Dollar Car Hire via Airline Network - has this happened to anyone else?

[kristieuk]

We have used Airline Network (now NetFlights) to book our car hire via Dollar for years now. We had quite a lot of trouble whilst we were away this year when we had a problem with the car, but that was eventually sorted whilst we were away after many phone calls.

We gave the car back with no difficulty, nothing mentioned, but I had quite a shock the week before Christmas when I opened my Post Office cc statement to discover a £600+ debit to Dollar dated the day after we left. I contacted Airline Network who say Dollar have may not have credited the pre-paid voucher properly. I have had to write in, and they are going to liaise with Dollar on my behalf, but say it could take 28 days to sort. In the meantime, I am stuck with the balance and the minimum payment, plus the accruing interest.

I could just do without the hassle, and I wondered if anyone else has had a similar experience?

 

[Cyrano]

I booked Dollar through usrentacar and had no problems.
Hope you get this sorted

 

[catherine]

I hope that you get this sorted out quickly.

I have to say we have used Dollar a fair number of times and had no problems. However in Dec. we booked a hire car through Virgin and we had the worst experience and car. We thought that perhaps it was something to do with booking with Virgin, but now this is the second bad experience with Dollar that I have read about today. Perhaps Dollar's standards are slipping!!!

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

We used Airline Network last year for Dollar - after we had returned the car and I was looking throught he paperwork - I noticed they had charged a late fee - the guy who checked the car over said nothing about this - just that we were good to go.

On return back to the UK I emailed Dollar to complain (the car was about 30 mins late) - but it was the size of the penalty, together with the fact that they didn't tell me that was annoying.

Dollar emailed by return and agreed to refund. May be worth you trying to contact Dollar if you are getting nowhere. I would also ask Airline Network to cover your c/c fees - they have had your money long enough!

Good luck!

 

[kristieuk]

Thanks for your responses. I have to say this is the first real trouble we have had with our car hire, and at the moment, I'm not certain who is at fault, but it is very frustrating, especially as our holiday is something of a distant memory now!

Whilst we were away, the change oil light and tyre pressure lights came on. We had air put into the tyres at our cost, and contacted Dollar about the oil light - they told us to ignore it as it was just a standard warning coming up after so many miles. However, the tyre light kept coming back on, and it became fairly obvious we had a slow puncture. The guy at the garage told us not to try to change it ourselves as apparently you need something of a degree in engineering to get at the spacesaver (apparently you access it through the inside of the car, by removing the partitiion between the drive and passenger seats). We called Dollar and were told we would have to pay a callout fee, or drive it back to Tampa (60 miles away). We said we weren't prepared to drive it with low pressure all that way.

After a half hour phone call, it transpired that Dollar were arguing we didn't have the fully inclusive insurance, whereas our paperwork clearly stated we had paid for everything. Ridiculously, the agent was trying to say their carbon copy was different from ours! Eventually they agreed to check the copy held at the airport rental desk, and send out a repair guy who told us the spacesaver was useless but that under no circumstances should we drive the car with the punctured tyre - it had been 'plugged' which he said was now illegal.

Remarkably, after a further call to Dollar, we had to argue another half an hour to say they had provided a car which was basically illegally repaired and therefore unsafe, whilst they insisted the car was driveable! Eventually, they did agree to send a replacement to us after us spending a small fortune on phone calls and a good part of our day arguing.

It was not a good experience, and I will definitely think twice when we book this years hire. Incidentally, both vehciles had over 25k on the clock, and whilst this is of course not a problem in itself, I don't recall our previous hires being so used.

 

[kristieuk]

I am so angry, I just had to post this!

I just contacted Airline Network as I haven't heard anything further. I was told that I had submitted my complaint on 22 December and they are still waiting to hear from Dollar. Annoyed that I am carrying around a £700 debit on my credit card and paying interest and minimum payments, I asked for the date the enquiry was raised with Dollar - purely as a point of reference so that I could raise a complaint directly with Dollar as to the delay.

The lady I spoke to was very unhelpful, and simply kept repeating 'it would have been sent off within 7 days, we are waiting to hear from the supplier'. After some insistence, she would only concede it was with Dollar by the 29th Dec at the latest. She kept quoting the fact their only obligation was to update me every 28 days, and they were doing!

Anyway, I came off the phone and checked the paperwork, it was all faxed to AN on 16th Dec! Before I sent Dollar a complaint, I called AN back to ask whether the 7 days I was being told about would mean Dollar have had the paperwork since the 23rd, and was told by someone else that in fact they have done nothing at all! Dollar have no idea about this issue, so now I have to wait for the whole process to commence. I am so cross that I was lied to so blatantly - how dare she!

We have booked car hire with Airline Network for possible the last 10 years or so, but I don't think I would ever use them again. I accept anyone can make a mistake, but to lie in this way - which would have made me look a complete fool if I had contacted Dollar -is inexcusable in my view.

Sorry to rant on, but I have to get the anger out of my system

 

[TheBlundells]

Just wondered if you had contacted your credit card company to let them know the situation.
They may be able to stopped the interest while it is sorted out.

 

[kristieuk]

I did contact them at the outset, as although Dollar had my card details, this was intended as a security, and the $1000+ debit hadn't been authorised by me. They said they would only get involved if the travel agents couldn't resolve anything. But thanks for the suggestion, I will give them a call to specifically request a hold on the interest. I will ensure I get all of my money back, but it's just having to pay out in the meantime that is annoying.

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

This is so frustrating for you - I would still contact Dollar direct and see if you can get anywhere with them. Good Luck

 

[juliebro]

We had a bad experience with Airline Network about 5 years ago and have not used them since.

I know that many people have used them for years and had no trouble, but the true test of a company is how they deal with problems. We had a problem with our flight times being changed - and they were awful to deal with in trying to get it all sorted out. Some of the people I dealt with at Airline Network were absolutely hopeless.

Personally I wouldn't use them again.