Travel – Page 8 – Mouse Print*

Consumer World Celebrates 30 Years: 1995 - 2025
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At Payless You Could Pay More Because of Dirty Tricks

October 24, 2016October 24, 2016 by Edgar (aka MrConsumer)

Consumer World reader Marcie S. is one determined consumer. She says she was ripped off by Payless Car Rental, which is a low-priced subsidiary of the Avis Budget Group. She was determined to get satisfaction not just for herself, but for the hundreds or perhaps thousands of other consumers who may have had similar problems with them.

Marcie says when she rented a car from Payless, they did something unusual:

Payless Car Rental pre-charges the customers’ credit card for a full tank of gas, stating the charge will be reversed once the car is returned with a full tank of gas. Upon return, they inspect the car and if the gas tank is full they note it on the return receipt. They do not automatically reverse the charges. Rather, you are directed to call 1-800-Payless where they open up a customer service ticket. There, the claim is classified as a fuel charge “dispute.”

They reply via ticket that they require ALL of the following to be met in order for your fuel charge “dispute” to be considered for review:

1) A physical receipt from the gas station noting the address and number of gallons purchased;
2) Gas station must be located within 5 miles of rental drop-off;
3) The receipt must have a time and date stamp. They will only accept the claim if the purchase was made within 30 minutes of drop-off time.

These requirements are non-contractual and extremely unlikely to have been met, especially with no knowledge of said requirements beforehand. They will NOT accept the rental return with the fuel reading marked “FULL” as proof. The ticket is then closed. There is no recourse and no way to escalate this situation.

Wow. Could Marcie’s experience be unique and came about as the result of a rogue agent’s actions? Apparently not. There are hundreds of complaints online about Payless, which average consumers never see until it is too late. Here are some of their alleged practices:

*MOUSE PRINT:

Issuing reservations at one price, but charging more at the time of rental;

Cramming charges, such as optional insurance, onto bills after the customer has declined the coverage;

Cramming charges such as for roadside assistance onto bills without oral disclosure or permission;

Misrepresenting insurance charges as being required when in fact they are optional;

Failing to refund fuel deposits after representing that they will be credited upon return of the car fully fueled;

Failing to fully disclose fuel refilling requirements prior to rental;

Representing there was no charge for an additional driver, then assess such charges;

Representing that certain fees are refundable upon return of the vehicle when such is not the case;

Provide the customer with one receipt with a certain price, and subsequently provide a receipt with a higher price;

and many others…

Many customers report they were charged hundreds of dollars more than they bargained for. Some would even call Payless’ actions bordering on criminal behavior.

Marcie got her money back from her credit card company but she wasn’t going to let Payless keep ripping off customers. She was able to collect the complaints of other consumers, complained to state AGs without much success, organized a private Facebook group with over 250 members who had complaints, and searched dozens and dozens of law firms until she found one to take the case.

Last month, two law firms filed a class action lawsuit against Payless, alleging many of the things mentioned above.

The New York Times asked Avis Budget (Payless’ parent) to comment on the lawsuit, but they declined. But we welcome your views below.

And to Marcie… we need more consumers like you who don’t take no for answer.

Consumer World Celebrates 30 Years: 1995 - 2025
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Hertz Hides the Lowest Priced Cars

March 30, 2015March 30, 2015 by Edgar (aka MrConsumer)

It is not easy to find the lowest price on a rental car because companies don’t automatically incorporate discount codes into their displayed rates, so you have to keep trying different codes and different companies’ websites. And even when you think you have found the lowest price, some rental companies have some tricks up their sleeve to bamboozle you.

Case in point: A friend is coming to Boston this week to visit, and MrConsumer agreed to help him find the “best” car rental rate. After using a number of travel sites that compare the prices of various companies, it became pretty clear that Hertz was offering the lowest prices depending on which coupon code promotions you entered into their website.

Here is the top portion of the results search on Hertz’s webpage:

It seems pretty clear that the best price turned up by this search is $162 ($170.73 including taxes and fees). It even says at the top “The rates listed represent the best available rates based on the information provided.” So a booking was made for this $170 car based on MrConsumer’s recommendation.

After a little more poking around, MrConsumer learned that this $170 rate was not in fact the cheapest rate that Hertz was offering.

Here is the (almost) full list of cars and prices on Hertz’ website at the time the above four prices were extracted:

*MOUSE PRINT:

Scroll down the list.

The nearly complete list appears just as it does above with the $162/$170 rate apparently the least expensive option. But if you scroll down to the bottom of the list, to the 10th car listed, a $153 rate appears! What, where did that come from?

It appears that Hertz deliberately creates the impression that the lowest rate appears first at the top of the list, but in fact tucks the best rate farther down the list. (Testing other rental dates and locations, the lowest price was not always on the bottom, but it was never the first, second, or third listing which appear in increasing cost order.)

Mouse Print* wrote to the PR folks at Hertz asking why they did this, whether they recognized the deceptive nature of this ploy, and if they were going to fix it.

The company did not respond.

Just imagine if Hertz can grab an extra $7 or $10 on each car rental by upselling customers one car class above the cheapest car… times how many million rentals a year…

Consumer World Celebrates 30 Years: 1995 - 2025
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$99* to Europe Including Taxes?

October 27, 2014 by Edgar (aka MrConsumer)

wowair A new low-cost airline from Iceland called WOW air has just started advertising fares as low as $99 one way to Europe, including all taxes. (Earlier last week, one could book a trip from Boston to Copenhagen for $99. Now, all fares are higher.)

What’s the catch? This airline has a similar philosophy to Spirit Airlines, the despised US carrier that charges extra for everything.

So before you get your hopes up that you can really fly to Europe for just $99, you have to read the fine print about additional charges.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Here is the full, long list of possible extra charges. Most notable: Your included carry-on bag can weigh no more than 11 pounds. It will cost you $57 for a larger carry-on bag, and $86 for a checked bag, EACH WAY, when going to Europe with a connection in Iceland if paying at the airport. And if you try to sneak in a carry-on bag over 11 pounds without paying, it will cost you up to $105 extra at the gate.

There are also charges for reserving seats: $14 for the front of the plane per leg, $10 for the middle, and $3 for the rear. These prices can double if making “advance” seat reservations at the airport on your way to Europe.

Don’t expect to be able to get seats at the advertised prices until late in 2015 in some cases. And the flight back to the US is not as cheap as going outbound.