Jessica Treon, of the U.S. city of Philadelphia, and her boyfriend arranged for a week-long rental in April. They say the car never showed up at the airport. Of the total $840 they had pre-paid to Rent a 4×4, she says only $420 was refunded.
“Rent a 4×4 in Costa Rica took my money and never delivered the car,” Treon said. “He never refunded $420 of mine paid through Paypal. I tried several times by phone to contact him and e-mail. He says he refunded all of my money, but I have paper proof in black and white from my bank proving this false.”
Bruce McMaster, from East Hampton, New York, was here with his family for two months this year and contracted Rent a 4×4 for that time, prepaying a $200 deposit and $1,800 rental fee. When the rental car was delivered, McMaster declined it, saying the condition of the car gave him “the willies.” He said the agents told him it would take two to three days for a another rental, at which point McMaster canceled the rental.
“After refusing his car and (telling) him that I was doing such and for what reason, I assumed I would lose my deposit of $200 and be returned the $1,800,” McMaster said. “Mr. Krieg told me that he would not refund any of the money and that I should read the Web site.” McMaster contacted the credit card company and disputed the charge but was told these cases rarely get decided in the favor of the cardholder.
“Mr. Krieg kept charging my account with the expectation that he would either win with the credit-card dispute department or that he would wear me out,” McMaster said. “I asked my sister (to pose as a potential client) to (get Krieg) to put into writing his refund policy. This took a little time, but finally I had him in writing about his last-minute cancellation policy. The credit card company decided in my favor.”
Dean Krieg, owner of Rent a 4×4 in Costa Rica, responds: As you know, there are usually two sides to a story. Interesting that with the hundreds of satisfied customers we have, that these two would see fit to write The Tico Times to complain. I would invite you to visit the testimonial page of our Web site and contact any of the number of the sample of satisfied clients.
Bruce McMaster seems to have some kind of personal vendetta. We clearly state our refund policy on our Web site. … Bruce had a reservation after that time, and was not due a refund of his $200 deposit.
The $1,800 was refunded, not because our processor refused payments to us, but because we initiated the amount paid over his deposit amount. There is no wrongdoing, fraud or misrepresentation.
In the case of Jessica, she did not show up at the designated time and place where we were to deliver her 4×4. Our employee waited for her with her 4×4 clean, prepped, full of gas and ready to go at the San José airport for four hours. We had no communication from her by phone or e-mail saying if she missed her flight, changed her mind, or what. … We were not able to rerent her 4×4 to another client, so she forfeited her deposit per our policy. According to our records, she is not due any refund and there seems to be a discrepancy of how much money was paid.
Rest assured, we rarely have disputes with clients about refunds or charges or poor service. In spite of best efforts, some people are never happy and fail to want to abide by any policy or rules.
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