Heads up on Dollar rental

[ppony]

Ok. We all know car rental agencies put a additional amount of charge on your card just for their purposes. The Dollar atMCO , in addition to having really unpleasant wait times and employees, charged our one CC $100 more than they said they were going to charge!!!!! And now, since the charge is only pending, not only do we not have access to that money, they claim to not have charged it and our cc company can't do anything about it until it's not pending anymore. And here's another kicker! They charged BOTH my credit card AND my debit card!!!!!!!! So they have charged us about $700 where we only planned for the $230 plus 15%. OMG!!!what a SCAM!!!!!!!!

 

[gmeh1]

Ok. We all know car rental agencies put a additional amount of charge on your card just for their purposes. The Dollar atMCO , in addition to having really unpleasant wait times and employees, charged our one CC $100 more than they said they were going to charge!!!!! And now, since the charge is only pending, not only do we not have access to that money, they claim to not have charged it and our cc company can't do anything about it until it's not pending anymore. And here's another kicker! They charged BOTH my credit card AND my debit card!!!!!!!! So they have charged us about $700 where we only planned for the $230 plus 15%. OMG!!!what a SCAM!!!!!!!!

Not all rental agencies do this. As to the debit card, call your bank. I would also write Dollar's corporate and complain.

 

[ppony]

Not all rental agencies do this. As to the debit card, call your bank. I would also write Dollar's corporate and complain.

Yeah, we've used National, Alamo and Budget multiple times w/ o a single hiccup. Sigh. Thanks for that tip about calling my bank. We had assumed it would be tha same as our CC. So we'll call when they open today. Oh boy, you bet your boots I'm going to complain on this one. I have no experience w/ dollar until now, I do wonder if it was just extreme incompetency at MCO or a corporate sliminess.

 

[QueenElinor]

This is starting to worry me. I've rented from Dollar before and never had any trouble, but I sure have read a lot of complaints about them at MCO recently. Maybe I'm just noticing it since I made a reservation with them!

 

[ppony]

This is starting to worry me. I've rented from Dollar before and never had any trouble, but I sure have read a lot of complaints about them at MCO recently. Maybe I'm just noticing it since I made a reservation with them!

I don't mean to worry you. Hugs. Thankfully you have had good luck before. I can tell you, our check-in was the biggest comedy of errors and farce imaginable. But it could have just been that employee's incompetence. She should have never run both of our cards but did (unbeknownst to us). I wish you luck!! Our bank will be open in a few minutes ans we'll see what they say.

 

[seashoreCM]

Ok.And here's another kicker! They charged BOTH my credit card AND my debit card!!!!!!!! So they have charged us about $700 where we only planned for the $230 plus 15%. OMG!!!what a SCAM!!!!!!!!

Why not use the same card to reserve the rental and to pay for it when you get there?

Another moral of the story. Own more than one credit card, so if you run short of credit limit you can use the other card.

 

[ppony]

Why not use the same card to reserve the rental and to pay for it when you get there?

Another moral of the story. Own more than one credit card, so if you run short of credit limit you can use the other card.

I'd appreciate you not assuming you know what we can and cannot do. There is a LOT you don't know here.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

I'd appreciate you not assuming you know what we can and cannot do. There is a LOT you don't know here.

I think that if you don't want comments like this you should learn to keep your business off a public message board.

You are never going to get what you wanted an 100% unanimous "OMG Dollar is so bad we will never use them"

And you are right there's a LOT we don't know, a lot of which could explain what Dollar did and why. But on the details you gave us I have no idea who is at fault.

My bet is that you gave them the card to book the car and then planned to pay with the debit on return. That's risky as you can see..

 

[Mariep26]

Why not use the same card to reserve the rental and to pay for it when you get there?

Another moral of the story. Own more than one credit card, so if you run short of credit limit you can use the other card.

Regardless of how one wants to pay for their rental, this company should not be charging both of the cards when they said they would only charge one nevermind that they have charged her double than what she agreed to.

 

[ppony]

I think that if you don't want comments like this you should learn to keep your business off a public message board.

You are never going to get what you wanted an 100% unanimous "OMG Dollar is so bad we will never use them"

And you are right there's a LOT we don't know, a lot of which could explain what Dollar did and why. But on the details you gave us I have no idea who is at fault.

My bet is that you gave them the card to book the car and then planned to pay with the debit on return. That's risky as you can see..

No, there is nothing to explain why Dollar did that and did not reveal any of it to us. We had to check our accounts to see what happened. Also, you are ASSUMINGim doing a rally cry for people to hate dollar. Read the post title, it's a HEADS UP. There is NOTHING wrong with telling people what happened. Sheesh

 

[LilnStitchy]

I wasn't happy with the person at their counter, she was incompetent, but we didn't experience any other issues thankfully. We're okay with renting from them again. Besides Avis once messed up with charges once for DHs travel and it was a headache to get things fixed. I'm sure it was an incompetent person and not their corporate policy.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[goofy4tink]

Okay, can we stop with the nastiness here??? I used Dollar in late Sept, in San Diego though, not MCO. We used my dh's cc to get the car, but told them, at the counter, that we would be using a different card to pay when we returned the car. No problem they said...just go to the return agent and he would be happy to take care of it.
We had no issue at all. BUT...I think the difference was that we started with a regular cc and then paid with my debit card..so as to avoid that 'pending' amount.
The vast majority of rental companies tend to put a hold on a debit card. It's quite clear in their websites. If there is a charge on your statement, that you feel is in error, then call your bank..immediately. Dollar says they will put a hold of a minimum of $250 on any rental that is a debit card..and possibly some credit cards. Yes, it says 15%, but it also says or a minimum of $250.

I won't go so far as to say that Dollar is scamming anyone. Someone may just have made an error. Are you home now??? Let us know what transpires with the bank.

 

[seashoreCM]

I'd appreciate you not assuming you know what we can and cannot do. There is a LOT you don't know here.

I didn't think I needed to assume anything. I think I didn't even need to know anything.

Whether or not Dollar can or cannot do something or whether or not Dollar may or may not do something, they succeeded in doing it anyway (charge both of your cards).

Thus you need to take steps next time to minimize the inconvenience.

I did read of one story (a coupl'a years back) about some entity (a hotel?) authorizing $2,000. off of someone's card when they intended to authorize $200. A mistake but you could imagine the inconvenience.

 

[ppony]

We're not home yet. We still have 4 days here. I want to be quite clear that THEY were clear about what they were charging. She did say exactly what they were going to put a hold on our card for and thats what i signed off pn. the rub is that isnt what transpired. When I found our from our CC that wasn't supposed to have been charged, that it was, we called Dollar and they said they didn't charge what my CC said they charged. The intent of my post that people should take from it is check your CC statements ( as you should anyway) because this can and has happened. Well see what happens when I return the car, but being as the agent on the phone denied what they charged or put a hold on, I'm not optimistic.

 

[saturdaygirl]

oh man! we are using dollar, not at mco, but in downtown disney and i am tight on money! i hope my transactions go smoothly

 

[goofy4tink]

I'm confused. Dollar, or any other rental company, shouldn't even be charging your card until you return the car. That's when it should show up on a cc.
Yes, if they put a 'hold' on a set amount, that will show up as 'pending'. Are you saying they put a 'pending hold' on two different cards???

 

[goofy4tink]

Why not use the same card to reserve the rental and to pay for it when you get there?

Another moral of the story. Own more than one credit card, so if you run short of credit limit you can use the other card.

There are many reasons to use two different cards. And not so many reasons to have more than one actual cc. We have no actual credit card..only a debit card. Which makes it hard to rent cars without a huge hold being placed on our account. So, we give the cc info for dh's business cc when we do the paperwork, but we do state, right up front, that we will be paying with a different card when we return the car. Have yet to have an issue doing that.

 

[Greysword]

Why not use the same card to reserve the rental and to pay for it when you get there?

Another moral of the story. Own more than one credit card, so if you run short of credit limit you can use the other card.

I'd appreciate you not assuming you know what we can and cannot do. There is a LOT you don't know here.

Pony, it seems, based on this reply, that you think Seashore was replying directly to you with the "additional credit card" comment. However, it seems to me to be directed as a general comment to everyone reading. Also, it is great advice, which would mitigate the crux of your specific concern (that the additional charges are limiting your vacation spending capability) as well as theft, skimming, and other CC problems.

We're not home yet. We still have 4 days here. I want to be quite clear that THEY were clear about what they were charging. She did say exactly what they were going to put a hold on our card for and thats what i signed off pn. the rub is that isnt what transpired.

Thank you for the alert and information! Your initial post was great and provided a good word of caution. However since since you communicated this info already and the estimated solution will occur during car return, I'm not sure what the above statement was asking for. What can we do to help you resolve this issue? If it is just a sounding board, then I'm all ears (not to be confused with Allears.net ).

I guess this happens from time to time, and in the end, I still like Seashore's advice on how to minimize the impact during vacation. Personally, I use the AMEX charge card, as it has no (technical) limit and these charges will be able to carry like a credit card, in case a period closes during/immediately following vacation.

 

[SamSam]

I am so sorry OP had trouble, but I want people to know that in many, many trips to Orlando (most renting from Dollar), we've never had an issue with them. I think sometimes different employees handle things differently, all I know is that we've had good service and good rates from Dollar.

 

[ppony]

I'm confused. Dollar, or any other rental company, shouldn't even be charging your card until you return the car. That's when it should show up on a cc.
Yes, if they put a 'hold' on a set amount, that will show up as 'pending'. Are you saying they put a 'pending hold' on two different cards???

Yes, there is a "pending" hold on funds on both cards.