Ebookers & Avis

How difficult is it to get a resolution to an obvious set up error? Actually after nearly four hours in ‘chat’ with four different Ebookers/Expedia agents and an email to Avis it seems to be impossible.

I booked and paid for an economy car at Chicago O’Hare for 24 hours for £42.49. The confirmation from Ebookers gave me the Avis reservation number. When I opened the Avis reservation the bottom of the page showed that the rental fee was £80. At the top of the page it indicated that if changes needed to be made they had to be made via the company the booking had been made through.

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The ‘chat’ feature on Ebookers is efficient in getting you through to a ‘human’. I queried the Avis reservation and was assured that everything had been paid for and the only additional charge to my card would be the $250 deposit that is held until the end of the rental and released shortly afterwards.

So with the confirmation from Ebookers I was satisfied that my plans were all good to go! In hind sight I should have cancelled as soon as I saw the issue ahead, but I had the clarification from Ebookers that there was nothing more to pay.

Fast forward to 13th September and collecting my car from the Avis desk. The agent was curious why I only needed a car for 24 hours and we chatted about my plans.

It was when I was asked to initial the rental agreement that I saw that Avis were going to charge me an additional $46.01. I showed the agent the confirmation from Ebookers and she said that the voucher from Ebookers/Expedia was a part payment and they don’t have a rental for that amount of money. The advice was to contact Ebookers/Expedia about it.  I really didn’t have options open to me and so took the car.

Looking at the emailed receipt it became clear what the issue was. The rate that was on the rental was a minimum of 48 hours. This means that the product department at Ebookers/Expedia hadn’t put a parameter in preventing a rental under 48 hours. As far as Avis was concerned there was nothing wrong with the rental but as far as Ebookers was concerned it was all Avis’s mistake.

At one point whilst waiting for boarding from Chicago to New York in the departure lounge I was in conversation with Ebookers (via the Chat) right up until the boarding groups were being called. Round and round in concentric circles we went, back and forth and I got absolutely nowhere.

The situation now is that I have contacted my card provider and put the transactions into dispute. I should never have been sold a rental for 24 hours because the tariff simply didn’t exist.

I hate the feeling of being charged incorrectly and even more that I am helpless to rectify it.