CarRentals.com review: be warned 19

This is standard practice across most car rental companies. This is nothing to do with CarRentals.com.

Yes. Always ask the company if they accept debit directly. It's a liability thing. Most people who pay with debit will default on payment or steal the car.

This has to do with the rental car company, not CarRentals.com. You would think since most debit cards are backed by Visa or Mastercard that it should be covered. If you were to default or steal the car, it should be debited from your account or, if there are insufficient funds, charged like a credit card with you as the cardholder to pay the fees associated with the transaction plus whatever costs for the rental.

Unfortunately, debit card don't work like this. Many bands will misrepresent the benefits of their card stating 'they can run like credit' when they cannot. The only thing making them similar is when the company accepting payment only accepts credit and you don't have to enter your PIN number. Debit cards are charge cards and can only be run for the amount of money available. While you can overdraft your account, a company cannot pull more than is available.

Additionally, I'd like to re-state my earlier post as I just realize how harsh it sounded where i said 'most will default or steal the car'. The truth of the matter is not that most people who only use debit will default, it's that the most instances where these situations happen is where debit is accepted.

Also, even if this were not to happen, there is increased liability for any company who accpets debit as the banks cards do not work on 'real time' like a credit card. On a credit card all charges, voided payments, and refunds appear immediately, while on a debit card charges may take 3 business days to appear while refunds can take up to 45 days. This is especially stressful in the car rental industry where we take a deposit on the car. When the car is returned, this deposit is released right away, but will not appear as so on a bank card. The only way to exoedite is to get on a 3-way call with the cardholder and the bank and verbally release or send in a letter on letterhead via fax or mail with condifential information on it!

Most people using their debit understand this and just await the 45 days but other times I get people who will call and yell and scream at me about it, which is not OK in my book because we will do everything in our power to help you out, but you should always be aware of the additional risks of whatever card you are using.

I wish I could give CarRentals.com zero stars, as this was just a terrible experience.

It all started with the reservation. I reserved my car through CarRentals.com to get a good deal. The process was a bit much, but I've had worse. As I was completing the reservation, I distinctly read that this location may accept debit cards. (hint: this comes up later.)

I selected enterprise as I'm familiar with them so I could rent a car and take a trip to Wisconsin for a business meeting while we were on vacation in Chicago for the holidays.

I arrived at Enterprise to pick up my car only to find out that they would not take my debit card. Yes, I am well aware their site says, "may". If they won't take a debit card, it should be "will not".

I could have brought one if I had known, but I prefer to not carry as I only use my credit card in emergencies.

Enterprise lied TWICE about trying to contact me about not accepting debit cards for people who live out of state, first saying they tried to call me and left a message, but then admitted they did not have my full phone number (even though I gave it) and then admitted they really did not. Then they lied about emailing me about the credit card issue.

So now I have to wait for an hour while my wife bundles up our two kids and drives back to bring my card.

And I'm late... Thanks.

This was all avoidable. If they could not contact me - admit it. If there was an issue, so some empathy. They did neither. I'll use enterprise again, but not this location.

You shouldn't either.

So I contact CarRentals.com to let them know about the issue. I wasn't happy, but having worked from companies like this I know it's good to hear if there is a problem that can be solved, especially since it was CarRentals.com that I used for the reservation.

Mind you, I asked for nothing. This was just an, "I'm not happy at all, but you should be aware of this" type email.

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A little over an hour later I get a response that left me speechless:

"CarRentals.com would like to take this opportunity to thank you for taking the time to email us with your comments. We continue to strive to meet or exceed our customers' travel expectations and if one of our affiliates does not fulfill their obligation to you, then we appreciate being made aware of their shortcomings.

We would have been happy to find out their policy re: debit cards if you had requested that we ask for you.

Our FAQ section states:

How can I pay for my car rental booking on CarRentals?

The total rental charges will be billed to the rental car vendor when you pick up the car. Please keep in mind that every car vendor we service accepts credit cards as a payment. What about debit cards? That depends on the car vendor, exact location, your age and whether you have proof of a round trip ticket. If you already have a reservation with us, it is easy for us to assist you. If you do not have a reservation, you must provide us with ALL the details (car vendor, car type, pick up location, if over 25 years old, and whether you are a local renter or not) and we can help. After you make a reservation, you will be given the toll-free number for the vendor and if you prefer, you can contact the car vendor yourself directly. They can easily supply you with accepted payment information. Please note that cash, pre-paid cards and gift cards are not accepted.

We hope that the next time you wish to rent a car you give one of our other vendor the opportunity to give you the excellent service you deserve."

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Did you get that second paragraph? "We would have been happy to find out their policy re: debit cards if you had requested that we ask for you."

Are. You. Kidding. Me?

That's their job. It's their job to know and they dropped the ball. Here is my response to this:

"Actually, I just won't use your service again.

The second paragraph of your template, "We would have been happy to find out their policy re: debit cards if you had requested that we ask for you" is ridiculous. Your PAGE stated they may accept debit cards.

I should not have had to ask.

I'm done."

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Six minutes later their support team emails back:

"With all due respect, you should have asked because it said "may.""

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With all due respect? Here was my final comment to CarRentals.com:

"I would like to thank you for the response, however ill conceived your last response may be. It was illuminating. Many online companies pride themselves on customer service. I know it can be difficult sometimes receiving emails from angry customers.

I recall that I used to feel that way sometimes. I wanted to send a quick one or two sentence response to an angry customer in an effort to one-up their frustrated response. It's akin to dropping the mic and saying, "BAM! I'm out!"

In reality you provide additional fodder, do nothing to solve the customer's initial problem and instead steel their resolve to make their experience known to others.

It used to be said that, on average, a satisfied customer will tell 3 people while an unsatisfied customer will tell 7. Unfortunately, social media popped up and transformed that.

But enough of this back and forth. I stand by my original complaint, as well as my second. I'll just add this to the online reviews and no longer use your service.

Merry Christmas."

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I will NEVER use this company again. Don't hide. Don't be snide. Do your job.

I rented a car in San Diego at airport 12/4 - 12/11/13 and the bill was $106.05. I declined the insurance as I use my own. The Fox Confirmation nbr is LFX01103EC. However, when I received my visa bill I was charged $256.05. I can never get thur. This morning I left a message as they are closed. I have rented from Carrentals.com several times and received the quoted price, had a good experience with Fox and felt very satisfied. However, this is not correct.

booked a reservation with sixth car rental, pick up 12/29/2017, 4.00am.drop off at 10.30pm 12/31/2017 at Minneapolis Airport st.Paul.was there but the reservation was cancelled because I didn't have a major credit card. I just realized a withdrawal of $27 from my debit card of which I didn't use the insurance.
How do I get my refund?
Thanks.

100% agree with this post. Never use this company for car rentals. Bait and switch tactics and their business practices should be illegal. Avoid at all cost.

I booked a reservation with sixth car rental, pick up 12/29/2017, 4.00am.drop off at 10.30pm 12/31/2017 at Minneapolis Airport st.Paul.was there but the reservation was cancelled because I didn't have a major credit card. I just realized a withdrawal of $27 from my debit card of which I didn't use the insurance.
How do I get my refund?
Thanks.

Your insurance is not valid with Enterprise Car Rentals. Would like my money back.
I am being charged twice for insurance they said it was cheaper if u paid up front. So l did now they say at the ACTUAL CAR RENTAL COMPANY that your insurance is not really valid. They want me to pay twice now. Would like money back.

We have been charged by Payless company by many additional fees and also charged us for another insurance when we have already one from carrentals (Allianz).
Difference between your price and final price was more than 300 dollars.

When we arybe to pick up the car they didnot honor the price and the insurance that we purchase from you they want more money our reservation # was 9050002426nu.
My name is jorge ornelas and i need my $72.00 dll for the insurance that you guys charge me.
My phone numer is [protected] and my email is ornelasbuilders@yahoo.Com.Mx

I have requested cancellations on those 2 confirmations and requested a refund the money back to my credit card. It has been more than 24 hours and received no answer. I tried to call them, but couldn't get through. I'm running out of patient and would like this matter is resolved as soon as possible.

I recently booked and paid for a rental on this site...Ace Car Rental, which does not even honor the rental, but accepts the payment from this 3rd part site. If you compalain this site will do nothing to assist with your problem, So Buyer Beware!

I asked for DFW airport in the search field. I was in a hurry to book, and prepaid the rate, without thoroughly checking they gave me DAL airport cars. The local airport is not the same as the international airport, they are miles apart.

Buyer beware. And car rentals.com, get your act together. Stop trying to trap consumers, you will lose.

I used carrentals.com and also had a terrible experience. Their customer service desk is incompletely non-responsive, left me in the dust, and flat out stole my money without delivering on the product promised. I can't believe this company is in business and have never had this experience with any other car rental company.

TERRIBLE SERVICE! DON'T USE THEM! We decided to rent a car via CARRENTALS.COM 3 weeks ahead of our trip to Cyprys. We were traveling with a handicap passenger and requested a specific vehicle and extras for our trip. Long story short our flight got delayed and upon arrival we were told by their agent that they refused to wait for us at the airport and they thus decided to cancel our reservation on the spot. Most car rentals companies were fully booked and we ended up having to book something on the spot 4x more expensive. They were SUPER unprofessional, rude and they didn't even bother to apologize. We still haven't even been refunded for the rental. They don't even have a stand at the airport. Overall TERRIBLE experience. We wasted a lot of time and money because of them!

Booking reference: [protected]

We have made a car rental booking through car rentals. com.

We received two confirmations for two separate bookings and we have been charged twice. After contacting customer service on several occasions we have received many confusing excuses about the refund.

Why it is taking over a month to get a refund?!

i canceled car because i needed to change time from 10:30am to8:30pm same day this is three weeks before rental why a50.00 cancelation fee i meant to hit change reservation but somehow hit cancel but i still don't understand the fee