Valet Parking - Buyer beware!

jongray1961

I recently used a company called "DriveFly" to travel from Heathrow abroad for a few days. They claim to offer an excellent Secure parking service from Heathrow and other Major UK airports.

In fact the collection and return of the car went without incident, However the following day after I collected the car (I had collected it at 11.00 pm the night before) I realised that personal items were missing from my car and that the glove box had been rifled through

The items missing were more of personal than monetary value but the car had systematically been gone through.

I immediatly called the company and after waiting for a very long time I got through to an operator who refused to put me through to a manager. She insisted that I write or email any complaint and then put the phone down on me.

Subsequent calls were answered the same way, eventually an operator told me there were no managers available on a Saturday but if I called on the Monday I could speak to someone.

I called on the Monday and recieved the same response as the original call and the operator put the phone down on me.

I also reported the theft to the Met. Police. I was told by the co-ordinator that they got many calls about this company.

I had also emailed the company using the web mail on the address. I recieved no response at all. Finally I managed to find an email address and sent an email and 5 days later recieved the following email.... I should point out again that I flew from Heathrow... and not as stated in their reply, Luton!

"As per our terms and conditions; our customer relations procedure is as follows:

Customer Relations Procedure
If there any concerns or issues you wish to raise to investigate further, the following procedure needs to take effect:
· A written correspondence needs to be made via email / letter to our office (all correspondence details are available on the customer copy coupon receipt).
· A member of our customer relation’s team shall endeavour to respond back to your query within a maximum of 5 working days.
· Please note that all matters shall be dealt with by writing. Any incidents/issues raised whilst picking or dropping your vehicle need to be made apparent to a Drivefly staff member of which would be reported/logged back to the Duty Manager. No acceptance of liability can be made until the matter is thoroughly investigated.
We have checked our correspondence and there is no log of you making us aware of your complaint in writing (email/letter) for us to investigate further.
Firstly we apologise for the recent feedback you have brought to our attention. Theft is considered as a serious claim and if proven guilty; this will result in a instant sackable action and possibly a criminal record.

Our procedures are as such that drivers inspect the exterior condition of the vehicle / mileage is taken and are then asked if there are any valuables inside the vehicle.

Under the terms and conditions that you singed and bound to when you dropped your vehicle at Luton on 12/01/15:

4.2 Vehicles and moveable items which are left unattended are left at the Owners risk whilst the vehicle is in our possession.

Only the exterior condition of the car is annotated and confirmed with the customer when dropping the vehicle. If there are any valuables left inside the car, the only way this can be confirmed these items were inside the vehicle is if this was pointed out and annotated also with the driver which would be included in your booking notes, in order to limit any discrepancies between the client and the 3rd party (Drivefly).

Furthermore we have located your singed documentation which you confirm you have no valuables in your vehicle when our driver confirmed this with you when collecting the vehicle from Luton Airport.

Your feedback has been alerted to our branches to ensure that procedures are adhered to limit any discrepancies as such.

In summary, under the lack of prevailing evidence, liability is denied and unfortunately we cannot assist this matter any further. "

what does this mean??
That this company reserves the right to allow its employees to strip your car of any personal possessions unless you have specifically told them of anything you have left in the car and you have no redress at all.

On investigation, their Facebook page is littered with customer complaints. I strongly suggest anyone looking for a valet parking company avoids these people.

any suggestions on how to going about getting anywhere with these people would be appreciated. I have a crime reference number from the police

jongray1961

Just an update:
Drivefly have responded to me say the matter is now closed and will no longer communicate with me on this matter.

Surrey Police say they too cannot get any information from DriveFly about which Drivers drive the cars and will monitor but otherwise nothing else will be done

lea2012

If you really had 'singed' the document as they have said then surely it would be illegible and they wouldn't be able to read it!! :rotfl:

In all seriousness this is a horrible thing to happen and I hope you get a more satisfactory result from the police.

mgdavid

Have you ever used valet parking before?
Have you ever left your car with a garage for service or repairs?
Did it never occur to you that the sensible thing to do is to empty the car of anything that you would regret going missing?
Back in the day, not so long ago, this was called 'common sense'.
This incident is a slightly unpleasant and maybe harsh lesson but I think you just need to remember it and move on.

PeacefulWaters

Foolish or not, it feels as if the police approach is inadequate.

"Here's a crime number so clear off because unless the company co-operate there's nothing we can do".

Escalate with the police.

Employ a solicitor to apply some pressure for the company to compensate in some way.

Commence a civil claim against the company. Although you might lose.

sheramber

It need not have been the driver who was guilty.

As the car will have been parked and unattended and the keys probably stored in a central place it is probable that any number of people could have had access to the car.

With no proof that the items were left in the car I think it will difficult to prove anything.

masterlumps

I agree common sense should have prevailed. Also do our police force really need to be wasting man hours and money investigating something which could have simply been prevented? There are so many bad crimes taking place, don't tie up a cop on this.