Easirent car rental- misled?
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Selpmiszk
Posts: 1 Newbie
Good evening all
On 6th November '17, I purchased car rental from Easirent online for around £50. I was very happy with this amount and thought it was extremely reasonable. It was by far the cheapest around.
Later that morning, I had read all the details provided to me online, I gathered the relevant documents and headed into Manchester to pick up my car. I was informed that the excess- should anything happen- was £1250 which I had to provide a credit card so they could charge this as a deposit. After a lot of difficulty with my credit card, I was encouraged to pay extra for a reduction in this deposit amount despite my reluctance.
I asked the branch manager what the total cost of hire was and he gave me a number of around £100. I was disappointed because I could get hire for £70 with more reputable companies closer to where I lived. I believe confusing and misleading sales tactics were employed but nevertheless I agreed to pay this amount for the total cost altogether.
It is only until now that I have realised that this charge of ~£100 paid in branch was in addition to the ~£50 I had already paid online. I've contacted their customer services who provided me with an invoice that I signed stating the charges in full. I would like to add that I did not sign this invoice and the charges were not made clear to me. What I did sign was a little electronic box that had no text on it. They then applied my signature to this invoice that they have now emailed me.
I paid for all of this on my Virgin credit card. All I'm looking for is a refund of the ~£50 which would be in line with what I originally agreed in the branch.
Do I have a case?
Thanks in advance.
On 6th November '17, I purchased car rental from Easirent online for around £50. I was very happy with this amount and thought it was extremely reasonable. It was by far the cheapest around.
Later that morning, I had read all the details provided to me online, I gathered the relevant documents and headed into Manchester to pick up my car. I was informed that the excess- should anything happen- was £1250 which I had to provide a credit card so they could charge this as a deposit. After a lot of difficulty with my credit card, I was encouraged to pay extra for a reduction in this deposit amount despite my reluctance.
I asked the branch manager what the total cost of hire was and he gave me a number of around £100. I was disappointed because I could get hire for £70 with more reputable companies closer to where I lived. I believe confusing and misleading sales tactics were employed but nevertheless I agreed to pay this amount for the total cost altogether.
It is only until now that I have realised that this charge of ~£100 paid in branch was in addition to the ~£50 I had already paid online. I've contacted their customer services who provided me with an invoice that I signed stating the charges in full. I would like to add that I did not sign this invoice and the charges were not made clear to me. What I did sign was a little electronic box that had no text on it. They then applied my signature to this invoice that they have now emailed me.
I paid for all of this on my Virgin credit card. All I'm looking for is a refund of the ~£50 which would be in line with what I originally agreed in the branch.
Do I have a case?
Thanks in advance.
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Comments
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No you have no case, and if you hire cars regularly take out a 3rd party excess insurance policy which will give you a year's coverage for way under what a car company charge for a short period of hire.0
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3rd party excess cover is good but don't forget that the rental company will still hold a sizeable deposit on your card if you don't take their waiver. You would also usually have to pay the rental company should anything happen then claim it back from your insurance.0
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camelot1971 wrote: »3rd party excess cover is good but don't forget that the rental company will still hold a sizeable deposit on your card if you don't take their waiver. You would also usually have to pay the rental company should anything happen then claim it back from your insurance.
True, that's what I had to do in iItaly last year after someone damaged the lock trying to break into out hire car.0 -
I had a different situation with a car hire firm where the security deposit turned out to be an upgrade. I wrote to the company arguing that I was told that the money was taken off as a deposit that was refundable and not as an upgrade and that on the invoice it was not clear that it was an upgrade therefore I had been misled.
Got no reply, but raised a claim against the credit card company, sent a copy of the letter along with proof of posting to my card company and they refunded me. Might be worth trying the same?0 -
Just like the OP, I rented a car (from Heathrow branch) and paid the £1250 Holding Security Deposit. As I was using an American credit card, I thought nothing of it when they processed the card in US dollars and added a 3.50% foreign exchange fee.
It was only when I eventually received my credit card statement that I realised that Easirent had processed the deposit as a SALE and not as a PRE-AUTHORISED HOLDING DEPOSIT.
When I queried this with the branch manager (Stuart Riddick), he told me, in writing, that I would get my deposit back within 10 business days.
Well, I paid the deposit in January 2018 and it is now August 2018. I have emailed a number of times and included the managing director (Paul Hanley) in my correspondence.
After a number of emails, I have now received a PARTIAL refund of the money they took from me and since they no longer reply to my emails, I must conclude that they are going to keep the rest, which I consider to be THEFT.
Although it is not in their Terms & Conditions, the branch manager told me that due to the length of the car hire, they charged the £1250 as a SALE and not a HOLDING DEPOSIT but nevertheless, it should have been returned to me when I brought back the car, which was at the end of March 2018.
Now I am left with no option but to SUE for the rest of my money PLUS compensation and interest.
Ironically, I am currently in the USA which means that when this matter goes to court, for which I shall be in attendance, I shall also be charging my travelling expenses, which will run into thousands of pounds as short-notice flights back to the UK are expensive. And even more ironic, I shall have to hire a car.
This is the second time that EASIRENT failed to immediately fully refund a deposit without nagging and both refundable deposits related to the same transaction.
Steer clear of EASIRENT unless you want to be fleeced.0 -
Now I am left with no option but to SUE for the rest of my money PLUS compensation and interest.
Ironically, I am currently in the USA which means that when this matter goes to court, for which I shall be in attendance, I shall also be charging my travelling expenses, which will run into thousands of pounds as short-notice flights back to the UK are expensive. And even more ironic, I shall have to hire a car.
This is the second time that EASIRENT failed to immediately fully refund a deposit without nagging and both refundable deposits related to the same transaction.
Steer clear of EASIRENT unless you want to be fleeced.
If you are using the Small Claims Court there is a very strict table of expenses which can be claimed, so don't get too carried away!0 -
You do not have to attend personally in the small claims courts, you have no chance of claiming such ridiculous expenses.0
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