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My daughter recently spent three weeks in paradise. She works hard and earned every minute of her time far away in the middle of the ocean. She swam with turtles, took naps in the sand, walked for hours exploring grottos and pools and ponds, drank gallons of Kona coffee, went parasailing for the first time, snorkeling for hours, went on a catamaran outing with a gourmet lunch on a deserted beach, and drank tropical drinks loaded with fruit and topped off with umbrellas. When she came home she moved as though in a fog. She was relaxed and happy. Until she got her credit card bill.
Vacation rip-offs are plentiful. There are so many ways to rip off a tourist that books have been written on the topic. A brief visit online with appropriate search words brings up enough reading to make one never want to leave home. Fighting the rip-offs has become a way of life. Take a vacation, come home and fight for weeks. And that’s where she is right now. Summer is over but the rip-off memory lingers on---and on and on and on.
Of all the rip-offs the car rental industry seems to top the list. There’s a wonderful website entitled “Rip-off Report” where we can take a peek at things to avoid. I spent the better part of a day researching various websites in preparation for this posting and it was frustrating and very sad. People work so hard then spend that hard earned money on vacations that sometimes simply don’t materialize. Sometimes the rip-offs occur when the tourist gets to the airport only to discover the vacation they booked doesn’t exist and the scam includes airfare. Sometimes the rip-off occurs when the person reaches their destination only to discover that the beautiful resort they booked with a view of the beach is a rundown bug infested room near a dirty creek.
We are at the mercy of razzle dazzle websites when we book trips and there are still unscrupulous agents should we desire to have our trip planned for us. Whatever, the price we pay has no bearing on whether or not we are getting ripped off. However, we are somewhat safer if we stick to high end plans---but not always.
My daughter arrived in Maui (exhausted) and took the car rental shuttle to the agency she booked weeks before her vacation. She paid for the entire vacation up front. She arrived at the rental counter expecting to pick up her key and head to her condo so that she could run to the beach! There was a long line. Of course every person in the line was tired and crabby and many had very tired and crabby kids. My daughter just focused on the beach. It would all go away in a few minutes and she would be on the beach. The beach, the beach, the beach . . .
As she stood in line she heard each crabby customer complain that they just wanted their key and their car. But the counter rep pushed insurance with each guest. In fact, it appeared to my daughter that the agency rep was deliberately holding up the line to force people to purchase rental car insurance before she would allow them to leave. No one took the insurance. When my daughter arrived at the counter the same counter rep started pushing the insurance. My daughter is not one to push so an argument developed. My daughter explained the facts of life to the rep and was soon on her way a lot faster than other frustrated customers.
The counter rep was rude, frazzled, unprofessional, and over her head. When my daughter took the car back after her three glorious weeks she checked in and was told she was “paid in full.” She left with the happy glow of a wonderful vacation tucked in her pocket.
Shortly after returning home she received a charge on her credit card statement for $624.76 from the rental car agency. Yep, it was for the car rental insurance that she and everyone in line declined that beautiful day in paradise. Every day since the statement came she has been on the phone with the rental agency. She has had countless dropped calls, nasty employees, transfers to other nasty employees, and ultimately zero help whatsoever. She then went to her credit card company and they are examining the complaint via their tiresome system and have offered some support as she debates the issue. They have not agreed to remove the charge however but rather are battling with the rental agency as she is. She also complained to the website where she booked her entire vacation and they are offering “some” assistance. Basically, however, it’s all her battle. And it’s been several weeks so far. She eventually had to make a payment just to keep her credit from tanking.
Most personal car insurers cover car rentals. Prior to my daughter’s vacation she checked to make sure her coverage does that and it does. Some of the car rental complaints stem from damage to the car. The tourist isn’t informed there’s damage when they return the car but they receive a charge on their credit card after they return home and later learn it’s to repair the car they damaged. Though they did not damage the car it’s hard to dispute. Some sites recommend photographing every square inch of the car when pulling into the parking area of the agency with a newspaper showing the date you returned it and that it was undamaged. One young man booked a certain car and when he got to the agency to pick up his rental was told the car he reserved was not available and they bumped him up to a fancy car. He complained but they assured him he would not be charged for the upgrade. Very funny. It took him a year to fight the charge and he only received a partial refund.
There’s a special place in hell reserved for senior citizen rip offs. There are people who rip off seniors in countless ways of course. I’m constantly warning my mom. At her house yesterday she had an “official” document with giant “property tax” info stamped all over it. She was panic stricken that there was a problem with her taxes. It was a scam. I pay all her bills so she wouldn’t have paid anything even if she tried but not all seniors are that lucky. Seniors are routinely ripped off on vacations.
I could go on. And this could turn into a multi-part blog just on the topic of rental car insurance rip offs. Like how the counter reps are compensated for all the insurance they push successfully. However, consumers must not give in and accept the nasty charges. Report them everywhere possible. Write to the CEOs of the companies, tell friends, put it in all posts online, tell everyone everywhere. When standing in line at a rental car agency the next time tell everyone in line, loudly, and wear a sign on your chest so that the counter agent sees you are not interested in insurance. (That last one may be over the top.)
So my daughter is still fighting the battle and has now started a writing campaign via certified mail and of course is telling all her friends. I have deliberately not used the name of the agency at this point in the event they do right by her. We are giving them 10 days from the receipt of her detailed letter sent to the CEO. If they do not reverse the charge I will post it everywhere I can. For now, if you are interested in knowing which agency it is (it doesn’t matter because I found complaints for all of them) I will share it with you via an email to me at sharonstrawhandgarner@yahoo.com and you MIGHT avoid a similar fate. But I doubt it.
Consumers must fight every fraudulent practice and if they are not able to fight it for themselves, they must find someone to do it for them. Don’t let these companies get away with it.
[Update: As of this writing, the final word from the Maui office is: no refund. The fight continues. We haven’t heard from the CEO yet.]
[No part of this content may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author. Blog series began in March 2009.]
