Avis/Budget rental and a New Home

[TerryE]

This is really a bit of a rant and lessons learnt.  First of all our 04 Volvo S50 Estate's clutch is going.  Lovely car; bodywork and comfort excellent, but the engine has done 150K miles and is getting clapped out.  So we needed a hire care at short notice and choose Budget, and paid online.  An hour later the  "Oh shit" moment: we'd sent our licences off to the DVLA to get the address changed when we moved in to the new house.  They hadn't arrived back yet.  So Jan decided to try a photocopy of her DL and passport as they often do an online check of the licence anyway.  No good: a hour later she returns.

 

A quick check of the "Booking Terms and Conditions: Please see the Booking Conditions for more details on cancelling your booking, the associated charges and how to claim any refund you may be entitled to" and also through the booking dialogue; this was the only T&Cs that had agreed to.  This only states that the renter must hold a current DL, and doesn't state that she or he must present the original.  A call the customer service number:

• Can we have a refund or part refund? No. Can you explain where in the agreement that entered into online that my wife had to present her original DL? No, it's in our General T&Cs.
• OK, you asked me to confirm the Booking Conditions, but can you tell me where on the website or booking process you make them available for inspection? No. You get them when you pick up the car. 
• So you are using a document that you haven't given me and can refer me to as a reason to refuse a rental and them you are with-holding refund for reasons that lie outside the agreement that we entered into? You wont get you money back.  This is a non-refundable booking.
• Will you please confirm this in writing?  No
• OK if the DL arrives in the post later today or tomorrow say, can we at least have the car from the remainder of the term?  Unlikely, but you need to check with the local office.  If the customer doesn't pick up the car at the agreed time then it is normally reassign for hire.

I managed to remain polite and rational through all this, but I was steaming by the time I put down the phone.  15 mins later the post arrives with Jan and my DLs.  Another call this time to the hiring desk:

• We were refused pick of a car this morning because not having possession of an original valid licence. It's now turned up, will we still be able to pick up the car?  (This is at 13:30 when the scheduled pick up was at 11:00)  Yes; cars are normally held on the same day. 
• But you say that you've just changed your address?  Is your address on the DL the same as on the Electoral Register?   No, we've only just moved in.  In that case you will also need to bring two bank statements official letters proving that the driver resides at the address.  Where does it say this?  ....

As it happened the lady at the desk didn't ask for the proofs that Jan took with her just in case. So we now have the car.

 

Two lessons from this:

 

1. Be aware of the pitfalls of changing address.  Yes you need to do it, but stagger things like changing DLs, just in case you get stuck in a denial of service.
2. If a company has preconditions for the sale of a service then it should be upfront and clear about these -- say as a simple checklist before you buy the service.  Any company whose position is that they can sell a a non-refundable service under T&Cs that they don't make available to the buyer before or during the sale are dishonest and possibly acting illegally.  IMO,  Avis / Budget fall into the category, and I would never use them again.

 

 

[ProDave]

The DL is in 2 parts now, the paper bit (that seems to last forever) and the plastic bit with your photo that needs renewing every few years.

 

Which bit did you send off for the change of address? Would the hire firm not have accepted the other bit?

[vivienz]

Well, that doesn't do your blood pressure much good, does it?  Pleased you got it sorted, but definitely a salutory lesson.

[Hecateh]

The pap

4 minutes ago, ProDave said:

The DL is in 2 parts now, the paper bit (that seems to last forever) and the plastic bit with your photo that needs renewing every few years.

 

The paper bit is no longer part of your license and is no longer issued

[jack]

We booked flights to France with Ryan Air a few years ago and were offered a cheap hire-car booking for the time we were away as part of the booking process. It was a really good deal, so I booked it.

 

When I went to pick up the car, I was told that I'd need to pay the deposit, and that they'd take the cost of a full tank of fuel out of the deposit when I returned the car. Querying this, I was told that the agreement I'd "signed" on the way through the booking had confirmed that I would have to pay for a full tank of fuel upon arrival. I couldn't believe this was true, so went and did some research when I got where we were going. Sure enough, I'd been told the truth by the agent. The tank of fuel condition was buried somewhere down in a 40 page terms and conditions document, which was only accessible at the actual time you were making the booking. I was absolutely seething, because we weren't going to need to drive more then 30-40 miles while we were there, so I'd effectively be paying for a full tank of fuel that I'd only be using a small proportion of.

I will avoid Ryanair unless I literally have no choice. Hire car companies are all shocking, so I haven't bothered crossing this one off the list.

[TerryE]

It's the arrogance and illogicality that really annoys me.

• Person A enters into agreement with company B to rent a car under which the payment is non refundable for a set of conditions detailed in X.
• Yet company B's position is that the eventual rental will by under a set of T&Cs Y, so if the company B decides to deny the service to A because of a failure of a condition in Y (which A hasn't yet agreed to), then B feels entirely entitled to keep the money.

The second point is as Jack says.  Avis/Budget have now gone paperless, so Jan was presented with an on-screen rendering of a PDF document that she was supposed to read (by doing repeated page down) and then sign at the bottom.  "Don't worry we will email you a copy of the signed PDF", said the desk agent.  In other words you either stand for 20 mins in line or alternatively only get an opportunity to read the contract once you have signed it.  And by the previous logic, if you don't find the terms acceptable you lose the money anyway.

 

The phrase "bunch of crooks" comes to mind.