If your children are on half-term holiday soon and you are planning to collect a hire car, make sure you have the right kind of credit card. These cautionary tales show the costly consequences if yours does not pass muster. I hired a car for a family holiday from Enterprise Rent-A-Car in France.
The collection desk at Carcassonne airport refused to hand over the keys when I presented the Visa credit card used for the booking because it was issued by First Direct. It told me it did not accept cards from online banks. The rental branch subsequently confirmed this in writing.
Enterprise’s terms and conditions state that Visa, Mastercard and American Express are accepted, while virtual, single-use and prepaid cards are not. We were forced to arrange alternative rail and taxi transport for our group of 10, costing us €440 [£370] and causing considerable stress. The booking agent has refunded the £388.44 rental cost, but Enterprise first ignored, then refused, my requests for my expenses to be refunded.
JM, Oxford This is an extraordinary stance on the part of Enterprise, given that First Direct is part of HSBC and that terms and conditions not explicitly stated in a contract are unenforceable. You have been battling vainly for redress since May, so it’s provoking that Enterprise instantly rolled over when I waded in. It admitted that First Direct Visa cards were accepted and that branch staff blundered.
Apparently, it says, staff are now “very apologetic” three months after the event despite the company having doubled down in writing when you complained. It has now refunded your expenses, though not a penny more to reflect the impact of its error. It says: “On this occasion, the customer did not receive the high level of service and support that we aim to provide.
We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused in this situation.” VD of London was also caught out by unexpected credit card rules when she tried to collect a prepaid car from Warsaw airport that had been booked through Holiday Autos. The provider, Flex To Go, refused to release it because her credit card bore her initials instead of her forename. Instead, they insist the name on the card matches the name on the lead driver’s licence.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
