Car Hire through Booking.com - We lost £100s! Advice pls

Rebeccaandpeter

Hi all

My family and I have just returned from a 16 day trip in Romania and we’re now over £400 out of pocket thanks to a Booking.com car hire debacle, I just wanted to share my experience and understand if other people are well aware of this and get any advice on what to do next?

Essentially we booked a Thifty car for 15 days via Booking.com, I use that site all the time to book my accommodation so it felt ok to book for car hire too. We paid £280 for 15 days hire for an intermediate car and paid in full in advance. Unfortunately on the day of collection we were 90 minutes late to pick up the car as per the time on the booking (the significance of this didn’t occur to me at the time) but on arrival at the agent we were immediately told by Thifty that they only hold the car for 60 minutes even if the booking is fully paid for and then they release the reservation and effectively give the car to the someone one. Furthermore they had no other cars available at all and I was dismissed with a shrug (and told that I’d get refunded) and told to try and get a car from another agency.

I was absolutely shocked at this and was left in an airport with my two young children (and facing a three hour drive to get to our booked accommodation) and no car for the duration, being the busy August school holidays I was horrified about how much a replacement car might cost. These fears were well founded and I was getting quoted utter silly amounts by other agencies (£850+) and on price comparison websites, eventually Sixt Car Rental were able to offer us a much smaller basic model Opel Corsa for £400 which we reluctantly took.

After securing a replacement vehicle I went back to my pre-printed voucher and booking details – which doesn’t mention at all the importance of being within 61 minutes of you voucher time otherwise you will lose the reservation. The smaller terms and conditions through Booking.com directed me to Thirfty’s specific terms and conditions which in all fairness does talk about not being there on time is considered a no show in their eyes and they will release the booking, and the booker would be subject to pay the first 72 hours rental period. After reading these I reluctantly thought I’d lose some of my money, but when I phoned Booking.com (which is actually a front for Rental Cars.com – I didn’t even know this!) they said flatly that their terms and conditions are that I am not entitled to any refund of monies paid (regardless of the more favourable T&Cs of the specific rental firm) and I forfeited all 15 days’ worth of rental.

I find this absolutely staggering! I since googled the subject and car firms releasing booking due to even short periods of lateness is not exactly uncommon, but forfeiting 15 days’ worth of the rental fees for being just over an hour late is ludicrous! I’m most angry about the fact that this is not put front and centre in the important information when booking online, nor is it even mentioned on the paperwork you get given (you have to trawl through small print which is still very unspecific and doesn’t mentioned actual timefrimes – after all why would you choose to book via an agent and pay in full when there’s a very realistic risk that your travel plans could mildly change and leave you so vastly out of pocket! Also if a booking agents T&Cs override that of the specific rental firm then this is not clearly stated, why put them both side by side!

Has anyone else experienced this or heard of this practice? I will be complaining to Booking.com but do not expect it to make any difference to the outcome. I would like however to help avoiding this happening to anyone else (I had never heard of it). We tried not to let this very stressful experience spoil our holiday so unfortunately it has left a very sour taste and I am now nervous of making any future rental arrangements.

Thanks
Rebecca

bagand96

If you book anything via an agency then you will be bound by the agency’s T&Cs as well as the supplier T&Cs (airline, hotel, car hire company etc). If the booking.com (Rentalcars.com) T&Cs say no refund then that will be the case.

I know it’s of no use to you now, but when you knew you were running late, a call to the car hire company office (details should have been on your voucher) may have helped.

One final thought... why were you late? If the reason is late public transport (flight, train, coach etc) then you may be covered on your travel insurance policy.

steve1500

It is becoming quite a common practice, that they only hold the car for an hour an hour or so


That is why it very important, that if you are flying, you give then as much detail as possible. A reputable company does check to see if there is any delay on the flight.


We had it in Orlando this summer with, flight was 2 1/2 hours late. When went to pick up the car, said they knew and no problems

joncombe

1 hour really isn't enough to be cancelling as a "no show". Your flight could take off on time but still arrive an hour late if there are air traffic restrictions or your flight is put in a holding pattern. You could also get diverted to another airport on occasion. You are not supposed to use a mobile from an aeroplane so how on earth are you supposed to inform the company within 1 hour?


Terms and conditions or not, it does seem unfair.

brianposter

It is about time that this particular T & C was tested in court. Take booking.com to the small claims court if you can find a UK address for them.
Otherwise use the European small claims procedure against booking.com in Holland.

brianposter

Looks like
Booking.com N.V., Block 3, Westbrook Centre, Milton Road, Cambridge CB4 1YG
would be OK, although Booking will tell you that it is not.

bagand96

brianposter wrote: »

It is about time that this particular T & C was tested in court. Take booking.com to the small claims court if you can find a UK address for them.
Otherwise use the European small claims procedure against booking.com in Holland.

You might be on to something there.

Booking.com car hire is actually operated by TravelJigsaw, it's just booking.com branded. And TravelJigsaw are a UK company, so you would be able to use the UK Small Claims Court.

From the booking.com car hire page:

Copyright © 2019 TravelJigsaw Limited. All rights reserved.

TravelJigsaw Limited registered in England and Wales (Number: 05179829) whose registered address is at 100 New Bridge Street, London, EC4V 6JA. VAT number: GB 855349007.
TravelJigsaw Limited is part of Booking Holdings Inc., the world leader in online travel & related services.

I'm no expert in such matters; but I guess you would claim an unfair contract clause. Given that Thrifty only charged the first 72 hours, TravelJigsaw are profiteering from the whole booking amount. OP would need to save copies of all the T&Cs, both Thrifty and Booking.com (travelJigsaw)

Like I said I'm no expert, they will obviously claim you failed to follow their T&Cs correctly etc, but it might be worth a shot if the OP was up for the challenge.

EveryWhere

Rebeccaandpeter wrote: »

Hi all

My family and I have just returned from a 16 day trip in Romania and we’re now over £400 out of pocket thanks to a Booking.com car hire debacle, I just wanted to share my experience and understand if other people are well aware of this and get any advice on what to do next?

Essentially we booked a Thifty car for 15 days via Booking.com, I use that site all the time to book my accommodation so it felt ok to book for car hire too. We paid £280 for 15 days hire for an intermediate car and paid in full in advance. Unfortunately on the day of collection we were 90 minutes late to pick up the car as per the time on the booking (the significance of this didn’t occur to me at the time) but on arrival at the agent we were immediately told by Thifty that they only hold the car for 60 minutes even if the booking is fully paid for and then they release the reservation and effectively give the car to the someone one. Furthermore they had no other cars available at all and I was dismissed with a shrug (and told that I’d get refunded) and told to try and get a car from another agency.

I was absolutely shocked at this and was left in an airport with my two young children (and facing a three hour drive to get to our booked accommodation) and no car for the duration, being the busy August school holidays I was horrified about how much a replacement car might cost. These fears were well founded and I was getting quoted utter silly amounts by other agencies (£850+) and on price comparison websites, eventually Sixt Car Rental were able to offer us a much smaller basic model Opel Corsa for £400 which we reluctantly took.

After securing a replacement vehicle I went back to my pre-printed voucher and booking details – which doesn’t mention at all the importance of being within 61 minutes of you voucher time otherwise you will lose the reservation. The smaller terms and conditions through Booking.com directed me to Thirfty’s specific terms and conditions which in all fairness does talk about not being there on time is considered a no show in their eyes and they will release the booking, and the booker would be subject to pay the first 72 hours rental period. After reading these I reluctantly thought I’d lose some of my money, but when I phoned Booking.com (which is actually a front for Rental Cars.com – I didn’t even know this!) they said flatly that their terms and conditions are that I am not entitled to any refund of monies paid (regardless of the more favourable T&Cs of the specific rental firm) and I forfeited all 15 days’ worth of rental.

I find this absolutely staggering! I since googled the subject and car firms releasing booking due to even short periods of lateness is not exactly uncommon, but forfeiting 15 days’ worth of the rental fees for being just over an hour late is ludicrous! I’m most angry about the fact that this is not put front and centre in the important information when booking online, nor is it even mentioned on the paperwork you get given (you have to trawl through small print which is still very unspecific and doesn’t mentioned actual timefrimes – after all why would you choose to book via an agent and pay in full when there’s a very realistic risk that your travel plans could mildly change and leave you so vastly out of pocket! Also if a booking agents T&Cs override that of the specific rental firm then this is not clearly stated, why put them both side by side!

Has anyone else experienced this or heard of this practice? I will be complaining to Booking.com but do not expect it to make any difference to the outcome. I would like however to help avoiding this happening to anyone else (I had never heard of it). We tried not to let this very stressful experience spoil our holiday so unfortunately it has left a very sour taste and I am now nervous of making any future rental arrangements.

Thanks
Rebecca

The bit you missed out;

Cancellation of Fully Prepaid Bookings
If you cancel 48 hours or more before your rental is due to start, the money you’ve paid will be refunded.
If you cancel in the 48 hours period before pick-up, the money you’ve paid will be refunded, minus the cost of a 3 days rental:
if you had booked the car for less than 3 days, there won’t be any additional charge, but you won’t receive any refund.
If you fail to turn up at the agreed time and date, and/or to provide all the necessary documentation, and/or to provide a credit card with enough available funds on it, the car hire company may refuse you the car. If that happens:
if you call us from the counter, the money you’ve paid will be refunded, minus the cost of a 3 days rental
if you do not call us from the counter, you’ll receive no refund.

I'm guessing that you didn't call them from the counter.