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Tales from Consumer Advocacy Land
Real stories. Real Rescues. Real advice.
Was the mechanical failure of this traveler’s two rental cars just bad luck?
🎄 Hey there, friends! Merry Christmas Eve! 🎄
I still have a lot of wrapping left to do — and some cookies to bake before my family arrives tonight — so today’s newsletter will be a little bit abbreviated. However, I have a doozy of a story to tell you.
Travelers sometimes ask me if car rental companies can charge customers for mechanical repairs of their vehicles. In general, the answer is “No” — unless the customer has acted negligently to cause the rental car's internal problem.
And that brings us to the car rental customers in today’s featured article. These two ladies were taking a 1,800-mile road trip from Texas to Florida and back, and rented a vehicle to do it. But their adventure seemed to be cursed from the start.
This road trip would see two separate rental cars bite the dust immediately after a gas tank fill-up. In the end, Avis sent the driver an $8,090 bill.
So what went wrong here? And will this customer have to pay up? I’ll tell you what my investigation revealed today.
Also, we’re counting down the top 10 most-read articles of the year this week. I’m including 10, 9, and 8 below.
From my home to yours, I wish you all a very happy holiday filled with yummy treats surrounded by your furry and human loved ones! 🥂🐶🥧🦜🐱🎁
This Week’s Fiascos and Fixes 🔍
Friends on a celebratory road trip strangely experienced the total mechanical failure of not one, but two Avis rental cars. What caused these mysterious problems and who is ultimately responsible to pay for the damage?
Michelle Couch-Friedman, Chief Fiasco Fixer
Christian F. made a critical but common error while booking a round-trip business-class flight to Paris for his wife. After asking Google for United Airlines customer service, he called the first number that popped up in the search results. Instead of reaching the airline, he dialed right into a scam call center where a fake UA agent was waiting. That fraudster easily booked the ticket and charged the unaware Christian a whopping $1,750 service fee for her efforts. (MCF)
Could you be accused of causing costly damage to your next rental car even if you didn’t do it? Several hours after returning his Budget rental car Derek Melber found out the answer to that question. That’s when an employee emailed him with the surprising news that the driver’s side window of the vehicle was shattered. (MCF)
American Airlines left Brooke Krukenberg and 24 family members stranded in North Carolina after canceling their flight home to Iowa. As the group scrambled to find alternative transportation, airline agents assured the displaced passengers that their refunds were on the way.
Krukenberg calculated that American Airlines owed each family member $223 for the canceled flight – around $5,600. That refund factored into the group’s plans as they booked rental cars and hotels for the unexpected 18-hour road trip back home. So why did they receive just $50 in travel credits? (MCF)
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Your friend and loyal consumer advocate,
Michelle Couch-Friedman
Founder/CFF (Chief Fiasco Fixer) 😛
917-841-0583
The Consumer Rescue newsletter and the articles you read on the site are fine-tuned by a team of absolutely wonderful editors (and my friends): Art Ellis, Karen Roberts, Irene Rawlings, Wendie Feinberg, Tanya Anticevic, Jennifer Finger, Robyn Whittingham, Teri Bergin, Dwayne Coward, and Chip Elam. ❤️ |