Chargeback Advice

DullGreyGuy

born_again said:

No banks staff are in a position to give legal advice. As they are not trained in any way on this. You have to be very careful what you say. If as this rep said
"Tesco Credit Card Customer Service say to ignore it as it's likely posturing but is this advice acceptable?"

Would be worthy of a complaint.

I'd keep my powder dry... you can choose to do what they said and complain after if it goes wrong and get the large payout rather than complain now, show that you know they shouldnt have done it and get a token payout.

Piuzzo

Thanks for the advice to all who have replied.

The car hire company doesn't know of my address in Italy (but do in UK as provided when booked).

I think it likely that this is them trying it on in the hope of getting payment.

The letter they sent doesn't have a date on it but they expect payment within 5 days (attached via email).  It's taken them a year to even chase payment so the likelihood of them pursuing me to court for a few hundred euros seems slim.

I wouldn't ever touch Sicily By Car as a rental provider ever again in any case.

Piuzzo

Thank you. 

My thoughts are to ignore it for now. 

powerful_Rogue

Could always send a SAR to Tesco to get a copy of the notes and the recording, just incase the worst happens down the line.

born_again

Piuzzo said:

Thanks for the advice to all who have replied.

The car hire company doesn't know of my address in Italy (but do in UK as provided when booked).

I think it likely that this is them trying it on in the hope of getting payment.

The letter they sent doesn't have a date on it but they expect payment within 5 days (attached via email).  It's taken them a year to even chase payment so the likelihood of them pursuing me to court for a few hundred euros seems slim.

I wouldn't ever touch Sicily By Car as a rental provider ever again in any case.

If it was sent via email. Then it is dated as sent. It can also be set to notify on being read.

Piuzzo

I believe it can only be seen as read if I agree to mark it as such. 

Marketing companies can determine if an image within an email has been displayed - providing your email provider agrees (mine doesn’t) - but this doesn’t necessarily prove its been read. 

Grizebeck

Do nothing for now.

consumedconsumer

Hi @Piuzzo

I've just had a very similar experience to yourself. SicilyByCar claimed I damaged the car and charged me >1000 euros. When I queried the photo evidence and asked for more information they did not respond.

I queried with Amex and they have refunded saying they received no response from the company in the dispute. 6 months later I receive an identical message from the one you received from SicilyByCar.

How did your situation resolve itself? Did you pay in the end?

Piuzzo

@consumedconsumer

I’ve received the same ‘letter’ three times. I’ve never responded or paid anything. My credit card refunded me and that’s held.

I always avoid Sicily By Car and take out separate insurance excess before I leave. I travel to Italy a lot and there are many other providers. The local firms seem to undercut the bigger players in the hope of recouping damage.

My advice is to ignore the emails . They have no identifiable data on them so it’s highly likely just an attempt to scare a % of people into paying.

Good luck.

consumedconsumer

Thanks for your response. That's great to hear.

In that case I think I'll take my chances as they say they have no record of me even getting in touch with them to dispute the claim so their processes can hardly be that great!

And yes, excess insurance is definitely the way forward.