- In October 2013, I booked a trip to the States via a Netherlands-based travel agent
- This trip included a car rental of six days
- The travel agent worked a third party agent (also European) to make the actual car rental at one of the larger American-based car rental companies
- I traveled to the States, picked up my car and had a good time
- In June 2014, suddenly the American car rental company charged my credit card for more than USD 600, without any notification or bill or explanation
- I asked my credit card company to charge back the money, while I would sort things out
- I figured out where it went wrong: it turned out that during my original booking, I had requested for a change in the reservation. My original reservation would be cancelled and with my new reservation I traveled to the States. All of this communication went through my Dutch travel agent
- The ‘old’ reservation was apparently never cancelled by either my travel agent or the third party, therefore the US car rental company listed it as ‘no show’ and began to charge me directly!
- I started a complaint procedure with both travel agents, called the rental company, but parties are pointing at each other and they can’t figure out who made the mistake
- I’ve got the proof that my new reservation was the only on counting; why would I rent two cars anyway?
- Both my travel agents now pull out, since they demanded me to pay first the bill of USD 600
- I had not paid yet, since I trusted that the agents would soon agree with each other and had the bill cancelled. It is such an obvious and simple mistake, for which I can’t get blamed.
- I don’t want to pay, but the car rental company has sent me a letter with due date to pay and I got phone calls from a US debt collector agency as well…
All in all, very annoying situation. I appreciate your advice about how to deal with the US rental company and possibly the debt collector:
- Is it legally possible they can charge my credit card, which I had only used for my correct booking? Can they use that data for a (second, fault) booking with the same name? In the end, there are apparently two reservations, one had to be cancelled.
- Can my credit card company (US card) help me with holding of any bills or debt collectors, until they have requested proof of the USD 600 bill?
- Of course I’m pressuring my Dutch travels agents to solve this, but they have closed the case until I pay the car rental bill first. I’m almost sure if I pay, I will not be able to claim it back…
Thank you so much for your kind advice.
Willem
- This trip included a car rental of six days
- The travel agent worked a third party agent (also European) to make the actual car rental at one of the larger American-based car rental companies
- I traveled to the States, picked up my car and had a good time
- In June 2014, suddenly the American car rental company charged my credit card for more than USD 600, without any notification or bill or explanation
- I asked my credit card company to charge back the money, while I would sort things out
- I figured out where it went wrong: it turned out that during my original booking, I had requested for a change in the reservation. My original reservation would be cancelled and with my new reservation I traveled to the States. All of this communication went through my Dutch travel agent
- The ‘old’ reservation was apparently never cancelled by either my travel agent or the third party, therefore the US car rental company listed it as ‘no show’ and began to charge me directly!
- I started a complaint procedure with both travel agents, called the rental company, but parties are pointing at each other and they can’t figure out who made the mistake
- I’ve got the proof that my new reservation was the only on counting; why would I rent two cars anyway?
- Both my travel agents now pull out, since they demanded me to pay first the bill of USD 600
- I had not paid yet, since I trusted that the agents would soon agree with each other and had the bill cancelled. It is such an obvious and simple mistake, for which I can’t get blamed.
- I don’t want to pay, but the car rental company has sent me a letter with due date to pay and I got phone calls from a US debt collector agency as well…
All in all, very annoying situation. I appreciate your advice about how to deal with the US rental company and possibly the debt collector:
- Is it legally possible they can charge my credit card, which I had only used for my correct booking? Can they use that data for a (second, fault) booking with the same name? In the end, there are apparently two reservations, one had to be cancelled.
- Can my credit card company (US card) help me with holding of any bills or debt collectors, until they have requested proof of the USD 600 bill?
- Of course I’m pressuring my Dutch travels agents to solve this, but they have closed the case until I pay the car rental bill first. I’m almost sure if I pay, I will not be able to claim it back…
Thank you so much for your kind advice.
Willem
