I booked a car in Rijeka Croatia through QEEQ. It was a Suzuki Swift with manual gear from ADDCAR. I thought this rental would be simple but when I got to the counter the problem came very fast. At the final bill they added a senior driver fee over one hundred euros. The total price jumped and I just froze there.
I am over seventy and I put my age honestly when I booked. On the booking page there was no clear note about this extra money. At the counter the staff just pushed the contract to me to sign and talked very fast. When I saw the amount was higher I asked at once why. They said people around my age all need to pay more and said it was the rule. They sounded very sure but they did not warn me before I made the booking. I felt really upset. I was in a foreign country and the language was not easy so I got a bit nervous.
After I finished the pickup I kept thinking something was wrong so I contacted their customer team. I started by saying I was charged a senior driver fee and I wanted to know why. Someone picked up my case very quickly. It felt like one person was following my problem all the way. Every time the reply knew my situation so I did not need to repeat my story again and again.
I had already asked the rental company for a signed contract at the counter so I had it in my hand. On the contract that fee was a bit over one hundred euros. I sent a photo of it to the customer team. They checked it and also felt this charge was sudden. They said they would check with the rental company. I could feel they were standing on my side and not just brushing me off. They contacted me from time to time and told me what was going on and what the rental company said so I did not just wait in the dark.
During this time the rental company stayed very firm. They kept saying this fee was their usual rule and said they had informed people before. To me it was very confusing. I do not really know local rules so I just told all this back to the customer team. They did not ask me to fight with the rental company on my own. They kept trying to argue for me and also told me that it might not be solved in one step so I should try not to worry too much.
I had several more bookings with the same company in the next days so I was extra stressed. I was afraid they would charge me this kind of fee again and again. I told them this worry. They listened and went through my coming bookings with me. They told me if I got charged again I could contact them right away. If I really felt unsafe I could also change to another company. They explained things slowly and also reminded me that if I canceled a booking it could not be restored. These small reminders were very clear.
They asked me to send the bank slip that showed the money I paid. After I went back to my place I spent some time looking for the record and taking screenshots and sending them. For someone my age this was not so easy but because they stayed with me on this I felt it was worth the effort. Later they told me they would find a way to cover this cost for me so I would not have to carry this loss.
Some time later the customer team told me that the problem came from wrong information on their side. They said it was counted as their own mistake so they would pay me back the senior driver fee. I really let out a long breath at that moment. As an older person in another country if no one helps to follow up and explain and talk to the rental company for you it is very hard to handle this alone.
The whole process was not short and there were many back and forth messages but the thing I remember most is that someone kept pushing the case forward for me. They remembered that I still had a few more bookings with the same company. They did not treat me like a small one time problem. They thought about the days I still needed a car. For me this kind of dedicated customer service is very important. It made me feel much safer when I was driving that little Swift around Rijeka.
I have to say this first. The day I saw the extra 279.2 dollars on my credit card, I was really speechless. I used QEEQ to book a Toyota Camry from AVIS in Newark. I drove alone to Albany. The trip was fine. I returned the car normally. Then a few days later I checked my bill and this charge was just sitting there with no clear note. My first thought was that they charged me for nothing and I felt really upset.
When I started to contact them I was pretty mad. I could not even say what exact fee it was and the rental counter people did not explain well. I did not really want to send a lot of screenshots because it felt annoying. I still told customer service all the info I could. One thing that surprised me was that the same person kept following my case. It felt like dedicated customer service just for me. I did not need to repeat my story again and again.
At the start I kept saying that I never agreed to extra charges and I was really unhappy with the rental company. They did not ask me to go fight with AVIS by myself. They said they would help me ask and then they gave me updates from time to time. They told me they had contacted the rental side and were still waiting for answers. I know the work in the background can be complex but what I felt was that someone was really watching my case and I was not left alone.
Some days later customer service told me the rental company said it was a damage fee and it was about the mirror. They also sent me the invoice from the rental company. When I saw the actual invoice my anger dropped a lot. At least I finally knew what the 279.2 dollars were for. It was not this random charge that made no sense anymore.
During this whole thing the biggest feeling for me was that someone stood between me and the rental company and helped me ask questions and explain their words. I travel alone and I really do not want to spend all my time fighting with big companies. They helped me find the reason and explained it in simple words so I felt much more at ease.
I first要说的是我的心情 我看到信用卡账单的时候真的有点烦 我是在美国出差 用QEEQ订的车 结果还车几天以后 账单上多了一些奇怪的燃油费和保险费 我心里一直在问自己 这些钱为什么会出现 我有没有哪一步弄错
我就联系了他们的客服 一开始我自己也讲不清楚 每一行英文都要对着看 所以我就一点一点说 自己看到什么就说什么 客服没有急着给我答案 只是先听我把情况讲完 然后问我 有没有取车时候的纸 有没有上面写油量 那时候我才又想起 在美国新奥尔良取车的时候 是五月初的一个上午 车行的人在合同上用笔写了油量 大概是五分之五 不是满油 我当时还多拍了一张照片 现在终于用上了
我脑子里问题很多 这些燃油费怎么算 我是不是被算成没加满油 还是真的自己记错了 这些我都直接问客服 他也一问一答地跟我确认 比如问我还车的时候大概是什么时候 我说是在五月中旬的一个傍晚 在美国纳什维尔还车 那天我要赶着去见客户 说实话根本没想到要再拍一张油表的照片 只记得油箱肯定不是空的 中间我也有去加油
我其实最不认可的就是那几项额外的燃油费和保险费 我一直在想 会不会是柜台讲的时候太快了 我又急着走 结果合同签了才发现有别的东西 这些想法我都跟客服联系过 他没有指责我没有拍照 也没有说都是车行的规定之类 他只是告诉我 先把我有的合同照片和账单给他 然后他会帮我去和车行沟通
对我来说等结果的那几天心里挺不安的 一边要忙工作 一边又怕最后这些钱都要我自己出 每次我再去问一下进度 回复都还挺快 语气也很平稳 不会让我觉得被敷衍 我能感觉到有人在看着我的这个案子 而不是叫我自己去找车行吵架 对一个商务出差的人来说 这个差别很大 我的时间和精力都不太够
后来车行那边因为没有还车油量的照片之类的证据 有一些费用他们就是不肯退 这个我也能理解 因为确实是我自己没有留好记录 但让我觉得好一点的是 客服又联系我 说可以根据我提供的信用卡账单 给我做一部分赔付 把那一小块多出来的费用补给我 那一刻我心里那个 我会不会只能吃亏 的感觉就没那么重了
现在回头看 从我发现问题到他们给我方案 其实时间没有我想象中那么长 只是我那时候太焦虑 所以觉得每一天都很久 整个过程让我印象最深的 是有一个人一直跟我对接 把复杂的收费一点一点讲清楚 告诉我哪一项是燃油 哪一项是保险 哪些是车行坚持的 哪些是他们可以帮我承担的 对我这种出来谈业务的人来说 这种被认真照顾到的感觉 真的是挺重要的
What would you do if you are driving in another country with your kids and then you see more than one thousand dollars extra on your bill? I booked my car with QEEQ and this happened to me in Anchorage. I had already returned the car one or two days before and was back at my place. When I checked my credit card I just froze. The amount was much higher than I expected. My English is not good and I thought they charged me twice. I was worried about our family budget and also taking care of the kids at the same time. I felt really stressed. I contacted their customer service right away. At the start I spoke in a messy way and kept saying things like “too much money” and “I dont understand”. The staff there stayed calm and told me to relax and that they would help me understand the bill step by step. I sent photos of the contract and the payment receipt. The person went through each line with me and said that the items near my signature were the things I had agreed to at the counter. They repeated everything again in simple English so I could follow. I asked “Why so high I thought upgrade is free with insurance” and they explained that the upgrade is not free. They broke down the upgrade fee the extra insurance and the roadside assistance and showed me which parts I had accepted at the desk. I still felt bad about the money but at least I knew where it all came from and I did not feel it was random or double charging anymore. What really stood out was that they kept following my case. They did not just send one short reply. They checked if I had new documents and told me how they would talk with the rental company next. For a parent traveling with kids and not speaking good English it really helped to have someone staying on my side and explaining everything so I did not feel alone with the problem.
I want to start with the feeling at the end. When I saw my deposit finally come back, I was just sitting in my room, looking at my phone and letting out a long breath. In my head I said, I am really glad I booked through QEEQ.
The story started a few months before that. Around January 7 in the morning I picked up my car in Seville in Spain. It was at the Budget counter. The car was a Seat Tarraco. It was an automatic seven seater SUV and it looked pretty cool. I used my debit card for the deposit. The staff at the counter did everything very fast. I did not think much and only wanted to start driving with my friends.
Two days later on January 9 in the evening I returned the car in Granada. The staff walked around the car, checked it and said it was okay. They took the key. I asked, how long until my deposit comes back to my card. The staff just smiled and said it would be a few days and it would be fast.
After I went back home I started to check my bank records one by one. I found that the deposit amount did not look right. On my card I only saw one charge of about 38 euro. I knew this was the extra driver fee because I agreed to that before. But the big part of the deposit was still missing. I waited a few days. I got more and more worried. I started to think that maybe I needed to write emails in English to Budget myself. I was afraid I could not explain everything clearly.
So I sent a message to their customer service first. They asked me to upload screenshots of my bank statement. I sat in front of my computer and took the screenshots. In my mind I was thinking, if this still does not work then it will be a big problem. I asked them, is the deposit not supposed to be fully refunded. Now I only see one small part and I feel nervous.
They replied quite fast and used a very calm tone. They said they would help me check the exact amount with the car rental company and told me I did not need to worry too much. I could feel that it was one person following my case and not a new person every time. A bit later I asked again if there was any new progress. They explained that they had already checked the bill with the rental company. The 38 euro was the extra driver fee and the rest of the deposit would be refunded. It just needed some time to show on my card.
For one or two days I kept opening my banking app. Every time I saw the balance did not move I felt a bit anxious. I thought, if the deposit is stuck there it will affect my other plans. But each time I sent another question the way they answered stayed very steady. I felt they were watching this problem for me. I had this small feeling that I was being taken care of and that I was not fighting the car rental company alone.
After a short while I opened my banking app again and suddenly I saw the rest of the deposit arrive. I stared at the screen for a second. Then I checked all the records carefully. I found that after taking off the extra driver fee all the remaining money was back in my account. My first reaction was to send a message to their customer service and say that I had received the remaining deposit. They replied very soon with a light and friendly tone. It really felt like a friend helped me finish something that bothered me.
When I think about it now the whole thing was not very complex. The most important part was that someone kept following my problem from start to end. I did not need to send emails to the car rental company every day or worry about my English. I am just a normal young traveler who drove from Seville to Granada in Spain. After the trip I still had to face this deposit issue. Having dedicated customer service stay with me until the money came back made a big difference for me.
If I only talk about the final result, I am actually quite happy, mainly because of the dedicated customer service that followed my case. As a solo traveler, I did not feel left alone. So how did everything start? I booked the car on QEEQ and planned to pick it up in Grand Rapids in the US. It was around the afternoon of March 24 when I went to the airport to get a Toyota RAV4 from Enterprise and return it in mid April. That day was a bit cold. The wind at the airport was strong and I was pulling my suitcase to the rental counter. The pick up was smooth and the car looked fine. I did not expect any problem at all. The real trouble started in early April. One day I was driving and suddenly I smelled strong engine oil. I stopped the car by the side of the road and saw oil all over the ground. I was standing there alone, the streets around me were all new to me and I felt a bit scared. I called the rental company first. The towing and car change were not going well and nothing was really fixed. So what should I do next? At that time I contacted their customer service. I was worried that maybe no one would really care about my problem. The answer was different from what I feared. The person on the phone listened to my story carefully and did not rush me. They asked simple questions and checked my details. I could feel it was the same person following my case because every time I contacted them again it was still that person and I did not need to repeat the whole story from the beginning. So what happened after that? They kept pushing the rental company about the towing. The staff there went back and forth with Enterprise. The process was not very fast but every time there was some progress the customer service would update me. They told me on which day the tow truck might come and when I could get a new car so my mind was not totally blank. During these days I had to take taxis to the branch a few times because the car was not usable. Sometimes the map location was off and I rode much longer and paid more. I kept all the taxi receipts. I was not sure if I could get any money back but I decided to save everything. Later the customer service reached out to me and asked me to explain each taxi receipt in simple words. For example which ones were to the rental branch and if there were other routes. They also asked if I had any photos from that time. The way they talked was patient. They did not push me hard. They just reminded me that these things could help to handle the case. I sent all I could find. After that there was a period of time where they were fighting with the rental company in the background. I could feel that it was not short because I got the next update after quite a while. So what was the result? One day they told me that the rental company agreed to give me some money back as a kind of compensation. My feeling was a bit mixed. Those days were really tiring. I went to the branch again and again and paid many taxi rides all by myself. But I also felt that at least someone was on my side when they talked to the rental company. This feeling that someone was always watching over my case was very important to me as a person traveling alone. After we confirmed the amount they helped arrange the refund and later I saw the money show up on my statement. The whole story from the car problem to the refund took quite a long time. Still during all of this their close follow up made me feel I was not just waiting in a dark hole. I always knew someone was pushing things forward for me and this dedicated customer service meant more to me than just the money I got back.
