Well known car rental firm - avoid

Discussion in 'General LADS chat' started by thenewgalaxy, Apr 26, 2013.

  1. thenewgalaxy

    thenewgalaxy Member

    Also posted this on Scabbynet earlier. Am really upset with these people!

    Not sure on our naming and shaming policy on here but if it's okay I'll post it, if not I'm sure you can guess or PM me.

    Anyway. It involved a company well known for a series of annoying adverts where an American chap tries to deal with English expressions and gets the wrong end of the stick.

    Was in Birmingham with the wife when our car leaked some oil. Quite a lot of it. Under warranty so phoned the main dealer not far up the road who explained we had cover and very kindly arranged all the pickup and car hire on our behalf.

    The car was taken in and it was confirmed a dodgy oil filter was the cause and everything replaced. However because it had happened over a bank holiday we had to use the hire car provided to us via the manufacturer's breakdown cover.

    Upon getting the car back a couple of days later I arranged for the hire car to be picked up from the garage. This was done, no problems at all.

    Then a couple of days later I tried to buy a low mileage Legacy Spec B saloon as a mile muncher and tried to put a grand down on my card. It was declined. A quick call to Barclays revealed that several thousand pounds had been taken off my card by the Aldershot (?!) branch of this hire company, sending my Platinum Visa well, well over my agreed credit limit. I missed out on the Leggy and was really cheesed off for it.

    I phoned the company and they could not find any record of me hiring the car or making a transaction.

    After two days of speaking to various people and hearing different stories about what may of happened, I lost it and went mad at them. It turned out that apparently I had damaged the car but had accidentally been billed the incorrect amount.

    They sent me a damage report - hundreds of pounds for a scratch to the rear bumper apparently. I did not damage the car, neither did the garage and the car was driven up and down a motorway once. I noticed on the first journey by the way that the car was nearly 9000 miles overdue a service.

    I am not suggesting in any way that this is a company policy but it seemed to me like they are deliberately set up to claim massive amounts of money for minor damage. The car was a dog despite its young age but they try and bill me for a tiny scratch?

    Needless to say I threatened all sorts of legal action and was given a full refund, but it did involve a lot of shouting, the Barclays fraud team and the police.

    Anyways. Today I look in my account. They have refunded me again a completely different amount, over a week later. And started harassing me for the money back asking for my new card details so they can take payment back - ha that ain't happening!!! Cheque I think!

    An absolute bunch of scammers and thieves who are incompetent to boot. If you figure out who it is I strongly recommend you avoid them. You are using at your own risk.
     
  2. adamb87

    adamb87 New Member

    bloody hell mate, sounds like you have had a rough ride with them. i hate companies like this! and good news about finding the oil leak in time !!
     
  3. thenewgalaxy

    thenewgalaxy Member

    Yes, good thing about the oil leak.

    Would have been a horrendous warranty claim for the dealer probably into tens of thousands of pounds, all for the failure of a very simple and inexpensive part.

    But I would rather walk than use a hire car from those vultures again.
     
  4. klunker

    klunker New Member

    Similar happened to me.

    Got a hire care from them when one of my company cars got bashed.
    They took my card details as was the norm.

    There was a 90-day claim limit, which, if the insurance companies hadn't settled the claim by 90 days, the hire company could take the money off my card and I would need to claim it back from the insurance company.

    Well I found this out three days before the end of the 90 days when they called to say they were lifting £400 off my card.

    Ooops, my card got stolen and I had to cancel it.
    This caused the payment at Eurocar to fail, then the jumped up little shite of a manager called to get more card details and became very offensive and irrate.

    When I popped into the branch on my way home to explain in detail that I wouldn't be paying a penny, the loudmouthed manager didn't seem quite so brave, infact, he tended to run round the counter whenever I got close. :)

    Shysters.
     
  5. Graphite

    Graphite 23rd June 2016 - Vote LEAVE EU!

    Sorry to hear that... :cry:
     

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