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“Awful company”

written by jimmyb68 on 11/11/2017

I have used numerous car hire companies over the years, and I know they can be a bit shady but this is the first time I have ever been so badly treated by one.

I booked the car hire with Easirent via Car Hire Labs – the charge was €86.10 for 5 days’ car hire in Ireland including an infant car seat. Shortly before travel, I had an accident and so was not fit to drive so I changed the lead driver with Car Hire Labs to my wife’s name. I received the notification from Car Hire Labs that this had all been done and received an updated voucher, which clearly stated my wife as the lead driver and that the total charges to be paid locally were €81.60.

However, when I took this voucher to the desk with Easirent in Dublin, they had no record of the change, so they said I would have to pay an extra €25 to add a 2nd driver. Not only that, but they completely ignored the charges promised on the voucher and charged me €128 (€103 plus the €25 for the extra driver), which was €47 (55%) more than agreed.

I complained about this at the time but was basically told that if I wanted to hire the car I only had 2 options:

1. Call Car Hire Labs to explain the situation and ask them to email Easirent with the confirmation of the changes.
2. To pay the €128.

I tried to call Car Hire Labs but their lines are not open on Sundays, so my only option was to pay the €128.

This is completely unacceptable - I agreed a price for the rental with CarHire Labs and this should be honoured. Being charged a different amount is outrageous. Not only that, but the fact that the 2 companies have not communicated properly meant that I was forced to pay an extra €25 to add my wife as a 2nd driver, even though I had already changed the lead driver’s name and had the voucher to prove it.

Easirent were very keen to put all the blame onto Car Hire Labs whilst Car Hire Labs are putting all the blame onto Easirent. As far as I am concerned they are both equally to blame and despite numerous emails to both companies, neither seem to have the slightest interest in solving the problem.

But even if the problems were all down to Car Hire Labs, Easirent have decided to accept bookings from them yet did nothing to try and solve the problems and simply forced me to pay extra money than was agreed. They have also been extremely dismissive when I have contacted them – I have emailed them 4 times and have received 1 reply from the person I dealt with :

“Good afternoon,
I have checked the information on the booking. The broker states that rental and extras will be paid at the counter.
Therefore the charge is correct.
Best Wishes Customer Service”
Considering the awful service I have received, the above reply is nothing short of a disgrace. It is quite clearly a stock answer (which I had to wait 8 days to receive) and he has obviously not even bothered to read my emails. Whilst he is right that the broker says the rental and extras will be paid at the counter, the broker also stated that these charges would be €81.60. So it seems that Easirent routinely ignores agreed prices and charges you whatever they feel like it, knowing that you are stuck with little other choice once you are at the counter.
A quick look at the previous reviews of this company will show that the sort of service I suffered is extremely common with this terrible company so I suggests everyone avoids them at all costs - I wish I had!!