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A group of plaintiffs claim that Payless Car Rental Inc. unlawfully charges renters for fuel, insurance, and other add-ons that they had expressly declined.
The class action lawsuit filed in New Jersey alleges that Payless and its parent company Avis Budget Group Inc. unlawfully upcharge customers for their car rentals by tacking on charges for add-ons like insurance, roadside assistance, and fuel options – even after the customers specifically declined those add-ons.
All the named plaintiffs in this Payless class action lawsuit allege they were hit with extra charges for gas service plans, roadside assistance plans, or loss damage waivers, all of which they say they expressly declined.
The plaintiffs say these charges were assessed at Payless locations across the country and overseas.
Plaintiff Arcadia Lee says a Payless representative in Costa Rica told her the extra charges were only “deposits” that would be returned – a statement she says turned out to be deceptive.
The plaintiffs also take issue with what they say are fraudulent fuel charges, assessed when customers return the vehicles to Payless.
Some customers complain they were charged a “fuel surcharge” as high as $185, even after returning their car with a full tank of gas.
Complaints made directly to Payless got no results, the plaintiffs allege. They say Payless directs complaining customers to open a ticket with its help desk.
The plaintiffs allege that once they open this ticket, Payless responds with a form message essentially telling the customer that they did indeed authorize the charges and that Payless refuses to give them back their money.
In addition to the allegedly unauthorized add-on and fuel charges, plaintiffs quote online customer complaints alleging other underhanded dealings by Payless.
Customers report Payless charged their credit cards as much as three or four times for the same transactions or failed to return hundreds of dollars’ worth of security deposits.
One complainant alleges she lost a $175 rental fee she had already paid when Payless cancelled her rental supposedly because she failed a credit check.
Still others complain that when the specific car they had a prepaid reservation for was not available, Payless refused to refund their money and instead proposed to charge them for an upgrade to a more expensive vehicle.
The plaintiffs propose to represent a few specific plaintiff Classes. The Nationwide Unauthorized Add-Ons Class would encompass all persons who rented a vehicle from Payless and were charged for add-ons they specifically declined or that were otherwise unauthorized.
They also propose three unauthorized add-on subclasses consisting of Class Members from the states of New Jersey, Nevada and Florida, respectively.
Their proposed Nationwide Fraudulent Fuel Charges Class would represent all Payless renters who declined to have Payless refuel the vehicle, returned the vehicle with a full tank, and were charged by Payless for refueling.
They seek an injunction barring Payless from misinforming renters about the nature of their add-on fees and from charging credit and debit cards without notice and specific authorizations for the charges to be imposed.
They also seek awards of damages, restitution, court costs, attorneys’ fees, and applicable pre- and post-judgment interest.
The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys Bruce H. Nagel and Greg M. Kohn of Nagel Rice LLP and David J. DiSabato and Lisa R. Bouckenooghe of DiSabato & Bouckenooghe LLC.
The Payless Unauthorized Charges Class Action Lawsuit is Bacon, et al. v. Avis Budget Group Inc., et al., Case No. 2:16-cv-05939, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.
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61 thoughts onPayless Car Rental Class Action Says Customers Charged for Add-Ons
Executives for Payless and Avis should be thrown in jail!! Bunch of cowards and crooks. Larry DeShon – wow Larry….real stand up guy. Ought to be ashamed of yourself but I’m sure you’re not. Keep collecting your bug bonuses you over paid, highly over valued CROOK!!
I rented from Payless in Franklin Park Illinois and was charged for Fuel even though i refused that service and returned the car full. Even though i called to complain no one called me back. when i called to inquire about it they told me that i have to contact customer service on line and show my receipt for filling my tank. I have the receipt and i know that they tried to rip me off because they know that we are all in a rush to get to our flights. I am going to join the class action. this is a slimy way of doing business.
Legit Thieves! I ad the worse experience ever to the point that they even charge me for extra days! that i didn’t have the car. SMH can’t believe they are still in business!
The same exact scenario happened to me. I declined all the extra insurance and the payless agent at the counter had me initialed and signed the contract stating i declined all the extra. I got charged extra $140 for services that I declined. How do i get on to this lawsuit. They probably verbally asked customer if they want or decline the extra service then if customers declined they would add the service on the contract anyway and trick customers into sign the contract thinking that they dis decline the extra addons. This is the first time I got ripped off by a car rental company. I usually go with Avis, enterprise, hertz and never had a problem. They provided you w a receipt when u return the car. I guess these people are trained to decept customers.
Just fyi, Payless is owned by Avis. So just be aware if you cont. to rent from Avis. They are one in the same. …They did this to me too! Aholes
I made a reservation through AARP for a rental. I had my confirmation for reservation with charges of 68.78. I got a Hyundai Sonata. When I returned to car. The two employees didn’t check me in. They were looking at television. They just took the key. I never received a receipt. I never receipt even an email bill. I call when I seen that my credit card was charged 207.43. Rep. Mandy stated that I got an upate for 20.00 a day. I got road assistance for 5.99 a day. I inform her that I didn’t authorized any upgrade or road side assistance. she told that the Manager David would have to call after 4pm. I waited for a phone call. I call in and no Manager. I call the 1-800-Payless and spoke to Vincent about issue with the billing. He redirect me back to the location. I call again the and spoke to Derek. This was the representative who rented the vehicle. He stated that I got an upgrade within the class of the Sonata. I told him at no time he spoke about an upgrade. I reminded him about the conversation about the roadside assistance. I told him I didn’t want that option due to having this on my insurance and that it covers me in any call. He then told to come to the location to resolve the billing issue. I went to location on 1/12/17. I had my original email and the paperwork he gave me. He made copies and told he would speak to his Manager and explain to him what happened. He stated he would call me. He never call but I kept calling the next day. They wouldn’t answer the phone. I even left a message on Manager’s line. I am going to dispute this was my credit card. I am going to complaint so they know how they are slamming customers with hidden fees.
Crooks, Scammers and DO NOT ever use them, EVER!!! I got a coupon on Orbitz for $233.31 for 6-days in Phoenix. We go to the counter after our 4-hour flight. David is the CSR at the counter. He is a con artist and a crook. First off, he tells us Arizona’s law is that we must purchase “Loss of Use” insurance at $25/day. Lie. I told crooked David we are paying with our business visa card and everything regarding insurance is included. Then he tells us he cannot give us the car unless we purchase the insurance. Lie. Then he tells us Orbitz rule is that if we are 2-hours late getting the rental car we cannot get it. Lie. He then said even though we cannot get the car with our Orbitz deal, he will take care of us. He sure did. He gave us a contract that included the overpriced and unneeded insurance for $405, instead of our Orbitz deal for $233.31. I cannot stand con artist and crooks, so I cannot stand this person named David. I called Orbitz, no 2-hour rule. I called my visa card, “Loss of Use” is included if we purchase the car using our business visa. To make a long story short, we took the car back the very next day, within 24- hours. They charged us $231 for less than 24-hours. They said the deal crooked David gave us we had to have the car for 6-days, so that is why it is $231 for the one day. I left a message for the manager, Laura to let her know I will not pay the charge and have disputed the charges with my visa company. I will put a bad review on every single board I can think of. I do not want anyone else to ever use this horrible company and be taken by that crook named David that works at the front counter, that openly and boldly steals innocent people’s hard earned money. We ended up getting a Hertz rental for $169 for the remaining 5-days. They said purchasing the care insurance is not a state law. Go figure! I want to join a class action suit. I want them to go out of business ASAP.
How can I be added to the lawsuit. I was double charged for insurance by Payless, who refused to refund me regardless of the fact I had already paid for the insurance when I originally booked through kayak. They added all sorts of extras on and when I got my credit card bill it was $659 more than it should have been. They refuse to refund any money.
I was an employee this year and quit working for Avis/Budget’s Payless Rental Cars. They corporation is unethical as well as poorly managed. They train you to rip off customers for your commission benefit. I found this against my ethics as well as morals of which I was raised. I reached out to Girrard Gibbs in SFO as well as KCRA news. With proof that even our US Militay and government officials are being over charged they continue to ignore me saying I don’t have a case due to arbitration laws. Today I googled Payless lawsuit knowing someone has to have spoken out and seing this post on google just made my day. I have proof! Contracts, information of renters, everyone was ripped off! I would love to share my proof with an attorney and sue this corporation for all they are worth!
Hi Zach – Have you contacted the Attorneys who filed the case? The lawsuit started with a group of consumers on Facebook who had been ripped off by Payless. The lawsuit alleges exactly what you are stating.
Zach. It means that u suck as an agent. Work at McDonald’s so you don’t have to offer upgrades or coverages. Do you want to supersize it is your only dialogue .loser.
This too happened to me the added on a fuel charge and they initially agreed to send me a check for the amount I was charged since I never initialed to approve the charge and I have all my documents to prove it!! My close out rental agreement even stated that a check for the amount would be issued. I called them and went back and forth over email messaging with one of their reps who said that he is absolutely not refunding the money!! After reading all the times this has happened to so many people something has to be done. They can not continue to do this and no other rental car company does this!! Please don’t allow Payless Car Rental to get away with fraud!!!
was charged $40.00 for gas when I returned the car fully refueled. Called Customer service 3 times and they “claimed” they would send me forms for refund but never did.
I booked them through Expedia and they would not help either.
I rented a car from payless car rental after returning the car my bank account was charged more money and caused me to have my checking account closed..i filed the dispute with wells Fargo regurading the charges from payless rental and well’s Fargo closed my account due to over draft fees..i felt like I was done wrong by both Wells Fargo and pay less car rental this happened in 2015..
The same exact thing happened to me with pnc bank