I was on holiday in Australia last Sept/October. Whilst there I searched on line for cheap car rental and was directed to Budget. I duly booked a car and was offered excess reduction insurance which I accepted. On arriving at Sydney Airport to pick up the car during the pick up process I was again offered the ecxess reduction and confirmed that I had already done this. I was asked to sign to confirm the booking details and left with the car.
When I returned to the uk I noticed that I had been charged £240 on my credit card by a firm called IMALL for excess reduction, I also noticed that the charge for the car by Budget was also £400 more that expected. When I queried this I was told that the extra charge was the excess reduction.
After about a dozen emails and phone calls I discovered that when I booked on line I had done it through an agent and they had sold me their version of an excess reduction. Then at the desk when I picked up the car, when I thought I was signing to confirm the details I was in fact signing to take out Budgets own excess reduction policy, which incidentally was nearly twice the cost of the one I had bought when reserving the car on line.
The upshot is that Budget say it was my own fault as I should have known that I had already signed up for a policy and refused the policy that they offered me at the counter.
They are probably right but I think that the booking process is confusing and I believe the counter staff knew what was happening and took advantage of the confusion to earn extra wages through selling me unnecassary insurance. I think they contravened the NSW selling regulations that stipulate that they have to act with honesty and integrity.
C Bone
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