What rights do I have while waiting for a refund?

RandomAnonymousUser

Enterprise Car Hire at Lyon in France falsely blamed me for pre-existing damage on a van I rented and took over £2000 from my account. I didn't have extra insurance and used a debit card (major lesson learned, don't need advice on that). The money is being refunded after I made a complaint but could take up to 14 days, and I've incurred various overdraft charges, foreign exchange costs etc. What are my options to recover these additional costs and look for compensation for all the inconvenience and stress caused?

tightauldgit

1. Contact Enterprise and ask them nicely if they will include compensation for the additional charges you incurred in their refund.

2. Take them to court (presumably in France) to claim for the costs you have incurred as a result of their negligence. It's very unlikely you will get any compensation for stress or inconvenience though.

DullGreyGuy

RandomAnonymousUser said:

I made a complaint but could take up to 14 days, and I've incurred various overdraft charges, foreign exchange costs etc. What are my options to recover these additional costs and look for compensation for all the inconvenience and stress caused?

Assuming it is processed as a refund then FX fees should be refunded by your bank automatically. Normally if they have taken €2,000 then they will refund €2,000 and so depending on how FX rates have moved you may be in or out of the money so you may want to hold off finalising the complaint until such time as the funds have cleared.

You can ask for a guesture of goodwill for "inconvenience" but have no right to it. To claim stress you'd need to get a report from the GP about the appointments you had, medication they prescribed for you, how long you were signed off sick from work, probably the same again from your psychiatrist and see an independent psychiatrist to assess the PSLA and long term prognosis. 

born_again

As above FX fee's are refunded & if exchange rate has moved in the right direction you will be getting more back than they took. If it goes the other way & you are worse off. 
There is a chargeback that covers this.

TBH, had you used a CC it would have made no difference.