I believe that you have contacted us about an unauthorised charge made to your card. As I advised you previously on 2 September, under the Data Protection Act we cannot supply the details of any booking to you because you were not the booker and it was a different email address than the one that you used.

If you have cause for concern, and have no knowledge of a booking made through easyCar or easyVan, you need to contact the police as I advised you before on 2 September. If you do that, they can arrange the necessary documentation to allow us to release details for the person who booked and if this person is not known to you, you can then proceed against them legally to recoup the cost. It is up to you to go to the police if you believe that someone has used your card fraudulently. Until then we cannot legally do more.

As I have advised several times on this blog, to contact Customer Care you should go to http://www.easycar.com,

Or, as I have also advised previously, you can write to me at:
Post-rental Query
Customer Care Department
easyCar.com
Highbridge, Oxford Road
Uxbridge UB8 1HR
U.K.

Jean Marie Feddercke
easyCar Customer Care Supervisor

I was wondering whether you’ve got any contact details for Jean Marie or EasyCar Customer Services. I’ve got an issue with an illegal CC charge by the company, and in order to sort that out, need some contact details, at least, as there is nothing on their website, but enquiries I made were ’successfully’ ignored…

Would really appreciate that…

I rented a car back in May in order to help my sister move and provided Easycar with my age (24 years) at the time of the booking - when I arrived at the airport I was told by Budget (the company Easyjet had chosen as the local contractor) that they would not rent a vehicle of that size to anyone under the age of 25… something that does not apply to most other car rental companies.

I called Easycar’s shockingly expensive (60p a minute!) “help” line and was told that I would simply have to accept a smaller car and I could apply for reimbursement of the cost of having booked a larger car later on. I explained to the gentleman on the phone that this would not work for me as I had chosen a larger vehicle because - and I know this seems shocking! - I needed a larger vehicle! I asked if Easycar could put me in touch with another Car Rental Company (of which there are many at Stansted Airport) in order to honour their agreement and was informed that no they could not and I would have to take the smaller car.

I walked over to the National Car Rental desk and inquired into their policies and was told that they could rent me a car the size of the one Budget was refusing me. Once again I braved the “help” line in order to inform Easycar that I would not be picking up the Budget car as they had breached the contract that they had made with me by failing to provide the product I had paid for. Much to Easycar’s dismay I had the audacity to request that I have the money I had pre-paid (over 140 pounds) reimbursed – to which I was told I would have to apply to the company to get my money back.

This application apparently cannot be submitted by email - despite all Easycar.com’s transactions being over the web - so not only did I have to print off my Easycar Booking Voucher (something that they already have a copy off in their computer system, since they were the ones to email it to me) with my attached cover letter, I then had to pay postage from Canada in order to get these documents to them.

So, so far Easycar has not only failed to provide me with a Car, their mistake has also cost me a more expensive car rental as a result of not pre-booking with National Car Rental, the cost of calling Easycar’s “help” line in order to be told that they were actually unable to provide any assistance, and then finally I’m now paying for postage in order to get reimbursed the money that I lost as a result of their ignorance of their Contractors Terms and Conditions.

So I’ve wasted enough of my time and money on this Easycar debacle so far - but wait - there’s more! I receive an email from them a few weeks later informing me that they “regret that [they] cannot refund [me] for [my] booking” because I failed to read the Terms and Conditions which state that “The Minimum rental age is 23 years depending on vehicle group”.

But wait! Remember the part where I’m 24 years of age as specified in my cover letter and during the process of making the booking - and since the Terms and Conditions governing the Vehicle Group is dependent on the Contractor, a piece of information that Easycar does not provide until after you book - and have provided your age - it is really up to them to make an informed decision as to who to Contract out to… but clearly the the Customer Care agent is unable to actually read the Cover Letter that I have spent $7.50 to post to her… so now I have to explain Easycar’s Terms and Conditions and the format of their bookings process to one of its employee - and the person in charge of Customer Care no less, which lets face it says a lot about the quality of its staff.

I get an email back within days letting me know that I will be refunded my money. Now remember how I booked the car back in May? Well it was now August - so Easycar held on to my money for 4 months - and only agreed to return it after considerable effort on my part.

As far as I’m concerned all of these complaints are basic breach of contract issues, which put Easycar clearly at fault, and as such they should be working for their customer - ’cause let’s face it, I’m never going to book with them again and after hearing my horror story nor will any of my friends and family.

It is my personal opinion that Easycar’s staff are not really as unorganized, technologically inept and untrained as they would like you to believe, but rather that these are tactics in order to avoid returning the money that they have illegally held on to. These people are unscrupulous. Stay very far away.

And if you’re unlucky enough to already be caught up in this web of corporate corruption just persevere - they are in the wrong and if you keep fighting it they will eventually email you those magical words: “We would like to sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused to you.”

It is apparent that whatever EasyCars intentions may be, this is a flawed business model. EasyCar does not control the whole process. It cannot deliver a reasonable customer experience if it’s partners decline to be reasonable. And I think that is being charitable.

Mr Rivers - you are a third person commenting upon something to which you were not a party. Under the Data Protection Act neither you nor I should be commenting about someone else’s experience. If your friend was dissatisfied, please ask him to write in to the address that I provided previously.

As I said in my earlier email. A blog is not the place to come for answers from any company. Please ask your frieind to contact easyCar through the correct channels which will result in a fast response.

Regretfully, I cannot continiue indefinitely to respond here, on my free time, in addition to my full time job working for easyCar. I do it because I believe that easyCar is a good company and that I do a good job for them every day as do my whole team. It bothers me when people do not agree and I will always try to help, but this is getting out of hand, with people coming on this blog and asking questions that should be directed to our website.

Please contact me and my team at http://www.easycar.com or by post for full and correct responses to all your queries.

Kind regards,
Jean Marie Feddercke
easyCar Customer Care Supervisor

Thanks
VG

To respond to both the recent bloggers above, as I have mentioned previously, I cannot investigate a comment here if I do not know who they actually are. With respect, a Blog is not the best place to get the information that you require from any company. It is much better to go to the company itself.

As I have said many times before, we respond to all emails promptly if they are sent to the right email address, http://www.easycar.com and click on contact us. I have also provided the head office address frequently. Therefore, if you are serious about wanting a positive result to whatever your complaint or experience, it is far better to go to the company rather than just blog about it.

Just to help you all as much as possible, here are somne guidelines to help us help you…

We do not guarantee a specific model of car, only a car from that group. There are very clear worldwide guidelines, using something called SIPP codes. In other words, if you book a compact car, the examples shown might be a Ford Focus Hatch, a Ford Focus Estate or a Smart ForFour. You might get one of those, or you might get another from the same group which is called CDMR.

I regret that if you are disputing a charge was made to you by the supplier of the vehicle there will be no records of this charge here at easyCar. In order for us to investigate the matter, I will need you to forward a detailed covering letter with the easyCar rental agreement number stated in it, a copy of the invoice from the supplier related to the charge along with your bank statement showing the debit by them. If you do not have an invoice, please enclose a copy of the document that you signed upon vehicle allocation. Please do not attach the documents to an email to send to us because our firewall and spam filters may prevent us from receiving them. All documentation must be sent by post. Please note that you should NOT send originals of any documents as documents will not be returned.

With regards to why we require something in writing in order to investigate a complaint about a supplier, under the Data Protection Act we do not have access to any information or documents between you and the supplier. The information must be provided in writing by you. For your own protection we may not, under any circumstances, request directly information from the supplier about your contact with them and they may not provide it. The Act is there to protect you and your details from possible misuse by an unathorised third party. I do see that the delay may be frustrating, but far less than identity theft would be if the Data Protection Act did not exist.

Please also note that your easyCar voucher does not include supplementary charges such as refuelling, added drivers, insurance, VAT etc. These are agreed and/or paid locally by you.

Furthermore, all insurance cover is provided either by Drakefield if you purchased the Zero Option when booking or by the company supplying the vehicle for rental and not easyCar. Liability for claims in excess of the insurance cover purchased rests with the hirer of the vehicle. easyCar do not provide insurance cover of any kind in relation to the hire of the vehicle and are not liable for damages incurred in the event of an accident.

Please send any correspondence to:

Post-rental Query
Customer Care Department
easyCar.com
Highbridge, Oxford Road
Uxbridge UB8 1HR
U.K.

Once we have received these documents, it can take from five to twenty-one working days for a reply from the supplier. We will endeavour to have an answer for you sooner, but under current legislation, they do have that long (and a bit longer) to respond.

I would also always encourage you to click on the links to the terms and conditions before you decide to complete the booking. The specific terms and condition for your rental can ONLY be accessed during the booking process itself, but before your card is debited. Therefore, if you do not like soemthing (the fuel policy or deposit for example) you can exit at no cost or obligation to you.

On the page of the booking where you select your extras and are advised of the deposit, there is a panel near the top which states: “Booking Details (View terms and conditions)”. There is a link there to the terms and conditions. This page is before any of your details have been taken.

Furthermore, before your card is debited for the booking, you must also tick a box which states: “By checking this box I acknowledge the terms and conditions detailed above.” There is a link to the terms and conditions just in case you had not read them previously.

I know I have crammed an awful lot into this, but I think that it is important to let you know as much as possible so the we cand do all that we can for you.

Kind regards,
Jean Marie Feddercke
easyCar Customer Care Supervisor

Firstly they have terrible customers service - you’ll need these people when you find youve PAID FOR A CAR THAT DOESNT EXIST. I booked a Ford Mustang and when I found at they had those crap Chrysler Sebrings instead I complained - nothing was resolved in the UK cos .. see above — so I get to the U.S. kick up a fuss and get upgraded to a 4×4 - == still a load of stress for nothing !

He hired a car from Easycar via their website. The car was picked up in Italy, and in accordance with the contract (stated under “local terms” on the Easycar website), the car was returned with a FULL tank of petrol. However the fuel gauge was faulty showing less than what was in the tank, even though he could not get any more fuel in.

It was reported to the Italian company first thing, including the fact that the tank was full, but they deducted 15 litres of fuel from my friends card - obviously estimating the cost to fill the car by reading the faulty fuel gauge and not refilling the car with fuel, otherwise they would have been unable to get any fuel into the tank. The Italian company referred him to Easycar customer service.

Easycar responded by producing a statement from they Italian company showing the deduction for 15 litres of fuel, and Easycar are satisfied the statement proves the car was not retuned full, and any dispute lies between him and the Italian company as there is a contract between them relating to the terms of refueling. Firstly, they have used a credit card without refilling the car by guessing the value of fuel from reading the faulty fuel gauge. In my opinion this a misuse of the card details and just as fraudulent as someone steeling card identity since it was outside the terms of the contract because the car was returned full. Secondly, the statement they produced is not evidence that the value of the fuel actually went into the car - that would be impossible. Thirdly, the contract to hire was with Easycar and they should be responsible rather then leaving their customers to deal with an Italian company. Easycar said there was a separate contract with the Italian company for the refueling of the car.

So, unbeknown to my friend at the time the contract was agreed with Easycar - this is how it worked: the car hire contract was with Easycar which has to be paid before you get to your destination to pick up the car. Then, unwittingly, you enter into a second contract with the supplier (the Italian company), introducing new contract terms that you cannot see before booking the car hire, and therefore cannot disagree with (if you were aware at the time it was separate contract) otherwise you will lose the money paid to Easycar for the car hire.

At all times this was never clear and he believed the contract to be between him and Easycar. Easycar will not help and refer him to the deal with the Italian company. Easycar refer to their “local terms” on their website as a separate contract with the local company, which refers to the refueling term - this is shown under the Easycar name on their website without any mention of a second contract with a third party (the Italian company). Despite the term saying that refueling “is paid locally by you” does not say this is a separate contract with a third party to which Easycar have no liability. The upshot is that Easycar have taken money for car hire and excusing themselves of any responsibility under a separate contract to which they are not party to, leaving its customer to deal with a third party (the Italian company), unable to speak the language, and the Italian company refering him to Easycar customer service!

I hope this helps others to make up their minds about Easycar being reputable.

I look at this blog on my own time to troubleshoot is someone has had a problem and not had the help they feel was needed, but to be frank, using a blog to contact a company rather than using their own website is not really the best way to get a fast, full and accurate response to a general query.

What if I go on holiday or get sick or my computer at home dies or just for some reason I don’t look here regularly? What if I retire? It’s gonna happen… You would get no response, and be left with a feeling that easyCar does not answer you!

BUT… you would get a response quickly (within two hours M-F 8:30-17:30 and under a day at weekends) if you went through our website, http://www.easycar.com and clicked on contact us and then followed the instructions that I have put at the bottom of this response. OK? I will now climb down off my soapbox and respond to you. Sorry that I am a grunpy old lady on Saturday mornings. My friends tell me I am actually usually not a rotweiller, but a pussycat.

Because I don’t know your name, or have an email address (which I would have had you contacted us through our website - oops there’s that darn soapbox again!) I can’t say this with 100% certainty, but I do not believe, based on the limited information that I do have, that you have NOT booked through easyCar. I think that you were directed by the search engine to an Italian company called E@sy Car Palermo. The company E@sycar Palermo is not part of, or connected to, easyCar.com. or the easyGroup and therefore I cannot advise you if the booking is with them. Their website is http://www.easycarspa.com .

If the booking was made with us here at easyCar in the UK, you would have been given a 13-digit agreement number that would appear similar to this: 0000-0000-0000-0. If you do not have that, it is defiinitely not an easyCar booking.

There is no non-premium number to use because we are an internet-based company and that is how we prefer for our customers to contact us. The premium rate number is provided for the few customers who choose to use the telephone, and we feel that they should bear the cost of providing a telephone service, rather than charging all customers more per-rental to pay for the calls of a few.

If you still think that you may have a booking with us and not E@sy Car Palermo, please go to our website, http://www.easycar.com , scroll down the Homepage until you see the words ONLINE SUPPORT. Click there. You will be directed to an new page. Select ASK A QUESTION. Fill in all fields that are required (putting a 0 or n/a if you do not have what is asked for) and then scroll down and click on SUBMIT QUESTION. If you have not contacted us before, it will then ask you to create an account, which allows the email to be sent to us. Click on SUBMIT. A few FAQs may appear. The idea behind this is that a lot of questions can be answered without waiting for a response. If none os the FAQs help, click on SUBMIT and you will be given your personal Incident Number. I just did this, and the whole process took under two minutes.

Soooo, at the end of this long response, if you still think that you may have a booking through easyCar, please provide the information through the website and you can even put FOR THE ATTENTION OF JEAN MARIE ONLY in the subject field. That way, they will leave it for me to respond to.

I do want to help you…all of you, and so do the rest of my team at http://www.easycar.com.

Jean Marie
easyCar Customer Care Supervisor

I’m jumping in…

here at easyCar we use a variety of suppliers world-wide, based on both value for money as well as availability of the car that you want.

In the UK for example, we use Alamo/Europcar, Avis and Sixt.

There is no need to telephone, because you can submit an query on our website http://www.easycar.com and click on the left hand side near the bottom where it says “ONLINE SUPPLOERT CLICK HERE”. Tell us what location in the UK you want to get the car and the size of the car, and we can tell you which suppliers we use there. If there is more than one, we cannot be more specific until the booking is made, because as I menationed, it is based on the availability of the car and one might have it and another not.

I hope that this has helped and that you will contact us on our website.

Jean Marie
easyCar Customer Care Supervisor

However, a few days after the easycar booking was completed online and you get told which company the car was coming from I looked them up on Google and emailed them to confirm the booking was in place.

The 3rd party company was ADA and replied quickly to confirm all the details and the car, which was excellent. There was no problem at all with the car during my holiday (remember that “no problems” shouldn’t be a bonus, it should be expected as you are paying for exactly that service).

From the comments above I think there is a bit of a “hit or miss” success rate when dealing through Easycar, but at least by confirming directly with the 3rd party hire car company I knew that everything was properly booked in.

Cheers,

All four of your emails have had responses in a very short time. I have personally responded to two separate emails from you on our website. In each of those that i sent to you, I have explained we do not contact our customers via telephone, but by email because we are an Internet-based company. There is no specific Head Office telephone number because of this. The only telephone numbers are the ones as displayed on the website. Furthermore, emails give both parties a time and date permanent thread which a telephone call cannot do.

I do regret that you appear to have a complaint, but until you wrote here on this Blog, you did not supply any information about what your problem might be. Even if we should telephone you from here in the UK, we would only be able to advise you to write in via our website regarding any complaint. All queries of this nature must be in writing so that they may be investigated fully.

With respect, had you responded with details of your complaint to either of my earlier emails which were sent today at 10:10 or yesterday at 13:33, I could be assisting you already with your query.

Your entry on this Blog is the first time that you have actually said what it is your compliant is about. Until now, you have provided no information whatsoever, except to ask for a telephone number which does not exist. The numbers which appear on our website are the only ones available for those who choose to contact us by telephone, rather than by Internet.

Although I understand that not everyone may have access to email or internet it would appear, with respect, that you do since you have repeatedly emailed us over the last two days but unfortunately are not providing the very basic information that we need to help you.

If you would kindly advise via our latest email thread of 080520-000041 which of your several bookings might be in error, I would instantly be able to investigate this for you.

I do look forward to your response via the correct channels so that I may assist you as fully as you would like.

Kind regards,
Jean Marie Feddercke
easyCar Customer Care Supervisor