I recently took a holiday in Italy with Simply Travel and the
holiday cost included car hire from Europcar, Pisa.
Europcar took an imprint of my credit card when I collected the
car in case I incurred any excess charges. I did not incur any
excess charges but two weeks after returning home I received an
Invoice from Europcar indicating that they had taken Euros:15.12
from my credit card account for “other surcharges”.
Although not a large amount for one person, I have no idea what
it was for and there was no detail on the invoice.
I wrote to Simply Travel pointing out that this looks like it
may be a nasty little scam. It potentially looks like someone
may be making a charge which individually is relatively insignificant
but when spread across several thousand holidaymakers adds up
to a tidy little sum. Most people will probably be annoyed but
cannot be bothered to go through the hassle and cost of copying
and writing "for just £11”, or may not even notice
the charge at all. Even if only half of people don’t bother
to complain it could add up to a nice little earner.
My complaint is that, apart from a holding letter from Simply
Travel saying they are looking into it, I have heard nothing from
them. Telephone calls see me being held forever in queues and
when I do get through I am passed from pillar to post and, basically,
no one could give a damn.
