Letter of complaint to car hire company. CENTAURO AND AUTOEUROPE

Jrterror

Hi everyone

I am looking for advise on what to write to the car hire company that we recently attempted to use earlier in August. We were terribly let down by these companies and im formulating a letter of complaint. 

Before I do this, I want to gain a better understanding of some of the financial details how how brokers interact with the actual car hire company. 

I will try and keep the detail to a minimum for now. Im more than happy to give a more detailed account if necessary.

So, here we go!

Whilst still in the UK, through the AutoEurope web site, we booked seven days car hire, picking up from Milan Malpensa Airport and returning to the same place. The actual care hire company was CENTAURO. 

Whilst filling out the form to hire the vehicle, there was a box into which we were supposed to enter the flight details. We supplied the flight number. One would assume that this was so that they could monitor the flight and take any necessary actions.

One the day, on our way to the airport, we learned that our flight was delayed slighlty, but not enough to push us past the pick up time of the hired car. We did the who security bit and got on the plane and settled into our seats, ready to take off. As routine dictates, we were told to switch phones off etc. However, we didn't take off and we were told that we would be delayed further. At this point its vital to add that whilst we waited, permission was not given by the pilot to use our phones. Therefore we could not contact the car hire company.

Upon arriving late to our destination of Malpensa Airport, we waited for the shuttle bus that was supposed to take us to the car hire depot. It didnt arrive. I tried calling various numbers stated in the documentation provided by CENTAURO, most of which were met by no answer. Eventually I did mange to get through to someone who said that they would investigate. Whilst still in the phone to this lady, upon seeing a shuttle bus for a different company, I chased it down and asked the driver where we should be waiting for our shuttle bus. To cut that part of the story short, he very kindly offered to take us to the depot. As we pulled up to the depot, a large yard situated behind a clump of trees, I was thinking it looks to be closed. The driver hurried us out of his minibus and I tried to communicate that that it looked shut. To no avail. He instead pointed us to the gates and gestured to go to the gates. At which point he drove off. In hindsight, I should have tried and asked him to stay whilst we checked if it was indeed open. But language barriers and the haste of the situation stopped me from doing so. The hire company was closed. Another conversation with a less than helpful individual from either AutoEurope or Centauro (I cant remember who) forced us to realise that were were now in the middle of nowhere, around an hours walk from the airport and 30 miles from our hotel in Milan. And no one was going to aid us. We called for a taxi, knowing that it was going to cost a fortune. An hour later and at a cost of €99 we finally arrived at our hotel. 

I called CENTAURO the following day to not only complain, but to try and organise the pick up of a car, only to be told that we couldn't pick up a car and that the hire had been canceled. Obviously, I tried explaining that the situation was out of our control. They said, we had not contacted them to say that our flight had been delayed. I countered by saying that we couldn't contact them, phone use had been prohibited. I also asked why do they take your flight details if they are not going to use them in situations such as this. Obviously, I received no answer to this. 

They then said that because I booked through a broker, I need to take it up with them. There was the suggestion that CENTAURO had not received payment from the broker AutoEurope and that is why they had canceled the booking. I don't know how and when the transfer of funds takes place, so couldn't pursue that at the time. I called AutoEurope and they just 'washed their hands' of us.we ended writing it off and going with a different car hire company and picking up from mmilan central.  

So, a number of questions

1. When one makes a booking through a broker (in this case AutoEurope) at which point is the money transferred to the actual car hire company? (CENTAURO)

I paid AutoEurope. If my booking was canceled by CENTAURO, did they receive my payment from AutoEurope? Or have AutoEurope still got my money?

To me, (especially if CENTAURO did indeed receive my payment via AutoEurope) then that vehicle was hired for an entire week. I'd paid for a weeks hire and just because I didnt use it for one of those days, shouldn't mean that I can no longer use it. Its absurd. 

2. Why would AutoEurope at the time of booking take the flight details, if they were not going to use them to the advantage of its paying customers? If my flight had been delayed in flight, which incidentally has happened to us once before because of local thunderstorms, there would have been no way of contacting the car hire company, because phone use is prohibited in flight, and may possibly not connect anyway. Surely the car hire company should have been monitoring the flight and take the necessary steps to ensure that their valued and paying customers can pick up their vehicle without any added stress?

3. Who should I be contacting first regarding this issue. AutoEurope or CENTAURO. Or should I infect be reaching out to a third party of some description? 

Many thanks for takingbthe time to read this.

DG

Isthisforreal99

I'll keep it brief, you are wasting your time.

born_again

https://www.ecrcs.com/

Read the T/C of hire agreement. Many have a part that if you are late, then the hire is cancelled & wanting a car would be a new booking.

Jrterror

Hi. 
I must admit, It was my hope that someone would be willing to at least answer one if my questions.
Perhaps the first question 

When one makes a booking through a broker (in this case AutoEurope) at which point is the money transferred to the actual car hire company? (CENTAURO). Is it upon collection of the vehicle? 

I paid AutoEurope. If my booking was canceled by CENTAURO, did they receive my payment from AutoEurope? Or have AutoEurope still got my money?...

Renfrewman

Jrterror said:

Hi. 
I must admit, It was my hope that someone would be willing to at least answer one if my questions.
Perhaps the first question 

When one makes a booking through a broker (in this case AutoEurope) at which point is the money transferred to the actual car hire company? (CENTAURO). Is it upon collection of the vehicle? 

I paid AutoEurope. If my booking was canceled by CENTAURO, did they receive my payment from AutoEurope? Or have AutoEurope still got my money?...

Nobody knows the answers to your questions. Why would/could they?

Aylesbury_Duck

Jrterror said:

Hi. 
I must admit, It was my hope that someone would be willing to at least answer one if my questions.
Perhaps the first question 

When one makes a booking through a broker (in this case AutoEurope) at which point is the money transferred to the actual car hire company? (CENTAURO). Is it upon collection of the vehicle? 

I paid AutoEurope. If my booking was canceled by CENTAURO, did they receive my payment from AutoEurope? Or have AutoEurope still got my money?...

You're trying to reach a very niche audience with that question.  Only someone who works for either company will know the answer.

As for question 2, you're not a valued customer.  I suspect that by going through a broker, your business was hawked out to the lowest bidder, and the actual car hire company will make a tiny margin unless you buy any of their extras upon collection.  The sort of customer who uses a scraping tool to find the cheapest deal isn't likely to buy extras.  Overseas car rental through a scraper is one of those areas where buying on price isn't a good idea. Booking directly with a proper firm will often get you a decent price and by the time insurance, excess waiver, fuel, etc. are considered, the price isn't miles away from the supposed bargain you get from a budget hire firm.

For question 3, I doubt it matters which you contact first.  Each will refer you to the other.

If you didn't adhere to the terms (and I appreciate that the circumstances meant you couldn't, but that's no more the hire company's fault than it is yours) then I doubt you'll get anywhere.  

Grumpy_chap

born_again said:

https://www.ecrcs.com/

Read the T/C of hire agreement. Many have a part that if you are late, then the hire is cancelled & wanting a car would be a new booking.

It does not seem fair to me that a "no show" results in the loss of value of the full reservation period.  

The OP hired the car for 7 days.
Assume £50 per day.
That's £350.

EITHER THIS:
The OP was a "no show".
The reservation (in full) was then cancelled by the hire firm.
It seems reasonable that the first day of hire cost is chargeable to the OP.
However, for the other days, the car has been released and can be hired to another customer.  Hence, the final 6 days should be refunded to the OP.

OR THIS:
The OP was a "no show".
The reservation remains valid and the car remains reserved for the OP.
The OP can collect the car on day 2 and make use of the car for the remainder of the hire period.

It seems unfair to me that the whole period of the car hire can be cancelled (day late collection not allowed) yet the whole period of car hire fee is forfeited by the consumer.  I am not the forum expert on unfair contract terms.

There are some potential complications that would detract from the simple "refund 6 of 7 days fee":

• Standard fee might be reduced for a longer booking, so it would have to be a proportion of the actual rate, or adjusted for rate had the booking been only 6 days in the first place.
• Did the OP obtained a bargain rate in return for "no cancellation".  That brings us to a complexity that was recently discussed at length (in the context of a hotel reservation) but I assume the same arguments would apply for car hire:  https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6601716/non-refundable-hotel-booking-what-are-my-actual-rights/p1

Another thing to check is that the OP has actually paid for / been charged for the car hire in full.  I assume they have - paid (via CC) when making the booking.  Just worth verifying as sometimes, charges might only be taken when the booking is fulfilled.

With regard to S75, if there was no breach by the car hire firm, then there is no breach to pursue via S75.

Does the OP have travel insurance that covers their loss?

Jrterror

Renfrewman said:

Jrterror said:

Hi. 
I must admit, It was my hope that someone would be willing to at least answer one if my questions.
Perhaps the first question 

When one makes a booking through a broker (in this case AutoEurope) at which point is the money transferred to the actual car hire company? (CENTAURO). Is it upon collection of the vehicle? 

I paid AutoEurope. If my booking was canceled by CENTAURO, did they receive my payment from AutoEurope? Or have AutoEurope still got my money?...

Nobody knows the answers to your questions. Why would/could they?

Hi. I suppose that i was hoping that someone upon this forum would have experience of working within an insurance broker and/or a car hire company.  
To what end you may ask.
Im trying to get a better understanding of which of the two companies, AutoEurope or Centauro would have would have got my payment. 
For example, when we didn't pick up the car at the specified pick up time, was my money already in the bank of the Centauro, the car hire company? If so, it is with Centauro that I need to make my case.
If my payment never got any further than AutoEurope, and it was never passed onto the car hire company, then I need to make my case to AutoEurope.

Yes, understand that most of you will think that I'm wasting my time. But, I'm stubborn and will pursue it. 
Many years ago, I made a successful complaint against a large utility company here in the UK that was in breach of its own terms and conditions. (I'll spare you the details)
It took a lot of investigation and quite a bit of learning about consumer law, but in the end it was all worth it. 
I know that some people will say, and already have, that there will be something within the their terms and conditions that will allow them to take such action. However, I am a firm believer that if something is morally wrong, its morally wrong no matter what their terms and conditions state as a get out clause working in their favour. 
Sometimes we can we can appeal to a person's better nature and it be successful.
Thanks
DG

Jrterror

Grumpy_chap said:

born_again said:

https://www.ecrcs.com/

Read the T/C of hire agreement. Many have a part that if you are late, then the hire is cancelled & wanting a car would be a new booking.

It does not seem fair to me that a "no show" results in the loss of value of the full reservation period.  

The OP hired the car for 7 days.
Assume £50 per day.
That's £350.

EITHER THIS:
The OP was a "no show".
The reservation (in full) was then cancelled by the hire firm.
It seems reasonable that the first day of hire cost is chargeable to the OP.
However, for the other days, the car has been released and can be hired to another customer.  Hence, the final 6 days should be refunded to the OP.

OR THIS:
The OP was a "no show".
The reservation remains valid and the car remains reserved for the OP.
The OP can collect the car on day 2 and make use of the car for the remainder of the hire period.

It seems unfair to me that the whole period of the car hire can be cancelled (day late collection not allowed) yet the whole period of car hire fee is forfeited by the consumer.  I am not the forum expert on unfair contract terms.

There are some potential complications that would detract from the simple "refund 6 of 7 days fee":

• Standard fee might be reduced for a longer booking, so it would have to be a proportion of the actual rate, or adjusted for rate had the booking been only 6 days in the first place.
• Did the OP obtained a bargain rate in return for "no cancellation".  That brings us to a complexity that was recently discussed at length (in the context of a hotel reservation) but I assume the same arguments would apply for car hire:  https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6601716/non-refundable-hotel-booking-what-are-my-actual-rights/p1

Another thing to check is that the OP has actually paid for / been charged for the car hire in full.  I assume they have - paid (via CC) when making the booking.  Just worth verifying as sometimes, charges might only be taken when the booking is fulfilled.

With regard to S75, if there was no breach by the car hire firm, then there is no breach to pursue via S75.

Does the OP have travel insurance that covers their loss?

Hi Grumpy_chap
Tha k you very much for your reply.
I feel like you are on my wave length.😁

You referred to S75. What is this?

Yes, I did pay for the car hire via Credit Card and the payment has been taken from the account

I do have travel insurance. However, I've not done any investigations yet to see if the insurance would cover this. I am planning on doing so.

Thanks again. 
DG

Grumpy_chap

Jrterror said:

You referred to S75. What is this?

S75 is a process which can make the CC equally liable for any breach of contract / consumer rights as the supplier.  
Obviously, first it has to be established that there has been a breach and that is not certain in this case.
Second, S75 requires a "supplier - creditor - debtor" relationship and that may not exist in this case depending upon the status of AutoEurope and Centauro. 
Are AutoEurope merely an agent?  
Who is your actual contract with?

Jrterror said:

Im trying to get a better understanding of which of the two companies, AutoEurope or Centauro would have would have got my payment. 
For example, when we didn't pick up the car at the specified pick up time, was my money already in the bank of the Centauro, the car hire company? If so, it is with Centauro that I need to make my case.
If my payment never got any further than AutoEurope, and it was never passed onto the car hire company, then I need to make my case to AutoEurope.

I suspect it is very unlikely that anyone outside the commercial teams within the two organisations will know the answers as to when the funds transfer between AutoEurope and Centauro.  Not even the customer facing teams in the two businesses.  That all comes down to the payment terms between two companies which will be commercially sensitive information.

I am also not certain that who currently has your money makes any difference as to who you need to pursue.
Normally, you would need to pursue whichever party you have a contract with.  What does the paperwork say about that?

You have also not commented about what the terms and conditions say around cancellation / no show / rates for period, etc.  These are the first place to look to understand whether there are grounds for a claim and how that claim might be structured.

born_again

AutoEurope will have passed the funds to the actual hire company. As to the timing of this, that will depend on the contract with the hire co.
So no one will know exactly when.
As to where the money is now, all depends on the T/C of Centauro & where they stand on no shows.

S75 is not going to work, neither will a chargeback for non receipt as co will reject stating you did not turn up. If they did not reject. Then expect them to go legal to recover funds. 
You may also find that Centauro is part of one of the larger groups such as Avis.

Best bet is to dispute via the link I gave in my 1st post.