Complaint Review: Rentalcars.com - Vancouver Select State/Province

I booked a car for one week through rentalcars.com when I was in Germany on Jul 2nd 2013 for YVR. I received a confirmation and the terms and condition via email.

When I arrived to YVR (Vancouver international airport) on July 19th the car provider company “Thrifty” refused to give me the car I booked, telling me it is because I am a North American driver (my driver license and my international driver license are both issued by Canada). They told me they can give me the same car for 117 CAD per day while I booked the car for approximately 50 CAD.  I tried to call the Rentalcars company at the Thrifty center but since the phone number I had on my booking papers was an international phone number and there was no way to find an alternative phone number at that time, I got the car, paid again with the very same visa card and came home.

The following morning (July 20th 2013) I called the rentalcars by two phone numbers. One was  0441618282025 and the other one was the North American free call. Talked with two people a female and a male responded my phone calls.

At first they were astounded like myself with the term of North American Driver. They both told me that the mistake is because I logged in from Europe and they assumed I am from outside of north America. We reviewed the terms and conditions together and one of them confirm that there was no information regarding having to be a European driver. They apologized and told me I should fill a form for (Web help page) customer service for refund. The guy even tried to reach the car provider company (Thrifty) to extend my car rental but no body answered his phone call.

I wrote a request for a refund and explanation to Rentalcar’s customer service and returned the car the same day since I couldn’t afford the new rate. The original price was 387.75 CAD for a week after tax and the new price was over 1000 CAD after tax.

Today is Friday 26 July 2013. I have not received any response from Rentalcars customer service. So I called the North American line again. I talked to a sales representative and his managers. They showed me the terms and conditions which clearly states the voucher is not meant to be for North American driver. Their language and tone was very different. They were not sorry for the mistake and they offered me to cancel my booking and fine me for 4 days due to not showing up.  I refused to accept what they have offered and I am here to follow this case. It is clear they changed the terms and conditions recently but they couldn’t change it on my voucher. The manager  (Jack) denied it. But my conversation with two associates on July 20th is the proof.

I Find this is unbelievable and unlawful. I have the voucher which clearly says I need to have an International driver license. I talked to an insurance broker from Rentalcars who tried to sell me insurance and all conversation was in English in early July. The booking language was english. There was nothing in my terms and condition about North American Driving Licenses.

I paid twice for the same car with same visa and now they offering me cancelation penalty. What is this?

What can I do?