Car hire: can this be challenged?

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

The best way to deal with this is your credit card.

Re: the flight number, where was this dodgy flight number - on your paperwork or theirs? Although it is not fatal, it is unhelpful that you may not have checked the booking. However, you are not responsible for checking for faults in their booking system, If you didn't get the service you paid for then you should be refunded. You would be covered by UK credit law as your contract with the credit company is in the UK. The other end will have a contract with the credit card company but that is the credit card company's fault.

As an aside, I had a booking in Spain a few years ago where we were a month late! Ex-SWMBO put in the wrong month. A phone call to the booking company and they authorised the booking. I would say that the other company are acting unreasonably if they are treating yours as a cancellation. While they quite reasonably might not honour the reservation of a specific car, I don't see why, as they are keeping all the money, that they should not provide a car of an appropriate group for the remainder of the contract. It seems unreasonable.

If you genuinely believed that they had your flight details, then it would be unreasonable to be expected to contact them - indeed my last hire in Spain specifically said they didn't want to be contacted in the event of flight delays.

So, contact your credit card company.

AdrianC

brianposter wrote: »

OP had a contract with Auto-Europe made in (presumably) the UK.

My apologies - you're right. I was forgetting the fact that the OP's contract is with a broker, rather than the actual car hire firm.

He booked through the European subsidiary, based in Germany, of an American company.
http://www.autoeurope.co.uk/agb.cfm

The two-hour-late term is not, afaict, part of the general terms of business, so is presumably more booking-specific.

"Global" look likely to be one of three outfits, assuming they aren't a purely local firm.

The first, Globalcar, are a Swedish firm who do not rent cars directly, either - they're a clearing house, as well.
http://globalcar.eu

GlobalCarRent are a very similar Dutch outfit.
http://www.globalcarrent.com

Finally, Global rent-a-car are a German outfit who franchise individual country operations.
http://global-rent-a-car.com

If we're thinking of going legal, a LOT more attention is going to have to be paid to the OP's actual paperwork, because this could get very complicated very quickly.

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

AdrianC wrote: »

If we're thinking of going legal, a LOT more attention is going to have to be paid to the OP's actual paperwork, because this could get very complicated very quickly.

Certainly why I think it is worth going to the credit card company rather than the various entities along the chain. They may try and point to a particular entity but I would say that the contract is with the broker whose agent has failed to fulfil the supply.

Quite agree that it is messy though and the paperwork is a problem.

OP should also contact the broker - ignore the 48 hour cancellation clause, that is not relevant to this. However, the broker probably should have been contacted in the first instance if this was practical - they have been disadvantaged by being unable to resolve the problem - but the OP has not been unreasonable in refusing to pay a further full hire charge and therefore walking away.

AdrianC

IanMSpencer wrote: »

Certainly why I think it is worth going to the credit card company...

Yes, that's the OP's best chance of actually getting anywhere.

Nick_C

Is the contract with the Broker or the rental company?

Global's T&Cs state "In the case of any cancellation of a reservation booking prior to the start of the rental period, or in the event that the booked vehicle is not picked up within a period of 59 minutes after the expiry of the agreed pick-up date (no-show), the Lessor shall be entitled to claim compensation for damages in the amount of the gross rental charge incurred for the rental period reserved, plus other fees, but only for a maximum of 3 rental days, unless the Lessee can prove that the Lessor did not incur any costs at all or lower costs. Any rental advance payment already made may be set off against the compensation for damages. Any overpayment shall be reimbursed within a period of 10 days."

Auto Europe say

"Auto Europe LLC acts as a direct agent for car rental companies...

The actual rental agreement is concluded locally between the customer and the car rental company and is subject to the car rental company’s terms & conditions as well as local legislation.

In general, car rental companies will hold the rental car available for pick-up until 30 to 60 minutes after the originally reserved time"

I had a similar problem with a Hertz rental in Orlando. My flight arrived more than two hours late. The rental was pre paid. Hertz had given my car away. They claimed they didn't have any other cars available in that category and tried to sell an upgrade. I stood my ground and insisted they found me a car of the category I had paid for or better. I got a free upgrade.

I've also had problems with Avis when I collected a car 30 minutes before the booked time and they tried to charge me for an extra day when I returned the car. They waived this immediately when I complained.

Perhaps the cheapest companies are not always the best ones to use?

Trying to tie the customer down to a one or two hour time slot on a pre paid rental is grossly unfair and impractical.

I do worry though that by walking away, OP may have effectively cancelled and may lose out, although Global would have lost little or nothing as they rented the car to someone else, so they should give you a refund.

Good luck, and do let us know how you get on.

moneytroll

Auto Europe sent me an online form to fill out and said they will take it up with Global. They did mention that Global was supposed to provide me with another vehicle, free of charge (whether higher category or not) even though I was late.

If this fails, i will try the credit card company.
Do the car hire companies have something like an equivalent of an ombudsman for financial matters but for cars?
I have had other issues in the past and so did many friends/family/colleagues and it seems difficult/impossible to challenge them successfully.
My mother once rented a car for example and they found a scratch at the back (which was covered up with black paint as someone did a terrible job trying to cover it up). Even though the scratch was already marked in the sheet, they still decided that it was a different scratch than the one marked on the sheet and charged her E500. She is elderly and did not have time to argue as flight was leaving so she had to pay. It's disgusting.
There needs to be an independent body to oversee this BS, when that happens. When things go wrong, there's no one to complain to. You have to rely on either the goodwill of the company (forget about it) or insurance (ditto).

The wrong flight number is a mystery: I am 100% sure I typed it in correctly but then didn't check the voucher for mistakes. I can't see how I can prove the glitch was in their system (I assume because I typed in a zero before the flight number, as was on the ticket, the system spit out some gibberish when it converted the form to the voucher).

I still don't understand why they would give away the car if it was paid in full for 5 days. I know they have a 2 hour clause but it doesn't make it a reasonable clause. It's not a restaurant reservation where I was late and they gave my table away: they actually took the money and sold the car to someone else, making double on the same car.
It's completely unreasonable yet it is legal because they have a lawyer who produced this clause from his backside.

The Auto Europe contract is presumably in UK (I booked it from UK) but they are an intermediary.
I don't care about the money; I am amazed they can get away with this !!!!. The person at the counter of Global was also blatantly lying: she said that they wouldn't get money for a late customer from Auto Europe (hence no refund or free upgrade possible) whereas Auto Europe today confirmed the money has been paid to them. No manager to speak with as it was Sunday night.

AdrianC

moneytroll wrote: »

Do the car hire companies have something like an equivalent of an ombudsman for financial matters but for cars?

http://www.ecrcs.eu - but the number of members is not high.

The Auto Europe contract is presumably in UK (I booked it from UK)

That logic certainly does not follow. Why should every company who trades on the internet always write every contract in the customer's country? Even within the EU?

but they are an intermediary.

And that's where it gets more complicated. Who was your actual car contract with? One thing that's almost certain is that contract was not in the UK - and that's the one that actually matters.

brianposter

For practical purposes the OPs contract is with

Auto Europe Limited
Company number: 4964813
Registered address: Cale Cross House, Pilgrim Street
Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE1 6SU

As to legality, you can write anything into a contract.
In this case it is useful in that it ensures that late customers are likely to contact the company which permits the company or employees to decide whether they should wait for the cusomer after office hours,etc.
Actually trying to enforce the clause is a different matter.

AdrianC

brianposter wrote: »

For practical purposes the OPs contract is with

Auto Europe Limited
Company number: 4964813
Registered address: Cale Cross House, Pilgrim Street
Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE1 6SU

Really? You 100% about that? Have you read his contract?

BTW, that company number is AE Europe Ltd, formerly AE UK Ltd, and the address is c/o Leathers LLP at that address. They're a "business support services" company. Both current directors are Americans.

brianposter

AdrianC wrote: »

Really? You 100% about that? Have you read his contract?

BTW, that company number is AE Europe Ltd, formerly AE UK Ltd, and the address is c/o Leathers LLP at that address. They're a "business support services" company. Both current directors are Americans.

None of which is, per se, a problem. The "office" is presumably there so that they have a legal presence.