Atlas Choice, double charge

Aylesbury_Duck · 31 January 2017 at 11:49AM

Last year in June, I booked car hire for five days in Europe through Atlas Choice, for early August. I paid in full - £130. When I collected the car, the hire company did the usual thing of taking my card details (on a different card to the one used to make the booking) and reserving 500 euros in case of damage, tickets, tolls, etc. I had no problems and the car was returned and accepted as having no damage.

In December, Atlas Choice ceased trading and is now in administration. It is apparent that from autumn last year, they stopped paying car suppliers all over the world. Fast forward to last week and I receive a credit card bill with £95 charged to it on 22nd December. I received no notification of it by email, phone or post, despite the hire document (which I have my copy of) having all those contact details on it. I have emailed the car company for an explanation and had no reply. I resorted to posting a poor review on their facebook page as the only way of getting hold of them and duly had a conversation on facebook messenger(!) with a representative who confirmed that they had not been paid by Atlas Choice and therefore were billing me. They (the car hire company) were advised by Atlas in December to recover the money directly from me using the card details left for damages, etc.

Is the car company allowed to do this? I see nothing in their T&Cs to suggest they can and I have heard (although cannot find it confirmed anywhere) that they are not allowed to retain my card details for more than 30 days from the end of the hire period.

I can't make a Section 75 claim for the original booking because it was made over 120 days ago. My contention is that it is for the car hire company to seek to retrieve their money from Atlas, not for them to take it from me and pass the retrieval on to me. I paid the broker. That they failed to pass my money to the car company is not my concern. I am awaiting forms from the credit card company to try and instigate a chargeback on the 112 euros charged by the car company.

Thoughts? Am I correct to dispute this? Do you think the chargeback process will be successful in this case?

Alan_Bowen · 31 January 2017 at 1:28PM

If you used a credit as opposed to a debit card to pay, there is no 120 day limit and you can make a claim against the card issuer. In most cases, when you pick up a car you sign a direct contract with the hire company, one of whose terms is that you agree to be liable to pay the full cost of rental. We all assume that the voucher covers the cost, but if it doesn't any car hire company is likely to charge the card whose details they hold.

Aylesbury_Duck · 31 January 2017 at 1:33PM

Thanks Alan. I tried Tesco (the credit card issuer through whom I paid the original fee to the broker) and they said I was outside the 120 days, which is why I am trying a chargeback on the Halifax card that the car hire company themselves charged in December. I understand your point about the car hire company. My particular issue with them is that despite having all my details, they didn't bother getting in touch to tell me what they were about to do, or indeed, to explain it after they had charged me.

I will go back to Tesco and dispute their imposition of the 120 day limit.

No.1 · 31 January 2017 at 7:23PM

Exactly the same thing has happened to me,

Paid original car rental of £180 back in July last year for the rental in October only to now be charged on the 23rd Dec £95 due to the end rental company not getting paid by atlas choice...

I disputed this with my credit card company back in December and today they have written to me advising the payment was for the above, at present they have refunded the £95 but they are still investigating. Within the evidence they had been provided by the rental company was a letter from atlas choice to the rental company saying that the £95 is chargeable however the original payment to atlas choice should be refunded by the card company that was used.

I have today returned the letter advising that I'm happy either way but I shouldn't have to pay twice...

Anyone else out there with similar issues?

Aylesbury_Duck · 31 January 2017 at 10:47PM

There are plenty of similar cases out there it seems. Atlas wrote to all the hire car companies advising them to charge customers using the card details kept for traffic violations, damage etc. and to tell customers to claim from their credit card company. Outrageous behaviour. I know the car companies are out of pocket but frankly, that's not my concern. They had months (in my case) to recover funds from Atlas.

Aylesbury_Duck · 4 February 2017 at 11:39PM

Thanks David. Tesco have done a chargeback on the original payment, using the fact that the additional charge was made less than 120 days ago. They will let me know if it is challenged. Whilst it looks like I won't be out of pocket, I am still unhappy that the car hire company was able to charge my card five months after the rental, on the card that was used as their deposit should any damage occur. They made no attempt to contact me before or afterwards, despite having my address, phone number and email address. I'm not impressed by Halifax, who seem completely disinterested in this. Thankfully, Tesco have been very helpful.

Aylesbury_Duck · 4 February 2017 at 11:42PM

During my research for similar cases, I came across someone who was charged, even though the booking wasn't in their name or paid for on their card! A relative paid the original amount and was the contracted hirer, but this person gave his card details to use as the held deposit. Sure enough, when Altas didn't pay the company, in this case Thrifty, Thrifty charged the second card, even though the cardholder wasn't the contracted hirer.

Aylesbury_Duck · 7 February 2017 at 9:58AM

DavidP24 wrote: »

For the sake of you and others I do not think you should leave it there.

Youe contract was with Atlas, so you have to ask how did Thrifty Car Hire obtain your data, was it AFTER the administration, was it the administrator, did they pay the administrator for the data.

I would be putting in a complaint to the Information Commissioners office but first I would put in a Data Protection Request to Thrifty to ask them to declare how and when they obtained your data. They are obliged to provide that. If they decline you add it to the complaint. Gather evidence online from others that have been affected and inform the ICO that there seems to be some serious data breach here involving many people.

I would ask Tesco to confirm the Visa Merchant Number that was used to take your money, if it was shown on your statement as Atlas and it took place after the Administration you need to query how that happened. If it was Thrifty's number then you need to ask that their Visa Merchant Number be suspended pending an investigation into multiple fraud allegations.

If Atlas ceased trading then they ceased trading, Thrifty would beceome a creditor, the Administrator could be breaking a load of rules. If Atlas continued trading in Administration then there is limited scope but not after the 120 day.

Thanks. You've merged mine and someone else's circumstances, but the principle stands. Once I know I have my funds returned I will be taking this further, as you suggest. It seems that the order of events was as follows (for all complainants in my position):

1. Customer pays Atlas (a broker) for car hire with the rental company. Receives a voucher in return.
2. Customer hires car without trouble, leaves card details in case of traffic penalties, damage, etc. (in my case, a different card to that used for the payment to Atlas).
3. Some weeks/months later, Atlas have not paid the rental company.
4. On or close to 22 December, Atlas write to car rental firms to advise them that they are likely to go into administration, and advising them to recover the funds Atlas owe them from card details left by customers. They also advise the rental firms to advise customers to make section 75 claims to recover their monies.

In summary, Atlas have not passed on any card details to the rental firms, but the rental firms have charged cards some time after the details were taken for a different purpose. In many cases, the rental firms made no attempt to contact their customers beforehand, despite holding all their contact details. The first many of us knew of it was a surprise transaction on our statements.

Atlas's behaviour is wrong: they have passed their debts onto their customers via the rental firms.

The rental firms behaviour is wrong. Instead of pursuing their debt with Atlas, they have taken the easy option of charging the customer. In many cases, the terms of the hire make that permissable, but they should not be doing it as an unauthorised transaction, using card details taken many months ago for a different, stated purpose.

sillyusername · 8 February 2017 at 10:45AM

I have just received a slight variant of this - Budget Car Rental Ireland have written to me requesting that I perform a chargeback on Atlaschoice and forward them the money!

For background, I paid Atlaschoice and completed my rental in autumn last year without problems.

Surely I can't instigate a chargeback if I got what I paid for?

Aylesbury_Duck · 8 February 2017 at 10:56AM

At least Budget contacted you and asked!

Yes, you can chargeback because the service you paid Atlas for - in short, arranging and paying for car hire on your behalf - was not provided.

Atlas Choice, double charge

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