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Had problem with booking dot con last year and Amex took hotel side and said no help at all. It may be booking dot con is holding totaly different terms and conditions that “prevent” a chargeback – this was in my case.
It’s hard to do a chargeback (or more particularly s75) when using an agent such as Booking.com as they have provided the service but the hotel failed but your creditor-debtor relationship isn’t with the hotel. Visa has stopped entertaining hotel chargebacks entirely if the guest stayed.
@davefl I have a similar issue with a pre-paid Avis booking made through Avios. Post rental they have charged me almost C$10 without explanation. I was able to get a copy of my invoice from the website and my suspicion is that they are charging the difference between what I paid in GBP and what the local office has accounted for in local currency.
I’ve requested a refund from Avis UK so will wait to see what transpires.
I appreciate it’s a tiny sum but I get fed up with these big corporations nickel and diming us customers!
@davefl I have a similar issue with a pre-paid Avis booking made through Avios. Post rental they have charged me almost C$10 without explanation. I was able to get a copy of my invoice from the website and my suspicion is that they are charging the difference between what I paid in GBP and what the local office has accounted for in local currency.
That’s exactly what they’re doing, charging the difference in the currency movement. I’ve had it happen several times on US rentals and had it credited back within a couple of days but the fact they’re not even replying to a complaint and they didn’t send and I can’t obtain a post rental invoice from the website is really pissing me off.
Nothing compared to what Hertz are now pulling on their customers with the post rental AI driven photo charges for damage though.
Any recommendations for packing cubes? Everything on Amazon is rated 4.5!
Any recommendations for packing cubes? Everything on Amazon is rated 4.5!
Much of the stuff on Amazon is Aliexpress crap that can be had for a fraction of the price if you buy it from there.
The AmazonBasics ones are reasonable. Peak Design excellent but expensive, aimed more at onebaggers. Personally I quite like the Thule ones, especially the clean/dirty split version.
@davefl I have a similar issue with a pre-paid Avis booking made through Avios. Post rental they have charged me almost C$10 without explanation. I was able to get a copy of my invoice from the website and my suspicion is that they are charging the difference between what I paid in GBP and what the local office has accounted for in local currency.
I’ve requested a refund from Avis UK so will wait to see what transpires.
I appreciate it’s a tiny sum but I get fed up with these big corporations nickel and diming us customers!
That’s interesting. I had an issue with Avis in France recently. On returning the car I was told everything was fine and there would be no charge. On returning home I looked at my credit card statement and had been charged around €6.50. I was not given a print out and still haven’t been able to get one from Avis. I was back at the same airport last week in our own car so went back to Avis. I asked the reason for the charge and was told the amount they received was by credit card payment in GBPs so I had to pay the exchange fee (it was part on a BAH). (Would a virtual credit card be used like some companies use for hotels?) I said I had never been charged before. They said it was normal practice and were not prepared to do anything about it. Not very much, but as you say, it soon adds up. Have filled in a form for BAH complaint.
Rant mode – What do you do when an organisation commits blatant fraud?
Booked a prepaid rental via the Avis UK site, paid on Amex. Rental was from Nashville to Atlanta, Barclaycard was used for the deposit on collection and was without incident.
Post rental Avis didn’t send an invoice. Tried getting one via the app and the RA wasn’t recognised even though the rental was always visible in the app during rental. A couple of days later Avis Nashville charge my Amex $12. Emails to customer services demanding invoice, proof of charge and refund have gone unanswered apart from auto replies with ticket number.
Disputed the charge with Amex and after a week I’ve been told that the charge is valid according to the information they’ve received.
WTF do I do next?
Amex must share the proof with you. It is for Amex to prove you carried out the transaction, not for you to prove to did not.
If all else fails go to ombudsman.
Rant mode – What do you do when an organisation commits blatant fraud?
Booked a prepaid rental via the Avis UK site, paid on Amex. Rental was from Nashville to Atlanta, Barclaycard was used for the deposit on collection and was without incident.
Post rental Avis didn’t send an invoice. Tried getting one via the app and the RA wasn’t recognised even though the rental was always visible in the app during rental. A couple of days later Avis Nashville charge my Amex $12. Emails to customer services demanding invoice, proof of charge and refund have gone unanswered apart from auto replies with ticket number.
Disputed the charge with Amex and after a week I’ve been told that the charge is valid according to the information they’ve received.
WTF do I do next?
$12 mmmm I’d just chill
@HampshireHog – I’m guessing it’s more about the principle, as opposed to the Monetary value, it’s getting to the stage with many of these rental companies, where customers are anxious of any extra hidden charges they were not expecting, when they return the vehicle, or even worse, after they have left the country where the hire took place, it should not be that way.
It’s absolutely the principle. The lack of response to 3 emails to customer service is just unbelievable, as it the failure to provide a tax invoice as they are legally required to do. Avis conned me out of 7000 BW points last year as well because their promotion failed ot track internally and then lied to me on multiple occasions.
Similar issues with Marriott recently over their double nights promotion. Made a complaint, got an auto reply and then nothing further.
Is this what it has come to, we pay these companies in good faith, they don’t deliver/overcharge and then provide no response to requests for resolution?
Rant mode – What do you do when an organisation commits blatant fraud?
Booked a prepaid rental via the Avis UK site, paid on Amex. Rental was from Nashville to Atlanta, Barclaycard was used for the deposit on collection and was without incident.
Post rental Avis didn’t send an invoice. Tried getting one via the app and the RA wasn’t recognised even though the rental was always visible in the app during rental. A couple of days later Avis Nashville charge my Amex $12. Emails to customer services demanding invoice, proof of charge and refund have gone unanswered apart from auto replies with ticket number.
Disputed the charge with Amex and after a week I’ve been told that the charge is valid according to the information they’ve received.
WTF do I do next?
Amex must share the proof with you. It is for Amex to prove you carried out the transaction, not for you to prove to did not.
If all else fails go to ombudsman.
Apart from ludicrous concept of going to the Ombudsman over $12, the OP’s gripe is with Avis not Amex when there is no evidence that Amex has incorrectly handled the chargeback, so there can be no FOS complaint. There isn’t a case and you are complaining about the wrong party; otherwise bravo!
Litigating on ‘principle’ is something any decent lawyer will advise against.
The issue is that when you prepay a booking with Avis or any other car hire firm it simply generates a voucher for the approximate cost of hire per the exchange rate at the time. A local Avis operator or franchisee correctly bills in local currency on the day of hire and small discrepancies or local charges are not uncommon, not unlike hotel city taxes that have to be settled outside any prepayment – in the case of prepaid hire cars this might include premium location charges or fuel options (or in the US a daily fee for collecting airline points) not included in the voucher. This is set out in the prepay terms. It isn’t any sort of error by the local hirer which bills your card so they will provide a full defence that will almost inevitably be accepted by Amex or any card provider.
The issue is that when you prepay a booking with Avis or any other car hire firm it simply generates a voucher for the approximate cost of hire per the exchange rate at the time. A local Avis operator or franchisee correctly bills in local currency on the day of hire and small discrepancies or local charges are not uncommon
Funny how no-one ever gets a refund if the currency moves the other way…
Offer from IHG – headline teasing 40k points for a 4 nights stay.
Unfortunately it’s for iberiostars only 🙁🙁
@Paul – re the proof you say Amex must share with the customer, chargebacks just don’t work like that. There isn’t some to and fro between the various parties. Amex simply tells the merchant that the cardholder doesn’t accept the charges for x reason code, the merchant either accepts the chargeback or doesn’t respond within 45 days and the cardholder wins.
Alternatively the merchant provides evidence which Amex assesses and will make a final determination (in the case of Mastercard transactions, they make the final decision rather than the issuer). For car rentals, the hire company will produce a signed rental agreement agreeing to pay the charges and any late additions. Amex will obviously accept that as they can’t possibly be expected to analyse the make up of your car rental invoice. Obviously the ideal thing is to get the bill finalised on returning the car. Any issues need to be resolved with the hire company not the card issuer.
Apart from ludicrous concept of going to the Ombudsman over $12, the OP’s gripe is with Avis not Amex when there is no evidence that Amex has incorrectly handled the chargeback, so there can be no FOS complaint. There isn’t a case and you are complaining about the wrong party; otherwise bravo!
As usual you make assumptions that are nothing to do with the issue. Avis Nashville have not provided an invoice which is in breach of local law. They have not complied with their own Ts&Cs which state that an invoice will be emailed to the customer post rental.
They’ve not replied to 3 emails to customer service asking for the above. It is made very clear at time of purchase that a pre-paid rental covers all relevant charges for this rental and currency movements (which Avis corporate will undoubtedly hedge) are not my issue, and they don’t refund my money if the rate moved the other way.
My transaction was with Avis UK. It’s Avis Nashville (who were not presented with my Amex at any time) that are 100% at fault here. IPOF they should not even have had access to the card details.
Amex have not provided any proof from Avis that the the charge is valid and I’ll be requesting it.
I’m getting really bored with Amex rejecting chargebacks for incompetence from corporates. Not saying other companies are better, Barclaycard are actually worse.
@davefl – I’m not making any assumptions here, merely trying to analyse the facts to explain why it is possible the charge is legitimate in accordance with the prepay terms while you have accused Avis of “blatant fraud” without a shred of evidence! You are making all sorts of assumptions and jumping to conclusions without a handle on the facts, without which you won’t resolve the matter. If you are communicating with Avis in a similarly intemperate way, it may explain why you aren’t receiving any response.
As above, it’s generally very difficult to do a chargeback on these car hire contracts as Avis holds and can show Amex a signed rental agreement accepting the charges. Did you drop the keys in a lock box? Otherwise, how come you didn’t get the final bill settled and get a paper copy or email while you were at the counter or from the garage return people?
In respect of who you contracted with, you contracted with AFC for a UK prepayment but the rental agreement is with the local operator. They are two separate agreements. You will have agreed when booking and/or as part of any Avis Preferred you may have for your card details to be reused for any additional charges.
Ive been shouted at on HFP for this before but I’ve always found it effective.
An email to the entire Avis board, CEO, board of directors and Nashville should elicit a response.
If it doesn’t keep emailing until it does.
Always worked for me with large corporates. Particularly if you say stuff like “this doesn’t represent the brand you are looking to build” etc etc
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