Dan, I can only believe that your issue must have been a missunderstanding. I am using EconomyCarrentals since nearly 3 years (approx. 50 times in Europe and Australia) and have only made great experience and the customer service was always brilliant.

For a first time user it might be a bit confusing, as you get a Voucher and a Receipt. Your Receipt shows what you have paid already in advance to Economy Carrentals and what you have to pay to the local car rental. The Voucher clearly states "Balance upon delivery" - this is the document that you show to your local car rental and what you should pay additionaly to the advance payment. So in case you have paid & signed for more to the local car company as stated on your voucher, that is really NOT the fault of Economy Carrentals and none of theirs business.. They definetly have not double charged you - as they charged you only for the first payment and not for the second. You still can even recheck this as you can still access with your booking number the receipt and the voucher and you might notice the difference between the two of them.

I can only recommend Economy Carrentals as they have a lot of advantages, i.e. insurance with no excess, great prices, free hotel deliveries, free additional drivers, etc...

I had a similar bad experience with economycarrentals. I booked a car, paid my deposit, went to collect it and the local car hire company did not have a car for me. When I contacted economycarrentals on my return to the UK they told me that I could only lodge a dispute by e-mail, when I tried to get them to talk to me over the phone, they hung up on me. They have subsequently kept my deposit and ignored all my e-mails. Their customer services was possibly the worst I have ever come across. My advice is not to use this car hire company under any circumstances!

I booked from them more than 6 times and no problem at all....I really can not understand what happens with your case?

I found economycarrentals.com 2005 from a article from the Austrian consumer association VKI and they have been award....in more than 8 holiday destinations www.ns.is/ns/upload/files/news/car_rental_companies.doc

It is not true that you pay twice the full amount. I booked with them, saw the total cost, deposit and balance to be paid locally. Logically, the equation is:

total - deposit = balance .

Seems absolutely normal to me.

I am a little surpised with the comments. I've used economycarrentals.com as well and all was fine. When making the booking, I copied the page with the total cost. They charged me a downpayment and when I got a voucher, I could see the amount I was supposed to pay when picking up my car. It was correct (the total cost minus the downpayment). And that's how much I actually paid.

As I always prefer to double check, I contacted them again to make sure about the cost, and everything was the way I had thought. I did not get the feeling they were unpleasant - a normal, polite conversation.

I had some unpleasant surprises with online companies in the past and I've learnt the hard way. My advise is to read everything carefully and double check. That doesn't cost anything else than a little bit of time.

I can only confirm that economycarrentals.com are unserious and should indeed be avoided. We booked a car from Germany for a trip in Italy and was asked if we wanted to pick the car up at the Hotel (no extra costs). When we accepted they went along and CANCELLED our agreement by a swift email 12 hours before the pickup! When I called an expensive number (in Greece of all places) [they] laughed and said something like: "Try suing us, you never had a contract in the first place". My only hope is that the community punish them by choosing serious dealers. I will.

Here the original text of the last exchange:

There is no extra charge if you pick hotel or railway station. However, if you want the pickup at your hotel, you must provide us with its name, address and post zip code.

So We did and guess what?

Your order XXXXXX regarding car rental in Milano is cancelled. Delivery option is not possible, but delivery at Central might be. You are welcome to make a new reservation with the suggested changes! Kind Regards EconomyCarRentals.com

Since they cancelled 12 hours before pickup and a new order by internet can only be made 24 hours in advance they must have done it on purpose. Hands off.

Note: This post has been moderated.

Actually it is the same company. The local company is called "AutoUnion". And this is the company that comes up at economycarhire.com.

rgds,
Ben

I have used this company twice before and have not had any problems. I now book directly with them as this site no longer includes them in the quote system. I speak as I find others may feel wronged but not me

May I please draw your attention to the fact that 'Economy Car Rentals' are not the same as the company 'Economy Car Hire', whose website appears here: http://www.economycarhire.com.

We would just like to draw your attention to the distinction as we would not wish negative attention to be given to the wrong car hire provider.

Regards

Community Editor

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Community

www.moneysupermarket.com

A1Dan75, Yes it's only a relative small amount £20 but just look at all the hassle that the Greek car hire company are going to have to endure through it now, I bet it makes that much paperwork and hassle for them, that they will find it's not worth trying on anymore, hence removing the cheesy smirk from their suntanned mushes. Nice One ......

Cheers conmankiller - I think I will take it up with the card company. As (fortunately) the rental was only for a weekend, the amount involved seems a bit small to reclaim (about £20 over-charge), but as you say - if they get away with it all the time, they'll be raking it in.

NOT TRUE --- Indeed there is something you can do even if they're in Greece or Gt. Britain what they are doing amounts to fraud, and the advantage you have got is that you paid them by credit card, let your card company know what you have wrote here. Get in touch with your credit card company explain what's happened and tell them you want to claim the money from the card company under the fraud protection procedure, and you would like the forms sent to you to start the ball rolling. Fill it in and send back to them with a copy of all the documents, deposit receipt and any relevant paperwork. They will refund you money that you have been defrauded of and they will get their money back from the car hire company, that should take the cheesy smirks off their faces. It may take some time but it's better than letting them get away with mistreating you like this, if they do this to everyone it amounts to a lot of money ripped off innocent customers.

I've seen one or two other threads advising to be wary of economycarrentals.com, and after the experience I just had, I can confirm that they are best avoided. If you use them, check you're invoice VERY carefully. They double charged me, taking a large deposit from my card on booking, and then charging me the full quoted price on completion of the rental. When I checked back the invoice they sent a link to did indeed say that the amount still payable was the full amount, but that's hardly what you expect after paying a deposit. When I took this up with them they basically laughed at me and made out that they didn't care as they are based in Greece so I can't do anything much, which is true. So I'm left with venting my anger in here!