I had a car accident on 1/5/04 and had to rely on rental cars for the next few weeks while my car was in the shop. My insurance company was to pay for the rental.
The first 3 weeks went O, K, but when I turned that car in for a few days because I didn't really need it, that's when things took a turn for the worse. I had set up an appointment at the Fontana Enterprise to pick up another rental a few days later and when I went in to pick it up they had no information on this appointment.
The lady spent several minutes on the computer to find out what had happened and then told me that the appointment was at the Rialto Enterprise! Hmmm. I told her that this was not communicated to me and left. When I arrived at the Rialto Enterprise they also told me that they didn't know anything about the appointment, but then the agent noticed a note pinned to the back of his cubicle about the rental appointment.
He hastely drew up a contract and asked me for a credit card. I gave him the card and he said he was going to charge $250 to it. I told him no, that my insurance was paying fo the rental. He told me that no provisions were set up for insurance. We discussed this problem for awhile and then I mistakenly fell for his excuse that I would be reimbursed by my insurance company for the money that was charged to my credit card.
So we went out to inspect the car, a Nissan Sentra, and go over the contract. He told me the car went for $27.99 per day but that when the insurance was billed it would go down to $25.99 and asked if I wanted to purchase suplimental insurance through their company. I said no my insurance was fine, so he pointed to where I had to initial to decline.
I signed the contract and took my rental and left. I turned it back in 12 days later and a different agent went over the charges with me, but it was late and I was tired and I just wanted to go home and I wasn't paying close enough attention.
The box where I was told to initial to decline suplimental insurance was actually the "accept" box, and the car actually went for $35.99 per day! A bill that should have been for around $350 that my insurance was to reimburse me for actually got charged to my credit card for a total of $661.85!
My insurance only covered $250 and I got stuck with the remainder! $411.85!!! R i p o f f!
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