Thrifty car hire warning / help me get a refund

gsoper

On 12th December I arranged on-line a rental car for 23rd December with the Bath branch of Thrifty. Upon realising that the Bath branch is actually a two hour walk / £20 taxi from Bath (with a Bristol postcode and phone number) cancelled it online (on 19th December). I hadn't noticed that I was only entitled to a refund with 24 hours of making the reservation so I apparently forfeited my £105. My fault for not checking the T&Cs but it would have been nice if they'd drawn attention to this at the point of cancellation.

They've graciously offered a goodwill refund if "you or a family member or a friend choose to rebook with Thrifty within 3 months.". Given that you'd be mad to hire from their Bath branch (it's in the middle of the countryside, so useless to people without cars!) if someone on here was to be making a Thrifty pre-paid booking soon, they could supply me with their "pre paid reservation reference number" as my 'friend' and I'd get a full refund. Would anyone be so kind?

photome

Hope you get the offer of a "friend".

Isnt it normal when hiring a car to find out where the depot is before you hire, I know thats easy in hindsight, they also offer a delivery and collection service

gsoper

photome wrote: »

Isnt it normal when hiring a car to find out where the depot is before you hire, I know thats easy in hindsight, they also offer a delivery and collection service

That's a very good point and got me wondering why I'd chosen them! Now I've thought about it, by the time I'd ordered the car I knew where they were and based on the provision of a pick-up / drop-off service decided it was ok. I called to arrange the pick up and they told me the service wasn't on offer over Christmas. That was when she told me they could generously call a cab for me upon return of the car. I then called a cab company to find out how much it would cost and it was then that I decided to cancel the rental and did so online.

Based on them not offering the advertised pick-up / drop off service, I think I have reasonable claim to an unconditional refund.

photome

gsoper wrote: »

That's a very good point and got me wondering why I'd chosen them! Now I've thought about it, by the time I'd ordered the car I knew where they were and based on the provision of a pick-up / drop-off service decided it was ok. I called to arrange the pick up and they told me the service wasn't on offer over Christmas. That was when she told me they could generously call a cab for me upon return of the car. I then called a cab company to find out how much it would cost and it was then that I decided to cancel the rental and did so online.

Based on them not offering the advertised pick-up / drop off service, I think I have reasonable claim to an unconditional refund.

I think you may be right, but getting it wont be easy, maybe if you had asked to cancel when they told you the pick up wasnt available you may have been more succesful

gsoper

They've just given me a full refund after I put that point to them.

Thanks very much!

McKneff

gsoper wrote: »

They've just given me a full refund after I put that point to them.

Thanks very much!

Result !!!


Well done you x

photome

great result