People rent a car from EasyCar's online site, and they are charged for the full amount of the car rental. But, when they go to collect the car, no car is available or the reservation has been inexplicably cancelled, but the money not returned. What's worse is that because EasyCar works through suppliers, when you arrive, there is no one from EasyCar to talk with about your reservation, and the supplier only has the cancellation. What's even worse than that is that if you try to call EasyCar to sort out the problem, the customer service call costs 60 pence per minute! And after you start paying 60 pence per minute, what they don't tell you is that no one at the calling center actually has any authority to solve the problem -- to get a new car, or to refund for the cancellation. After two hours on the phone (the supplier thankfully let us use their business phone) the only thing the call center was authorised to do was send us an email requesting a "covering letter" describing our "complaint."

It's been over two months since my reservation from EasyCar was inexplicably cancelled (before the pick-up date) AND STILL NO REFUND.

The details of my incident are as follows, but as I have said, many others have had eerily similar stories:

1) On 29 September 2007 I rented a car from EasyCar from EasyCar’s online website, and received an email receipt for the rental of a BMW I series or similar (which incidentally was intended as a birthday present); my credit card was debited for the FULL AMOUNT of the rental of EUR 265. 22;

2) On the same day, 29 September 2007, I received the voucher for the vehicle (4709-1217-7091-1 - 29/09/2007) which indicated that the supplier of the vehicle was Guy Salmon at Gatwick airport;

3) On 7 October 2007 I received a document reminding me of my reservation and telling me which documents to bring to Gatwick on my arrival, because I wouldn’t get the car unless I had all of the documents;

4) On 12 October, I arrived at Gatwick airport, and went to the service desk for Guy Salmon (which is operated by National and Alamo as well) and was told that my reservation was cancelled (reservation # 602U81701, Account No. E96401 EasyCar Guy Salmon — D9547) and that there was NO CAR AVAILABLE, AND NO CAR FOR ME TO RENT;

5) On the same day, I called EasyCar Customer Service from the number provided on my rental contract and spent HOURS on the phone with them trying to get my money back for the rental, since there was no car. Fortunately, Alamo let me call from their number so I wasn’t having to pay the 60 pence per minute.

The Easy Car Representative spoke directly with the supplier from Guy Salmon/National/Alamo. The supplier told her that there was NO VEHICLE for me to rent, and that the reservation was cancelled as of 1 October 2007. STILL, THE CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE HAD "NO AUTHORITY" TO REFUND THE MONEY.

Neither Guy Salmon nor Easy Car informed me of the cancellation, AND OF COURSE, EVEN THOUGH THE CAR WAS CANCELLED OVER TWO WEEKS BEFORE I CAME TO COLLECT, I RECEIVED NO REFUND. Neither has refunded the money debited from my credit card. In fact, I received a reminder to pick-up the vehicle A FULL WEEK after the cancellation.

Exactly like the others, I was told that if I sent a cover letter and supporting documentation, they would “investigate” the matter. I STILL have not received the refund for 265 euros two months after the cancellation. This means that EasyCar is making interest off of my money, and I am out 265 euros.