Car hire co cancelled our car and will not refund money as we arrived late for pick up?

[CIareIsland]

We now know that buried in the T&Cs if you don’t collect within 2hrs the car is cancelled and money (already paid) not refunded. This was for for 8 days with major global co. We even called the local office earlier in the day to ask what time they were open until. This left us high and dry with 4 kids on holiday. We then had to find another car company to book thru. Has this happened to anyone else ? What can we do?

The company is Thrifty we booked and paid for it online ahead.
We were collecting the car in Spain but travelling up from Portugal.
We called to ask what time the office was open until - we didn’t give our booking details at the time as didn’t know about the 2hr rule.
The car was still there - v small town. Local guy in office was v nice but said we had to deal with head office who just said we have lost the whole 8 days.
We didn’t have a reason for arriving late - just enjoying trip up. Assumed as it was all paid for it was only our loss (of time) for picking it up late.

If we hadn’t paid for the 8 days ahead - would understand that they would have had to release it to make their money.

Actually there was also the point that our booking was from the airport (it says this on the booking) and when we got there their office was in the town - 20 min drive away - so maybe the error on their side (wrong location) might help us.

So you’ve paid for the 8 days upfront, but they’re keeping the car and all your money for being more than 2 hours late? Completely unreasonable, but if it’s in the contract then I don’t see what you can do. Did you not read the t&c’s? This is obviously pretty important when pre paying for anything expensive in another country where you’ve got little chance of claiming any money back, whether they’ve acted illegally or not. How much money have you lost?

We didn’t have a reason for arriving late - just enjoying trip up.

And now you are annoyed because they did what they said they would do if you were late?

I could swallow it if it was just the days hire - not the 8 days. £280

We were v lucky that another company put themselves out so that we at least got a car.

If I had paid for the car in full and office was still open I would have assumed being late wouldn't matter either OP (so thanks for the heads up!)

Sorry OP

Very normal and in all the t and cs of other rental companies with varying grace periods from 30 mins to 2 hours.

My oh gets a lot of rental cars and it can take anything up to 45 minutes to go through contracts and ID etc. I guess you were given a specific time slot for them to do this. You’ve essentially missed your appointment. I don’t think there’s much you can do apart from learn from your experience. We’ve hired cars in Spain before. I’d either only pay a deposit, or not arrange to hire one until I was over there and can walk into the office with my money and pick up a car there and then. I hope it douse the ruin your holiday

"If I had paid for the car in full and office was still open I would have assumed being late wouldn't matter either OP (so thanks for the heads up!)"
Never assume. Always read the T&C's.

It may be that they can keep all the money because of the T&Cs but I would check to see if there is EU legislation on unfair contract terms.

In the UK if terms in a contract are unfair then you could claim under The Consumer Rights Act 2015. (It updates and replaces the Unfair Contract Terms act 1977).

@CIareIsland contact www.ukecc.net/
Funded by EU (so do quickly). They can assist you with your rights against trader in other Eu countries. EU regulations have really good consumer protection.

What a load of rot - doubt they could legally enforce that. The car is booked to you for 8 days, any reasonable person would assume that being late just meant what you thought it meant. Is there someone you can contact to confirm if they can legally do that?

"My oh gets a lot of rental cars and it can take anything up to 45 minutes to go through contracts and ID etc."
The OP booked online so would have had to tick to indicate she had read the T&C's so that wouldn't be necessary in her case.

TBH, as it was Thrifty, you probably had a lucky escape. They have a nasty habit of fraudulently claiming on insurance.

Can't help much because it was in Spain and not Portugal, but check the national complaints procedures.

I don't think it's fair to cancel a booking that is pre-paid in full.
It's also odd that they give a collection time and hide that it must be collected within 2 hours.
Good customer service would be giving a time frame for collection, say, between 12:00-14:00.

The T & Cs are ridiculous though. There should be a penalty for late pickup as obviously the company have to provide someone to book them in when they do rock up. Anything else is just blatant profiteering. The car companies are notorious for their sharp practices and I don’t understand why people are sticking up for them. If I hire a car for a week and have paid the whole cost then if I choose to leave it at the hirer’s for the whole 7 days then that’s my business!

That sounds like utter bollocks, even if it is their T&Cs, it's patently unfair. Even if you didn't have a good reason for being late, so what? How can they justify charging you for the whole 8 days AND refusing to provide you with a car? I think that's absolutely terrible.

Suggest that you make a BIG stink on social media and make a nuisance of yourself via Guardian Money, Times Money etc. Good luck

Thrifty are Shifty!

A hire-car company to avoid

There are a couple of sections in the Sunday Times that deals with problems such as yours. One in the travel section called “Don’t put up with This”, which covers things like hire cars and holiday problems. Also a column in the Money Pages. They seem to get results though no idea if they deal with all the requests for help they get other than the ones they print. Certainly worth a try as your situation is not complicated but seems very unfair.

If there is a term in a consumer contract which is very important they need to draw it to your attention, not just hide it in the small print.

Write to Thrifty and demand a full refund, plus £100 for your inconvenience in having to find another hire car. It is hardly unusual for a customer to be delayed due to no fault of their own in their travel plans, and they should have a mechanism to deal with that.

Also leave them a stonkingly bad review on TrustPilot. They can't be allowed to get away with this.

europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/unfair-treatment/unfair-contract-terms/index_en.htm

Have a look on Martin Lewis as well, plus the forums. You may find people who have had the same experience.

I get charging for late drop off, but pick up? Outrageous. Name them and shame them on Twatter.