Abbeyford Car Hire

I rented an automatic car from this company from September 2 to 5 2010. The car started malfunctioning on the two and a half hour drive from Exeter to the coast, behaving as if it was running out of gas, although it wasn't. Every twenty minutes or so I would have to stop the car and turn off the ignition to get it to start running properly again. When we finally reached the hotel I called the AA and the mechanic told me that it was an electronic problem and I should get the company to change the car. They brought over another car the next day, but not until 1pm, although I had left them a message the evening before, and also called them as soon as they opened at 9am. So we were not able to do what we had planned that day, and had therefore arrived at the rather expensive hotel a day early for nothing. This was disappointing, but even worse was what I discovered when going through my September credit card statement. They should have charged me £145 for the car hire, and £150 for the deposit, to be refunded if the car was returned in good condition, which they agreed it was when I brought it (the replacement car) back. However they had not refunded the deposit, and I had to contact them twice before they did it, although they had said they would the first time. On top of that, when I looked through my old credit card statements while doing accounts in October, I discovered that they had charged me the £145 twice, once when I booked the car in July and then again when I rented it in September. Again, I had to contact them twice about this. If I had not seen these mistakes they would never have refunded me, and the very unsatisfactory car they rented me would have cost me £295 more than it should have. At best they are extremely sloppy, at worst, well, I wonder.

Rachel Alflatt - 05/12/2010 | report this review