hi folks,

need some advice on this one,

recently i have returned from spain,

while out there i don't know if i lost my wallet or if someone pickpocket it,

was a strange moment when someone bumped into

and my friend asking what was all that about.

i have hired a car from the same company for the last 8 years

2 to 3 times a year,

always taking out the full insurance,

and have never had a problem before dealing with them.

while car was parked someone hit it causing cosmetic damage to the bumper,

left his details,

but he was still there when i arrived.

As i had the full insurance

did not have much to worry about

and i also had his details,

returned on the 5th

checked my account on the 9th

to find this company has taken £500 out of it, with no explanations at all,

or if someone has hired a car with my found wallet and cards,

cards were cancelled,

the only way to contact record car hire is by email w

hich could take unto 30 days for a reply if i am lucky,

as now reading the reviews it seems to be a common thing for this company to do to people,

my other problem now though is my bank will not put this into despute

even though i have explained everything to them,

how it could take unto 30 days to reply,

no contact number,

only email contact,

how my cards were lost,

how i had full insurance,

the reviews this company are now getting,

and now they have put my account into arrears,

returned direct debits,

so will be facing more charges from bank

and those with the D/D,

but the bank says as i have dealings with this company

i will have to wait for their response to my email,

bearing in mind this can take 30 days,

and if they reply back,

explaining they should not have done this,

as i had the full insurance,

nothing in the terms of what it could be,

i.e. if it was a traffic violation etc t

hen those authorities would be in touch with me

and not the hire company to take monies,

i have had nothing from them as to why they have taken this money,

and my bank not offering to help,

other than giving me an increased overdraft until i hear from the hire company,

anyone able to advice on this i would be greatly appreciate it thanks

What do the terms of the hire agreement state ? If there was a £500 excess for accident damage which would be charged and reclaimable later via Insurance, then it should state this. Normally the excess would be against a credit card and not a debit card, so this is a bit strange.

You will need to read your documents and post back. You can take out full Insurance and there could still be a £500 excess. It might be that they did not reduce the excess to nil.

If you have proof of a nil excess and the £500 should not have been charged, go into your Bank with the details and ask them to treat the debit as unathorised.

their was no excess fees, or anything extra to pay, as i took out the extra cover insurance which protects me from it, i did however get refunded the full amount yesterday, but now i have a few £25 charges from unpaid d/d can they charge this amount? its even double the amount of the d/d itself grrrrr