written by murreview634 on 19/09/2014
I rented the car from Firefly through Autoeurope. It was a 3 day rental from Bordeaux airport. I returned the car with a full tank, as per contract, and naturally I was on time, as I had a flight back to England to catch. A week later, while looking through my Visa statement online, I noticed Firefly had taken out €55. I had already pre-paid my booking. I immediately got on to Autoeurope - who were a complete waste of time in this whole episode, to complain about the extra charges. I was informed by Autoeurope, that I had returned the car a day late, and that the tank was half empty. This was outlined on Firefly's final statement which Autoeurope had sent. This was absolute nonsense, as I had my boarding pass, and also the petrol receipt from a station near the airport, which included the time and date. I was in England at the time they said I returned the car. I sent all this information to Autoeurope and after 3 months! I finally received a reply:
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From: autoeurope.com
To:
Subject: EU7305590-1
Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 17:42:54 +0000
Dear Mr. Murphy,
I hope this email finds you well. We have today received a response from Firefly, who have forwarded their apologies for the delay, and have advised that they have now issued a refund of the extra day charge as €27.00 EUR, which should appear shortly on your credit card statement.
Regarding the fuel service charge, Firefly have further clarified that the charge does not in fact relate to missing fuel, but to the operational cost as mentioned on the prepaid voucher as follows:
* Vehicles rented with a full tank of fuel, which the client will be charged for at time of pick up as well an operational cost. The cost of the fuel is determined based on the model of the rented vehicle and it's fuel capacity. The amounts for the tank of fuel can be found at [link removed]. Any fuel remaining in the tank will be refunded, excluding the operational cost (known locally as "Fast Return"),the rate will be calculated the same as it was at the rental start.
I hope this clarifies the local Firefly billing, and please let us know if you have further questions or concerns.
Best Regards,
Customer Service Agent
Auto Europe LLC
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I find their reply scandalous. They never explained why they tried to charge me the extra day's rental, or even offered any apology. The fuel charge is ludicrous - and after all the lies and deceits the least they could've done was to refund me the full €55. I have Visa investigating this fraudulent company, and would always advise customers to check you credit card statements, should you have the misfortune to deal with this disreputable, despicable company.
Cormac Murphy