Florida Car Hire.com Goes Bust!!!

[Sallieanne]

YIKES! JUST RECEIVED A LETTER THIS MORNING FROM HOLIDAY CARS LTD TELLING US THAT FLORIDA CAR HIRE.COM (PART OF GLOBAL CARS LTD) HAVE CEASED TRADING DUE TO "DIFFICULTIES" (I ASSUME FINANCIAL) & ANY MONIES PAID TO THEM HAVE GONE TO THE LIQUIDATORS. ANY CAR HIRE/DEPOSITS PAID FOR BY CREDIT CARD ETC CANNOT BE RETURNED.
HOLIDAY CARS LTD ARE WILLING TO RE-BOOK ANY CAR HIRE FOR THE SAME PRICE - BUT YOU HAVE TO PAY AGAIN!!! (FORTUNATELY WE HAVE ONLY PAID A £50 DEPOSIT!)
I'VE TRIED RINGING HOLIDAY CARS LTD BUT NO-ONE PICKS UP!

AT LEAST THEY'VE LET US KNOW BEFORE WE TRAVEL - I BET THERE ARE A LOT OF DISGRUNTLED CUSTOMERS IN FLORIDA RIGHT NOW THAT DIDN'T HAVE A CLUE (OR A CAR!!)

 

[Muppet]

Whatever you do don't book with Holiday Cars as despite what the letter says they are the mother company of floridacarhire and globalleisurecars.

This all came to light about 2 weeks ago.

 

[Sallieanne]

THANKS FOR THE TIP, MUPPET, I'VE JUST REBOOKED USING "THE AIRLINE NETWORK" WHO GAVE ME A MUCH BETTER RATE THAN FLORIDA CAR HIRE!
I JUST HOPE THIS COMPANY DOESN'T GO UNDER BEFORE WE TRAVEL!!

 

[Tron[ADS]]

"ANY CAR HIRE/DEPOSITS PAID FOR BY CREDIT CARD ETC CANNOT BE RETURNED"

Whilst this may be the case from the company itself, it will not be the case with the credit card. You will be protected from this by the credit card company itself, who will refund you the money.
They may try to claim that it doesnt cover overseas purchases, but ive read a fair bit about this in Which magazine of late, and even if it is overseas, you are covered.....but sometimes you have to push, threaten ombudsman etc.

If youve lost any money, contact your credit card company ASAP.

 

[Muppet]

I had major problems with Virgin MBNA.

Quick reminder about the ombudsman, and my rights still did no good to start with. Crime number and liquidators letter did the trick.

Needless to say that card will never be used again. They had the cheek to say 'you made the transaction what do you want us to do'.