseas) and why I think travelling with multiple payment options/cards is wise.

I am really not sure you will get to the bottom of this as I suspect the car hire company will just tell booking.com that you failed to provide sufficient cover for the deposit/extras on your presented payment card.  

Would seem a discretion on the car rental firm if they agree to refund any forward rental fee. Not sure it’s a clear cut case.

Sandtree

Never seen that before, according to the T&Cs they only accept cards with embossed numbers... so none of my cards then now.

They do accept debit cards, if embossed, however clearly the fact the card was declined means they werent comfortable taking it as security that you can cover fees/damage. You would need to check their terms for their ability to refuse handing over the vehicle.

Did you not have another card to offer?

Dumdo

Only other card we had to offer was my wife's visa debit card,  which they declined...

Sandtree

Fine toothcomb the T&Cs on the grounds on which a vehicle can be refused. Most normally say that the hirer must be the cardholder.

Next step is probably to attempt a chargeback but as its a fairly blunt tool they may say the vehicle was available... you can obviously add that its their declining the transaction that has contributed to the issue. 

This however is one of several reasons why you should always travel with more than one payment method

Dumdo

How does charge back work, not familiar with it, all this is a new and unexpected experience. 

eDicky

Dumdo said:

How does charge back work, not familiar with it, all this is a new and unexpected experience. 

When the goods or services purchased by card are not provided, after trying unsuccessfully to resolve it with the supplier you can present the situation, with all documentary support, to your bank in order for them to chargeback the funds from the supplier to your bank account. It can be contested and/or reversed by the supplier, even if successful at first.