SHARP PRACTICE ?

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

I had booked our flights from France to UK and at the time of the booking, also booked a car hire for onward travel from the airline.

Our flight was delayed for more than 3 hours due to the UK being blanketed in fog but to their credit, Ryan Air gave us snack vouchers to tide us over.

We arrived at Manchester airport, and caught the shuttle bus to the off airport car hire “offices”.  On checking in, we were told that our booking was cancelled as we were late on arrival and that in spite of widespread fog, we were supposed to tell the car hire company that we were going to be late.  As part of the booking, I had to supply the flight details, flight number etc. We lost the full cost of the car hire at that point.  We had to re-book another car (surprise, a more expensive car than had originally been booked).  At the desk, we were told to claim back via Ryanair.

Ryanair refused to refund the initial booking, but said that we should try Booking.com as RA had passed our booking to them.

Booking.com refused to refund and they said that it was the car hire company Greenmotion.com who should re-fund. Their comment was read the Small Print. If you book through another company, you are allowed to be 2 hours late. If you book direct, 4 hours.

Now imagine just how many pages of Small Print are involved between the 3 booking agencies (Ryanair,Booking.com and Greenmotion.com).

I can’t see how that is not Sharp practice when I had paid up front the full amount. Greenmotion were on a win.win that day as I expect most of their trade came from Manchester airport passengers.

Bob

[howardbParticipant @howardb]

I suggest you put a stinker of a comment up on https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/greenmotion.com like this comment and see if they contact you.

ABSOLUTE CON ARTISTS
Absolute con artists.

Our rental cost $400 which we paid through Expedia, on arrival there’s a 30 minute wait because everyone is arguing about the additional MANDATORY charges

50 bucks a day 3rd party liability, 20 a day for tolls meaning an ADDITIONAL $367

They wouldn’t refund us the 400 we’d paid so we literally had zero choice

AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE

 

Date of experience: 13 February 2025

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

Howard – I had already done that and just added my review like the others. Greenmotion aren’t bothered about bad publicity.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

talk to trading standards and BBC Watchdog.

[Paul LousickParticipant @paullousick59116]

What has this to do with model engineering ????????????

[roy entwistleParticipant @royentwistle24699]

Paul  It is in the tea room so anything goes.

Roy

[howardbParticipant @howardb]

If you want to progress this I would consider using money claim online which is the online service of the UK small claims court system.

It still works if you live in France but your claim is based on a monetary loss in the UK.

https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome

 

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

My advice is be more careful next time!

Who is at fault here?

• Act of god; by blanketing the UK in fog, the deity caused the delay.  Good luck chasing him for money.
• Three different service providers were contracted by Bob, each with conditions covering what happens when things go wrong.  The small-print defines both customer and supplier responsibilities.   No-one should be surprised to find commercial organisations are keen to keep their costs down.  Caveat emptor!
• Despite at least one of the 3 companies named having a reputation for not compensating distressed customers, the customer chose to use them.  The customer becomes responsible by taking the risk.
• The customer didn’t read the small-print, and became exposed as a result!  Most seriously, he failed to tell the car supplier that he was delayed and thus broke the contract.

My sympathies are with Bob.  Him ending up being the only one I can see legally in the wrong is the result of the providers employing smart lawyers to cover themselves.   And they can be very sharp indeed!  I hate small-print.  It being a friend of Satan, read carefully whenever a significant commitment is made, and look for customer responsibilities!

I don’t think there’s a way to get recompense beyond complaining loudly and playing the sympathy card. Worth trying if there’s nothing better to do!  Howard suggests Money Claim Online, but that’s another maze of small-print, and it’s not clear Bob has a claim through them.   The hassle potential is too high for me – if this ended up in court, god forbid, Bob might find himself facing a counter-claim. Due him not releasing the car, the hire company lost money because they couldn’t lend it to another customer…

My daughter told me of a interesting counter example.  A colleague bought a ridiculously cheap flight – £4.99 return to Barcelona, off-peak.  Airlines offer these as a way of reducing losses when flights are under-booked.   There was a problem with the aircraft, causing a 12 hour delay.  For £4.99 this lucky customer was put up at a 5* hotel and on return qualified for over £400 in compensation.  Some days you are the statue, others the pigeon!

Dave

 

[howardbParticipant @howardb]

Greenmotion outlets are franchised from Green Motion Car and Van Rental Limited a UK registered  company.

“each and every one of its locations in operation around the world being owned and operated by skilled business professionals”

So the business behind the Greenmotion car hire outlet at Manchester Airport could be anybody, to find out who is operating it, you have to ask Greenmotion!

“Details of each individual master country franchisee may be provided following written request”

https://greenmotion.com/franchise

From my time in business I remember that the owner(s) or parent company details have to be displayed in a place that customers can see it, but the average customer renting a car isn’t going to be aware of that.

As Dave says – forget getting involved with this bunch.

 

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

My complaint is that I had to forfeit the total cost of hire. I mean if you bought an expensive tool on-line – say from one of our cherished suppliers,  and they said pick it up between 10 and 14:00, you would not expect them to show you the door if you turned up late.  It’s all in the SMALL PRINT – and who has time for that ??  Do any of these “smart readers” red small print and summarise to English talk ??

bob

[Russell EberhardtParticipant @russelleberhardt48058]

We had a problem with Ryanair a few Christmases ago.  This is the text of a complaint I sent to Ryanair:

I am writing to inform you of the appalling way my wife, myself, and four other elderly and disabled passengers were treated by Ryanair and the Omniserve ground staff which caused us all to miss our flight.

My wife and I arrived at Stanstead airport at 10:34 am. As my wife was in her wheelchair and required the use of her portable oxygen concentrator, we had booked special assistance including the lift for boarding the plane. We went straight to the special assistance desk and registered there and waited for assistance to get to the gate. Someone duly came and took us to gate 30 before it opened and told us to wait just in front of the gate where someone would come to board us.

After some time the Ryanair gate staff arrived and I spoke to one of them to ask if we were to be boarded before or after the other passengers. I was told to just wait and someone would come to take the now six of us to the lift. I must point out that we were waiting in full view of the gate staff about two metres in front of the gate.

When all the normal passengers had been through the gate I again asked when we would be boarded and was told that someone would come soon. Shortly afterwards, and without a word to us, they closed the gate. Another member of Ryanair staff came and told us that the gate was closed and we were being denied boarding and that someone would come and take us back through security so that we could make alternative flight arrangements. He then left all six of us were left for the next hour or more with no communication. My wife was in tears and very distressed as she only had one day extra of medication and would need continuous flow oxygen for night time and we didn’t know when we would be able to get back get back.

Eventually an Omniserve employee arrived. He didn’t seem to know what was going on but kindly took us all back through security and to the Special Assistance desk where we had started our day.

After another long wait Tom Bradley (Omniserve duty manager) and his assistant arrived and set about arranging alternative flights and other transport. He was most helpful and understanding and arranged flights for my wife and I to Toulouse the next day and a taxi to take us from there to Carcasson airport to collect our car. As our daughter still had the oxygen concentrator that was hired for our stay I arranged for her to collect us and to spend another night with them. We eventually left the airport at 17:00 having spent six and a half hours in worry and discomfort.

Ryanair did not reply to that communication so I contacted Omniserve who believed that Ryanair where responsible but agreed to give us compensation which they would try to recover from Ryanair.  They also paid us 250 euro each under EU regulation EC 261/2004 which states that passengers who are denied boarding are entitled to compensation of €250 per person.

It pays to be persistent

Russell.

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

Hi Russell, I am out of pocket for about £240 and although I am not rich, I can and will take the hit (Its in the small print) – same as when I parked my car on our own piece of land and got a parking fine from an independent parking company. In that case the writing was on the wall (Literally!). I went to both the parking company and the ombudsman without success.  I am afraid we are in a money grabbing society and AI isn’t going to make it any better any time soon.

On a lighter note, we brought our 1932 Austin 7 from UK to France via Portsmouth and Brittany Ferries. We had broken down near Hazelmere and had recovery by the AA who efficiently took us to the boarding ramp of the ferry terminal.

Brittany ferries were quite happy to tow us onto the ship and said we would be last to board.  Time passed and all the lorry / cars boarded and as it was getting near to departure time, I went back to the booking office and asked when we would board – panic, sorry forgot about you.  Go back to car and a tow vehicle will arrive. It surely did,  one of the tugs for loading the big 32ton trailers!  I already had the tow rope attached to the Austin and we swiftly passed customs, security and other lines of boarding vehicles for different ships. All ended well and even debarkation in France where a friend with trailer was waiting for us. Happy days

Bob

[Russell EberhardtParticipant @russelleberhardt48058]

Do you still run your Austin 7 here?  Must be a great car for local use and no need for a CT.

I sold my four vintage and PVT cars to boost my retirement fund when taking early retirement and moving here.  I had four cars ranging from a 1929/34 Austin 7 special to a Fraser Nash.  Still wish I hadn’t sold the Nash, it would be great to drive in the Pyrenees.

Russell

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

After 50 years of ownership, we have passed her onto an Austin collector here in France. Sold the 7 on a Monday and bought a ’79 mini the same week.

Bob

[Speedy Builder5]

On Speedy Builder5 Said:

My complaint is that I had to forfeit the total cost of hire. I mean if you bought an expensive tool on-line – say from one of our cherished suppliers,  and they said pick it up between 10 and 14:00, you would not expect them to show you the door if you turned up late.  It’s all in the SMALL PRINT – and who has time for that ??  Do any of these “smart readers” red small print and summarise to English talk ??

bob

If you had signed or ticked a box that you agreed with the conditions – forget it.

If not, you could still chance your arm with money claim online.

[VicParticipant @vic]

Is pre-booking and paying up front for car hire a thing these days? It was a long time ago but I hired a car for a couple of weeks in Canada and it never occurred to me to pre-book. I just went to a car hire desk in the airport and got a car. There were at least a couple of companies.

[Mark RandParticipant @markrand96270]

My ‘reasonable man’ test would say that if you had already paid for the hire for an amount of time, but had not chosen or been able to get in the car or drive it away from the car hire depot, that car would still be hired to you. I suspect that the Small Claims Court would agree.

Corollary to this:- When returning from an overseas assignment late due to flight problems, I turned up at that famous Dutch firm Hertz Van Rental’s Heathrow depot to pick up the Ford Escort that The company had booked for me. It wasn’t there because I was four hours late. I drove back home in a Mercedes because that’s what they had free. The company wasn’t charged for this ‘upgrade’.

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

I had the same as Mark. When I arrived at Nice airport 12 hrs late due to my own stupidity the hire company had let the little runabout I’d hired, so they sent me off in an AlfaRomeo sports car, no extra charge.

[VicParticipant @vic]

The OP seems to have been particularly unlucky. It looks like at least eight Car Hire companies in the Airport, plus the one outside he had a car booked with. Book a car when you get there seems to be the best bet?

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