I was a happy Diners Card member for a long time (well... 10 year is not long for many heritage card holder, but anyway). I had numerous debated with family and friends regarding paying its not so friendly membership fee. But a recent event made me feel my loyalty worth. So I am a happier customer now.
Back to March, I traveled to Belgium and rented a car just for commuting between client and hotel (earlier blog post). I used AutoEurpoe (http://www.autoeurope.com/) to book the rental, It is buying car rental in batch and resale them at cheaper price, wholesales kind of business. It was new for me so I was kind of cautious. The rate was excellent. And the process to use the coupon went smoothly. It earned its credit. I will use it again if possible. The rental was actually provided by National Car Rental at Belgium Brussels Airport. This sounded all fine, right??
The problem started from return. 9AM return flight in the morning, so I went back to airport and tried to return the car roughly at 7AM. The rental office down at parking garage supposed to be opened at 6 as I believed. However, there was nobody there. I phoned the upstairs office asked how to return the car. They said the guys supposed to be there was late bhah bhah ... and just drop the key in the return box and go. But then I asked whether there will be a receipt of returning. They said no because nobody there... hum??? fishy??
After couple weeks, I checked the credit card charge and noticed there was a charge, five day after the return from this national car rental at Belgium. The amount was even higher than the whole rental !!! hum??
I phoned this national car rental at Belgium, nobody ever picked up the phone... So, I start contacting national car rental here at US... The US customer service was not bad... they tried to help... but they told me that the Belgium operation was a franchiser. So everything is on different system. They have no access at all, except their are hanging a brand which is identical to national care rental. urr..... I knew running this kind of business is screwy.
So, about a week later... the national car rental came back with some info, finally. They said it was a vehicle damage charge ..?? hum? that does not sound right... firstly, I should have received the damage report from this vendor, it was almost a month after the return. Second, I was using Diners, the charge should not come to me as a normal practice... So I asked whether national car rental US had a copy of damage report... funny, they said: no, the vendor said it will take a while to retrieve it..... hmmmm, the sky is darkening and seems storm is coming.
So, I told national car rental US to get a report anyway, which they did (again, they earned their credit). Ok, so eventually I got a piece of crappy hand writing and some mark on the car diagram saying there was a ding on windshield and cost $300 to repair it (what? a ding on windshield which I did not see? and $300 for a ding? I almost replace half of the windshield already).
So I told national car rental US: " go check to your franchiser, this seem not right... first the damage report and charge were not reasonable, second, please deal with the insurance company directly rather than charge to my card" At meanwhile, I already contacted Diners car service to be ready for this. The reply from national rental car was shocking but funny: "sorry, the vendor just filed bankruptcy and no long can be contacted!!!" hahaha........ we finally see the last episode.
I asked to Diners to follow it up.... this apparently to be a fraud. That company must be overcharging whole bunch of victims at the last minutes before it closed it business. And I am guessing the faciliate at Belgium airport must be hanging another brand and run their business as usual now. (not sure this is normal in Belgium or not... may it is. But aleast seems an awkward way of running business :D)
serviced by Eurocar??? anyway... does not matter anymore. If you are in Beligum, check the car rental in airport, which company it is now next to Sixt... May be Alamo??? hehehe..
5 months later, Diners finally closed the investigation. I don't know how eventually they are going to resolve it. But I was informed that I am not obligated for that stupid windshield charge..
Travel by rental car? get a Diners. In a case like this it will dip into your personal car insurance firstly before any other credit card's car insurance kick in. I am happy that I was really in worry-free for such a long period. And I got at least 3 years memebership fee even out.
