lauralynne

I rented a car in Oslo for one night and they claimed damage. I didn't think I did it, but still notified insurance to get the ball rolling. The problem is the rental agency avis/Budget ignores all correspondence and does not provide proof of repair. Long story short, they ignored both me and my insurance claim representative. Eventually my card closed the claim in my favor due to lack of response from the agency. That was closed in July. In January I got notified the rental agency sent it to a collection agency who is claiming to charge interest. My CC reopened the case to try to get resolve, but they STILL ignore all our attempts to get this resolved. What legality do they even have when they put themselves in this situation? I think they know they did not repair it and so they just ignore us and then sick the collector after me. They had no right to automatically charge my card so they were blocked. We tried repeatedly to make it right, but no matter what we do they ignore us so how can they dare to act like we are not trying to give them money? I called my Dept of Commerce who advised me to ignore them right back. I'm worried next time I need to rent a car this will come up due to no fault of my own. Any advise? I have also read countless onle claims that I am not alone in this behavior from them.

moondog

I'd ignore them. "Return to sender" if they keep sending you unsolicited letters though.

SK AAR

Welcome to FT!

If you dispute the claim, the debt collection agency can't take this further. So dispute and then just ignore further letters from collection agency. Avis/budget will have to take this into court if they really believe you owe them.

Canarsie

Keep in mind that disputing a claim with a credit card company about a rental car agency could place the person who initiated the dispute on the Do Not Rent list for an indefinite period of time; and therefore should only be considered as a last resort.

SK AAR

I didn't recommend to dispute the claim with the credit card comp.- I mean to dispute the claim towards the debt collection agency.

craigthemif

I'm supposedly on a "do not rent" list for a similar situation of refusing to pay damages that the rental car company made up. (IMO)

I've successfully rented from that same company in a different country. So worst case scenario is the OP can't rent from Avis / Budget in Norway... Despite the international branding a lot of these outlets are simply franchises.

lauralynne

How does a blacklist work?? It doesn't seem right to punish you with other companies when the rental agency's lack of response is why the case is not settled?

I'm sorry that happened to you. I think it is dispicable that these companies ignore your attempts to contact them and then blame you for it. It appears to be a gimmick. Then they sell the lost funds to a claims agency who claims to charge interest.

Isochronous

Tell the debt collectors the debt is invalid and disputed. They will then give up.