BEWARE - Extra Fees !

BEWARE - Unbeatable Hire comes up with some of the cheapest quotes at first but then the additional fees soon mount up and make the quote higher than their competitors.

The considerable booking fee was non refundable so you feel trapped in straight away.

However, the booking process is very good. All done via email. Even digital signatures via Docusign software. So that aspect of the hire was fantastically efficient.

One of their many emails said...

"Insurance surcharges may apply for: Non UK licence holders, any driving licence issued under 2 years ago, drivers' residence, drivers' date of birth, driving convictions recorded in the past 3 years, drivers' occupation, any insurance claim motor accidents in the past 3 years, any motor insurance claims made in the past 3 years and any driver medical conditions that require disclosure for providing insurance cover.

You will be notified via email, if any insurance surcharges apply - all surcharges must be paid in full, prior to the hire commencing. "

However I wasn't notified and I saw a large surcharge had been taken from my credit card after returning from the holiday. I have 6 points on my licence and I have been renting motorhomes for many years. Both in the UK and abroad. I have never before been charged by any company extra money for having 6 points or less on my licence.
There are other fees such as a £9 admin fee and a credit card fee added to this also. Insurance premium tax is also added to any insurance surcharge. So it all soon mounts up to be very unfair in my opinion.

The Docusign apparently authorizes any charges Unbeatable Hire see fit to be taken from your credit card without prior notification.

The Chausson Flash motorhome itself was 2 years old and in reasonably good condition with about 30,000 miles on the odometer. I was shown round quickly and efficiently by the friendly depot manager, so no problems there. He pointed out a couple of minor dings and scratches on the bodywork and also pointed out a broken window catch.

I noticed a couple of dud habitation bulbs later but it wasn't much of a problem as they were not really needed anyway. I was surprised they had not been fixed prior to my hire though. Seems the person doing the pre hire inspection could be a bit more diligent.

After hooking up my sat nav and driving off the first problem became evident. The sat nav wasn't charging ! Very disappointing because I had programmed into it all my campsite stops and points of interest for my holiday. So after a few hours, with the battery on the sat nav dying I had to go back to the old fashioned way and stop to buy a map, and then try to remember all the campsite and POI addresses etc. Very frustrating. The following day I traced the fault to a blown dashboard 12v charger fuse and had to divert to Halfords to buy a replacement 20 Amp fuse.

The next problem occurred later that evening. The TV powered up OK but I could not get any signal no matter how much I moved the ariel round and round and up and down. Re read the manuals and made sure the aerial was pointing in the same direction as all the other aerials on the campsite etc. It still would not pick up any signal. I tried again in different areas of the country over the next 3 days before giving up. Long dark evenings in the middle of December without a TV you have paid for is a bit annoying. Not to mention boring. Tiddlywinks just doesn't hack it as a replacement activity ;)

The next morning it became evident the shower drain was partially blocked because the water begin to overflow the shower tray and leak all over the van floor. Not too bad, but I would be concerned about damp setting in if I owned the van.

Overall the holiday itself was very good. I felt let down by the faults with the van and then the shock of seeing the extra charges. So I would recommend going with a company such as motorhomegroup instead. Never had any problems with them on my 2 previous hires.

Further research indicates that Unbeatable Hire is the same company as motorholme. I will leave you to research some of their bad reviews over charging extra fees. Seems they have just changed the company name to avoid bad reviews but are still up to the same old tricks to me.

The objective of the holiday was completed though. It was a "try before buy" mission and I will not be buying a Chausson from this company.

I did manage to negotiate a reasonable amount of compensation so I will give them their dues for that. It took a lot of emailing and perseverance though.