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Holidayautos and Alamo/National Rent a car - Beware!
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Annando
Posts: 458 Forumite
At the beginning of the month OH and I rented a People carrier because in-laws were coming to visit. We did it all online through holidayautos and got what we thought at the time was an excellent deal. A Renault Espace or similar for 9 days for £391.
When we went to pick up the car it turned out not to be an Espace but a much larger VW Traveller (Imagine a large van that can seat 9 people plus loads of space at the back for luggage! Not the easiest car to park and manoeuvre and not the most economical either. It was the only one they had available... I think it was the one no one else wanted!
On the T&C of holidayautos they stated that on rental of more than 5 days they would charge for the petrol upfront and we would have to return the car with an empty tank. They would not refund any petrol that was in the tank. We checked the T&C for Alamo/National and they were the same. At the time of pick up we asked the attendant twice what the policy was and she stated the same again, they made a £70 charge for petrol on top of the £391, and would refund it if we returned the car with a full tank. If the tank was empty at the time we returned the car they would not refund the £70.
We returned the car with about 1/4 of a tank and the attendant said they could not refund us for that. As we had been aware of that it was not a problem.
Last Wednesday we received an invoice from National for 62 litres of diesel, the total came to about £135 (that's £2.177 a litre!!!!)!!! :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:
We finally managed to speak to their customer services this morning (OH was away and this was put on his CC so it took a while to finally get around to sorting this).
1st person (male) OH spoke to said that we should be checking Holidayautos terms and conditions and not the National/Alamo ones as we had made the booking through a third party. National had nothing to do with this and Holidayautos was responsible.
I hate people that try to sell me cok and bull stories... so decided to speak to customer services myself.
2nd person (male - probably the same guy) I spoke to said that in all rentals you are given two choices and that the attendant had given us the choice to prepay for petrol (?????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!??????????????) but because the box was not ticked it meant that we didn't take it (Honestly I haven't found any such thing in the rental agreement). I told him about the T&C and he said that it didn't count because we had been offered something at the time of rental and we didn't take it so we had to pay for the petrol plus the refuelling charge and it all came to £135. Once again I told him we had not been asked about the petrol prepay option, I told him what the attendant had told us and even went so far as to ask him how he could be so sure of what was offered or not since he had not been present? (GRRRR!) He had the cheek to say that the attendant would have ticked the box had we agreed to a petrol prepay and on top of which he added that since they worked on commission had we accepted the petrol prepay the attendant would have earned money so she would have obviously benefited from it and would have offered it. I pointed to him that she might have earned even more commission by not offering it since now her commission came out of £135, about £45 or £50 more than the price of a full tank of diesel for that car! Of course he said that that is not how things were done etc etc... I wasn't listening anymore and asked to speak to a manager, he said of course and left me on hold for 10 minutes!!! (GRRRRRR GRRRRRRRR!!!!)
Had to hang up and call again
3rd person (a woman) I asked her straight away to speak to a manager. She asked me what the problem was, explained that I had already spoken to one of her colleagues and had been left on hold for 10 minutes. She said there was no evidence that we had called and her colleague had made no notes of it! So I had to explain everything to her again... Had to hear lame excuses etc for 5 minutes by which point I was really REALLY in a bad mood and asked again to speak to her manager.
4th person (woman manager) came on the phone and asked what the problem seemed to be. Explained EVERYTHING to her again. (They must be having a laugh surely!). She said that since we were renting from National it was their T&C that were valid and no one else's... I explained to her that I was referring to National's T&Cs. I read to her the part about the 5 days + rental
"On rentals of 5 days or longer we will automatically add the cost of a full tank of fuel to our rental charges at time of pick up. This method eliminates the need for you to refuel the tank prior to returning. The fuel amount charged at time of rental will be based on a market competitive price and the car model rented. We are unable to issue a refund for unused fuel. A fuel deposit will not be required for rentals of 5 days or longer."
She said that she wasn't aware of that and that those T&C were not valid (I wonder how many differnt ones they have!?) and were open to interpretation! :mad:
:mad:
I explained to her that those T&C were on their website, she said they couldn't be...
I told her to go and check them online herself... which she did... and she still came back and told me that those T&Cs were not clear and were open to interpretation ...
By which point I asked her if she was saying that I didn't know how to read, or if she thought I was some kind of dim wit who did not understand what words meant?
She immediately said she would be refunding us the CC surcharge but did not apologise for anything... Waiting to see what happens... but feel like taking this up with watchdog.
Sorry this was so long but had to get it off my chest!
When we went to pick up the car it turned out not to be an Espace but a much larger VW Traveller (Imagine a large van that can seat 9 people plus loads of space at the back for luggage! Not the easiest car to park and manoeuvre and not the most economical either. It was the only one they had available... I think it was the one no one else wanted!
On the T&C of holidayautos they stated that on rental of more than 5 days they would charge for the petrol upfront and we would have to return the car with an empty tank. They would not refund any petrol that was in the tank. We checked the T&C for Alamo/National and they were the same. At the time of pick up we asked the attendant twice what the policy was and she stated the same again, they made a £70 charge for petrol on top of the £391, and would refund it if we returned the car with a full tank. If the tank was empty at the time we returned the car they would not refund the £70.
We returned the car with about 1/4 of a tank and the attendant said they could not refund us for that. As we had been aware of that it was not a problem.
Last Wednesday we received an invoice from National for 62 litres of diesel, the total came to about £135 (that's £2.177 a litre!!!!)!!! :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:
We finally managed to speak to their customer services this morning (OH was away and this was put on his CC so it took a while to finally get around to sorting this).
1st person (male) OH spoke to said that we should be checking Holidayautos terms and conditions and not the National/Alamo ones as we had made the booking through a third party. National had nothing to do with this and Holidayautos was responsible.
I hate people that try to sell me cok and bull stories... so decided to speak to customer services myself.
2nd person (male - probably the same guy) I spoke to said that in all rentals you are given two choices and that the attendant had given us the choice to prepay for petrol (?????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!??????????????) but because the box was not ticked it meant that we didn't take it (Honestly I haven't found any such thing in the rental agreement). I told him about the T&C and he said that it didn't count because we had been offered something at the time of rental and we didn't take it so we had to pay for the petrol plus the refuelling charge and it all came to £135. Once again I told him we had not been asked about the petrol prepay option, I told him what the attendant had told us and even went so far as to ask him how he could be so sure of what was offered or not since he had not been present? (GRRRR!) He had the cheek to say that the attendant would have ticked the box had we agreed to a petrol prepay and on top of which he added that since they worked on commission had we accepted the petrol prepay the attendant would have earned money so she would have obviously benefited from it and would have offered it. I pointed to him that she might have earned even more commission by not offering it since now her commission came out of £135, about £45 or £50 more than the price of a full tank of diesel for that car! Of course he said that that is not how things were done etc etc... I wasn't listening anymore and asked to speak to a manager, he said of course and left me on hold for 10 minutes!!! (GRRRRRR GRRRRRRRR!!!!)
Had to hang up and call again
3rd person (a woman) I asked her straight away to speak to a manager. She asked me what the problem was, explained that I had already spoken to one of her colleagues and had been left on hold for 10 minutes. She said there was no evidence that we had called and her colleague had made no notes of it! So I had to explain everything to her again... Had to hear lame excuses etc for 5 minutes by which point I was really REALLY in a bad mood and asked again to speak to her manager.
4th person (woman manager) came on the phone and asked what the problem seemed to be. Explained EVERYTHING to her again. (They must be having a laugh surely!). She said that since we were renting from National it was their T&C that were valid and no one else's... I explained to her that I was referring to National's T&Cs. I read to her the part about the 5 days + rental
"On rentals of 5 days or longer we will automatically add the cost of a full tank of fuel to our rental charges at time of pick up. This method eliminates the need for you to refuel the tank prior to returning. The fuel amount charged at time of rental will be based on a market competitive price and the car model rented. We are unable to issue a refund for unused fuel. A fuel deposit will not be required for rentals of 5 days or longer."
She said that she wasn't aware of that and that those T&C were not valid (I wonder how many differnt ones they have!?) and were open to interpretation! :mad:
:mad:I explained to her that those T&C were on their website, she said they couldn't be...
I told her to go and check them online herself... which she did... and she still came back and told me that those T&Cs were not clear and were open to interpretation ...
By which point I asked her if she was saying that I didn't know how to read, or if she thought I was some kind of dim wit who did not understand what words meant?
She immediately said she would be refunding us the CC surcharge but did not apologise for anything... Waiting to see what happens... but feel like taking this up with watchdog.
Sorry this was so long but had to get it off my chest!
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Comments
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I have total sympathy with you. Perhaps they use the same recruitment agency as Currys?
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1100387Value-for-money-for-me-puhleeze!
"No man is worth, crawling on the earth"- adapted from Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio
Hope is not a strategy
...A child is for life, not just 18 years....Don't get me started on the NHS, because you won't win...I love chaz-ing!0 -
You need to put any complaint in writing.Don't bother ringing them.Send it recorded delivey.0
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What a nightmare!
Try to remember toask people for their name when speaking on the phone - it's strange but people tend not to be so flippant when dealing with you when they know that you know who they are! It also helps if you have to take the matter further.0 -
Of course I asked for everyone's name and also for address to which to send complaint etc...
I just have the impression they do this to everyone and then see if people complain or not, I did some further research and they do seem to have different T&Cs...which I think should be illegal. It is basically anything to rip you off!0 -
Hi - I am not at all happy about the experience you have had and would like to try and get to the bottom of this for you. My name is Julian and I work for Holiday Autos and am in a position to resolve and fix this issue. If you e-mail [EMAIL="customerrelations@holidayautos.co.uk"]customerrelations@holidayautos.co.uk[/EMAIL] and mark your enquiry for my attention, I will make sure it is addressed for you. Thanks, Julian.0
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Will you be posting the outcome of Julian's intervention Annando? The way you were treated was shameful!
I once returned a hire car to a garage with a tank full to the brim and still got a fuel surcharge because I hadn't filled up at the garage's own petrol station. They claimed they could get more in because their forecourt was on a slope!
They are no longer in business. Nuff said.
The best thing about this section of this website is that we get alerted to various company's sharp practices and can either avoid them like the plague or go in with our eyes fully open.Don't grow up. Its a trap!
Peace, love and labradors!0 -
I don't really understand the original story, Annando.
They offered you a full tank of petrol for £70 at the outset, on the basis that you returned it empty.
You accepted that offer (I think). So you can prove paying them the £70.
So therefore there's no earthly reason for them to charge you the £135.
The only way I can understand what they've done would be if you had refused to pay the £70, because you believed (wrongly) that it was included in the amount you'd paid Holiday Autos.
Can you explain again whether you did, or didn't, pay them £70 on the day you collected the car?
Regarding the allocation of an over-large vehicle, it's generally accepted practice in the rental industry to consider it a perk for the customer to get a "better" car than they've hired. And the brokers (and rental companies) are very clear that the type of car they quote is only indicative.0 -
MarkyMarkD wrote: »I don't really understand the original story, Annando.
They offered you a full tank of petrol for £70 at the outset, on the basis that you returned it empty.
You accepted that offer (I think). So you can prove paying them the £70.
So therefore there's no earthly reason for them to charge you the £135.
The only way I can understand what they've done would be if you had refused to pay the £70, because you believed (wrongly) that it was included in the amount you'd paid Holiday Autos.
Can you explain again whether you did, or didn't, pay them £70 on the day you collected the car?
Regarding the allocation of an over-large vehicle, it's generally accepted practice in the rental industry to consider it a perk for the customer to get a "better" car than they've hired. And the brokers (and rental companies) are very clear that the type of car they quote is only indicative.
It is a bit confusing but I think the point is that for rentals of 5 days or more, the cost of a tank of fuel is built into the rental charge so the car should be returned empty.0 -
MarkyMarkD wrote: »I don't really understand the original story, Annando.
They offered you a full tank of petrol for £70 at the outset, on the basis that you returned it empty.
You accepted that offer (I think). So you can prove paying them the £70.
So therefore there's no earthly reason for them to charge you the £135.
The only way I can understand what they've done would be if you had refused to pay the £70, because you believed (wrongly) that it was included in the amount you'd paid Holiday Autos.
Can you explain again whether you did, or didn't, pay them £70 on the day you collected the car?
We did pay the £70 when we picked up the car, that is why I was so angry at them.
We paid for petrol and also paid for damage waver, in total from £391 for rental alone, we ended up paying £510 which included the £70 for petrol.
Of course I was aware that when you are quoted a price for rental it excludes petrol and that you are charged separately for that.0 -
Tozer
I think that's what the OP thinks, but it's not true. For hires of 5 days or more, you are required to pay for a full tank on arrival at the hire office, and then return the car empty. The full tank is not included in the price.
I think that the OP thought he had pre-paid for a full tank, as part of his hire charge, and hence refused the "extra" of paying for a full tank on arrival (and hence returning the car empty), instead opting to return the car full.
There are only two choices:
- receive the car full, pay for the full tank on arrival, return the car empty; or
- receive the car full, don't pay anything on arrival, return the car full or pay the penalty charge for failing to re-fill it.
I hope that is clearer and that I'm understanding what's gone on. If I am, then the hire company has done nothing wrong; the OP has simply not understood what's happening.
As the OP still hasn't explained whether they did, or didn't, pay £70 on arrival at the hire office, it's hard to know.0
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