Easycar - Fighting for my money

tekton23

Hi,

My girlfriend and I were left stranded in Paris over Christmas due to our hire car not being provided to us by Alamo which had been booked through Easycar. I have asked for a refund in full something I was led to believe I would get as a minimum by Alamo on the day and Easycar have refused any refund.

The problem was caused due to me not having a credit card with 1500 euros spare on it. (I have happily paid off all my credit cards and choose not to have any). This is something that I apparently should have been aware of at the time of booking and please all other potential customers; be aware of this! I belive this requirement to be unfair/unreasonable for a few reasons. One being that you do not have to actively agree to this at the time of booking AND they are quite happy to take payment for the booking using another card i.e. in my case a debit card. I believe this policy actively encourages the use of credit on the customer's part and is unethical.

Anyway, I am thinking of pursuing this as far as they deem necessary. Do you think I will be able to take this to a claims court? Do any of you have any experience of this?

Best wishes,

T23

tekton23

For anyone interested, here is the complaint I have just sent to them in response to their refusal to refund me:-

I have received your response and am frankly shocked and disappointed by this level of service from a reputable, high-profile company. I have used Easycar several times before and have been very satisfied, I have also never been asked to provide a credit card deposit for this amount.

I would ask you to re-consider your decision not to refund the money that I paid you in good faith for the return of a service which was not provided. Please consider the following before making your decision:-

1. The requirement to pay such a larger deposit is hidden within your terms and conditions and does not have to be clearly agreed to when making the booking. If this was the case I would NOT have made the booking. The booking process is unreasonable and unfair.

2. Easycar have taken money from me for a service that they then failed to provide. I believe that I am making a reasonable and fair request as a consumer in asking for a full refund.

3. Easycar gladly accepted payment for a service on one card, my Maestro Card, yet were unprepared to provide the agreed service unless payment was given using a different payment method. I believe this is unclear in your booking process and unreasonable to the customer. I also believe that provision of your service encourages the customer to use credit and potentially go into debt, a policy which I believe is unreasonable, unethical and immoral.

4. Easycar's partner Alamo in Paris at the pick-up location encouraged me to sign a refund form in order for them and Easycar to provide me with a full refund. This has not happened and I believe Easycar/Alamo have been dishonest and unreasonable throughout this process. There is no provision within your online complaints process for me to send a copy of this form to you, please let me know how I can give you a copy and I will be glad to assist.

5. Easycar and Alamo made no attempt to assist either myself or my partner during the time that this problem occurred, despite the fact that it was Christmas Eve and we were travelling to visit my family in France for Christmas day, which additionally is my birthday. Alamo's staff were exceptionally rude to us during this very stressful time and I am amazed that Easycar belive this to be an acceptable level of customer service.

I again ask you to consider your response fully and to make a full refund of the amount taken by Easycar from me, for a service which was not provided due to the reasons stated above.

If you still decide not to make the refund I will take further action and in doing so will seek compensation for all my incurred costs. This will include all costs for my time, accommodation, subsistence, mobile phone charges and any further fees relating to the retrieval of the car hire charge taken by Easycar.

I believe any further action will be essential should Easycar choose not to make a full refund; but it will be a huge waste of time for all parties involved. Easycar should have no doubt however, that I will pursue this as far as need be. I have given you the chance to settle this amicably and to maintain my loyalty to Easycar as a valued customer, I hope you choose to accept this offer by giving me a full refund.

Please also send me Easycar's Customer Service department's address so I can send you this as a formal letter and complaint. Please also update me with regard to Alamo's loss of my counterpart driving licence.

Kind regards,

michjoe

I am currently fighting a charge from Alamo from October 2009. We came BACK from our holiday on October 21st to find that we had been charged over $700. I booked the holiday over the phone with First Choice and up to now First Choice have refused to dispute the charges with Alamo, it's like we have had your money now disappear. I have ended up taking my complaint to ABTA as First Choice are totally hopeless, I email them and get a response from Falcoln customer services (very poor email at that), I have sent recorded delivery letters to be ignored.

I will now see how ABTA can help me.

Fingers crossed!!!

Michaela

ojc77

:wall:In Easycars defence - As part of the booking process it clearly states the following:

How would you like to pay?
You can choose to pay for this booking by either credit card or debit card.

However, you will need to produce a credit card in the driver's name when you pick up your vehicle to cover a refundable deposit for the damage and theft excess.

How can you therefore say that it was "hidden" in their terms and conditions? It's Big and bold for you to see when booking!?

Furthermore on the same page, just in case you missed it it states the following:

I understand that I must bring a valid driving licence, photographic identification(s), valid credit card and a printed copy of the Booking Voucher. Your Booking Voucher will be displayed next after the booking has been made

And then finally just in case you missed it the first two times you have to tick a box stating you have read the T&C's where it clearly states:

You will need a valid credit card to collect your vehicle. This must be in the Principal Driver's name.

- I really don't see how you can blame Easycar for not telling you about having to have a credit card! It was there for you to clearly read several times and you ticked the box to state you had done so!

gordikin

I do think it's fairly standard for the whole (as in total) car hire process that you need a valid credit card.

squack

yes its standard practice for hire cars and there in black and white in the terms and conditions, so absolutely nothing you can do i'm afraid :money:

hawkwinddotcom

His card was valid as far as I can read, just not enough credit on it.


Oh re-read

Oopsadaisy

1. You are wasting your time entering into protracted correspondence with ejet - right or wrong they are woeful to deal with.

2. Send them a final letter before action, then issue papers in the County Court [small claims track].

3. They will either not put in a defence or put in a std defence.

4. They won't turn up at court....and you'll win

5. They'll send you a cheque about 15 days after the court finds in your favour.

I know because this is what happened to me.

Chester85

Oopsadaisy wrote: »

1. You are wasting your time entering into protracted correspondence with ejet - right or wrong they are woeful to deal with.

2. Send them a final letter before action, then issue papers in the County Court [small claims track].

3. They will either not put in a defence or put in a std defence.

4. They won't turn up at court....and you'll win

5. They'll send you a cheque about 15 days after the court finds in your favour.

I know because this is what happened to me.

There's no grounds for legal action at all.

On what defence would you take?

'My client didn't read the terms and conditions and would like his money back, even though he agreed to afore mentioned terms and conditions he feels it most unfair that the company has invoked these terms and conditions'

Oopsadaisy

Chester85 wrote: »

There's no grounds for legal action at all.

On what defence would you take?

On the grounds that ejet will either settle [since they are not actually out of pocket themselves] to avoid the cost of going to court [ie the hassle factor] or they will not bother turning up in court [and again the OP wins].

It's not always about being legally 'right'....:D