<p>I rented a vacation flat in Europe through an agency (for a July stay)…I thought I read the fine print and knew all the charges but found out that the agency added a *20% commission * on top of what they said was the bottom line. I have emailed them twice asking them to reverse 100% of the charges and cancel my booking but of course, no response.</p>
<p>I want to tell the credit card company not to pay…but I have this fear that since my dispute will be with someone in a forgeign country, they’ll have my name at passport control and pick me up when I try to enter the country. Is that silly? Should I just suck it up and pay $500 for a lesson learned? Would you contact the credit card company?</p>
<p>Missypie- Call the credit card company and see what they suggest. To not mention 20% commission anywhere is a big “oversight”. I would also google reviews of the rental company, complaints , etc. and see what comes up. It may help to know if others have had this problem. Good luck.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure I can get the credit card company to reverse the charge. What I don’t know is what the agency will do. Will they sue me and have the judgement domesticated to my state? Will they put me on some international apartment rental blacklist?</p>
<p>This is agency´s commission charge, not the credit card´s international fee charge. You need to make sure your contract doesn´t have anything fine print about 20% commission. I just rented 2 places in Italy for June (one in Rome and one in Tuscany), I am not paying commission for one and another is really a nominal fee (I don´t even remember). I have rented many villas in Europe, never 20% commission.</p>
<p>The only “contract” was the website’s “terms and conditions.” Buried on about page 4 it mentions that a “variable” commission would be charged. That’s fine. I should have confirmed the percentage. However, when there are multiple messages and an online “checkout” that list the “total” costs, which list a security deposit, taxes, cleaning fee and service charge that do not mention the additional commission, I think that is deceptive. The total cost should be the total cost.</p>
<p>BTW, I did research the company. I found only one complaint, that being the renter thought they were getting an entire house when they only had part of it. Certainly no finanicial issues. My guess is that folks just don’t do the math - when they agree to a charge in Euros, they don’t calcuate what it should be in dollars.</p>
<p>I would ask for a refund. Send the agency an email with return-receipt to ask them for the full refund or just the commission. You will need to provide that email to your credit card company to prove you have done everything possible to try to resolve it on your own. I know with AmEx you could get the money back in your acct while the charge is in dispute.</p>