citi-bank

[joyjoe]

Hello everybody I am new on here, so may not be posting were I should do!
I was looking for some assistance regarding an account I had with Citi-Bank. In August of 2009 I became aware that my card details had been stored by Hertz Rental from a previous rental. My card details were then used later to set up another lease by my son.

When I became aware of this I contacted Citi Bank and told them I had not authorised three transactions to Hertz rental. I closed my account and paid all outstanding monies (even got a small refund the next month) Only to find the next month I was charged £771 by Hertz which was paid even though I had closed the account.

I informed Citi-Bank who said they would investigate. However there so called investigation resulted in them telling me I would have to pay as I had entered into a contract with Hertz and had to adhere to the terms and conditions. Which I most certainly didn't, I phoned them countless times, e-mailed them sent letters registered post and they completely ignored my communications. Apart from telling me my account had now been passed to Cabot Financial.

Cabot to be fair have been supportive and have given me advice about contacting Hertz as they have not been able to get information off Citi- Bank. I wrote to Hertz in June and as of yet heard nothing back from them apart from requesting proof of payment.

Is there anything I can do? the £771 has now risen to £1060.37, which was fees added by Citi-Bank not Cabot.

I would be greatful if anyone could offer any advice as I seem to be getting nowhere!
thanks Joy

[leclerc]

Re: citi-bank

I would chase up Hertz pretty sharpish to be honest.
I would email the CEO of the whole group and if you have a copy of the original letter to hand, it would be good to make him aware as to when the letter was sent.

MFrissora@hertz.com

The above is the CEO worldwide of the company but they will filter it down to UK operations for them to chase up. Please provide as much info as possible with regards to this.

Did you son actually use Hertz around the time the payment was made and did he give his own card details?

[Gorang]

Re: citi-bank

Did you son actually use Hertz around the time the payment was made and did he give his own card details?

In addition to this question

In August of 2009 I became aware that my card details had been stored by Hertz Rental from a previous rental.

How did you become aware of this ?

Others please correct me if I am wrong with this but I allways thought that NO company are allowed to store your card details for the protection of the customer against fraud (ie. somone that works in the company using your card details)

My card details were then used later to set up another lease by my son.

Did you authorise this to happen

I contacted Citi Bank and told them I had not authorised three transactions to Hertz rental.

is this 3 transactions in addition to your son setting up another lease

Only to find the next month I was charged £771 by Hertz which was paid even though I had closed the account.

This looks like to me the transaction had been made just prior to you closing the credit card account, if this is the case then yes you would have to pay it BUT which leads on to
even if you did or didn't authorise your son to use the card, I suspect you would just pay it and give him a roasting if you didn't know about it

BUT

the 3 transactions and the final transaction, if you didn't authroise them then there is a chance that your card may have been used fraudulently and if that is the case Hertz are the only ones that are going to be able to tell you where, when and who by the transactions were made. As at this stage, all that Citi will tell you is that Hertz was the company that recieved the money

Also if it turns out that, (for eg. an employee) has fraudulently kept and used your card details then I think (and again others please correct me if this is wrong) Hertz will have to refund the card and take action against the person that used it

So as leclerc says contact the Hertz CEO unless you can find an address for the person at the top of the tree in the UK and ask for all details of when the card was used

I personally would NOT mention anything about fraud to Hertz at this stage but thats maybe just me being overly untrusting

And I would also suggest sending a copy to Cabot to keep them up to date with what is happening

(must admit it's the first time I have read sumit that says Cabot have been supportive , first time for everything I suppose LOL.....fair play to them hope they keep it up)

[Caspar]

Re: citi-bank

Whatever the outcome, it must surely highlight to Hertz some very serious flaws in their security procedures, unless you had voluntarily shared certain information with your son.

[joyjoe]

Re: citi-bank

I would chase up Hertz pretty sharpish to be honest.
I would email the CEO of the whole group and if you have a copy of the original letter to hand, it would be good to make him aware as to when the letter was sent.

MFrissora@hertz.com

The above is the CEO worldwide of the company but they will filter it down to UK operations for them to chase up. Please provide as much info as possible with regards to this.

Did you son actually use Hertz around the time the payment was made and did he give his own card details?

Thank you for responding. I have sent an e-mail to the link today with a copy of the dispute letter sent in June 2011.

[joyjoe]

Re: citi-bank

In addition to this question
How did you become aware of this ?

Others please correct me if I am wrong with this but I allways thought that NO company are allowed to store your card details for the protection of the customer against fraud (ie. somone that works in the company using your card details)

Did you authorise this to happen


is this 3 transactions in addition to your son setting up another lease


This looks like to me the transaction had been made just prior to you closing the credit card account, if this is the case then yes you would have to pay it BUT which leads on to
even if you did or didn't authorise your son to use the card, I suspect you would just pay it and give him a roasting if you didn't know about it

BUT

the 3 transactions and the final transaction, if you didn't authroise them then there is a chance that your card may have been used fraudulently and if that is the case Hertz are the only ones that are going to be able to tell you where, when and who by the transactions were made. As at this stage, all that Citi will tell you is that Hertz was the company that recieved the money

Also if it turns out that, (for eg. an employee) has fraudulently kept and used your card details then I think (and again others please correct me if this is wrong) Hertz will have to refund the card and take action against the person that used it

So as leclerc says contact the Hertz CEO unless you can find an address for the person at the top of the tree in the UK and ask for all details of when the card was used

I personally would NOT mention anything about fraud to Hertz at this stage but thats maybe just me being overly untrusting

And I would also suggest sending a copy to Cabot to keep them up to date with what is happening

(must admit it's the first time I have read sumit that says Cabot have been supportive , first time for everything I suppose LOL.....fair play to them hope they keep it up)

I have now sent a letter to the link above.

I used my card details to lease a van for my son from november 2008 through to april 2009. I paid everything owed and asked that my details be removed from the Hertz system. I was assured this would happen as it was not company policy to hold third party details.

Unbeknown to me in June 2009 my son started work again for another company which required him leasing a van. I had already told him I would not help this time as he'd failed to pay me back money he had acrued through the previous lease.

I received my statement in July 2009 showing a payment to Hertz which I of course quieried. My son was by now into the second month of the lease. I told Hertz that they had held my details on their system which they had assured me they wouldn't and re-used them without my knowledge or approval. I informed them they were to take no further monies and that would be an end to it.

I then closed my account with Citi-Bank and informed them why. They have been worse then useless. I have been trying to sort this mess out since August 2009 but nothing seems to be resolved.

I received communication from Cabot a couple of months ago and I must admit they have been very helpful. They are trying to retrieve information from Citi- Bank and tell me they are having problems getting the information regarding this problem.

So to recap there have been three payments taken from my Citi-Card two for £545. 55 and one for £771. 16. The first two have been paid by myself and the final one which I have no intention of paying has now grown to £1,060.14.
Joy

[joyjoe]

Re: citi-bank

Whatever the outcome, it must surely highlight to Hertz some very serious flaws in their security procedures, unless you had voluntarily shared certain information with your son.

No I did not give any information to my son. I gave my card details over the phone for the first lease Nov 08-April 09. Hertz kept my card details on file. When my son went to lease another van in June 09 these details were used without my permission or my knowledge.

Thank you guys for taking the time to give advice I do appreciate it.
Joy

[Gorang]

Re: citi-bank

When you sent the email did you request copies of the lease agreements to see what names are on them as I think this is going to be the only way you are going to find out what has happened

I received my statement in July 2009 showing a payment to Hertz which I of course quieried. My son was by now into the second month of the lease. I told Hertz that they had held my details on their system which they had assured me they wouldn't and re-used them without my knowledge or approval.

IMHO By the fact that your son managed to do this then the frist time without your knowlege I suspect that Hertz will come back and say the same thing has happened again which is why it would be important for you to obtain the copies of the lease's

Please don't be offeded by this next question
BUT
Is there anyway that your son could have obtained your card details and obtain the lease's this way for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th amounts

Do you know the months that these amounts were charged to your account

two for £545. 55 and one for £771. 16.

as I would narrow the time period down for hertz to avoid them stalling,


because until you can get a copy of the lease's so you can prove that it wasn't your son that took out more lease's on your card, then I suspect that is just Hertz will say, "your son must of taken out the lease's"

Another thing I have just clicked on with this to

There should of been fraud prevention of some kind on the card so it could be an idea to check that out to see if there is anyway you can use that now, I suspect that you won't be able to now because of the time that has now lapsed

(others will need to comment on this tho as I do not have much idea of what or how or when that can be used as this is not my field)

Regarding Citi

If you use a card today for £10
cancel the card tomorrow
then you WILL be charged for that £10
BUT
1 month after you have canceled the card NOTHING else should be charged to the account

How long after you canceled the card was the amounts added to the account?

[joyjoe]

Re: citi-bank

When you sent the email did you request copies of the lease agreements to see what names are on them as I think this is going to be the only way you are going to find out what has happened

IMHO By the fact that your son managed to do this then the frist time without your knowlege I suspect that Hertz will come back and say the same thing has happened again which is why it would be important for you to obtain the copies of the lease's

Please don't be offeded by this next question
BUT
Is there anyway that your son could have obtained your card details and obtain the lease's this way for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th amounts

Do you know the months that these amounts were charged to your account

as I would narrow the time period down for hertz to avoid them stalling,


because until you can get a copy of the lease's so you can prove that it wasn't your son that took out more lease's on your card, then I suspect that is just Hertz will say, "your son must of taken out the lease's"

Another thing I have just clicked on with this to

There should of been fraud prevention of some kind on the card so it could be an idea to check that out to see if there is anyway you can use that now, I suspect that you won't be able to now because of the time that has now lapsed

(others will need to comment on this tho as I do not have much idea of what or how or when that can be used as this is not my field)

Regarding Citi

If you use a card today for £10
cancel the card tomorrow
then you WILL be charged for that £10
BUT
1 month after you have canceled the card NOTHING else should be charged to the account

How long after you canceled the card was the amounts added to the account?

The lease agreement (for the second lease. The one I did not give permission for) was sent to me via citi-Bank.After I had informed them my card had been used without my permission. They wrote to Hertz regarding my complaint and came back telling me I had signed an agreement (which I never) and had to abide by there terms and conditions!! The agreement was in my sons name giving our address which he has never lived at, with the wrong postcode.

I have requested an SAR from Hertz in my letter of the 27th June 2011 and have had no reply.

The three disputed payments are the 3rd June 2009, 30th June 2009 , 30th October 2009

I received a statement in october 2009 telling me I had overpayed (when I had closed the account) and sent me a cheque for £15.75. In november I received a statement telling me I owe £771.16.

No offence taken!!!! My son did not have my details 100% sure. However he did know my details were being used as he did not have a bank account. So when he went back for the second lease he didn't inform them they were my details. I am annoyed with my son ( not talking to him at the moment) But I am more annoyed with Hertz because this mess would not have happened if they had removed my details.

[Gorang]

Re: citi-bank

Ok

I suspect that for the moment then we will just have to wait and see what Hertz replies back with

[joyjoe]

Re: citi-bank

Thank you Gordan, Yes I will have to wait for Hertz to reply to my letter. If Citibank had dealt with this properly at the first instance i believe it could have been resolved. Its taken two years up to now, so who knows when it will come to a conclusion.
thanks
Joy

[seduraed]

Re: citi-bank

I had a similar situation some years ago . What has happened is that hertz have used the same address for thelease n therrefore copied the CC details fron one lease to he other. As theoriginal payment form from your son failed failed they have charged the card.What hertz will maintain is that as the address is the same its a continuation of the original contract and therefore the original authority still stands.

[joyjoe]

Re: citi-bank

I had a similar situation some years ago . What has happened is that hertz have used the same address for thelease n therrefore copied the CC details fron one lease to he other. As theoriginal payment form from your son failed failed they have charged the card.What hertz will maintain is that as the address is the same its a continuation of the original contract and therefore the original authority still stands.

Firstly my son has never lived at this address, secondly I never signed a contract, and finally I never gave them permission to store or use my details for a lease not taken out by me.

If they do come back to me with that stance I will seek legal advice.

Joy

[joyjoe]

Re: citi-bank

I would chase up Hertz pretty sharpish to be honest.
I would email the CEO of the whole group and if you have a copy of the original letter to hand, it would be good to make him aware as to when the letter was sent.

Thank you Leclerc for the information above. The CEO contacted me by e-mail and had the executive customer services deal with it. I have now been contacted by phone yesterday to say they will be refunding in full. They have also assured me they have put procedures in place so this will not happen again,

Thank you to all the people who took the time to offer assistance.
Joy

[Caspar]

Re: citi-bank

Good result! I'm pleased for you.