Consumer NZ has issued a warning about the rental company’s practices, and is advising those looking for an affordable car hire option in Auckland or Christchurch to avoid it.
A company spokesperson, however, disputed the allegations and said the company believed the customer concerned acted unreasonably.
Sarah Cairns said when she picked up her parents at the airport last month to take them to the company’s Glenda Dr premises, she had already paid, through booking.com, $1160.30, plus full insurance, for five days’ hire.
"They made my mother [Philippa Cairns] try and scan a QR code — she didn’t know how to do that and they were just, ‘You have to.’
"Then she had to fill out probably five pages of all her personal information and sign a waiver she couldn’t see: it was a very stressful experience.
"I was like, ‘Why are we doing all this, we’ve already paid for it all.’
"Then they said, ‘You need a credit card to pay a bond and we take $1000, and we’re taking $6000 if you do anything to this car’."
Ms Cairns said when she gave over her credit card, ANZ Bank blocked it, and her mother’s card, on the grounds the company was on a "watch list".
Meanwhile, as they were unhappy with their experience, a friend accompanying them rang booking.com to query the situation.
"They said, ‘There’s no cancellation policy but for this situation we can cancel it but take 25% [$408] of the fee.’
"We were like, that sucks because then we haven’t got a car and we’ve just spent $400 and two hours of our time.
"So we took the car reluctantly by lifting [my mum’s] lock on the bank card.
"And then, weirdly, booking.com cancelled it and these people then charged us another $1454."
Ms Cairns says while in autoUnion’s office "I saw a room full of distressed, tired tourists who had been taken from the airport and put in a somewhat remote location with no options, and quite an aggressive kind of coercive environment".
She confirmed her $1000 deposit was returned in about three days, but said she was concerned other tourists would turn up and "essentially have a really bad, negative experience".
However, an autoUnion spokesperson was adamant the company did nothing wrong in renting out a car to Philippa Cairns, and also disputed a claim it had other unhappy customers.
The spokesperson said during its five months in Queenstown, Ms Cairns was the only instance of a customer cancelling an active, pre-paid booking, made via a third-party agency, six hours after already picking up a vehicle.
"We had to charge her rental fee as [her] booking agency told us they won’t be paying us for rental.
"The customer arrived the next day and demanded a refund but refused to return the vehicle.
"We informed her withholding the vehicle under these circumstances constituted theft, requested she return the car and stated we are happy to refund the full rental.
"She refused and walked away, only returning the vehicle seven days later."
The spokesperson added Ms Cairns received a refund from her booking agency for the pre-paid amount.
As for claims about other unhappy customers, "they are in and out in 10 minutes with no disputes, as we get around 30 customers a day".
The spokesperson was unfazed about ANZ blocking transactions involving the company.
"Some banks, such as ANZ, on rare occasions flag transactions of $1000 or more for security or any transactions not norm with that particular user."
Regarding the Consumer NZ article, "it was based on an isolated incident involving a single customer; [it] incorrectly framed the situation as a widespread issue".
