Booking.com

Jamthy

Can anyone suggest how I can escalate a claim to Booking.com. 

I booked confirmed and paid for car hire in Toronto through them. Their confirmation email stated that Visa Debit was an accepted method of payment. When I went to collect the car from Hertz they would not give me the car without a Credit card. 

I traipsed back across town, made 3 phone calls (two of which got disconnected) and on the 3rd call they informed me that the system had been updated and that I failed to collect the car from Hertz rental. This was inaccurate. 

Since then I have been calling Booking.com and each time I get through to a different person who asks me to explain the claim again and surprise surprise, I get cut off again. 

I wish to contact the Complaints Dept or escalate the complaint, but no one is helping me do this. 

Does anyone have any suggestions of who I could contact or what I should do? 

Many thanks

eskbanker

Jamthy said:

Can anyone suggest how I can escalate a claim to Booking.com. 

I booked confirmed and paid for car hire in Toronto through them. Their confirmation email stated that Visa Debit was an accepted method of payment. When I went to collect the car from Hertz they would not give me the car without a Credit card.

Was the confirmation email from booking.com or Hertz (or another intermediary)?  Was it specifically stated that a debit card was suitable for the security deposit, as opposed to the payment for the rental itself?

https://www.booking.com/customer-service.en-gb.html suggests a facility to send messages rather than phoning, have you tried that?

comeandgo

Possibly payment could be made by debit card but you do usually need to leave details of credit card to hire vehicles.

Jamthy

Thanks for your replies. The confirmation Email was from Booking.com and clearly states VisaDebit is an approved payment method. It didn’t state that credit card was needed for rental or security deposit. 

I have phoned again and asked for email for customer support, so have emailed. 

Caz3121

if you made the booking on the booking.com website, there is 'important info' shown. When you click on it is states 

Driver & licence requirements

When you pick the car up, you'll need:

Passport or national ID card

Driving licence

Credit card

---

Security Deposit

US$300.00

At pick-up, the main driver will leave a refundable security deposit of US$300.00 on their credit card. Cash and debit cards are not accepted. The counter staff will confirm how much this will be.

Accepted cards

MasterCard

Visa

I suspect the issue may not have been payment for the rental but the security deposit hold.

Family had this problem recently as someone booked a car not realising the main driver did not have a credit card in their name. They had to change the main driver to someone else who did have a cc 

bagand96

Caz3121 said:

if you made the booking on the booking.com website, there is 'important info' shown. When you click on it is states 

Driver & licence requirements

When you pick the car up, you'll need:

Passport or national ID card

Driving licence

Credit card

---

Security Deposit

US$300.00

At pick-up, the main driver will leave a refundable security deposit of US$300.00 on their credit card. Cash and debit cards are not accepted. The counter staff will confirm how much this will be.

Accepted cards

MasterCard

Visa

I suspect the issue may not have been payment for the rental but the security deposit hold.

Family had this problem recently as someone booked a car not realising the main driver did not have a credit card in their name. They had to change the main driver to someone else who did have a cc 

As you say I expect it is the security deposit that is causing the issue here.  I've just searched for a hire car in Toronto with Hertz on booking.com and it does say the following:

Security Deposit

CA$350.00

At pick-up, the main driver will leave a refundable security deposit of CA$350.00 on their credit or debit card.

Accepted cards

MasterCard

Visa

However, further down in the rental terms it states:

What you need at pick-up

Acceptable forms of payment

Accepted Credit Cards

The main driver must be in possession of a Credit Card in their own name when picking up the car. The Card must have enough available funds to cover the excess / deposit amount (which will be blocked on the Card for the duration of the rental). The Card will also be required to pay for local fees, extra equipment and anything purchased additionally at the car hire counter.

Rules around payment cards

If you pay by credit card, your bank may charge you an international transaction fee.

Credit cards need to be activated for international transactions and for payments abroad.

You'll need to know the PIN of the payment card you are planning to use to pre-authorise your deposit.

Payment cards

Accepted payment cards

The counter staff can only accept the following credit cards for the deposit:
(prepaid, recharge or virtual cards are not accepted)

MasterCard

Visa

The counter staff can accept the following credit cards or debit cards, for purchases made locally:

Discover

On one hand it says a debit card can be used for the security deposit.  Further down in the terms it does state the main driver must have a credit card in their own name and further down "the following credit cards for the deposit"

Some conflicting information however I expect Booking will point to that "main driver must have a credit card" clause in the terms... assuming the OP's terms are the same as what's on there today.

Jamthy

Thank you all. So surely if the information provided to me by Booking.com clearly states that a visa debit card is an accepted payment method, they should have accepted it? 

This is obviously an issue between Hertz and Booking.com and has resulted with me loosing £700, which I can not afford to loose. 

I have been trying to email them as phone calls are not getting anywhere, but they now aren’t even able to reply to me providing me with the email address of customer support for the car rental department. They send a generic reply that doesn’t even link with what I’ve asked.