rentalcars.com Took my money but did not give me a car for not having international driver license, Internet
I rented a mini van for my trip to Honolulu, HI for April 7 to April 15, 2013 for USD $389.66 through the web site www.rentalcars.com and prepaid for the rental using my Visa card. The supplier was Budget. When I came to pick up the car at Budget, they told I could not fulfill my reservation because I did not have an international driver license. I only had a driver license issued by the state of California.
I talked to the supervisor and she told me there was nothing she could do with regards to my original reservation because according to her the requirement of having international driver license was in the fine print (terms and conditions) when I made my reservation. She said if she gave me the car, Budget would not get money from rentalcars.com. She said if i wanted the van, I need to make a new reservation and try to cancel the original reservation on my own.
I ended up making a new reservation at the site for close to USD $600 for the exact same van I would have gotten with the original reservation.
I sent an email to customer service at www.rentalcars.com as well as customerservice@rentalcars.com and got an acknowledgment from them. I called the US support number 1 866 338 7366 to follow up and the customer Rep told me they could not give me a refund because the requirement for international driver license was in the terms and conditions when I made my booking.
This is a huge scam and we should do something about this. I wonder how many of us in the US got ripped off by this scam.