View Full Version : Keep Your Proof Of Payment - Is it a Scam?
I just had an email allegedly from a Ms Loizou of a car hire company called Worldwide Cars of Broxbourne asking me for payment of unpaid car rental charges - from last September.
Apparently they forgot to collect payment.
Now I can hardly remember yesterday let alone nearly a year ago but I was able to find a debit card statement for it.
Although I have emailed the brief details Ms Loizou wants me to fax my bank statement to her - which will tell her nothing more about the car hire payment than I have already told her - on an expensive 0870 number.
Of course she will also see all my other details on my bank statement which I am reluctant to part with.
Is this a scam? I don't know.
Has anyone heard of Worldwide Cars?
steph_goodrum
21-07-2007, 12:04
I've heard of Worldwide Cars, if we have rented cars through a travel agent in the past they use them, however Iwould question the legality of claiming the money back after nearly a year.
If you have a debit card statement from the transaction, surely that is proof the payment was made at the time? Your bank should be able to confirm the transaction from the details you give and would I imagine be able to give you proof, Under no circumstances would I fax a full statement to them, if the statement you have clearly shows the payment then take a photocopy of the statement, Tippex out all other transactions, totals, bank account details etc and then fax them that.
You can try looking up on www.sayno20870.com if they have an alternative number or send a copy by mail to the address on the letter, they've taken a year to get this far so a few days wont make much difference. I think the onus should be on them though to prove they didn't receive payment rather than you to prove you did but not sure of the law.
Worlwide Cars of Broxbourne is the company that shows on the statement when cars booked through this site
personally i would say a BIG HELL NO to a bank statement being faxed
i would ask what information they need from it? then tell them you'll will speak to your bank first for their advice and go from there
if the company are still insistent that they need the statement i would check with your bank before going ahead and do nothing without their approval (which i doubt you'll get)
if you do agree to send it then do everything you can to protect your identity, blank out EVERYTHING on the statement other than the car rental details showing date and payment, the last 4 digits of the card and your name at the top
Mizzy
floridadreamvilla.co.uk
21-07-2007, 12:51
Worldwide Cars are one of our car suppliers and Helen Loizou is one of their staff so there is nothing to worry about. If you'd rather deal with us (assuming you booked through us) then we're more than happy to try and help.
If you do fax your statement it will just be so they can see proof of payment (not sure why they cannot just see it from their system). I'd suggest taking a copy of your statement and blanking out all but the transaction concerned. That way there can be no worries about personal information.
very reassuring to know John but can you think of any reason why on earth she would need a bank statement?
Mizzy
floridadreamvilla.co.uk
21-07-2007, 12:57
See above - they would be looking for proof of payment and have no interest in any other details on the statement, which can happily be blanked out. I don't know why they cannot trace the payment with their own systems but I do know they would not ask for the statement for no reason.
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by mizzy
very reassuring to know John but can you think of any reason why on earth she would need a bank statement?
Mizzy
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<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by floridadreamvilla.co.uk
See above - <span style="color:red">they would be looking for proof of payment </span id="red"> and have no interest in any other details on the statement, which can happily be blanked out. I don't know why they cannot trace the payment with their own systems but I do know they would not ask for the statement for no reason.
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by mizzy
very reassuring to know John but can you think of any reason why on earth she would need a bank statement?
Mizzy
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missed that bit sorry John[msnembarrased]
As John says this is our supplier, and a legitimate company. I can only see 1 booking you have made with us and that was this year, and there was no problem with payment. Did you book your September one through us or via another agent? If through us then I can find out more for you if you email me your order details to info@uscarhire.co.uk (date of travel and name booked under).
What I suspect has happened here, as it sometimes does, is that you palced an order fairly last minute and then your payment declined. Often a voucher is still released so you are not stuck without a car, then the supplier will still require payment even after you travel. Usually an email is sent on a regular basis until payment has cleared. So in this case either the emails have been going astray, or no-one had followed it up, then it has come to light during some sort of audit.
What ever the reason I can assure you that this company are 100% legitimate. They will only want to see your statement if you are sure the payment did go through, and they have no record of the payment, as this means they will not keep asking you to pay.
Even if you booked via another agent I may be able to help you on this if you email the details to me.
I was under the impression that credit/debit payments are only valid for a certain time (1 year) as i'm sure personal checks are.
Maybe i'm wrong and someone can correct me, but if the time has expired they have no claim over your money.
If its a mistake, then its a costly one for the company and i would tell them so.
Its only £23 and it was Sep 16th that the payment was deducted from my account. So its not much really and its not quite a year ago.
I think debts are valid for 6 years and although cheques are normally processed without query for only 6 months after the date on them they are valid for 6 years as long as you can persuade the bank to handle it for you.
I don't mind paying anything if I know owe it but I have told them the date I made the payment, they obviously just don't believe me, or maybe of course its for another car hire altogether and not the £23 one. As I have all the memory retention abilities of a hamster with alzheimers I am not the person to ask things like this if you want an answer that makes any sense.
steph_goodrum
21-07-2007, 18:55
If it's only £23 it must have been some sort of excess charge (maybe fuel) or some insurance which they must be able to tell you what it is for, if they say it's due they have to prove it but as you say if it is on your debit card statement then there is no problem you have obviously paid it.
It was just a one day hire with fuel prepaid. Its how we get from the airport to home.
I cant find your order anywhere (just a more recent one). If you didn't book it through us have you tried contacting your agent? If you booked it through us, let me know the dates and under what name then I can check this out for you.
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by anorak
It was just a one day hire with fuel prepaid. Its how we get from the airport to home.
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The only record I have is that on my bank statement,everything else has been deleted. Worldwide Cars haven't given me any more details except to say it was a one day in Sep 2006 in Fl. I delete all my old emails after a few months otherwise my basket gets too full. I also throw away the paperwork associated with the car hire after a month or so if I haven't heard anything about it. I have just too mnay useless pieces of paper hanging around to keep them all if it doesn't seem important. Obviously a month is not long enough I now realize.
As I pay for fuel up front and all the insurances the only thing they could come back to on me for is if I was late bringing the car back which has never happened yet.
Or of course if they think I haven't paid, as in this case.
I suppose I will have to start a file for all the old car hire paperwork now. Just what I need, bad enough keeping a lot of stuff for 6 years for tax purposes without keeping it for personal spending.
If you know your name (or the name the car was booked under) and the date you collected the car then I will be able to find your order and help you on this (assuming you booked through us). We dont need any of your paperwork.
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by anorak
The only record I have is that on my bank statement,everything else has been deleted. Worldwide Cars haven't given me any more details except to say it was a one day in Sep 2006 in Fl. I delete all my old emails after a few months otherwise my basket gets too full. I also throw away the paperwork associated with the car hire after a month or so if I haven't heard anything about it. I have just too mnay useless pieces of paper hanging around to keep them all if it doesn't seem important. Obviously a month is not long enough I now realize.
As I pay for fuel up front and all the insurances the only thing they could come back to on me for is if I was late bringing the car back which has never happened yet.
Or of course if they think I haven't paid, as in this case.
I suppose I will have to start a file for all the old car hire paperwork now. Just what I need, bad enough keeping a lot of stuff for 6 years for tax purposes without keeping it for personal spending.
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I've finally got to the bottom of this for you.
I have found your order from September, which you placed 2 days before you needed the car. Our suppliers tried to take payment so they could process your order, but the card declined (may have been an incorrect digit in the details provided). As you are a regular customer and we know are not the type to avoid payment, I asked them to release your voucher anyhow so you could collect the car, then sort the payment after the event.
Looking at the notes, we send several emails asking you to update your card details on our site so payment could be taken. I'm not sure if they were dropped in to your spam folder, but evidently you didn't receive these emails.
This is why Helen Loizou eventually contacted you. When you said this was definately taken from your account at the time, she needs to see evidence of this in case there was an error and payment did go through. She gave you a non 0870 number to use when you said your phone is blocked from calling the 0870 number (0870 is a lo-call rate number not a premium number).
Had you not been a known customer, we would not have agreed at the time to release your voucher without payment clearing, so you would have ended up paying Dollar at a much higher local rate for the 1 day rental.
I hope that puts your mind at rest, and confirms this is definately not any sort of scam!
Hi thanks for the reply, the non 0870 number provided was never answered so I couldn't use it to send the fax. I didn't get any emails about it, maybe they did go to the junk folder it does happen. I will go next door and use their fax to send the copy of my bank statement on their 0870 number.
Excellent - let me know once you have sent it and I'll make sure it is processed immediately.
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by anorak
Hi thanks for the reply, the non 0870 number provided was never answered so I couldn't use it to send the fax. I didn't get any emails about it, maybe they did go to the junk folder it does happen. I will go next door and use their fax to send the copy of my bank statement on their 0870 number.
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