HELP! Problem getting deposit back from the car rental company

[devin]

About two weeks ago, I hired a car from a local car rental company. The local shop is actually part of a franchise. The head office is located at Woburn.

When I hired the car, I authorised £500 deposit with my debit card. And they took out £500 from my bank account. After I returned the car, they told me it will take 5-7 days to return the deposit back to me.
But after 7 days, there was no sign of my money. So I called them up and they told me they have problem with their PDQ machine. They said they will process the payment after they replaced a new PDQ machine.
Another 4 days has passed and they still haven't process the payment for me.
They never call back to explain the situation even though they said they will call back. The lady in charge in the local branch actually shouting at me when I call to ask for update.
I complaint this to their head office and the lady on the phone simple laugh about it and said she will talk to the local branch and call me back. And again, no call back.

What should I do? Please help.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Ring up your card company and tell them the story in a calm manner along with the dates etc and contact numbers, they will follow up and help you out

 

[GRDCredit]

Have a read of this and approach your bank to discuss a chargeback

http://www.which.co.uk/advice/your-...back-on-credit-and-visa-debit-cards/index.jsp

For the future always use a credit card for this sort of thing as it is far easier to force a refund!

Out of interest did it have any conncection with this firm? http://www.4networking.biz/forum/8/41551.htm

 

[devin]

Out of interest did it have any conncection with this firm? http://www.4networking.biz/forum/8/41551.htm

It seems like a very similar situation but it is not the same firm. Thanks for the link.

 

[sabus]

As you have used a Debit card you are depending on the company to refund.
I had a very similar problem when I had a hire car by a major operator.

Having spent the best part of 3hrs in the bank to get them to charge back with no luck as you have no protection unless you say its fraud which you cant as you gave them your details and authorised transaction.
If it was a credit card no problem CC company takes over and refund!

I did eventually get my money back after 4 weeks but taught me a lesson. I now only use my debit card to withdraw cash or small payments such as coffee, supermarket etc etc Everything else goes on a CC. Advantages I keep my money longer in my bank whilst having CC protection on any purchase I make. You have to be very careful thou and ensure you always clear the balance in FULL else could be a slippery slope!

 

[devin]

As you have used a Debit card you are depending on the company to refund.
I had a very similar problem when I had a hire car by a major operator.

Having spent the best part of 3hrs in the bank to get them to charge back with no luck as you have no protection unless you say its fraud which you cant as you gave them your details and authorised transaction.
If it was a credit card no problem CC company takes over and refund!

I did eventually get my money back after 4 weeks but taught me a lesson. I now only use my debit card to withdraw cash or small payments such as coffee, supermarket etc etc Everything else goes on a CC. Advantages I keep my money longer in my bank whilst having CC protection on any purchase I make. You have to be very careful thou and ensure you always clear the balance in FULL else could be a slippery slope!

Just called my bank and they said they cannot do chargeback for my Visa Debit card.

So how did you get your money back eventually?

 

[sabus]

Thats right you cant do a charge back for Debit Cards.

I had to ring the company every 3 days and not take NO for a answer. After 14 days I sent them a County Court Form attached to a letter stating that unless payment was in my bank within a 30 days of when it was supposed to be returned I would submit the form to the court.

(You can download a PDF for the courts website and fill it in and print off without actually taking action.)

Surprise surprise I got my money very quickly.

 

[devin]

Thats right you cant do a charge back for Debit Cards.

I had to ring the company every 3 days and not take NO for a answer. After 14 days I sent them a County Court Form attached to a letter stating that unless payment was in my bank within a 30 days of when it was supposed to be returned I would submit the form to the court.

(You can download a PDF for the courts website and fill it in and print off without actually taking action.)

Surprise surprise I got my money very quickly.

Could you tell me where can I download this form?

Thank you very much.

 

[sabus]

http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/HMCSCourtFinder/GetLeaflet.do?court_leaflets_id=183

Ironically Im filling one in myself for a matter that will go to court from the looks of it!

 

[devin]

So, I got my money back!
I physically went to the store and ask for the refund.
Basically, I gave them 2 options
1: Refund the money to my debit card in front of me
2: Print out any proof that they have processed my payment

And I told them I am not leaving until I get at least one of these. And if they want, they can call the police.

I have googled them up and found that there were a number of posts on various websites complaining about the problem of getting deposit from this company. In most cases, it took more than one month.

I also contacting their head office and people from the head office told me to go to the local shop with my card and they can refund me immediately.

During this whole thing, I actually uncovered that the local car rental company actually used the brand of a big car rental company to attract customers. They then rent out cars with a different company name.

If you are interested to look them up.
The local company is called AUTOPOINT CARS
And the big brand in this case is GREENMOTION

AUTOPOINT actually has a branch at Heathrow, so watch out!

 

[WarbyGK]

Why didn't you pay them a visit before posting all this? Perhaps they really did have problems with the PDQ machines etc and I know that my first instinct would be to pay them a visit.......

 

[devin]

Why didn't you pay them a visit before posting all this? Perhaps they really did have problems with the PDQ machines etc and I know that my first instinct would be to pay them a visit.......

I didn't go to visit them because I want to believe what they said and save myself traveling 40 minutes on the train to find them.
But, when I found out the bad reviews at google, I was really charged up and really for a fight.

When I walked into the store, the secretary (the lady who I talked to on the phone) told me I shouldn't come directly to the store. They will refund directly to my bank account. But I told her, I have my debit card with me, so process my refund right now. She suddenly said she is not authorized to do that. So, I ask her to call her boss or whoever can authorize the refund.

Her boss was in the office and came out and trying to send me off by saying that they will contact their accounting department about my refund. I knew they don't have any accounting department, so I asked them to call their accounting department and I want to ask them directly. And I told them about all the reviews I found on the internet about their dirty business with the deposit. And they gone quiet.

The boss asked the secretary to call the accounting department to check if they have processed my refund. And if not, then process my refund with card in the store. At that point, the secretary looked puzzle. And boss repeat again.

This is the best bit. The secretary took out an address book, flips through no less than 10 pages to find a number. Obviously, there is no accounting department. But she dialed a number and talked to the "Accounting Department". I discretely write down the number she dialed on the phone. And according to their accounting department, they have refunded my deposit 7 days ago. Well, the money is definitely not in my account. She hang up the phone and asked her boss what to do. At that point the boss told her to process refund with the debit card.

Took her a couple minutes to process the refund.

I took the receipt and on my way out, the secretary asked this
"What keywords did I use to find reviews about them on google?"
These guys are a group of jokers and make me laugh.

--- by the way, I called their "Accounting Department". What I get is "Sorry, the number you have dialed is not recognized." ---

 

[GRDCredit]

I have googled them up and found that there were a number of posts on various websites complaining about the problem of getting deposit from this company. In most cases, it took more than one month.

:redface: Cough Blog See my signature Cough :redface:

 

[devin]

Geoff

YES! Google is my best friend. Google knows everything. You just have to ask the right question.

 

[GRDCredit]

. You just have to ask the right question.

And at the right time - i.e. before hiring a car not afterwards!

 

[devin]

And at the right time - i.e. before hiring a car not afterwards!

Yes and I did google Greenmotion which is the rental company I was trying to hire a car. The store I hired the car is a franchise of Greenmotion.
But, what I didn't know was that there is a Autopoint Cars hiding behind Greenmotion. Autopoint uses the clean and friendly image of Greenmotion to get customers. I only found out about Autopoint from the rental receipt.

Interesting enough, when I called up Greenmotion head office, they told me that all my receipts should show Greenmotion and not Autopoint.

 

[marex]

AVOID Autopoint Cars Limited at all costs. I just had exactly the same problem. I was told that deposit will be returned in 3 days, but it did not. I called them around 15 times and every single time I heard bullshit about contacting accounting department. After 2 weeks I had enough. I went to the branch and explained that my deposit is still not on my account and I won't leave until I see any proof that it has been refunded or until they give me money.

Obviously they didn't have any proof, so receptionist panicked a bit and told me that she needs "authorization" from her boss to give me a refund. Unfortunately she was not able to obtain authorization because her boss was in the meeting. Without realising what she just did, she told me that he is on the meeting with director from the office. I didn't waste more time and went directly to the room in which meeting was held and described whole situation very loudly. I had my refund within next few minutes on my card.

Just to summarise - avoid Autopoint / Greenpoint at all costs!

 

[Fianne71]

I have had the exact same experience of these jokers and ended up writing letters, threatening legal action, lodging a formal complaint with Trading Standards, and making a formal complaint to Green Motion cars. With all that, the deposit was refunded within 2 weeks.

I have also brought these dodgy practices to the attention of the local rag (Ealing Gazette) who have said that they will publish a piece on them if other customers who have had the same experience with Autopoint contact them. Please seriously think about contacting the newspaper if you want to have these clowns exposed as the dreadful people that they are.

 

[louandcai]

Oh nooo!
We are still waiting for our deposit from these people. we were told that the refund would take 3-5 days, after 5 days we called and were told that it would take 5-7 days.

We were suspicious at the time as the refund wasn't put through the pdq and we asked but they said it was fine. now we're on day 7. I have been trying to call all morning but they are engaged,

Not only this but they charged us £45 for a slightly scuffed tyre.

Do not use this car hire company, they take the mick.

 

[lopvan]

Hi....I have hired a car with Autopoint in West Ealing and they are just a bunch of liars!!!!!!!
I have been waiting to get my deposit back,500 pounds,for almost 3 weeks!!!
I called them after 7 days to check if everything was ok and they told me that there was a mistake with my credit card and that they will do the refund again.....I waited for another 7 days and called them again....the lady on the phone started raising her voice telling me that all I had to do was wait and also said that she coldnt do anything else.......
Today I have been to the shop and asked to see the receipt of my refund or to give me my money.I could tell she was just lying to me giving me excuses..Finally she gave the receipt and I just hope I will get the money soon...........

 

[familydayout]

There are always going to be a few dodgy company's in every sector who try and get one over on the customer. To best protect yourself, do as much research as you can on the car rental company before going ahead and parting with your money.

I know it's easier said than done, but a simple search for 'autopoint car review' or similar may have saved you some time and money! Also, ask around and get recommendations from friends & family if possible.

I travel to London a lot and stay for up to 3-4 weeks at a time, and use this long term car rental company, never had an issue with them.