Teahot

After checking my credit card balance today, I realized that rather than charging me the agreed £99 for van hire last weekend, Budget had actually charged me £100. When I phoned up the guy on the end of the line said that the rate was £99.99 (I distinctly remember originally being quoted £99 over the phone) and rounding up was “what they do”. Making me feel like some moaning tight-wad, he grudgingly offered to send me the 1p by post.

I’m left feeling a little “used” by Budget Car and Van Rental by their caveat emptor approach to selling, making it the customer’s problem to double check invoices and receipts (the Budget Rent a Car brand is licensed within Europe to Zodiac Europe Ltd, a subsidiary of Avis Europe Plc, Registered in England and Wales No. 4634240).

How odd to sell your products at £99 but then go through this customer unfriendly sharp practice of adding 99p and rounding up the quote without asking the customer first. Are they really so hard up compared to the rest of us that they need to lie about their pricing this way or do they just consider it a tip?

Update (20-Nov-08): Called today for the second time about their 1p overcharge. Quoted rental agreement. He claimed that the 1p was sent to me “a week ago” but could not give a date. Offered to send out another 1p by post. I stated that I would escalate the matter if it did not turn up within a week.

I was rather unhappy with this conversation so I called customer services of the parent company, Avis, on 0870 608 6363 (I actually used the “say no to 0870″ website to find a normal number to call) they referred me to the Budget customer services number, 01344668833.

This was the right number. It turns out that my rental agreement was through a franchise rather than direct (from his tone it sounded like this is the cause of many issues) and that £19.99 had already been credited on my credit card for “service issues” on 6/11 though this may take 10 working days to come through. I was rather surprised as at no point had anyone explained to me that they were crediting anything for my dissatisfaction. He suggested that if I could not see this credited on my account by Monday I should call back. Sounds like a result, I guess someone in Budget / Avis may have realized that they might have been breaking the law by rounding up prices between an invoice and the amount actually charged on a credit card, even if it is only 1p.

Update 2 (29-Nov-08): It’s now 6 days later than the guy suggested that my account would be credited. Tediously I’ll have to phone again during the working week to find out if he was mis-reading his own log and the £19.99 refund was just a mistake.

Update 3 (1-Dec-08): After calling again I was transferred to the local office (St. Katherine’s Way) where I overheard a conversation between two colleagues in reference to my call saying that “tell him to fuck off, we don’t owe him anything”. I was unimpressed and have made a formal complaint in writing to Budget Customer Services.

Update 4 (20-Dec-08): Finally resolved in a way that proves it’s worth following through on your complaints. I received an apology from Budget and a refund of £19.99 back on my credit card. Next time I book a car I’ll be taking extra care over the paperwork, what a pity you have to double check such things.