After speaking to the attorneys at my work, I find out this is a KNOWN SCAM from Budget to search pa

At 5am on 9/30/2012, I returned a Budget rental car to parking lot at the Hartford CT airport. On 1/23/2013, I received a bill for damages golf travel cover done to the car I rented. As I did not wreck or damage this car, I have not paid the $395 and now turned over to collection golf travel cover agency. Even though the papers from Budget indicate a date of loss of 10/1/2012, they are still coming after me for the damages.
After speaking to the attorneys at my work, I find out this is a KNOWN SCAM from Budget to search past rental history of a damaged car for the VIN # to find a renter who did not purchase their rental insurance. While my insurance does cover this, I do not want to place a claim and resulting in rate increase. I have contacted the Florida State Attorney office (where I live), the Connecticut State Attorney office, and the Better Business Bureau. I am now added to the on-going claim with Budget brought by the state of Florida. As the attorneys where I work are unable golf travel cover to represent me (only provide advice) and I do not wish to pay for an attorney when the claim amount is only $395
My only recourse is to pay the extortion money with my Discover card and then dispute the charge and have Discover fight the claim. Did I mention the harassing phone calls from Budget over this matter? I now take photos of the car when picking up and returning.
Wow, that sucks. Might want to contact Budget's president and complain. I found when I have an issue with a company and get no satisfaction, I bug the highest company official I can, and they often times don't want the aggravation, and get it resolved. Although they may be self insured, you may also want to get the Department of Insurance/Consumer Services involved. 1-877 693-5236. www.myfloridacfo.com/Division/Consumers
One thing you should ALWAYS do with rental cars is thoroughly check them before you even turn the key. If it's too dark in the parking area where you pick it up, take it to the front gate when exiting, get out of the car and look when you have better lighting.
But NEVER exit without inspecting and marking the blemishes on your rental agreement and having an employee initial it. If the blemish is severe enough, they may even take the car and give you a new one.
The first thing to do (this requires no attorneys), is to call first (to make the action immediate) the collection golf travel cover agency and let them know that you do not consider golf travel cover the charges to be legitimate and that you are willing to consider their cost justification that leads them to believe that you owe them money (who says they are the arbiter golf travel cover of the debt claim? Why don't you assume this role for yourself and let them make their case to you?). They can tell you the proper wording (if any does exist), but the idea is that they can't ruin your credit upon you letting them know that you are formally disputing the charge. I think you have 30-45 days to do this. Make sure you follow-up the phone call with a letter and send it so you have reasonable proof of what you are sending (tell them you'll be sending the letter and tell them to make a note of it on your file).
Find out from the collection company what they believe your options are if this is an unjustified charge. If they have any level of decency, they will tell you how to properly dispute golf travel cover the charge (if they don't, make note of that and send them a letter expressing this...keep evidence of it). None of this should require any lawyer. At some point, golf travel cover you will either be able to point out that the evidence is sufficient (or that there is no sufficient evidence to charge you) or you will come to realize that there will be no agreement on what is owed. At that point you may need to contact a lawyer.
If they get mad at you, it's because they know they don't have the power over you that they would like to have. You should take this as a sign of doing well in the dispute if they get mad at you. It means you are on the right track.
If you want to have fun with them, make up your own rules and show them how it feels. Add in your letter something like "you have 10 calendar days to respond to this request or all parties agree to consider the matter resolved with no justification to the alleged golf travel cover debt claim" (or something like that).
fubar1 , read the OP again. Return at 5am = key drop. She did not damage it. She knows it was not damaged. Of course she checked it out when picking it up, as well as return. Everyone knows that, and rental agents always initial paperwork when picking up, damage or not. She travels and rents cars at least once a month. golf travel cover Thread is not about picking up the car, its about Budget golf travel cover charging $395 for it 6 months later.
fubar1 , read the OP again. Return at 5am = key drop. She did not damage it. She knows it was not damaged. Of course she checked it out when picking it up, as well as return. Everyone knows that, and rental agents always initial paperwork when picking golf travel cover up, damage or not. She travels and rents cars at least once a month. Thread is not about picking up the car, its about Budget charging $395 for it 6 months later.
Also, not everybody golf travel cover knows to check the car believe it or not. And Rental agents do always initial when leaving, but they don't initial the form that has a picture of the car with marks you've placed on it to indicate damage. That is critical if you ID the damage before you've left the lot.
My credit score is over 800 and I've been incorrectly pursued twice for debts and threatened to be pursued for a 3rd debt. I didn't pay any of them, and I was real clear about why, and I offered a chance to receive their side of the story. In every instance, they came up short on their side. One of the pursuits was for $400 (one was for a bit more, one was for much less). If you know you did nothing wrong, and they don't have any falsified information against you, it's really a pretty simple endeavor (just don't miss any steps along the way).
some reading for you and some advice from expereince. when you do a key drop, you can take pictures of the car all the way around and it can get damaged after you drop it off but before they inspect it and still bill you as you are responsible for it until it is checked in. I would never rent from a place that was not going to be open when I return the car. for early am flights out I always golf travel cover try and get a hotel close by that has airport shuttle service and drop the car off the night before when they are open.
some reading for you and some advice from expereince. when you do a key drop, you can take pictures of the car all the way around and it can get damaged after you drop it off but before they inspect it and still bill you as you are responsible for it until it is checked in. I would never rent from a place that was not going to be open when I return the car. for early am flights out I always try and get a hotel close by that has airport shuttle service and drop the car off the night before when they are open.
I question whether or not that would hold up in court if it came to that. They provide a drop-off service, and the reasonable expectation is that it is their responsibility once you return it to their property. It can't be considered reasonable for a person to be responsible for the vehicle once it is returned to the owner's property. I would imagine they have insurance that covers this (which would imply acknowledgment of the risk). But this is just speculation on my part.
Also, if you see stuff like that in their policy that they want you to sign, just draw a line through it and initial it. Most of the sales people won't know what to do, and you've effectively expressed your disagreement with one of the items in the contract agreement.
A. You agree to return the car to us in the same condition you received it, ordinary wear and tear excepted, on the due date and at the time and to the location specified by you at the time of reservation. golf travel cover You must return it sooner on our demand . If you return it earlier or later, a different or higher golf travel cover rate may apply and, if returned later, you may be charged a late return fee. You may not return the car at a time when we are closed. If you do, your responsibility for damage golf travel cover to or loss of the car will continue and all charges stated on the rental golf travel cover document as a periodic rate will continue to accrue until the return location reopens and we retake actual possession of the car . If we do not find the car when that location reopens, your responsibility for all charges and for damage to or loss of the car will continue until the car is actually returned or recovered and possession is returned to us.
B. If you represent in your reservation that you will return the car to a location golf travel cover other than the location where your rental golf travel cover commences, you may have to pay a one way service fee . If you return the car to a different location from the agreed return location without our written permission, you agree to pay the unauthorized return location fee specified by us, which is a minimum golf travel cover of $45. If this fee is higher by multiplying normal mileage golf travel cover rate by the distance between the renting location, and the actual return location as specified on the return document/return record, you ll pay a higher fee. You also understand that a different or higher rate may apply.
C. If you wish to extend any rental you must contact us at 800-527-7000 to request it before your return date. We may or may not grant an extension or decline to grant it for the entire period you request in our sole discretion. If we do grant an extension a different or higher rate may be applied to the extension period and a service fee may also apply.
golf travel cover I haven't rented from budget with an after-hours drop off in a while, but I would cross out that part as well as the part about being required to turn it in early on their demand. That's good comedy and, to me, isn't meant to be taken literally...so I would just cross that out.
But when they say "you may not return the car at a time we are closed" then they are contradicting themselves if they pro