So back in May I went on holiday and hired a hire car. After returning the car, whilst sat in the airport I got notified of the car company trying to take 2 payments. Only for €340 which was declined and one for €300 which was successful.
When returning home I contacted the car company via phone however due to the language difficulties it didn’t go far, however I found a contact us page on their site and filled out a form to which they said they would get back to me. I filled said form out 5 times asking for clarification on why the payment was taken and didn’t receive anything back from the hire company. I raised a dispute with Monzo over it and after many attempts, I managed to get my dispute actually looked at.
Monzo have came back 2 weeks ago saying that the hire company said they taken it because I had “broken a window on the inside of the car and the window had to be fully replaced”. I argued this and asked for photos showing the damage and the car reg being included in the photos with the damage, to which the hire company have said they don’t have any photos showing the damage.
Does anyone know what steps I can take now, as I feel like the car company have just took the money for the sake of boosting their bank balance and are giving an excuse without providing evidence of said damage which I would assume they would take for circumstances of this happening?
When you took the car back, did you check it over with them? Usually it has to be inspected and then they agree to either release the deposit or tell you what you’ll be paying.
There’s unfortunately plenty of unscrupulous hire car providers and it’s important to take photos or videos yourself in case of dispute.
I’m not quite sure how you can dispute it, other than to document and continue to ask Monzo to support you. Ask for the documents that show the invoice they have had to pay to repair the vehicle perhaps?
Also check your travel insurance to see if car hire excess payments are covered, or if you paid for extra insurance to cover your excess payment then claim with that.
I was lucky this last time, they didn’t sign anything but verbally confirmed all was good, but I worried all the time until the excess hold reversed.
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Anarchist
(Press ‘Help’ search ‘Contact us’ or email help@monzo.com or call 0800 802 1281)
4
You can reply that you believe this to be a scam because cars don’t have “windows on the inside”
Unfortunately there’s probably little you can do here, and chalk it down to a lesson for the future. It’s possible Monzo might kindly look on you but there’s no guarantee.
If you booked via a third party or a larger company I’d suggest dealing direct with the head office vs the depot. A lot of them don’t really care and do this all the time (source I used to work in this trade for a major car rental firm).
I know this won’t help for this time but I cannot stress enough how important this is. On collection and return. Keep them until you’ve had all the deposit back. I’ve had a few “try it on” only to magically refund the deposit there and then when I’ve evidenced the scratch was there on collection.
Just to add, never pay for your hire car with a debit card. Always pay the deposit and payment with a reputable free overseas credit card, like Barclaycard rewards, 1 phone call and your money would have been back in your account asap.
Although you’re probably going to struggle to find a car hire company (a reputable one at any rate) that doesn’t require a credit card for payment and deposit.
It’s not just for your security, but their security too.
This is usually listed as a requirement. However what I can’t be sure of is whether some hire companies just say this on paper and don’t actually check when it comes to you making a payment.