I have a confession to make, I rarely check my monthly credit card statement details. Instead I generally check my credit card mobile apps a few times a week to track my spending. I use credit cards in place of debit cards. This leads to a ton of smaller charges in any given month. Some are recurring charges, some are online purchases, but the majority of charges are at brick and mortar retailers. Checking the mobile apps a few times a week has been working well for me for some time. However, today reminded me how important it is to go back and review monthly statements before paying your bill.
What Happened?
Almost a month ago I was in Breckenridge for a ski weekend with friends. Due to the timing of flights I decided to rent my own rental car through Hertz. I rented the car through my employer’s travel portal to take advantage of the unbelievable discounts offered. I was able to get a rental car for the entire weekend for well under $200. There was just one issue, I have to use my corporate card to reserve the booking. Clearly was a personal charge which gave me two options. First, I could pay for the rental using my corporate card and have my employer deduct the amount owed from my pay. The second option is to switch the card on file to a personal card after the reservation is made.
As you can guess, I switched the card on file to a personal card. Mostly so I would earn the points from the booking. Switching the cards took less than 5 minutes at the Hertz counter in Denver and before I knew it I was in the mountains. At the end of the weekend I returned the car, Hertz charged my personal card, and all was well.
Not Checking Credit Card Statement Details
If you hadn’t guessed by now, I received two charges from the single rental. Hertz charged my corporate and personal cards for the exact same amount. I don’t understand how this happens in the Hertz reservation system. I don’t understand how the system charges two credit cards for the same reservation. Whether or not I understand it doesn’t matter. Hertz charged me twice for the reservation and I paid off the charges on my personal credit card.
Resolution
I got extremely lucky in this situation because the duplicate charges were on my corporate card. When the charges showed up on my card, I quickly verified that Hertz also charged my personal card, Once I verified the duplicate charges I called Hertz customer service. After a few minutes on the phone a phone representative reversed the corporate card charges. My interaction with the Hertz representative could not have been any better. I personally love Hertz and this issue by no means make me question renting from them again in the future.
Final Thoughts
I am assuming there are serval people out there who pay their credit card bills without looking line by line at their monthly statements. This could end up being a costly mistake if situations like mine happen or if any other purchases get duplicated. There have been several instances where merchants double charge me, but generally I catch them instantly. I am not so sure I’d catch duplicate charges that appear early in the month and again later. I’m also not sure I’d catch duplicate charges on two separate credit cards. I wonder what this situation would have been like if I had used two personal cards. Would I have ever found out I paid twice? For that reason, it is imperative to check your monthly credit card statement details each month before paying your balance.
