[clm]

use Hertz car rentals.. They dicked me for loads of money.
Theres gotta be a few people on here rent cars abroad...

[Sloper]

How out of interest?

[clm]

not enough information about what they were charging for.

[Sloper]

Then find out and if it's wrong get them to sort it out.

I had a problem a few years ago where the company tried to charge me about £60 for refilling the car, luckily enough I'd kept the sheet which showed it was returned with a full tank.

[Percy B]

Hired a car with Hertz in the States. Paid for it through a travel agent, and got a voucher with the price on - £350 for 3 weeks, all inclusive. Got home after a great trip to find that Hertz had charged my credit with £500 instead of the £350 it said on the receipt. Complained and got no help from Hertz, so on my banks recommendation disputed the charge and just paid £350, as I was supposed to. 3 years later I was still getting letters from courts, debt collectors, etc. and having to re-submit all my receipts and vouchers endlessly. Hertz lost this documentation on 6 seperate occasions, apparently. They're excuse was that I was on their computer system as owing an ammount (which I didn't owe), so once a year the computer would flag it up and start another set of court summonses, etc. I still get the odd letter, but I think they've finally given up now. Its a shame, as its always nice to get post......

In a nutshell, HERTZ = 

Its a shame they are often so cheap, but when they fuck up - they really go to town. I never, ever use them now. Ever.

[GCW]

I've used Hurts before and wasn't impressed.  I've always used Enterprise since.  Jim Kirk is very helpful, and they do a good range of holds too.

[clm]

Sounds like the same scenario percy - and i am complaining - a lot.

[n_man]

Dollar hire in the States gave us a free upgrade from their cheapo deal I booked to a Jeep.  so I would highly recommend them.

[StuM]

I used europcar in mallorca, the car broke down and cost us a day climbing  while a mechanic came to the house and fixed it. When I dropped it off at the airport they tried to charge me 120 euros for the repair  ! I tried to explain that it was their car that broke down and wasted a day of my holiday  but they refused to listen, they wouldn’t even get the manager to come and speak to me 

So, I got my flight and decided I'd deal with it when I got home . They charge my visa card for it. I queried it and they sent me a photocopied receipt slip for the extra ammount with MY signature on it  and the wrong date (I went in january and they dated it in march)! I pointed out to visa that the date was wrong and that I hadnt signed it but they said they couldn’t do anything against them. Visa paid the additional charge which was very nice of them but I will never use europcar again 

I couldn’t even complain as the uk europcar is a separate company to the spanish one

I use enterprise now if I need to rent a car and they are alsways great  But any company that doesn’t commit fraud and forge signatures is good in my book now!

[nathan wind]

BMI...

absolutely useless..

on a two month bouldering / road trip round the states last year I needed to extend my flight, bought a ticket with BMI based on the fact I could make changes online... when the time came to change I found I couldn't make the changes online, their site just didnt allow me to make changes once I was logged in...had to ring a number on their site, which turned out to be a call centre in India!!!! staff in India had no idea what to do and were literally reading from some form of manual whilst I was kept on hold, lots of times, often half an hor at a time.. eventually I was told I could change, thought I had, then when I got to san fran to pick up a connecting flight at the end of my trip found that UA had no record of my transfer...cue loads of frantic hassling in order for me to get onto that flight to get me to chicago and then catch the plane home...cost me over a hundred quid in phone calls...

never use BMI..

[fatdoc]

never ever ever....

use BA and transfer in heathrow.

where being delayed off the plane and then running from terminal 4 to terminal 1, via a slow bus, is just the sort of pain in the arse i dont need.

back to KLM for me...

[nathan wind]

to extend the BMI nightmare..

on arriving in the states their plane was delayed, I had to sprint across O'Hare to get my connecting flight, arrived in san fran only to find whilst my mat had made it, my rucksack (with tent, sleeping bag etc etc) hadn't, that was still in chicago... absolute ball ache, was delayed for over a day in san fran waiting for the sack to turn up, then had a mental dash to reno to get the bus to bishop (kinda stressful as there are only three buses to bishop a week....)

[BenF]

Never, ever, ever...   buy a phone from Vodaphone just before heading off to the other side of the world and expect them to tell you the truth about whether or not the phone will accept a sim card in New Zealand.

Never, ever, ever... switch your eletricity and gas to N-Power when they tell you that they'll be cheaper than your existing arrangement.  They out and out lied about the costs and hey presto when we got our first (delayed) N-Power bill it was nearly double our previous bills.  Just managed to switch back to our previous company.

[SA Chris]

I got stitched up by national twice now. Once when returning a hire car to CdG after a Font trip they sent me a bill for £280 for a chipped windscreen, which I fought like hell. They also charged me for an extra day of rental, just becuase they felt like it. Pursued it through Holiday Autos, who I booked with, and they refunded me and said they would "take it up" with National.

Apparently National, among others, give their staff bonuses if they can get any fees out of people who rent car with them.

Last year in South Africa I reversed into a pole (totally my fault - do not drive 4 hours after an overnight flight). Checked rental agreement fine print and insurance did not cover "single party accidents, travel on dirt roads or collisions with people or animals". £400 repair bill to add to holiday expenses.