Customers of car hire consolidator, Atlaschoice, are facing the prospect of having to pay for their car hire a second time after being told that their original bookings are now invalid.
Atlaschoice is a consolidator for many leading car hire companies including National, Europcar, and Thrifty. Customers who turned up to collect their vehicles just before Christmas were told that their payments had not been forwarded by Atlaschoice and that if they still wanted to hire the vehicles, they would have to make a second payment to cover the cost.
People who have made reservations for car hire through Atlaschoice are facing the prospect of having to pay for the same booking again. Hirers turning up at hire firms’ stations in the days leading up to Christmas claim they were told their original bookings were invalid and they would have to pay again if they still wanted the vehicles.
Some customers did not know that they had booked vehicles through Atlaschoice. They had found their vehicles via searches through other websites such as TravelSupermarket. when Atlaschoice defaulted on their payment to TravelSupermarket in November, however, they were removed from its listings. TravelSupermarket subsequently tried to contact Atlaschoice but when they received no reply they decided to terminate the partnership.
A spokesperson from TravelSupermarket noted that prior to the missed payment for November there had not been the slightest hint that Atlaschoice was experiencing financial difficulties.
On its website, Atlaschoice has posted a notice saying that it is no longer accepting new reservations. Customers are advised that WorldPay is not dealing with any repayments and that they need to contact their credit or debit card issuer for any refunds.
