Official Complaint Regarding Unfair Insurance Charge. I am writing to lodge an official complaint regarding my recent car rental with Drivalia ( Rental Agreement No. 3382840, dated 31.08.2025, at 35 McFarlane Street, PA3 1SA Paisley ). At the time of collecting the vehicle, my credit card was refused by your staff member, initially on the grounds that the card only showed the first initial of my first name. In order to clarify this, I provided a bank statement clearly showing my full first name and surname, matching my driving licence and identification documents. Your employee then changed the reason for refusal, stating that my credit card showed the courtesy title “Miss”, while my driving licence showed “Mrs”. It must be stressed that such courtesy titles have no legal relevance whatsoever and should not be used as a justification to refuse a valid credit card. My card was valid, issued in my name, and funds were available on it. Furthermore, I was then forced to use a different card to pay a reduced deposit (since there were insufficient funds on that card, whereas sufficient funds were available on the original card that was refused). On this second card, the courtesy title “Miss” also appeared – yet this time it was suddenly accepted by your employee, provided that I paid an additional £150 for extra insurance. Despite the fact that my original card was entirely valid and met all requirements, it was wrongly refused, leading to a situation where I was effectively forced to incur additional costs. As a result, I was informed that the only way to proceed with the rental was to purchase this additional insurance for around £150. Due to my urgent need for the vehicle, the language barrier, and the fact that I was already at the rental desk, I had no real choice but to accept this unfair charge. I consider this practice to be misleading and unfair. Therefore, I request: A full explanation of why my valid credit card was refused – first under the pretext of the initial of my first name, and then due to an alleged difference in courtesy titles (“Miss” instead of “Mrs”), which has no legal basis. An explanation as to why another card bearing the same title “Miss” was accepted without issue, but only on condition that I paid an additional £155 for extra insurance. A full refund of the £155 charged for this additional insurance, which was not voluntarily chosen but imposed. Unless this matter is resolved satisfactorily, I will have no choice but to escalate it further, including raising a chargeback with my card issuer and submitting a complaint to the relevant consumer protection bodies. I kindly request your written response within 14 days.I received a very quick reply saying that I should report with my cards on the day of returning the car. The service manager checked my cards, and I explained the whole situation: why I was forced to pay for additional insurance, and why the employee rejected my valid credit card.I was very surprised because the manager(Daniel)asked me personal questions such as whether I am married, divorced, or single, since when, for how long, and so on. During the conversation, my sister mentioned that she is married, but her cards also show the status- title “Miss.” The manager then stated that he needed to speak with the employee and hear his version of the events. Of course, there are cameras everywhere, so it is easy to verify the situation. I was told that I would receive a response in a few days.After six days, I sent an email asking whether the matter had already been resolved. I thought it was a joke, because of course there was no mention of refunding the unjustly charged insurance. As justification, the manager wrote that I had not reported the issue within 24 hours (which is again completely absurd, just like rejecting a credit card under the pretext of the “Miss/Mrs.” courtesy title on the card). At the time of rental, the employee pressured me into paying additional costs, and later they swept the matter under the rug because I had not reported it within 24 hours.I absolutely do not recommend this rental company – they deceive and trick customers into paying unnecessary extra charges.When renting the car, the employee did not present any regulation or policy stating that he had the right to reject my card, and after I filed a complaint about the unjustified insurance charge, the service manager did everything possible to avoid holding the employee accountable for this obvious mistake.
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