On a recent trip to Las Vegas, John Eugenio was out $150 bucks before he even got close to a casino.
His rental car reservation dealt him an unlucky hand. He says the bill was a mess — from the start. “It was really surprising when I got to Vegas, at the counter,” he explained.
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Eugenio says he prepaid Expedia $297 for his Hertz rental. But Hertz told him he had to pay another $151 to pick up the car. Eugenio said Hertz was collecting taxes and fees.
But Eugenio balked: “I brought up the original email from Expedia. And it says, ‘taxes and fees are included.’”
NBC Bay Area reviewed that confirmation email, too. It clearly reads: “taxes and fees included.” There’s no mention of an extra $151 due at pickup.
“There was a line that said there would be an additional charge if I were under 25. but that’s clearly not the case,” Eugenio said with a laugh.
Eugenio says Hertz wouldn’t let him rent the car unless he forked over the $151. So, he did. After leaving Las Vegas, Eugenio says he emailed and called both Hertz and Expedia to ask for a refund. No dice. Both companies echoed each other, he said: “Same story: ‘it’s not our responsibility.’”
So, Eugenio contacted NBC Bay Area Responds, and we contacted both Hertz and Expedia.
The wheels started turning. Expedia told us Eugenio’s “confirmation email experienced a technical error,” but did not go into detail about the error. Eugenio says Hertz then reached out and returned his $151.
“It got resolved fairly quickly. Hertz didn’t admit any responsibility but said they would issue the credit as a courtesy,” he said.
Hertz did not comment for this story.
Eugenio’s rental rigmarole joins many other cases in our archives where viewers faced pitfalls after booking travel with various third parties. They had to turn to us to get their money back.
Whenever you book travel with a third party, you can try to help yourself. First, check what level of service you’re getting. If you’re flying several time zones away, see if the agency will be open at all hours to support you.
“We want people to take booking with an online travel agent or agency with a word of caution,” said Katy Nastro with Going.com.
Next, Nastro noted something else to consider — specific to booking a flight. When you buy airline tickets directly from an airline, the federal government requires the carriers to let you either hold a ticket for 24 hours or let you book and cancel for free within the first 24 hours. But travel sites are not required to offer you the same flexibility.
“When you’re booking with an online travel agency, especially a small one, a lot of people forget they don’t have that 24-hour rule built in,” Nastro said.
Finally, if you book with a third party, always double check your booking details directly with the airline, hotel, rental car agency, or cruise line. If there’s any discrepancy at all between what you see and what the agency tells you, clear it up ASAP.
