Went back to return the rental, went to pay and the guy said no problem, you are already paid, and p

We tried a new car rental place to try and save a few bucks this time. E Z Rent-A-Car. The office is off airport, travel and sports just north of the Cancun airport. It seems they share an office with Adocar (I do not know if they are the same or different companies.)
Long story short, I booked online and verified total rental cost (inclusive of all taxes and liability coverage only) for $401 U.S. I confirmed with the rental agent that the total cost for the rental would be $401 soup too nuts, no problem. (My amex platinum has a program that covers ALL other damage and insurance coverage.)
I was asked at the time of rental to sign an authorization for $5,821 travel and sports mx. I told the it was too much, that it worked out to around $450 U.S. They said, no sir, it is JUST an authorization for damages, not a charge, you charge when you return.
Went back to return the rental, went to pay and the guy said no problem, you are already paid, and pointed to the receipt in his paperwork for $5,821 mx. Of course, I explained what I was told, we went round and round, the usual. He tried telling me that at the exchange travel and sports rate, that it worked out to $401 U.S., and that was the EXACT amount Amex would charge me in U.S. So I whipped out my iPhone, logged in to my Amex account right there and showed him the charge on my statement, for $454 U.S.
I think I may have been the first person to do that to him, as he was flabbergasted and had nothing to say. I told him to please give me the $53 he owed me, so I could go catch my plane. He had to call his supervisor, he had no money, etc etc.
Anyway, I've already travel and sports disputed the charge with Amex and I'm sure it will get worked out, but I did want to pass this along as a warning. ANYONE can get taken advantage of at any time, even a guy who's been to Playa 15 or 20 times like I have...
I'm trying very, very hard not to let this experience and a few other isolated experiences put me off this country and its people I've grown to love. Its just very hard for me to stomach the fact that just because I am an American and just because I have some money, that some (SOME) people here think its okay to try and take food out of my children's mouths. It makes me very, very angry.
Hey Stewart, sorry about your bad experience. You scared me for a minute. I changed our rental travel and sports agency this year because of price and got a halfway decent quote from Easyway rentals which is an off site rental. I checked real fast when I read your thread travel and sports and realize that there is an E-Z rental as well. Phew!!! We have had such good experiences with Ace rentals in the past but this year their rates became prohibitively expensive for us. I called travel and sports Jesus at Easyway on the recommendation of another poster on this site and he was very easy to deal with. Now we will just have to wait until January to see if there is truth in the quote. At least you have recourse with AMEX. Hope you had a great time in Playa.
travel and sports I'm trying very, very hard not to let this experience and a few other isolated experiences put me off this country and its people I've grown to love. Its just very hard for me to stomach the fact that just because I am an American and just because I have some money, that some (SOME) people here think its okay to try and take food out of my children's mouths. It makes me very, very angry.
We had similar feelings after making the mistake of asking for our gas tank to be filled up and being asked for an extra 200 pesos. It can be hard to look past all of the good experiences when you realize that someone is trying to rip you off.
When we were renting our car last time, we were scouring all over the car looking for scratches or nicks or anything they might try to put on us, and the guy was like, evrytheengs okayee ameego, no problemos , and we're thinking, yeah that's what you say now .
Just wondering... but isnt the quote you received..exactally that.. a quote.. I think the rate is actually determined by AMEX and they were the ones that converted to the US Dollar.. Meaning they didnt give you as favorable a rate as what the rental agency thought you would get... Am i missing something?
We have used E-Z at Cancun airport three or four times a year for the last few years - no problem and our experience travel and sports and rate was better than with Hertz, travel and sports Thrify etc. Herrerta is right - it has to do with the exchange rate. On-line travel and sports they quote you in US dollars, the car rental company sells you pesos, then your credit card company sells (converts) you dollars and that's how the difference occurs - it's all the changing back and forth on different days. When we received the how was our service follow-up email last time we complained that the exchange rate was unfair and they replied that it was the proper buying-selling rate. It was way off for the day in question. We were less than pleased but hearing some of the stories regarding other companies ..... - it is a U.S. company BTW.
I just don't rent cars in Mexico. I've heard too many horror stories and frankly don't need the aggrevation on holiday. Too many buses, taxis, tour companies that will take you anywhere you want to go. Besides that, terrible drivers everywhere.
I think Herrerta's right about the exchange rate. The same thing happened when we rented from ACE last Feb. The confirmation price was in US dollars, then they converted it to pesos when we paid. They charged our card in pesos, which got converted to US dollars, and it was about $20 more than the confirmed price I had gotten online. I remember the guy showing me on the calculator when he was converting it and he DID put in the same amount in US dollars, but he ripped up the CC slip I had signed when I arrived travel and sports and wrote up a new one. I don't know why they didn't do that for you.
Syl's husband here. On this exchange rate thing what happens is you get quoted a price in dollars for something, like a car rental, give them your credit card, they convert it to pesos, but they don't use the bank rate, they use a higher rate that they come up with themselves I guess. When we played golf awhile back the price was $90us but they converted to pesos at a rate about 2% higher travel and sports than the bank rate. They hope you don't notice. When we got home the charge on our cc bill was around $95 dollars. Someone there pockets the difference. Maybe the guy that works at the counter makes a little extra that way. Maybe the best way to avoid this is to pay in cash usd.
Just wondering... travel and sports but isnt the quote you received..exactally that.. a quote.. I think the rate is actually determined by AMEX and they were the ones that converted travel and sports to the US Dollar.. Meaning they didnt give you as favorable a rate as what the rental agency thought you would get... Am i missing something?
E Z gave me a solid quote of $401. While a slight fluctuation of currency exchange by Amex might have resulted in a 3 or 4 dollar difference one way or the other (at most), it would not explain a 53 U.S. dollar difference. (Amex uses very accurate travel and sports interbank exchange rates.)
We have used E-Z at Cancun airport three or four times a year for the last few years - no problem and our experience and rate was better than with Hertz, Thrify etc. Herrerta is right - it has to do with the exchange rate. On-line they quote you in US dollars, the car rental company sells you pesos, then your credit card company sells (converts) you dollars and that's how the difference occurs - it's all the changing travel and sports back and forth on different travel and sports days. When we received the how was our service follow-up email last time we complained that the exchange rate was unfair and they replied that it was the proper buying-selling rate. It was way off for the day in question. We were less than pleased but hearing some of the stories regarding travel and sports other companies ..... - it is a U.S. company BTW.
They ran my credit card right there at the rental counter. The could have charged my card in U.S. in which case they could have charged it at the $401 I was quoted, or they could have charged it in pesos at an accurate exchange travel and sports rate in which case my card would have been charged $401 in U.S.
Assuming, travel and sports arguendo, that the exchange rate IS the problem, then they should have quoted my rental in pesos. i.e. They QUOTE me in pesos, they CHARGE me in pesos, therefore no possibility of a misunderstanding.
I literally pulled up my Amex statement in my safari browser on my iphone right there at the counter - total charge $454. There is just NO WAY that a $53 discrepancy was caused by a difference in exchange rates.