Hertz Rental, I rented a bike for 5 days in Madrid. I paid for unlimited milage., When I arrived they said I had not paid for unlimited mileage. As I did not have All my paperwork with me, I could not verify this. On my return I complained. I did not get any help at all locally or national as they wanted a K or L reference number and my reservation had neither Make sure you take all paperwork with you when dealing with the bump price vendors (like rental and budget airlines) Otherwise you are easy prey.
If you paid by CC probably by Debit card too, and you can show an agreement giving unlimited mileage to the card provider, I expect they will refund you the over charge.
Sorry to read that. I guess the morale of the story would be to prepay, therefore locking the supplier into a fixed contract agreement?
With car hire I tend to pay the very basic package, then let the local desk charge me the extras I want. It keeps them happy and isn't noticeably more expensive. I also don't have to try to remember what extras I think I booked.
Whatever works best for you I guess. But using this thread as an example, if you had booked the "basic" the desk would have refused the unlimited mileage option, thus charging you £75 more than necessary? I prefer to prepay, and arrive with a contract that stipulates what I have paid for and no arguments. I've found the reputation of car rental sharks to be well deserved, with the exception of the locally owned one in Stoke.
Some good advice, but also many stories on line of people rocking up with fully booked reservations including insurance, to be told that you don't have insurance.
I interpreted it that unlimited mileage had already been paid for (cost not mentioned, so may have already been Eur75), and because that couldn't be proved it was paid for again. So has been paid for twice. The Eur75 was paid on arrival, so wasn't refused. The problem was an amount was already paid that should have covered it. So, in this case it would have been better to have not paid whatever was paid at booking and then paid on arrival, however that is due to the circumstances of not being able to prove it had been paid. Also, and this is in agreement with the other comment I have quoted, in a majority of cases where I have looked at paying to remove excess, when you book from the UK for overseas you are often being offered an insurance policy through a 3rd party which you can claim back the (normally quite large) excess you will have to pay if you are in an accident (or sometimes from them chancing charging you weeks later for damage they claim was by you). Whereas, when you pay at the counter on arrival it is with the rental company and completely excludes you from having to pay any excesses, so is a better arrangement. It is all in the circumstances and the details.
Cheap rental companies are the scum of the earth. Just recently I had to have an argument about damage etc. I had pictures and videos so no harm but the hassle. I've sworn to myself to use only the big companies from now on as I never had a problem with them.
Just be patient, you will! Years ago I rented an Escort from Eurorental at Toulouse Airport. Paid the all inclusive, zero excess CDW. Came to the car a few days later and the passenger side had been slammed end to end by someone. Anyhow I went back to the airport at the end of my trip, arriving close to my flight departure. Explained to the reception that the car was damaged, that I did not know how or by whom, but that it was insured by them so sorry but... I had 2 years of threatening letters, seemingly endless correspondence to which my replies went from polite but puzzled, to irritated, to outright indignation. In the end I paid a Swiss lawyer -I was living in Verbier at the time- to send a stop and desist letter threatening them! Appalling.
I believe many airport car hire desks (especially at smaller airports) are franchises, so their staff are possibly locally more incentivised to participate in the sharp business practices of a small independent when they have the opportunity.
