Stephen Farr returns his rental car with a full tank of gas. Or so he thinks. Now Alamo has charged his credit card for two more gallons at its inflated rate, and it won’t tell him why. Is there any hope for a refund?
GAS
Before Steven Barlow returned his rental car at Orlando International Airport in December, he did what most rental customers do who are trying to avoid a fuel surcharge: He found a gas station and topped off his tank.
Remember last year’s soaring gas prices? Annette Lazzarotto will never forget them. She paid $1,390 for a single tank of gas on a visit to Italy. What’s worse, her bank insisted the charges were legit, and billed her for the full amount.
While the rest of the world whined about the seemingly unstoppable rise in energy costs this summer, and the greedy oil companies that were probably to blame for them, we missed the other side of the story.
Ponder these two numbers. Travel on all roads and streets fell by 3.7 percent in May, the latest month for which data is available, as compared with same month in 2007. And gas prices have declined for the 11th straight day, dipping below $4 a gallon.
Elliott is consumer advocate 
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