Very bad welcome at Knightsbridge by the two persons who were responsible
for EasyCar London Knightsbridge. No 'Hi' or 'Hello' to me. 30 min to get
the car even if it was an urgent matter. Also the car park is not easy to
reach and I almost failed to give the car back on time. The persons were not
even able to tell me which road to take to reach the M4. I was deeply
stressed by the EasyCar experience and everyone around me now know the rude
customer service and services you provided. I'm sorry to have to say that.
=============================
This has been sent to the EasyCar customer service and no response has been
given nor any apologize. This is the confirmation that this company doesn't
care of their customers like do their local car park managers.

Note : you need to pay if you change the hour of collection, no cancellation
possible, they charge £50 on your credit card then reimburse that later so
when you are a foreign person, you pay double-fees from your bank, they
don't refund your fuel in excess you put and worse they make you pay upto
£120 if you do not return the car back on time. This means that in fact
unless you know exactly how long it will take you to wait in a city
congestion, EasyCar is a high-cost car rental company.

On Thu, 23 Jan 2003 21:22:02 +0100, "Alain"
wrote:

    >Very bad welcome at Knightsbridge by the two persons who were responsible
    >for EasyCar London Knightsbridge. No 'Hi' or 'Hello' to me. 30 min to get
    >the car even if it was an urgent matter. Also the car park is not easy to
    >reach and I almost failed to give the car back on time. The persons were not
    >even able to tell me which road to take to reach the M4. I was deeply
    >stressed by the EasyCar experience and everyone around me now know the rude
    >customer service and services you provided. I'm sorry to have to say that.
    >=============================
    >This has been sent to the EasyCar customer service and no response has been
    >given nor any apologize. This is the confirmation that this company doesn't
    >care of their customers like do their local car park managers.
    >Note : you need to pay if you change the hour of collection, no cancellation
    >possible, they charge £50 on your credit card then reimburse that later so
    >when you are a foreign person, you pay double-fees from your bank, they
    >don't refund your fuel in excess you put and worse they make you pay upto
    >£120 if you do not return the car back on time. This means that in fact
    >unless you know exactly how long it will take you to wait in a city
    >congestion, EasyCar is a high-cost car rental company.

I always thought that if I ever use easycar I would book an extra day
in case I don't get the car back in time. Stellios has been on BBC's
watchdog program where there were complaints about this late charge.
It is now well known in the UK - and I think it's fair if you know
about it before hand.

Could you have done better with Hertz or Budget? Or anyone else? It's
always interesting to know the options.

Adrian

I can't believe how narrow minded you are in your comments about easy
car. I have successfully hired a car from them on 5 occasions and had
no problems what so ever.




"Alain" wrote in message news:...
    > Very bad welcome at Knightsbridge by the two persons who were responsible
    > for EasyCar London Knightsbridge. No 'Hi' or 'Hello' to me. 30 min to get
    > the car even if it was an urgent matter.

In my experience I have never waited more than 10 mins to get the car,
whereas at airports when I've hired from Hertz or Europcar I have
waited up to an hour to get a car.


Also the car park is not easy to
    > reach and I almost failed to give the car back on time.

They keep costs down by using slightly out of the way carparks. Yes I
struggled to find the car park at London Bridge, but it was only a
matter of looking for the street name on a map.

You only have your self to blame if you fail to return it on time, an
extra hour on easy car is usually less than £1, so why not add an
extra coupple of hours on. Driving in to london, you need to anyway.

The persons were not
    > even able to tell me which road to take to reach the M4.
I was deeply
    > stressed by the EasyCar experience and everyone around me now know the rude
    > customer service and services you provided. I'm sorry to have to say that.
    > =============================
    > This has been sent to the EasyCar customer service and no response has been
    > given nor any apologize. This is the confirmation that this company doesn't
    > care of their customers like do their local car park managers.
    >
    > Note : you need to pay if you change the hour of collection, no cancellation
    > possible, they charge £50 on your credit card then reimburse that later so
    > when you are a foreign person, you pay double-fees from your bank,

When I have hired abroad, I give them my debit card, this attracts
lower fees, and I have never noticed an excessive charge.


they
    > don't refund your fuel in excess you put
It works both ways, you could be left with free fuel when you pick up
a car. If it worries you put only small amount sin at a time.


and worse they make you pay upto
    > £120 if you do not return the car back on time.

Easycar can't charge the prices they do and have cars lying around not
being used. Therefore they need to ensure that cars are returned when
they expect it.


This means that in fact
    > unless you know exactly how long it will take you to wait in a city
    > congestion, EasyCar is a high-cost car rental company.

No, pay £2-3 extra for a few hours more.




Easy car does have major drawbacks, which should be offset by the
cheaper costs. If you want the flexibility to return a car late, not
have to worry about fuel, change the pick up time. If you want the
pick up location to be easy to find, then hire with Hertz or Avis.

In my opinion the biggest problem with easy car is the extra mileage
charge of 20p per mile of 75miles. This can cause the cost to
increase significantly. However it is easy to compare the costs with
an unlimited mileage company.

Another problem with Easycar was the reports that they were very quick
to charge credit cards for small amounts of damage. In the last few
months this has been adressed by removing all excess damage charges.
A positive move for the company.

Let us sit upon the ground and tell sad stories of [email protected] (Adrian
Sims) :


    >I always thought that if I ever use easycar I would book an extra day
    >in case I don't get the car back in time. Stellios has been on BBC's
    >watchdog program where there were complaints about this late charge.
    >It is now well known in the UK - and I think it's fair if you know
    >about it before hand.
    >Could you have done better with Hertz or Budget? Or anyone else? It's
    >always interesting to know the options.
    >Adrian

I hired a car in the UK in Sept through Hertz. A condition of a
budget airfare was spending A$300 on land content and I easily spent
that on car hire.

I found them very obliging. I asked if I could pick the car up from
the Luton city office rather than the airport. I sent an email and
phoned the airport depot confirming this - when I got to the Luton
city office they had no idea what I was talking about. However, they
gave me a spare car, upgraded me to the next size.

I was supposed to drop the car back in Luton however the weather on
the day I saw to drive from Stratford to Luton was appalling - gale
force winds and rain were forecast. I rang their Stratford depot to
see if I could drop the car there. Again, they were very obliging and
didn't charge me a fee.

I'd use them again.

All of your complaints are very widely publicised. EasyCar are a low-cost
car rental company and you get absolutely no 'added value' from them at
all. Their mileage allowance is stingy (extra miles expensive), staff are
surly and late-return charges extortionate. Generally they're good for
running around nearby towns, but not for long-distance travel. But you should
have known that if you read the terms & conditions.
If you want the flexibility, customer care and (significant) extra cost of a
traditional car rental firm you are free to choose one of them instead.

There are always catches with renting a Mercedes A Class for 5UKP a day !!!

(Hertz would've charged you at least 60UKP for the same, if not more)


    >On Thu, 23 Jan 2003 21:22:02 +0100, "Alain"
    >wrote:
    >>Very bad welcome at Knightsbridge by the two persons who were responsible
    >>for EasyCar London Knightsbridge. No 'Hi' or 'Hello' to me. 30 min to get
    >>the car even if it was an urgent matter. Also the car park is not easy to
    >>reach and I almost failed to give the car back on time. The persons were not
    >>even able to tell me which road to take to reach the M4. I was deeply
    >>stressed by the EasyCar experience and everyone around me now know the rude
    >>customer service and services you provided. I'm sorry to have to say that.
    >>=============================
    >>This has been sent to the EasyCar customer service and no response has been
    >>given nor any apologize. This is the confirmation that this company doesn't
    >>care of their customers like do their local car park managers.
    >>Note : you need to pay if you change the hour of collection, no cancellation
    >>possible, they charge £50 on your credit card then reimburse that later so
    >>when you are a foreign person, you pay double-fees from your bank, they
    >>don't refund your fuel in excess you put and worse they make you pay upto
    >>£120 if you do not return the car back on time. This means that in fact
    >>unless you know exactly how long it will take you to wait in a city
    >>congestion, EasyCar is a high-cost car rental company.

To sum up you get what you pay for so pay your money & take you choice.

"john stevens" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > I can't believe how narrow minded you are in your comments about easy
    > car. I have successfully hired a car from them on 5 occasions and had
    > no problems what so ever.
    > "Alain" wrote in message
news:...
    > > Very bad welcome at Knightsbridge by the two persons who were
responsible
    > > for EasyCar London Knightsbridge. No 'Hi' or 'Hello' to me. 30 min to
get
    > > the car even if it was an urgent matter.
    > In my experience I have never waited more than 10 mins to get the car,
    > whereas at airports when I've hired from Hertz or Europcar I have
    > waited up to an hour to get a car.
    > Also the car park is not easy to
    > > reach and I almost failed to give the car back on time.
    > They keep costs down by using slightly out of the way carparks. Yes I
    > struggled to find the car park at London Bridge, but it was only a
    > matter of looking for the street name on a map.
    > You only have your self to blame if you fail to return it on time, an
    > extra hour on easy car is usually less than £1, so why not add an
    > extra coupple of hours on. Driving in to london, you need to anyway.
    > The persons were not
    > > even able to tell me which road to take to reach the M4.
    > I was deeply
    > > stressed by the EasyCar experience and everyone around me now know the
rude
    > > customer service and services you provided. I'm sorry to have to say
that.
    > > =============================
    > > This has been sent to the EasyCar customer service and no response has
been
    > > given nor any apologize. This is the confirmation that this company
doesn't
    > > care of their customers like do their local car park managers.
    > >
    > > Note : you need to pay if you change the hour of collection, no
cancellation
    > > possible, they charge £50 on your credit card then reimburse that later
so
    > > when you are a foreign person, you pay double-fees from your bank,
    > When I have hired abroad, I give them my debit card, this attracts
    > lower fees, and I have never noticed an excessive charge.
    > they
    > > don't refund your fuel in excess you put
    > It works both ways, you could be left with free fuel when you pick up
    > a car. If it worries you put only small amount sin at a time.
    > and worse they make you pay upto
    > > £120 if you do not return the car back on time.
    > Easycar can't charge the prices they do and have cars lying around not
    > being used. Therefore they need to ensure that cars are returned when
    > they expect it.
    > This means that in fact
    > > unless you know exactly how long it will take you to wait in a city
    > > congestion, EasyCar is a high-cost car rental company.
    > No, pay £2-3 extra for a few hours more.
    > Easy car does have major drawbacks, which should be offset by the
    > cheaper costs. If you want the flexibility to return a car late, not
    > have to worry about fuel, change the pick up time. If you want the
    > pick up location to be easy to find, then hire with Hertz or Avis.
    > In my opinion the biggest problem with easy car is the extra mileage
    > charge of 20p per mile of 75miles. This can cause the cost to
    > increase significantly. However it is easy to compare the costs with
    > an unlimited mileage company.
    > Another problem with Easycar was the reports that they were very quick
    > to charge credit cards for small amounts of damage. In the last few
    > months this has been adressed by removing all excess damage charges.
    > A positive move for the company.

"john stevens" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > I can't believe how narrow minded you are in your comments about easy
    > car. I have successfully hired a car from them on 5 occasions and had
    > no problems what so ever.

I second your comments. I've hired from them on several occasions in the UK
and Switzerland and while I agree that the staff are not effusively
friendly, I have never had any problems with these so-called "hidden"
charges. Like most whiners about low-cost products, I'll wager the OP
didn't read the Ts&Cs properly before he rented. If you're not sure about
your return time, you can always extend (or shorten) your booking online.
If you're not sure about traffic issues, then get there EARLY and you won't
have a problem.

Alain: how much, in total, did your rental cost you, for how many days?

Peter

I've been thinking of using them during a one day layover in London. (For
those of you who responded to my earlier thread, we decided to take the
coward's route and fly mad->lhr on Saturday and lhr->bos on Sunday.) They
quote a rate of 9 pounds a day which drops to about half that when pick-up
and drop-off times are figured in. Alamo wants about 160 dollars for a
comparable rental.

I'd planned to pick the car up at LHR (could someone tell me if that is
convenient?), stay in a hotel near the airport and use the car to drive to
Windsor and back, dropping the car off before our flight. It looks to be
cheaper than the shuttle to the hotel (for 4) alone. I think I'll get in
under the minimum mileage so there shouldn't be an extra charge.

Is this reasonable? How can they rent cars at that rate and make money? (I'd
guess the profits are in the late fees and mileage.) How far is the pick-up
from the airport and is there a shuttle? Also does anyone have any comments
on the Comfort or Quality Inns at Heathrow? They look to be the cheapest
decent places listed in the area.

Thanks for putting up with all of the questions.

Bill Bordiuk

"Alain" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Very bad welcome at Knightsbridge by the two persons who were responsible
    > for EasyCar London Knightsbridge. No 'Hi' or 'Hello' to me. 30 min to get
    > the car even if it was an urgent matter. Also the car park is not easy to
    > reach and I almost failed to give the car back on time. The persons were
not
    > even able to tell me which road to take to reach the M4. I was deeply
    > stressed by the EasyCar experience and everyone around me now know the
rude
    > customer service and services you provided. I'm sorry to have to say that.
    > =============================
    > This has been sent to the EasyCar customer service and no response has
been
    > given nor any apologize. This is the confirmation that this company
doesn't
    > care of their customers like do their local car park managers.
    > Note : you need to pay if you change the hour of collection, no
cancellation
    > possible, they charge £50 on your credit card then reimburse that later so
    > when you are a foreign person, you pay double-fees from your bank, they
    > don't refund your fuel in excess you put and worse they make you pay upto
    > £120 if you do not return the car back on time. This means that in fact
    > unless you know exactly how long it will take you to wait in a city
    > congestion, EasyCar is a high-cost car rental company.

In article ,
Bill Bordiuk wrote:
    >coward's route and fly mad->lhr on Saturday and lhr->bos on Sunday.) They
    >quote a rate of 9 pounds a day which drops to about half that when pick-up
    >and drop-off times are figured in. Alamo wants about 160 dollars for a
    >comparable rental.
    >I'd planned to pick the car up at LHR (could someone tell me if that is
    >convenient?), stay in a hotel near the airport and use the car to drive to
    >Windsor and back, dropping the car off before our flight.

Easycar's "Heathrow" rental location is about 20 mins from the airport by
walking+tube. There isn't a 'shuttle' as such. You just catch the tube
to/from Hounslow West station.

    >How can they rent cars at that rate and make money? (I'd
    >guess the profits are in the late fees and mileage.)

Well, if you book on the day it'll cost 70 UKP upwards, thereby costing more
than (or the same as) Alamo etc. They make money from late bookers, people
who travel long distance.... their mileage allowance is very easy to exceed,
and it costs a lot when you go over.... having 90% car utilisation (most
rental firms only achieve nearer 50%), paying staff low wages, getting cheap
bulk purchases on their vehicles, making *you* clean the car, that sort of
thing. Still amazing that they manage it though!!

phil

I used them at Barcelona. the car was great and in really good condition

I didn't like the bright orange stickers on the side of the car which told
everyone I was a Tourist but I did find them friendly.

However, I would not use them again in Barcelona because it was so damn hard
to find the underground garage at which they were based - add to this the
25Euro taxi fare each way to the airport - just wasn't worth it....

john

"john stevens" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > I can't believe how narrow minded you are in your comments about easy
    > car. I have successfully hired a car from them on 5 occasions and had
    > no problems what so ever.
    > "Alain" wrote in message
news:...
    > > Very bad welcome at Knightsbridge by the two persons who were
responsible
    > > for EasyCar London Knightsbridge. No 'Hi' or 'Hello' to me. 30 min to
get
    > > the car even if it was an urgent matter.
    > In my experience I have never waited more than 10 mins to get the car,
    > whereas at airports when I've hired from Hertz or Europcar I have
    > waited up to an hour to get a car.
    > Also the car park is not easy to
    > > reach and I almost failed to give the car back on time.
    > They keep costs down by using slightly out of the way carparks. Yes I
    > struggled to find the car park at London Bridge, but it was only a
    > matter of looking for the street name on a map.
    > You only have your self to blame if you fail to return it on time, an
    > extra hour on easy car is usually less than £1, so why not add an
    > extra coupple of hours on. Driving in to london, you need to anyway.
    > The persons were not
    > > even able to tell me which road to take to reach the M4.
    > I was deeply
    > > stressed by the EasyCar experience and everyone around me now know the
rude
    > > customer service and services you provided. I'm sorry to have to say
that.
    > > =============================
    > > This has been sent to the EasyCar customer service and no response has
been
    > > given nor any apologize. This is the confirmation that this company
doesn't
    > > care of their customers like do their local car park managers.
    > >
    > > Note : you need to pay if you change the hour of collection, no
cancellation
    > > possible, they charge £50 on your credit card then reimburse that later
so
    > > when you are a foreign person, you pay double-fees from your bank,
    > When I have hired abroad, I give them my debit card, this attracts
    > lower fees, and I have never noticed an excessive charge.
    > they
    > > don't refund your fuel in excess you put
    > It works both ways, you could be left with free fuel when you pick up
    > a car. If it worries you put only small amount sin at a time.
    > and worse they make you pay upto
    > > £120 if you do not return the car back on time.
    > Easycar can't charge the prices they do and have cars lying around not
    > being used. Therefore they need to ensure that cars are returned when
    > they expect it.
    > This means that in fact
    > > unless you know exactly how long it will take you to wait in a city
    > > congestion, EasyCar is a high-cost car rental company.
    > No, pay £2-3 extra for a few hours more.
    > Easy car does have major drawbacks, which should be offset by the
    > cheaper costs. If you want the flexibility to return a car late, not
    > have to worry about fuel, change the pick up time. If you want the
    > pick up location to be easy to find, then hire with Hertz or Avis.
    > In my opinion the biggest problem with easy car is the extra mileage
    > charge of 20p per mile of 75miles. This can cause the cost to
    > increase significantly. However it is easy to compare the costs with
    > an unlimited mileage company.
    > Another problem with Easycar was the reports that they were very quick
    > to charge credit cards for small amounts of damage. In the last few
    > months this has been adressed by removing all excess damage charges.
    > A positive move for the company.

john E wrote:
    > However, I would not use them again in Barcelona because it was so damn
    > hard to find the underground garage at which they were based

Um, don't you know where it is now?

miguel
--
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