Car Trawler Registered in Ireland Dublin. Can I make a small claims proceeding ?

cafreem2

I have found my easyjet booking is not with Easyjet it is with Car trawler, even though it was booked through Easyjet. They are registered in Dublin Ireland, so do I need to start a small claims procedure against them in Ireland ?  This was our experience.

Our Easyjet flight EZS1492 was planned to leave 11:20 BHX and arrived at GVA 14:00, please find attached evidence of flight delay. The pilot said the delay was due to Easyjet staff shortages. The majority of this delay occurred once we were sitting on the plane with a small amount of delay while waiting to board. Our flight number was included on our car hire booking. A call to the number on the booking resulted in a looped voice message and ended the call. The booking contract stated that the car hire companies desk opening times were between 08:00 and 22:00 Saturdays, please see attached extract from contract still online and available.

We arrived at Geneva 14:33, we split up so my wife collected our baggage and I went to collect the car, I arrived at the car collection desk at 14:55

I found the car hire desk was closed with a temporary opening hours sign, we have a photo of this if it helps, it stated the desk would be closed at 2pm. Easyjet failed here to align it's car hire booking opening hours Sat – 08.00 – 22.00 with the actual opening hours of the car hire provider of until 14:00pm. We still arrived to collect the car within a reasonable period after planned collection considering the stated opening hours.

We found other people in the same situation, we are in contact with them.

We made many calls to different numbers to try and rectify the situation but we could only get in automatic voice mail loops with finally calls being ended, we finally looked at alternative options to travel to our accommodation, with the only alternative being to hire another car for 1 day and return the next day to collect our originally hired vehicle. The only available from Geneva was the Merc from Hertz Switzerland. We booked the car for 1 day with the intention of contacting Thrifty / Car Trawler on Sunday to swap.

We then discovered that the Sunday opening times for the Thrifty desk was not as advertised (08.00 – 22.30). They were closed on Sunday too. 

On Monday 21st Feb we finally made contact with Car Trawler, they advised us that there was no vehicle availability to return the vehicle and swap it for our original booking therefore we had no alternative but to extend the Hertz car hire for the rest of the week. The Car Trawler help desk person clearly asked us to keep receipts as we would be able to claim the difference in cost Between our Hertz car hire and our Car Trawler (Easyjet Car Rental) booking on our return.

I drove to Cluses taking 1/2 day of my holiday as it was required to extend the car hire booking until the end of our stay.

Voyager2002

Switzerland has just about the best public transport anywhere in the world, so the claim that you had "no alternative" but to hire another car is ludicrous.

Incidentally your minor flight delay is irrelevant: even if you had landed at precisely 14.00 you could not have reached a desk that closed at 14.00.

Westin

Not sure why you are so keen to go straight to court.

A court will expect you to make some effort to resolve the dispute before bothering them.  Court proceedings should be the last resort.

Back to the closed car rental desk at Geneva. I find it strange in the peak of ski season that they would close at 14:00 (instead of the advertised 22:00). Are you sure this was not just a 'closed for lunch' or 'back in 10 mins' sign.  If indeed closed for the day then normally there would be some type of out of hours contact or procedure to follow (like proceed to car parking lot, attendant there at kiosk).

Dollar/Thrifty advertise their airport location open 07:00-23:30 daily. More in keeping with what i would expect at a major airport during ski season. https://www.gva.ch/en/Site/Passagers/Acces-Transports/Location-voitures/Suisse/Thrifty 

TELLIT01

If you booked through EasyJet, your contract is with EasyJet and it is them you need to chase.

sheramber

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6340486/easyjet-car-hire-under-1-hour-late-but-desk-closed-and-no-refund-or-compensation#latest

brianposter

Unless there is something missing from the OP"s account, it is a straightforward court claim against Easyjet. It is up to Easyjet to claim recompense from CarTrawler.