State Wants to Stop Rental-Car Big Brother
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IN the summer of 2001, complaints began flooding in to the State Department of Consumer Protection regarding Acme Rent-A-Car in New Haven. The company was using global positioning systems installed in their rental cars to track the speeds customers were driving. If a person exceeded the speed limit for more than two minutes, their credit or debit card was billed $150 each time. One customer was charged an extra $450 in a single trip and didn’t find out until he opened his credit-card bill weeks later. Acme received about $13,000 from customers before action was taken, according to the Department of Consumer Protection. The department pursued the complaints, which numbered about 40, and issued an order in February prohibiting the company from unauthorized use of the systems. Acme, which warned customers of the fees in the rental contract, has appealed the decision. More : query.nytimes.com |