Alamo Car hire

[debandy]

We booked a flight and car hire with Tompson travel.The car hire was with Alamo.When we picked the car up from Orlando Int Airport we were told that we needed to upgrade the insurace,costin $12 a day more.Ok we thought.When we returned the car they checked the car a nd gave us a bill for $240.A bit steep but we paid by debit card.
We checked our bank account yesterday and Alamo have taken �169 ok we thought thats the insurance,but then we saw they had also taken �389 for what we did not know.I ranf Alamo,but because Tompsons booked the car hire they would not speak to me.So i got a statement from the bank and went down to Tompsons.They rang Alamo bbut they could not trace the �389 they can see the �169 payment.Now they say it has now been passed to their (Alamo) fraud department and we now need to wait 10 -15 days.Our bank account is now �79 overdrawn and want to know if Alamo are going to pay these charges.I rang Tompsons and they said.How on earth can we answer that it is being dealt with by Alamo.
Does anyone know where we stand

[vehelpfulguy]

Not a direct help but ALWAYS pay for things like this with a credit card.

That way if there are any problems (like it is fraud, or the company goes bust) you can claim back on your credit card.

Plus you cannot go overdrawn on a credit card.

I know some people dont like credit cards, but for things like this they are very useful.

You could always cut it up after the holiday if you dont want to use it again.

[bednobs]

to be fair, thompsons are completely right - it was not they who rented you the car, so how will they know what alomo will do? TBH i think you'll just have to wait the 10/15 days and then ask alamo

[debandy]

I have been in tiuch with Trading Standards and they say Tompsons are liable for the money.My contract was with Topsons not Alamo.When we paid for our holiday we paid for Tompsons to take care of our booking.and by law Tompsons should refund the �389 and then apply to Alamo for a full refund.The trading standards have now taken on the case,And say this is a regular subject with a couple other Traval agents but say tey are not able to name the other two Travel Agents for obvious reasons

[Dollychris]

Hi there Debandy,

Just stumbled across your post and found it interesting as we have just had a similar thing happen with Alamo.
We travelled with Thomas Cook and paid for the top car insurance offered, being assured that there would be no more to pay.
Upon our return to the airport having experienced no motoring problems at all, my husband was given a credit card receipt for almost 75 dollars. He questioned the reason for this charge only to be told it was for breakdown and roadside recovery service. This was out 7th visit to Florida and we have never encountered such a charge before. He was informed that the charge was for roadside recovery in the event of their Alamo car breaking down! If the car broke down surely that was their responsibility as the owners of the hire car - not ours and if the car was faulty it would be down to them. We have at last managed to get through to Thomas Cook Customer Relations (A nightmare to contact) who have informed us that they have never heard of anything like this before and asked us to send details via email. The Alamo staff at Sanford kept the receipt for the credit card transaction after my husband complained loudly.................We thought we were the only ones this had happened to as everybody we spoke to at the airport or travelling on our flight had not been charged the same.
Will keep you posted and maybe this problem needs to be brought to the attention of others who may be travelling to the USA and using Alamo for their car hire. Will be posting a warning on Florida forums.
Good luck with your fight to retrieve your money,
Chris.

[Hoppy2008]

Like Dollychris I was also asked to pay as an optional extra C$ 7.99/day to cover the cost if the Alamo car which I was hiring in Calgary, Canada broke down. I declined and have written tree letters to Alamo UK and have not had a satisfactory explanasion. They have apologised, blamed the gents on the Calgary desk etc. I booked directly with them and my price was advertised as "Fully Inc". There was no mention of this as an extra. My belief is the same - the vehicle belongs to Alamo and they should be responsible if the vehicle breaks down.I have now written to Customer Focus to ask them to take this matter up with Alamo.

[juliex]

hi

we have had the same thing happened to us, it was our fourth trip using this company, 15 of us went 6 at the desk waiting to be signed up as additional drivers we took out gold insurance. upon return home the have taken 190.00 and 46.00, so it was looked into it,by thomas cook they got a reply from alamo stating that we took out roadside assistance and personel protection,, he did say at the desk that one of the mini vans did not have gold, and of course you sign i think this was to put us of guard and we signed,, unwittingly im afraid,, so i think they got us on that looking at similar sites in america, i know they underhandly did this to us,, because at no time did this assistant mention these products let alone the charges.. let us know how you get on, i will also

julie

[hankir]

Chicago Tribune has a column by Chris Elliott who helps out with such problems.

You can check out his blog at elliott.org.
You can submit your Alamo problem to him at [email protected].

He has been very helpful in solving problems with car rental companies, hotels, airlines and travel agents.

Here is the blurb from his website.
f you're having trouble with a business - any business - and you've reached a dead end, maybe we can help. Here's how to contact us. Please read our frequently asked questions before getting in touch. If you want to connect with other informed consumers, why not sign up for our free weekly newsletter, RSS feed or free daily email updates?

Good luck getting the money back from Alamo.