Complaint Review: 1st-ukcarrentals.com

I booked a rental car on the internet from The Car Rental Centre. I told them I wanted to pickup the car from Euston Road Station and drop off at Heathrow airport after 5 days and that I would need a SatNav. The booked the car for GBP 170.75 charged me GBP15.75 and sent me a voucher stating the balance GBP155 was to be paid to Europcar when picking up the car.

When I picked up the car from Europcar @ Euston Road Station they told me that they would charge me GBP210 when returning the car. I called up the Car Rental Centre from Europcar's office and they could not offer me a reasonable explanation for the error and told me to check what is going to be charged on the final bill when the car has been returned.

I was charged GBP210 when the car was returned. I have since returned to my country and therefore sent a message to The Car Rental Centre through the Message Centre on their website. Their Reply was very cryptic and with no reference to my case. Here it is -

QUOTE - Date: 05/4/2012 22:02 - Thank you for your request for a quote for car rental. We are unable to provide quotes to you via email as when you get a quote on our system it is only valid whilst on the screen, so if we sent you a price when you come to book it may be inaccurate. In the world of car rental rates go up and down daily sometime even hourly so it is best to obtain your quote by going to http://www.1st-ukcarrentals.com you can be assured that you will receive the most completive deal.

Dont forget all out rental deals include a free extra driver cdw, and insurance, unlimited mileage, taxes and airport surcharges, further more you can reserve your car with a small reservation fee, and pay the remainder when you collect the car. We hope you understand, furthermore we hope to welcome you as a car rental centre customer very soon, at one of our 180 UK locations. Assuring you of our best intentions at all times, The Car Rental Centre Reservations Team - UNQUOTE

The agent at the pickup point of  Europcar also hinted at many such omissions/errors being done by this company. He told me Europcar's rates for SatNav had not been changed in a year and still the one on my rental voucher issued less than 2 week ago was wrong. Further there was no mention of one-way charges. The rental voucher seemed to be inclusive of this as the pickup and drop off locations were mentioned on it and there were no remarks in the T&C or on any other place in the 2 page voucher I had received.

No one liked to get ripped off and certainly not on a holiday as it spoils the mood and specially when the country you are travelling to has a reputation of honest and straight forward people.  Thanks to this forum too for their effort in bringing together the ripped offs. Regards

(((email redacted)))

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