Easy Complaints...

I recently read a webpage giving advice on how to "turbo" a complaint to get it resolved after you've reached a dead-end with regular customer support. It's at The Art of Turboing. So I thought I'd share my experience of a successful conclusion to a complaint with EasyCar in London.

I booked a car for a week, and showed up to collect the car on the Monday. When I arrived at the collection place there was a small crowd of people standing around, and the van had a sign on it saying that the staff would be back in 10 minutes. One of the people waiting around told me that they'd been there at 10am for 2 hours, and then came back a few hours later and nothing had changed. There were also people there returning cars and leaving the keys.

I managed to call EasyCar customer services (a premium rate phone number) and they told me that the man who was supposed to be working at the pickup place had been delayed somewhere. I asked what everyone was supposed to do to return cars, or pick them up, and the guy on the phone was completely useless. I even asked whether people collecting could just take the keys from people returning cars, and was told that we couldn't do that. (Some people had already done so earlier in the day.) I also asked if EasyCar would reimburse the costs of using a taxi until a car could be collected, was told no, and the guy hung up on me. I ended up hanging around for nearly 2 hours to get nothing.

I took a taxi home anyway, and kept the receipt. Once I got home I tried to get back in touch with EasyCar, and sent them an email detailing my complaint at that time. I got a response by the morning telling me that they'd cancelled my rental. Not what I wanted, as I needed the car for the week to move house. I sent another email before work saying that I didn't want a cancellation and asking that my rental be transferred to be collected from near where I was working. I phoned to confirm the reservation during my lunch break, and was told it would be ok.

After work I showed up to collect the car, only to find that they had no record of my booking. The guy at the collection place was as helpful as he could be, and called the reservation helpline for me. He then tried to help me find a car at another of the collection places, and managed to find one for me. Although it would cost me over £350 versus the £100 for the original booking. And I'd have under 30 minutes to get from Finchley to Shepherd's Bush in rush hour. I took it.

Fortunately, while I was there I also 'stole' the landline phone numbers that the man in the collection van had for the customer services people. It became obvious that I wasn't going to make it to Shepherd's Bush in time, so called the numbers I had to try and get them to have the man wait for me. They said they'd try... I told them that they should do whatever it takes or I'd be mightily pissed off.

I arrived at the entrance to the carpark the EasyCar pickup was in, paid the taxi (kept the receipt), and started to walk in. Just in time to see the man who'd been waiting for me driving out. (I knew it was him because he was in an EasyCar.) Luckily for me he turned around and took me back up to give me a car.

So things worked out and I got the car for the week. Even though I'd have to return the car to Shepherd's Bush, not Wandsworth, and I ended up spending over £100 on taxis.

Unsurprisingly I wasn't particularly happy with the service I'd received, having to pay over £200 extra for my rental, and over £100 on taxis. Understandably I complained.

I started off by calling the landline numbers I had and seeing what they could do to help sort me out. They couldn't do anything. I tried an email to customer services and they didn't help either. So I effectively did what is recommended in the article I linked to at the top of the page. I went online and checked out the Easy website and managed to find the name of the director of customer services. I also phoned directory enquiries and got the main company phone number for the company address.

The phone system let me enter the last name of the person I wanted to talk to and I was through to his voicemail. I ran through the problems I'd had and left my contact details. The next morning I got a phone call from the director, and he asked what I'd like them to do for me to make it right with me.
I said that I'd like all the expenses I'd incurred covered, and the cost of the hire refunded. He told me that he would look into everything, and have someone get in touch with me.

Later in the week I got a phone call telling me that they'd be able to do everything I wanted. All I had to do was send them a copy of the receipts for the taxis I'd taken.

So, in conclusion, EasyCar effectively paid me to look after their car for a week. Result!

The things that helped me to get everything sorted were:

i) Copying the phone numbers from the van in Finchley - which saved me having to call the premium rate numbers, which would have ripped through my phone bill.
ii) Trying to stay calm and just explain the situation to the EasyCar people.
iii) Ignoring the apparent dead-end situation.
iv) Getting the direct company switchboard phone number, and the name of the Director of Customer Services.

So I have first-hand experience of "turboing" working to acheive the desired result, and can happily say that it works.