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Last week on holiday I had hire car in Poland.
All handed back just fine on the day. I took photos at start and end, inside and out.
Yesterday and today the company has tried to put four excess charges through credit card for damage, taking to another country and cleaning. All blocked by my bank.
At the same time bank call and say that additionally to this, they have had MasterCard add my card to a comprimised list, please destroy and blocked.
Are these the same issue, or multiple and related?
Also, any experience of telling a hire company to p*ss off....?
What's the hire company local or international?
Could be related, but I wouldn’t lose sleep over over it - Bank / CC people seem well on top of it, they must as thought something was Sus as recharges for hire cars are usually routine.
As for the Hire Co, let ‘em carry on, bank isn’t going to have much time for them, they may send a letter I guess, just send them back the pics and so no.
If the bank blocked them it'll be for suspected fraud. I'd say one issue - a fraudulent car hire company.
Booking company was rentalcars.com
Actual hire company was Global Rent A Car
We got stung my an unexpected charge after booking through rentalcars.com. Still trying to get it back from the CC company.
I am now working out that rentalcars.com reviews are good. I hadn't worked out they were only the agent. The reviews for the principal that is Global Rent A Car would have had me running away...
Update - they just sent me a picture of a scratch, with all EXIF data removed, claiming that a 3cm low bumper scratch costs £580. The car is facing a kerb.
Funnily enough I have a matching photo, with all EXiF data attached showing 10am on the first day of hire and the car park of the hire place, featuring said scratch and my finger. I've similar pictures of all the other minor marks and chips...
I've also a set of pictures of the car at drop off, clearly in thier car park and facing away from the kerb.
How do you counter charge these scumbags?
Frankly if you’re CC company won’t pay them, explain your point of view, but tell them to whistle for it.
Matt, who sent you the photo and the claim - I'm guessing that was Global? If you trust rentalcars.com, ask them to sort it out. I've always found the booking agents good at that.
How do you counter charge these scumbags?
Mostly by sticking to the big ones, the small places don't get much comeback as there is always another mug who takes the cheapest option.
Europcar tried a similar thing with me. Raised an objection to my c/c company who clawed back £8,800 instead of £88,
So for a while I was rich. Europcar gave up, The excess money went back. I'm now on a global blacklist with Europcar, Infamy at last!
Sounds like the car rental company hasn't got a chance with all the evidence you have, I'd be thinking of getting the police involved as it sounds like fraud,
When I worked abroad I'd hire a car if I was in the UK for a weekend. One of the major firms at Gatwick charged me for a full tank of fuel a week after drop of. It took months of letter writing and a copy of my credit card bill showing that just before drop off I'd spent a tank full amount at the nearest petrol station to get it sorted. Gits.
Check if there are other small amount being paid using the card.
Me mate got a small amount paid using his card from Vietnam then a few days later several hundred pounds paid using his card again. The bank alerted him and then stopped the card. The bank then refunded all his money and issued him a new card (take 7 days to issue a new card).
According to the bank they fraudster did a test run on his card first by paying small amount and then went for the full whack to empty his card.
Luckily me mate only kept several hundred £ in that account and he has never travelled anyway beyond the UK.
My credit card company have managed to put through a payment despite agreeing to block all payments to Global Rent A Car, and closing that card down. They can't yet explain why, other than the security team can't see pending payments(!)
So far no reply from Global Rent A Car to me disputing all this.
The charge from the car company won't have been pending. Card charges are nearly always 2-step - an auth 'can I have some money' and then a charge 'give me some money'.
When you swiped the card when you picked up the car, they authed the card. They're now charging it, which doesn't produce a second auth and thus no 'pending' charges. They also probably can't block it, as the blocking is done at the auth level, and you already told the hire company that they have access to your money. Your only hope is a chargeback
I am gathering that now - it seems the money went through the day *after* the card was totally blocked/destroyed/removed though....
I am also working out how much of a deliberate set of thieves this company is - and how I feel that rentalcars.com are also shrugging shoulders. It says a lot that they have no social media presence, their web whois has been stripped of data, online no references for head office phone numbers or similar, employees hide profiles on Linkedin, etc etc
I am feeling a right dunt - normally I am reasonably smart and careful on these things...
Mrs Madhouse booked a car through this lot as they appeared to be the cheapest. Day before she was going to use them she finds the small print says £1250 damage deposit on a credit card please. She doesn't have one (luckily!!) so I ring the branch - like you say the website is a bit thin on those details - and find she can pay extra for a waiver (that she thought she'd already paid for anyway).
Either way it was a pain in the arse and cost the same as anyone else so the hassle wasn't worth it. Sounds like we dodged a bullet on excess charges though.
At least your card provider seems (mostly) on top of this one, think we all now know to give this company a swerve.
I am gathering that now – it seems the money went through the day *after* the card was totally blocked/destroyed/removed though….
yes, when a card is blocked, all pre-existing authorisations still stand, and charges against those authorisations can take place. Otherwise there'd be nothing to stop you just blocking your card when you don't fancy paying a hotel bill/car hire bill that's legitimate
Mrs Madhouse booked a car through this lot as they appeared to be the cheapest. Day before she was going to use them she finds the small print says £1250 damage deposit on a credit card please.
Most of the regulars will do £2-250 for a auth/deposit
Last Europcar rental we had from Geneva was either 1,000CHF or 1,100CHF, I can't quite remember. The idea being it was such an eyewatering amount that you immediately bought the extra waiver (which, incidentally, was only 40CHF a day!!)
Hang about a minute!
I see where you went wrong, that you hadn’t rented cycles for your trip 😜
You are right - but five of us the 100km odd with a weeks gear was not easily bikeable....
Next time though...
I'm surprised rental cars.com don't want to get involved as they do have a good reputation and you do expect them to have done some of the work in ensuring that the companies that they promote are genuine. Hit rentalcars up on Twitter for comment?
Open a dispute with your credit card company with the evidence that shows this is a fraudulent charge. They will charge it back to the acquirer, who will pass it on to the merchant. The merchant can contest it if they have evidence that it's not a fraudulent charge, in which case it will get bounced back to your bank as a representment.
If the merchant is known to be dodgy the acquirer may not even contest it.
Rentalcars.com now investigating as well, they have my evidence of deliberate misleading.
Bank is looking at chargeback, I've been asked to wait 7 days. More attempted payments today apparently.
Radio silence from globalrentacar.com
btw, is their phone number not on this page? (assuming that this is the same company)
https://www.global-rent-a-car.com/de_de/impressum/
and in case you haven't found it, the email of their head of marketing is alexandra.barbetti@global-rent-a-car.com
from here: https://hunter.io/search/global-rent-a-car.com
and here: https://www.virtualmarket.itb-berlin.de/en/Alexandra-Barbetti,a2103732
That phone number is answerphone.
That Alexandra hasn't responded.
bummer, sorry. Thought you might have been using the info@ address.
Tried it all. I've just now to be patient with my credit card folk at M&S/HSBC to see what they do...
Update: Refund issued when Mastercard did a chargeback.
If the rental company fit a tracker to the car and don't tell me, might this be against GDPR? #revenge...
If the rental company fit a tracker to the car and don’t tell me, might this be against GDPR?
Read the T&C's - seen it in lots normally on a window sticker though but was made aware of it from a mate who had it flagged as a security issue for his work
Nothing in T&C's and no sticker.
What would a tracker on a car have to do with GDPR?
What would a tracker on a car have to do with GDPR?
As it's personal data they have to make you aware they are collecting the data.
They also must let you see and delete the data at your request.
At a high level, anyway. I'm sure (armchair) lawyers will be debating the ins and outs of GDPR compliance for years to come.
^ plyphon has it. I was being tracked, and was unaware I was. Plus they hold that data on me now.
I am deeply p*ss*d with this company, and after them trying it on feel like making them squirm some...If GDPR is a way, I will play that game...