I’m 6 days into my second official trip to Italy (third trip here if you count my 5-hour layover where I managed to leave the airport to see a tiny little bit of Milan), and it’s the first time I’m managing to sit down in front of the computer to write a post. I was going through the huge amount of pictures from my first few days here, and I realized it’s too much to put in one post. And my first day was such an utter failure that I can’t possibly group it together with the rest of my trip. It was such a nightmare that it deserves its own post.
So here it is.
Just to reassure you, everything after that was beautiful and wonderful. It was just my first day that wasn’t just a bit of a disaster, but a total and complete one.
My Plans for Bergamo
My goal for this trip was to spend every day seeing somewhere else, keeping my trip very packed with sightseeing. So even though my flight only landed at 3 pm in Milan, I booked a rental car from 3:30 pm and planned on going to Bergamo, about an hour and fifteen minutes away, where I had a lot of sightseeing planned, both before and after dark, before spending the night.
None of that happened. Other than spending the night.
Sightseeing in Bergamo didn’t get to happen. All because of a disastrous car rental situation that could have entirely wrecked my trip, but instead just completely wrecked my first day and cost me an extra 400 euros.
How My Name Change Came Back to Bite Me
Remember I wrote about how changing my name was a money-saving thing because not having a credit card under the same name as my driver’s license caused me problems when traveling abroad and renting a car?
Yeah, well, that came back to bite me this time. And having gone to change my name on my passport screwed me over this time too. I should have waited until after my trip to do it, but oh well. More on that later.
Since my credit card isn’t under the same name as my driver’s license, when I booked a car through Stress Free Car Rental, I chose one that allowed me to use a debit card, because that was under the same name as my driver’s license. I paid in advance for the car using my American credit card.
The Rental Car Nightmare Begins
When I got to the airport, I used my debit card to buy something, and it worked just fine. But then, when I went to pick up the car from Locauto car rental, it got declined.
Mind you, I had already paid, and this was just a charge for 1 cent for whatever reason, but it didn’t work. Again and again and again, it was declined.
Not because it didn’t work abroad. Not because of a lack of money in the account. I didn’t know why it didn’t work.
I asked them if I could use my American credit card under a different name, and they said I couldn’t. I asked them if they’d be willing to take cash. They said no. I asked them, no, begged them to please come up with a solution for me, and they very matter-of-factly said no.
They said that if I’d had my American passport with me, I could use my American credit card, even though it didn’t match the name on my driver’s license. But my American passport was deposited at the US embassy when I went to change the name on my passport, so I didn’t have that.
Changing my name on my passport before my trip screwed me over. How was I to know?
Desperately Searching for Another Rental Car
I went to the other rental car companies in the airport and asked them, with tears in my eyes, if they could please help me out. I explained that my debit card wasn’t working, and I had a credit card, but my passport under that name wasn’t with me. Was there any way for them to accept my credit card? I could show them a picture of my passport to prove it was me. Or could they take cash?
Each one told me no and sent me to another one that they said might be able to help me out.
I basically asked everyone.
Everyone but one, that is.
One car rental company told me that every car rental company in the airport takes a credit card or debit card only, but there was a car rental company outside of the airport that took cash. He found out how much it would cost me to rent a car from Monday until Sunday.
800 euros, plus another 200 for a deposit.
Highway robbery, to put it mildly.
But what choice did I have?
If I had no car, my entire trip would be down the drain. Every night of my trip, I had an apartment booked in another place, and these places weren’t accessible by public transportation as far as I knew. But even if they were, getting there would take forever, and I wouldn’t be able to get to the trips I had planned between them.
It would mean getting taxis, which would cost an absolute fortune, or changing my itinerary entirely and just staying in Milan, throwing away the money on the different apartments I’d booked that weren’t refundable, and booking new places in Milan.
I thought long and hard, and that 800-euro car rental seemed like my only choice. That, or cancel my trip (just book a new flight home) or change my plans entirely.
One Last Attempt to Save My Trip
I then decided to do two things simultaneously. I called a dear friend on WhatsApp, who called my debit card company on another line and put us both on speaker so we could talk to each other (the wait on hold took forever). At the same time, I tried to find another car rental place outside the airport, either in Milan or Bergamo, that would take cash.
I found two other places, but they were even more expensive.
And the debit card company said that my card was working just fine. There was just a rule that debit cards didn’t work at rental car companies and hotels, and there was no way to change that.
I was this close to just saying screw it and paying the 800 euros when my friend asked me if I’d tried every last car rental place in the airport. I said there was one more that I hadn’t tried, so she encouraged me to try that one.
Help me, Obi-Wan, you’re my only hope…
This place heard my plight, and they, miracle of miracles, agreed to take my American credit card with a photograph of my American passport showing that it was me!
It was 400 euros instead of 800 euros, but that was on top of the 250 euros I’d already spent on the original rental car, which I didn’t know if I’d get back. So instead of the 250 euros I’d budgeted for my rental car, I ended up spending 650 euros. That’s an extra 400 euros, all because of this mess. More on trying to get my money back in a bit.
I ended up with an amazing car, much better than I originally would have gotten: a BYD hybrid SUV. It has served me beautifully the entire trip thus far.
Goodbye, Bergamo Sightseeing
But by the time I got my car, I had been at the car rental counters for 4 hours.
Stopping to pick up groceries took time. And by the time I got to Bergamo, it was already 11:30 pm, too late to do or see anything.
An entire day of my trip wasted.
Trying to Get My Money Back
Now I just need to try to get my money back.
I’d asked Locauto if I could have my money back, and they said they didn’t have the money and couldn’t give it back. I’d have to contact Stress Free Car Rental and ask them for my money back.
I asked them if they could write down that they wouldn’t let me pick up the car, and they said they’d submitted that information, that my card didn’t work, but that’s all they’d do.
I contacted Stress Free Car Rental, and they need more information in order to decide whether to give me a refund. But I have a feeling they won’t be so forthcoming, based on the original response I got from them.
Just my luck, I’d used my American credit card to pay for it, so I’m disputing the charge through my credit card company. We’ll see what happens there.
Not Exactly the Start I’d Planned
Fortunately, the rest of my trip has gone beautifully, and I’ve gotten to see some absolutely breathtaking places. But instead of spending my first afternoon and evening exploring Bergamo like I’d planned, I spent four hours desperately trying to find someone who would rent me a car, ended up paying 400 euros more than I’d budgeted, and arrived at my destination too late to see anything.
Not exactly the start to my Italian vacation that I’d envisioned.
