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  • Report:  #1071226

Complaint Review: DeluxeHire - London Internet

Reported By:
Past customer (April 2013) -
Submitted:
Updated:

DeluxeHire
28 Grosvenor Street. Mayfair. W1K 4QR London, Internet, United Kingdom
Phone:
07950 173 224
Web:
www.deluxehire.co.uk
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I agreed a short-term hire for a small number of items for an important event in April 2013. The items were provided by, and returned to, DeluxeHire in accordance with the hire agreement.

However, my £100 deposit was not returned within the 28 days stipulated in the T&Cs.

Since that time, my attempts to reclaim this deposit have resulted in the most frustrating and bewildering experience that I have ever experienced with any company. For the majority of the past two months I have not received any pro-active response to emails or requests for phone calls to be returned.

Today, I have finally received my deposit refund in full after approximately 19 phone calls (or attempted phone calls) and 16 emails (the majority of which explicitly referred to legal action ...with no apparent impact). I am in no doubt that without this ridiculous effort on my part, DeluxeHire would have wilfully and illegally retained my deposit indefinitely without even the pretence at having a valid reason for doing so.

I have not had - and do not expect I will receive - a satisfactory response from DeluxeHire explaining the reason(s) for the delay or resulting terrible customer experience. DeluxeHire did include an additional £5 when returning my deposit refund as a "goodwill gesture". While this in no way reflects the time/effort/cost of phone calls that I needed to expend to reclaim my money, it does provide (the only) official acknowledgement that I have received from the company about this matter.

The complete, consistent lack of concern for my situation leads me to suspect that the fault is either due to profound company mismanagement (the manager, who’s direct details I received a few weeks ago, elected to ignore all my email requests for a phone call) or other more serious and alarming factors that I will not speculate upon here.

If you are attempting to reclaim your deposit from DeluxeHire, I wish you luck and would advise you to:

-       Be persistent: With continuous, regular effort I have been successful in reclaiming my withheld deposit. Keep a diary of all emails/phone calls/interactions for use in any future dispute resolution or legal action if that proves necessary.

-       contact Citizens Advice for assistance/advice (((link redacted)))

-       Be aware of other options at your disposal, including dispute resolution and the ability to make an online small claim (https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome)



1 Updates & Rebuttals

DeluxeHire

Berkshire,
United Kingdom
Unknown Reporter - Malicious Fake Report

#2REBUTTAL Owner of company

Fri, January 22, 2016

Malicious Fake Report - No Record Of Transaction. 

DeluxeHire provides services for private and corporate clients, photographers, hotels, production and television companies across the UK.  We successfully deliver hundreds of orders to various events every year. Clients who seek high-end deluxe products to create unique, memorable and successful events come to us. Our customer base is strong. We stock over 2000 products from major suppliers in the hospitality and events industry. And those are some of the reasons why we remain in business today despite all the many challenges the business has faced.

Additionally, in 2013, we took the extraordinary step of instating a minimum order value of £120.00 including vat, simply because our business was overwhelmed with demand - that shows confidence.

The nature of catering and event equipment hire is inherently complex (it just is!) In the industry, 95% of customers orders return with losses, damages or breakages.  We're talking about goods such as glassware, cutlery, crockery etc. It is not inconceivable that glassware or crockery might break or some cutlery ending up in bins, etc. At DeluxeHire, it is rear that we cancel an order but occasionally it happens, when a customer fails to return their complete order. When that happens, we take responsibility and work closely with the customer - should they wish - to find a solution. Our close links with other hire companies ensure that there is absolutely no reason to disappoint anyone.

DeluxeHire Customer Support

Catering and Event Equipment Hire. London

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