Indigo Car Hire

Imagewerx

I recently went on holiday in Italy and hired a car through Indigo Car Hire with the company Noleggiare.I was to pick up the car at Palermo airport on Sicily and drop it off at Venice airport 16 days later.It was all arranged many months before I got there and I even checked with Indigo a couple of days before I flew out to make sure my hire car was still good to go.
When I got to Palermo and waited in the queue for over an hour,I was eventually served by a woman who had obviously never been on any sort of customer service training.She told me my car hire booking had been 'voided' and when I asked her why,she was rude and abrupt and would only give me the explanation 'it just has',and when I asked her to find out why she just told me 'there's nothing I can do about it'
I tried ringing Indigo on my mobile and had a bad enough signal on the floor that the hire car desks were on that I could hear them but they couldn't hear me.So I went up one floor where I got a much better signal and could hold a two way conversation with Indigo and explained what had happened,but they needed to talk with the woman behind the Noleggiare desk.I couldn't get this to work so had no choice but to give up with this and find another hire car company as time was running out as I had to drive a long way across Sicily to get to my first nights lodgings by the agreed time.Indigo agreed to pay back to me what I'd paid them plus any difference I'd have to pay that was more than what I'd paid in the first place.
So I went around the other hire car companies and found that the cheapest I could get even a small car (in this case a Nissan Micra) was from Europcar.The original rental through Indigo was going to be just under £400 for the 16 days.I asked for the most basic hire they could do me without ANY extras and they gave me a figure of nearly £800,when I expressed surprise at how much this was and questioned it to make sure it really was the cheapest and most basic hire they could give me,I was assured that it was.Indigo had agreed to pay me this difference back,so I wasn't particularly worried at this stage.
When I got home I had to scan and send a copy of the Europcar rental agreement to Indigo.They paid me back what I'd paid them,but said that they wouldn't pay back the difference because it was loaded with additional charges such as 'medium protection' at 300 Euros,roadside assistance at 68 Euros and 100 Euros for 'Nol.a lasciare' (which I think is additional day).
I specifically asked to NOT any of have these,but the problem is that I signed the agreement without reading all the small print.I am of course going to take this up with Europcar,but have I well and truly shafted myself because I signed the agreement,or do I still have rights because I've been mis-sold this lot that asked specifically not to have?
Also should Indigo be sorting this out for me because I booked through them (although I paid money to Car Trawler) and ultimately they're responsible for this,or do I have to use my own time arguing with Europcar and my money to pay for the phone call?
I see in the news that Europcar have been involved with scandals such as over charging for repairs,so is the normal policy for them to just randomly over charge customers for things they haven't asked for and hope no one notices?

Aylesbury_Duck

Imagewerx wrote: »

I recently went on holiday in Italy and hired a car through Indigo Car Hire with the company Noleggiare.I was to pick up the car at Palermo airport on Sicily and drop it off at Venice airport 16 days later.It was all arranged many months before I got there and I even checked with Indigo a couple of days before I flew out to make sure my hire car was still good to go.
When I got to Palermo and waited in the queue for over an hour,I was eventually served by a woman who had obviously never been on any sort of customer service training.She told me my car hire booking had been 'voided' and when I asked her why,she was rude and abrupt and would only give me the explanation 'it just has',and when I asked her to find out why she just told me 'there's nothing I can do about it'
I tried ringing Indigo on my mobile and had a bad enough signal on the floor that the hire car desks were on that I could hear them but they couldn't hear me.So I went up one floor where I got a much better signal and could hold a two way conversation with Indigo and explained what had happened,but they needed to talk with the woman behind the Noleggiare desk.I couldn't get this to work so had no choice but to give up with this and find another hire car company as time was running out as I had to drive a long way across Sicily to get to my first nights lodgings by the agreed time.Indigo agreed to pay back to me what I'd paid them plus any difference I'd have to pay that was more than what I'd paid in the first place.
So I went around the other hire car companies and found that the cheapest I could get even a small car (in this case a Nissan Micra) was from Europcar.The original rental through Indigo was going to be just under £400 for the 16 days.I asked for the most basic hire they could do me without ANY extras and they gave me a figure of nearly £800,when I expressed surprise at how much this was and questioned it to make sure it really was the cheapest and most basic hire they could give me,I was assured that it was.Indigo had agreed to pay me this difference back,so I wasn't particularly worried at this stage.
When I got home I had to scan and send a copy of the Europcar rental agreement to Indigo.They paid me back what I'd paid them,but said that they wouldn't pay back the difference because it was loaded with additional charges such as 'medium protection' at 300 Euros,roadside assistance at 68 Euros and 100 Euros for 'Nol.a lasciare' (which I think is additional day).
I specifically asked to NOT any of have these,but the problem is that I signed the agreement without reading all the small print.I am of course going to take this up with Europcar,but have I well and truly shafted myself because I signed the agreement,or do I still have rights because I've been mis-sold this lot that asked specifically not to have?
Also should Indigo be sorting this out for me because I booked through them (although I paid money to Car Trawler) and ultimately they're responsible for this,or do I have to use my own time arguing with Europcar and my money to pay for the phone call?
I see in the news that Europcar have been involved with scandals such as over charging for repairs,so is the normal policy for them to just randomly over charge customers for things they haven't asked for and hope no one notices?

I'm surprised that Indigo agreed to refund you plus whatever the difference was. That sounds a very glib and open-ended promise to make and I presume it was made only verbally?

However, I don't think you should expect them to cover the full amount because by your own admission, you didn't read the terms and conditions of hire with Europcar. Your dispute is now entirely with Europcar, Indigo didn't supply the service you paid for and refunded you in full. You then began an entirely new transaction with Europcar, so Indigo won't be obliged to sort it for you. I don't think you have cause for complaint with Europcar. They will have presented you with a sheet outlining everything you were purchasing which you signed. I've hired cars numerous times in various countries and the charges are pretty explicit. There are always more of them than you expect too, but that's another issue....!

Mercdriver

Nol a lasciare is Italian for One Way Rental (lasciare being the verb to leave - Nol. a lasciare is abbreviated 'rent and leave' Noleggiare is the verb to rent). It's quite normal for a company to charge a fee for this. Did your original contract with indigo specify the same extras? If not, then there is no reason why they should pay for them. I wouldn't be driving the length of Italy with no breakdown cover or no excess cover. I drove across Italy last year - I have the advantage of being relatively fluent in Italian, and did the whole transaction in Italian at Bologna Airport.

Did you have a separate excess insurance? If so, you should have been explicit about this and insisted no extras. Them paying the defference minus the extras is good service in my opinion, and you should be praising them. It would be simple for them to just say "Spiacenti, è annullato. Sei da solo" "Sorry, it's cancelled. You're on your own".

Imagewerx

Aylesbury_Duck wrote: »

I'm surprised that Indigo agreed to refund you plus whatever the difference was. That sounds a very glib and open-ended promise to make and I presume it was made only verbally?

However, I don't think you should expect them to cover the full amount because by your own admission, you didn't read the terms and conditions of hire with Europcar. Your dispute is now entirely with Europcar, Indigo didn't supply the service you paid for and refunded you in full. You then began an entirely new transaction with Europcar, so Indigo won't be obliged to sort it for you. I don't think you have cause for complaint with Europcar. They will have presented you with a sheet outlining everything you were purchasing which you signed. I've hired cars numerous times in various countries and the charges are pretty explicit. There are always more of them than you expect too, but that's another issue....!

Yes it was purely a verbal agreement,but when I rang them back from Palermo to let them know how much I had to pay he agreed this would be ok as long as I let them see the rental agreement when I got home.
But they DID agree to the full amount,my point is and the reason I'm on here asking the question,have I nailed the lid on my own coffin because I signed? Or do I still have some rights because I was mis-sold the extras?

Imagewerx

Mercdriver wrote: »

Nol a lasciare is Italian for One Way Rental (lasciare being the verb to leave - Nol. a lasciare is abbreviated 'rent and leave' Noleggiare is the verb to rent). It's quite normal for a company to charge a fee for this. Did your original contract with indigo specify the same extras? If not, then there is no reason why they should pay for them. I wouldn't be driving the length of Italy with no breakdown cover or no excess cover. I drove across Italy last year - I have the advantage of being relatively fluent in Italian, and did the whole transaction in Italian at Bologna Airport.

Did you have a separate excess insurance? If so, you should have been explicit about this and insisted no extras. Them paying the defference minus the extras is good service in my opinion, and you should be praising them. It would be simple for them to just say "Spiacenti, è annullato. Sei da solo" "Sorry, it's cancelled. You're on your own".

Ok I kinda figured looking at it again that it must be the one way charge so yes I would expect to pay that.
Yes I did have the excess insurance cover and I did insist on no extras.
The useless woman on the Noleggiare desk was very insistent that 'there's nothing I can do for you' despite Indigo saying that from their end there was absolutely no reason my rental agreement would have been voided.As far as they were concerned as long as I showed her all the correct paperwork and documents (which I did),there was no reason for her not to let me take one of their cars as I was supposed to.

Aylesbury_Duck

Imagewerx wrote: »

have I nailed the lid on my own coffin because I signed? Or do I still have some rights because I was mis-sold the extras?

I think you have. It will be impossible to prove you were mis-sold so you're relying on them admitting to it or waiving it through goodwill.

Indigo_Car_Hire

Good Morning,

I hope you are well?

I have just been made aware of your post, I can see it was a while ago but really wanted to reach out to you to see if you can provide me with some more information. I deal with all complaints into our company and cannot recall this, which is a surprise.

Without the full details or having the drivers name / email address I am unable to locate your booking. I have searched through reservations collected in JULY / AUG 2017 and cannot locate any booking that matches a one way hire from Palermo to Venice. In fact the supplier mentioned doesn’t have a location in Venice as far as we are aware. Which is making the whole situation a little confusing.

I would very much like to discuss this further with you to ensure the issue was resolved and if not, to investigate further. Its highly unusual if you had a confirmed booking with ourselves to then have issues upon arrival. Having unhappy customers is something I can honestly say we do not have often, but we know things can go wrong and if they do we ensure a full and proper investigation is carried out and any refunds due are arranged.

If you are able to, could you send me a quick email to confirm your booking details it would be appreciated as I’m very surprised that this has passed me by.

I look forward to your reply.

Kind Regards

Cherie Carter
Reservations Manager
Indigo Car Hire
cherie.carter@indigocarhire.co.uk

agrinnall

cherie.walker wrote: »

Good Morning,

While I understand that you are trying to help, posting as a company representative without authorisation from MSE is in breach of the forum rules.

Indigo_Car_Hire

agrinnall wrote: »

While I understand that you are trying to help, posting as a company representative without authorisation from MSE is in breach of the forum rules.

Thanks Aginnall. how would you suggest i go about getting that authorisation?

many thanks

agrinnall

cherie.walker wrote: »

Thanks Aginnall. how would you suggest i go about getting that authorisation?

many thanks

Read the rules (link at the top of the page, see Verified Users), it's in there.

Indigo_Car_Hire

We are now Verified, thanks Agrinnall