Do I have to pay for something I didn't agree to?

October 21, 2008 6:46 AM

Can a car rental agency charge me for a rental I didn't agree to pay for?

This spring, my mechanic took longer to fix my car than he had expected, and offered me a free car rental one night when I showed up to take my car home and it wasn't ready (again).

The rental was fine, the car was eventually fixed, and I didn't think about it much until this month, when I noticed an unfamiliar charge on my credit card, and then received a letter from the car rental agency.

The letter says that the shop never paid for the rental, so they had put the charge through to my card. They included a copy of the contract, which clearly says "Shop pays." I never agreed to pay for this rental. I called both the mechanic and the car rental agency, and pointed out that I had not agreed to pay for this. My mechanic said no problem, they would take care if it and have the charge reversed.

The charge has still not been reversed.

What will happen if I contact the credit card company and say that I didn't agree to this charge? Will they just reverse it? Am I stuck paying this bill? It's not a huge amount, but it's annoying. I don't see why I should be stuck with it: I didn't agree to it.

Any thoughts?

posted by Badmichelle to work & money (8 comments total)

Call your credit card company and contest the charge. They should take it off, probably based on your word alone. You may have to provide your evidence at some point, but it shouldn't be a big problem for them.
posted by procrastination at 6:53 AM on October 21, 2008

Call your credit card company, they'll probably be able to help you. Also, call the mechanic again, and insist that they reverse it. Note that reversals can take a longish time to show up- has it been thirty days yet?
posted by jenkinsEar at 6:53 AM on October 21, 2008

The above two answers are correct as a practical matter, however note that, as a matter of law (assuming you're in the US) if you signed the contract and gave them your card, you are probably on the hook for the rental, though you would have a cause of action against the shop to pay you back. Hard to be sure without seeing the contract, but usually that's how it would work. As a practical matter I would bet that the card company will take care of it. IAAL; IANYL; contract disputes depend on the contract so legal advice about them over the internet is especially useless, including this post, which is therefore not legal advice but just a general statement of what "joint and several liability" means.
posted by The Bellman at 7:19 AM on October 21, 2008

Go to the shop with the rental contract and the letter and don't leave until they cut you a check.
posted by kindall at 8:04 AM on October 21, 2008

Call the mechanic again and tell them that you will be contesting the charge if they do not pay it within 24 hours. Also who them the contract that shows clearly that they agreed to pay it. If they refuse, content the charges with the credit card company and don't do business with that mechanic again.
posted by camworld at 10:19 AM on October 21, 2008

Contest the charge, this issue is between the agency and the mechanic and is none of your business. Send, fax or scan-email the invoice to your credit card company (or just make sure they know you have one). Next time though, don't give the rental agency your card.
posted by rhizome at 10:54 AM on October 21, 2008

You will probably have more luck getting the money from the mechanic. Not because the rental company doesn’t want to reimburse you, but because its very difficult for a lot of complicated legal reasons.

I worked several years at a rental agency and I'm sure while they had every intention of charging the shop, when they didn't get any money their security department elsewhere flagged the rental an initiated collections and they probably charged your card. It’s in the small print (in the rental jacket which is part of the contract), that you will be charged if they are unable to receive payment via the shop. (as The Bellman suggested)

The reason I say it's probably easier and less of a headache for you to get money from the shop is that once a rental company charges you the rental is closed and it is very difficult for a variety of anti fraud / legal / insurance reasons to have their security department modify a closed agreement (even if its just to change what card the charge was posted to).

Have the shop reimburse you and let them raise hell with the rental agency. The rental agency is going to take the shop more seriously anyway because they represent more business then you do as far as their rental location is concerned. The most likely outcome depending on how much your rental cost is that the shop will reimburse you and the rental agency will reimburse the shop in order to keep their business.
posted by thewalrusispaul at 1:31 PM on October 21, 2008

Contest the charge you didn't agree to. This is what credit cards are all about.
posted by qvtqht at 5:30 PM on October 23, 2008