Car rental company refused my credit card because it used initials instead of full name - forced to buy expensive insurance
I recently travelled to Albania and pre-booked a hire car through Booking.com.
The Booking.com terms said a security deposit would be taken on collection, and that the credit card and driving licence needed to be in the same name. I also purchased the full insurance package through Booking.com when booking.
At the rental desk in Tirana airport, the employee refused to accept my credit card because the card shows my name as initials + surname (e.g. “J E Doe”), while my driving licence shows my full name (“John Edward Doe”).
He said they could not verify the card belonged to me because the names did not exactly match. The only alternative offered was to buy their own insurance directly from them, which cost around 5x more than the insurance I had already purchased through Booking.com.
I contacted Booking.com support while at the desk. They agreed their terms did not say initials on a card would be rejected, and they later refunded the insurance I bought through them. I also have chat transcripts confirming this.
However, I still had to buy the rental company’s insurance because cancelling and finding another car on the day would have been even more expensive.
My questions are:
Was the rental company entitled to refuse the card simply because it used initials instead of my full first name?
If not, is there any realistic point pursuing this further with Booking.com or anyone else for the additional insurance cost?
Thanks.