Firefly/Hertz in partnership with *******

why is zero stars not available?

I have just had the most horrific experience with Firefly/Hertz and their association with Rentalcar.com Late yesterday afternoon, when I went to confirm my flight on eSky.com (SAA from JHB-PE) I saw the link for Rental Car (rentalcar.com) where the lowest prices were advertised as well as FREE CANCELLATION. As much as I was only going to book a car once at the airport, I saw a very competitive deal on rentalcar.com from Firefly/Hertz for a Suzuki Swift from for R2136.00 and booked and PAID for this car. I was also advised to take out full protection for R1100.00, which upon payment I saw that it would only be “activated” when I took out insurance cover from the rental company. Upon payment of the car, I was sent the voucher to which I saw that a R14,600+ deposit would be required as well as a credit card in my name in order to get the vehicle. I felt that holding deposit was extreme, so I tried to cancel my booking (remember the FREE CANCELLATION?) to which I was informed that my FREE CANCELLATION period had ended and I would forfeit the amount I had paid. Please bear in mind; I made the booking 17.50 and tried to cancel 17.59 - that’s NINE minutes. The reason being the car was being cancelled within 48hours of collection. How ridiculous when I was booking the car to be collected within the matter of 15 hours... I didn’t want to forfeit that amount (R2100+) so I decide to keep the booking. I got to the Firefly/Hertz counter - my booking was ready and confirmed - well, of course it was, I had paid for it - but they wouldn’t give me the car because I didn’t have a credit card (card is only used in extreme emergencies, and is in my husbands name) and therefore I don’t have a credit score of minimum 600 points.So now I’m stuck in PE, R2136 out of pocket and still no car. Luckily Avis was able to assist with a vehicle of R3200 and a holding deposit of R3500 - all inclusive. The lady at hertz said it’s a pity that I didn’t book directly with them as I would have been refunded but because it was a third party payment - there is nothing they can do. She’s just following procedure. My question is: why is Firefly/Hertz in partnership with such *******. Firefly/Hertz will still get the money from a car that was never rented out. It’s absolutely atrocious. It is absolute daylight *******. I will be taking this to Hello Peter and social media. Don’t tell me that I should have read the fine print - that only came once money was siphoned out of my CHEQUE acc - amazing that a cheque acc is good enough to take money from, but a credit card is needed to take the car.

Disgusting.