How To Report Fraud at Bustathief.com

Given the bad economy and trying to save some money on car rental for our three day trip to LA, I decided to look for a cheap Car Rental company on the web. I found Deluxe Rent A Car which did not need a credit card to make a reservation plus they said they will pick us at the airport. This sounded good so I made the big mistake of reserving a car with them (Deluxe Rent A Car) (BIG MISTAKE!!!). Once I got to LAX, we were picked up as promised and then the ride took about 15 mins. Not only is the rental place not that close to the airport but traffic makes this trip longer than desirable. After waiting for about 20 mins in line with my two small children and my niece in this dirty office, we ended up having to request a bigger car as the original one did not fit our double stroller.

This car exchange took about 30 more minutes so we got to our hotel about 3:00 PM after having landed at noon. People in Deluxe were friendly and said they would not charge my credit card until we closed the contract. Given the new size of the car I got, they added a 3 day extra charge for the larger car (minivan) which did not sound bad (ADDITIONAL $21 per day). So far, things were not too bad, even though the rental place and car were dirty and the pick up was slow. I figured this is the price of “saving”. After two (2) days using the car, I decided to move hotels to a more convenient location. I drove the rented minivan to the new hotel and park it at the dooor where their valet was supposed to take and park. Right after I have done the check-in they called me from the door to tell me the car would not start.

Several people tried to start it but the car would not start. The hotel staff had me contact the RENTAL Car Deluxe office and they said they will come to pick it up. I told them I did not want a replacement car. We were now close to the area we needed to be and I thought we could take a taxi to the airport instead of risking with another car from them. After about three (3) hours the Deluxe people came to the hotel asking for the car. Of course, I needed to leave my children and come downstairs to handle this. So more vacation time wasted on this. The hotel staff told them they had jump started it and it was parked close by. When they tried to drive it, again, it would not start.

The Deluxe people said they had cables and they would jump start it. I asked them about the contract and about the fact that it was one day early and they said they will give me a refund for the day less and a discount for the incovenience. After our return I checked my credit card and saw that not only they have not given me any discounts or refund but they actually swiped the credit card for the full three (3) days rental on the day we took the car. I called them and explained them what happened and talked to Brenda who said I had a refund of 90 dollars. I told them I couldn’t see that on my credit card account plus the actual refund needed to be 102 plus taxes (Daily charge of $39.12+$21= 60.12 + 2 Children seats at $14 dollars per day, Collision Damage Waiver at 13.99 per day and MLP at 14.95 per day).

Brenda said she will verify and call me later. Given that she never called me back I called back today and she said she was not in today. After having to repeat the whole story again, I got a the very rude manager who said that the car was working perfectly after initially telling me that I had probably left the lights on (when I said the battery was dead)… I explained to him not only it was day time but I was driving the car so his theory was just not possible. Then he proceeded to tell me that when his people checked the car they found nothing wrong with it so that I had to pay for the full three (3) days. I have taken the time to write this letter to warn people to NEVER rent from this place as they are a BIG scam. The estimated charges for the three (3) days were $131.15 and they have charged me $337.43 for two (2) days ONLY after having to deal with a non-starting car. Lesson learned NEVER RENT A CAR FROM a unknown and “iffy” company such as DeLUXE Rent a CAR !!!!!!!!!!!

This post was submitted by Stranded in LA.