Stung for £700 by car hire firm two months after trip to Italy

The DJ successfully fought the debits made by Goldcar on his credit card – but says the process was upsetting.

Problems began as soon as Matt arrived in Florence. He had booked a Ford Focus for £170 but was given a scratched and dented Vauxhall Astra instead and told he would have to pay an extra £90 for fuel.

He said: “I had insurance already, so despite their efforts to scare me into taking theirs, I agreed that they could block £1,000 on the credit card to cover any additional damage. The holiday passed without incident and we returned the car in the same state, but cleaner.

“The drop-off guy tried to claim there was new damage but we had video and photo evidence to show the damage was pre-existing.”

Eight weeks later Goldcar billed Matt, from Sheffield, for a fee of £126 – although it had agreed he would drive the car to Rome and would not bring it back – a £25 fuel handling fee and £456 for damage.

Other charges included an £18 “diesel fee” for the petrol vehicle and £78 for fuel, although it was returned with a full tank.

Matt added: “They got it wrong on every level, and as they failed to let me know in time, the insurance policy I took out in case they tried it on had expired.”

He began a social media campaign and got back £640 despite threats of legal action.