When I walked out of Copenhagen airport, the sky was a bit grey and the wind was cold. I pulled my suitcase to the Budget counter. I felt excited and also a bit nervous. My car was an Opel Corsa with manual gear. A small car. I looked at it and thought it was kind of cute. I felt it would be my feet in Denmark for these days. I booked it on QEEQ so I thought everything would be simple.
At the counter the staff said I was a young driver so there would be an extra fee. I understood that part and I agreed. I thought it was okay and safer. Then he started to say more things in English. I heard many words about insurance. The paper had many lines. I felt a bit lost. I did not want to ask too many times, so I just signed and took the key.
Later back at my place I looked at the contract slowly. The more I checked, the more strange I felt. The total price looked higher than what I saw when I booked. I stared at those items and my heart started to panic. In my mind I only had one thought. Maybe they added some extra insurance for me at the counter. I only accepted the young driver fee. On the paper it looked like there was some kind of full coverage.
I felt annoyed with myself. I was too nervous at the counter and my English was not good enough. I sent a message to their customer support and also sent photos of the contract. Then I kept checking my phone. I was waiting for someone to tell me what really happened.
They replied and started to check the fees for me. The tone was patient. They did not blame me for my confusion. They explained step by step. They told me there was only the young driver charge. The basic part was 800 DKK and the rest was tax and total amount. It was not a second insurance added on me.
I felt my chest relax a bit. But I still had one more question. The money I prepaid on the website was higher than the amount on the voucher from the car rental. I asked where this difference came from. They explained that it was because of currency conversion between different money types. There can be some small difference. They used simple words so even I, who is not good at math, could understand the idea.
During the chat I felt they were really following my case. Not just sending one short answer and then gone. I felt like someone was taking care of me and helping me check every number. Later they also gave me an eight percent coupon for next time. I was sitting by the window, looking at the cold street in Denmark, and I felt much lighter. The whole booking had a small scary moment, but with this kind of support I felt my choice was still pretty safe.
I have to say my feeling first. This booking made my stress go up, then the support from QEEQ pulled it back down一点. I flew from Canada to Houston for a business trip. Around late April in the afternoon I picked up a Toyota Sienna from Thrifty. It was an automatic one and a big van. I thought it was good for meetings and carrying people. At the counter I was in a hurry to go see my client. The staff kept talking about some terms in English. In my head I was thinking oh no maybe they will add a lot of things on my contract.
The real shock came after I went back home and saw the final charge. I found more than 800 dollars on my card. I was really confused. There were items like extra driver, CDW, LIS and RSN. I stared at it and my head hurt. I chose my plan online already so I did not understand why there were so many new fees. My first thought was maybe I signed something at the counter without thinking. My stress went up right away. When I did the math it was like I bought another flight ticket for this trip.
I quickly contacted their support and told them everything I knew. I checked each fee item while talking. At that time I was really annoyed. I still had to handle my work emails in the daytime and in my mind I kept thinking about this big bill. I was also worried about how to explain it for company reimbursement. One thing that surprised me was that the person who answered me stayed the same each time. She understood my problem very fast. I did not need to repeat the whole story again and again. While I was talking I thought to myself it is good that someone follows my case or I would be totally lost.
Later I noticed that no matter when I sent a message she could pick up from where we stopped before. She clearly remembered which items I was overcharged for and asked me to confirm some details. I could feel that one person was watching this problem for me and it did not switch to a new person every time. I did not need to start over with my explanation. Even though Thrifty did not refund those extra insurances in the end and my appeal failed I still felt that someone was standing with me and trying to help. My mood did not break down completely.
I travel for business a lot so my time and energy are very important. Being overcharged is really annoying. But during this messy fee problem their customer support kept following up and the communication was smooth. At least I knew what happened where there was still a chance and where there was no way to change it. The result was not what I hoped for but I could accept it because I did not feel I was fighting the rental company alone. I felt that someone on their side was on my team and dealing with it together with me.
At first I was really mad about the bill. I booked the car on QEEQ and picked up a Toyota Sienna in Houston. The car was big and nice so I felt pretty good. Then after I returned the car and saw the final charge it was way higher than what I had in my mind. I was confused and felt like I got charged too much.
I was already back at my place and I kept thinking that I got tricked. I contacted their customer service and I started by complaining a lot. I asked why there were so many extra items on the bill. I remembered the rental counter was very noisy when I picked up the car. There were many people in line and the staff talked very fast. I just wanted to get the car and leave. Now on the bill I saw extra driver fee some insurance and road assistance fee. The more I looked at it the more upset I felt.
The thing that surprised me was that the support team really stayed with me on this. I kept getting emails from them and new explanations. I felt that someone was really watching this case for me. They helped me contact the rental company to check and asked for the contract I signed. They also explained which fees were added by the rental counter and how the cost was counted since I did not buy extra insurance at first. To be honest I could not understand all these details by myself. Without their step by step explanation I would probably just give up.
There were a few times when I felt pretty hopeless because the rental company said that since I signed the paper it meant I accepted it. I thought if no one helped me I would have no chance against an English contract and all those short terms. The support team did not just leave it. They tried to ask again if some parts could be adjusted and if some items could be explained more clearly.
At the end the result was not exactly what I wanted but at least I understood where every fee came from. I knew which parts I agreed to at the counter without noticing and which parts I had to pay anyway. During the whole thing I did not feel like I was alone with a cold bill. I always felt there was someone helping me check and explain. For a student like me with only normal English this kind of care is actually very important.
I booked my car in Auckland through QEEQ and at first everything looked fine. Around the afternoon of April twenty third I walked to the Europcar counter with my suitcase. I was pretty excited because my booking page showed a Mitsubishi Outlander. The photo looked really cool and I felt it would be a nice car to drive around Auckland. When I reached the front desk the staff looked at my booking and said the car I reserved was actually another model and that this Outlander was an upgrade. I needed to pay extra if I wanted it. I was confused. In my mind I was sure I chose the Outlander that I saw on the page. Standing there in the airport hall I felt a bit awkward. I was tired and just wanted to leave with the car. The staff at the desk stayed calm but the meaning was clear. No extra money no Outlander. To avoid delaying my plan I finally paid the upgrade fee with my card but in my heart I kept thinking if this money was really my problem. When I got back to where I stayed I felt more and more that something was wrong so I contacted their customer service. One thing that surprised me was that the same person kept following my case. It was not like I had to explain everything from the beginning to a new person each time. I told him what I understood from the booking and the desk. He did not blame me or say I read the page wrong. He just told me to stay calm and said he would talk to the rental company and check the model issue. I felt a bit better. It was like I was not standing alone in front of the rental company. Someone was speaking for me. Later he told me that the rental company put the Mitsubishi Outlander under another car group and that the group I booked had a different sample car. When he explained it I still felt a bit lost but I could feel that this problem was not just my mistake. I kept using the car for the trip and around May third I returned it in Auckland. The sky was a bit cloudy that day. When I handed the keys back at the desk I thought again about that extra upgrade fee and I wondered if I would really get it back. After I returned the car they contacted me again and asked me to send the card charge screenshot and the invoice from the rental company. To be honest I am not the kind of person who keeps every document in order so at first I could not find everything. Those days I had already left Auckland. I was going between Fiji and other flights and the internet was not always good. Each time I saw their email I thought oh no I need to find more files but the same service person was still there talking to me. That gave me a feeling that my case was still in his hands and not forgotten. Step by step I sent the credit card screenshot and then photos of the invoice. He used simple words and told me that once they had the right files they would help me get the upgrade fee back. Sitting on airport chairs and sometimes on the plane when I checked my email and saw their follow up I did not feel abandoned. Even though sometimes they called me and I could not pick up because of time difference and bad signal the contact never really stopped. When they finally confirmed the bill and the charge and told me they would refund that upgrade fee the bad feeling I had for days was gone. All the trouble of looking for screenshots and invoices suddenly felt worth it. For me the clearest feeling from this experience is that there was one person who remembered my case from the beginning to the end. He remembered I was the guest who was charged extra for the upgrade. He did not make me repeat the whole story every time. He just told me what I needed to send next and kept talking with the rental company for me. When I was pulling my suitcase in a foreign airport with weak signal I could really feel that someone was watching over this problem for me. Even though I was pretty upset when the desk first told me to pay more for the car in the end when I saw that they followed through and helped me get that money back my feeling about this rental experience stayed very positive.
I will start from the bad part first. The upgrade fee did not come back in the end, but I was traveling alone and I did not break down, mainly because someone from customer service kept in touch with me and I felt someone was looking out for me. I booked the car through QEEQ and planned to pick it up on the evening of February 10th in New York. It was supposed to be a Ford Explorer for my own trip in the next days. When I went to the Budget counter that night with my luggage, I waited there for around half an hour. I was already a bit annoyed. Then the staff came and told me they did not have the car I booked. He asked me to choose. I could change to a minivan or pay 30 dollars more per day to upgrade to a bigger SUV. He also said the car I booked might need a long time to be ready, maybe two hours or more. I felt really stuck. I was alone on this trip and my schedule was fixed. I just wanted to leave the airport soon, so I agreed to upgrade. Inside I was not happy at all. It felt like I was pushed to pay this extra money. The next day when I calmed down, I did the math. The upgrade fee was around 181 dollars. I sent an email and asked them to return this money. Later someone from customer service contacted me and checked the whole story with me. They asked me for some details. At that moment I did not feel like I was fighting the rental counter all by myself anymore. At least there was someone trying to speak for me. They told me they would talk to the rental company and they would need some proof from my side. Sadly I had not kept all the papers and I could not find some of the documents. During that time they updated me a few times and said they were still talking with the rental side. I was a bit impatient, but I could feel that someone was following my case and not just leaving me there. In the end the rental company did not agree to refund the upgrade fee, so I was disappointed. Still, when I think about it now, if there was no one helping me talk with the rental staff, I would probably give up much earlier. This Dedicated customer service made me feel less nervous when I was alone in another place trying to solve this problem.
The annoying part came first for me. I booked a car in Miami through QEEQ and my schedule was already very tight. A few days after I came back I saw my credit card bill and there was an extra charge of more than 300 euros. My first thought was that I got tricked again.
I arrived in Miami around the night of April twenty fourth. That night I picked up a Tesla Model 3 from Budget. I was on a business trip and wanted everything to be fast and simple. The rental itself was fine. On the return day around the night of May ninth I parked the car where they told me left the key and rushed to the airport. In my head it was only about not missing the flight.
The real trouble started later when I saw the bill. It showed road assistance toll service and some short codes that I did not really understand. I did not have any accident and I never called any help on the road. I started to think maybe I could fight this charge.
I contacted their customer support and told them the whole story. My mood was not very good because the amount was high. The person who followed my case stayed calm and listened to me. I did not feel that she wanted to brush me off. She asked me some details and said she would ask the rental company for the contract and the proof of the charges. She also said it might be some services that were checked at the counter. In my head I was still thinking that maybe this was just something they say to make me wait.
After a while she reached out again and told me they already got the signed contract from the Budget counter. On that paper the boxes for road assistance and toll service were checked. At first I did not want to accept it. I remembered that when I signed I was in a hurry and only wanted to finish the process fast. I probably did not read every line. She explained the main points to me in simple words and told me that these charges were based on the contract not random. I thought again about that day and I had to admit it was my own fault for not checking.
I did not get the money back but during all this someone was always following my case. I did not have to run between the rental desk and the platform by myself. Many terms on the contract were not very clear to me. They turned them into simple language and explained them one by one. For someone like me who travels a lot for work and does not have much time to read every rule this helped a lot.
After this I at least learned one thing. Next time at the counter I will read every part before I sign. If I do not understand something I will ask them first. If I do not do that I know I might pay for it later.
