Green Motion - Heathrow Airport

When I returned my car, they said there was damage. Given that I hardly used it, this is unlikely. However, how they "discovered" the damage was clearly false, and I will look into their claim's legality. My daughter is a lawyer, so you messed with the wrong customer.

I left my car in the exact spot where I had initially parked it, right in front of the porta cabin. To my surprise, they then requested me to drive the car around the back , a request I have never encountered with any other car rental agency, anywhere in the world.

They then said they would inspect it and suggested I wait in the office.

Having never been on the receiving end of like this, I didn't think anything of it.

Then, after about 10 minutes, they miraculously found damage. They inspected it while I was not present, and, more importantly, the car and the people checking it were out of view.

I booked and paid everything online, when I went to collect the vehicle, I was charged another £72 for another insurance policy.

As I was in a hurry, I had no choice.

The manager has lousy customer service skills and needs to be re-trained, further he tried to charge me an additional £400.

It was only after I read the contract and pointed this out, he said "delete the email" and sent me another, he was embarrassed and too arrogant to even apologise for this attempt to defraud me.

The vehicle was filthy, the tyre pressure was dangerously low and I had to pay to re-inflate it.

When I tried to booking additional day, thay wanted to charge me £150 + insurance.

My advice

Book with a reputable established company.

I have rented many vehicles (on-line and in person) before.

On this occasion, before leaving home, I booked a car from Green Motion, through my Travel Agent and a Hire Car Agent (Ace Car Rental). I was very specific in my requirements (Nissan Juke or similar, Petrol or Diesel [NOT Electric], GPS included). The hire was fully paid for and receipted on-line.

The problems started immediately I arrived at Green Motion’s Heathrow office. –

2+ hours to pick up the car. The entire time taken was for Green Motion to extract more money from us.

• GBP10 per day for additional driver (should be GBP5). We eventually paid GBP5 for 30 days (as previously agreed in writing).

• The vehicle forced on us ‘under duress’ (not offered) was a Kia Niro All-Electric and nothing like a Nissan Juke (no electric vehicle made). Words used by Green Motion were, “This (meaning electric vehicle) is what you asked for”. We were offered a diesel vehicle for an additional GBP500, which we refused. We could do nothing but accept the ‘offered’ vehicle.

• The keys were handed to us, with no instructions other than being pointed to the vicinity of the car.

The vehicle had several small scratches and a wheel-arch trim missing (found in the boot). Fortunately, I had photographed these because they (Green Motion) later appeared to be about to blame it on me, when I returned the vehicle.

We had several problems with the vehicle operation, including –

• Location of Electric Supply. We were simply advised of an app, which later proved useless.

• The advice given was that, It will take about 20 minutes to fill (electricity). This was later to prove wrong because, most times, it proved in excess of 2 hours at a time.

• The GPS wasn’t an integrated system (obviously what we requested) but relied on a smart phone which we supplied. I wonder what would have happened if we didn’t have a smart phone? When asked for assistance in operating it, the staff member required assistance, which shows just how ‘simple’ it was.

• When told about the wheel-arch trim, we received the reply, “Oh. Yes, we know about that.”.

The ‘GPS’ was a failure. Many times, it simply didn’t work, even in areas where it would be expected to. When ‘working’, we were taken in completely the wrong direction on many occasions.

Finding an operational Electricity Supply, proved a nightmare. With the ‘help’ of the app given to us and the GPS, we were directed to numerous sites which didn’t exist or were not operational or were ‘out of order’. When one was found, it invariably took in excess of 2 hours to fill. In all, I estimate we lost in excess of 3 whole days of our 30-day hiring.

As a result of the above, my wife and I suffered –

• Lost time amounting to several days in total – searching for fuel and waiting 2+ hours at a time, in filling.

• Changed itinerary, means we missed even seeing many planned sites.

• Financial loss – Paid for parking to just fill electricity.

Fuel loss in searching for fuel.

• Stress and anxiety – My wife was particularly traumatised to the point she could not drive near the end of our holiday.

All of this was caused by –

• Us not receiving what we requested and paid for (in full).

• No customer service (except when specifically requested).

To rectify the situation, I have requested –

• An apology.

• An offer of financial compensation.

It is noted that I have not received a reply to my last message (15 June) to Green Motion.

As I initially said, I have rented many vehicles in the past. Green Motion is, by far, the worst firm I have dealt with.

I concur with the majority of other reviewers. Please, do yourself a favour and Stay Away.

I booked a car via Expedia. When I arrived to pick up my car, I was given a dirty uncleaned vehicle. Three customers before me also complained about the same issue. When collecting my car, the fourth person came back complaining about there car being dirty. The manger rudely said to the lady, her standards are too high and the car is clean. But we will clean it now. Another customer came back with an oil level warning. When expressing my disappointment the Manager said he is cancelling my booking. I was left without a car, and Expedia are refusing to refund my money. All because Green Motion claimed I was aggressive. Which is a lie. I booked from Green Motion, via Expedia a car in Vancouver the week before and oh my god, what a wonderful experience. The manger here also had to deal with a internal issue, where a work colleagues lunch was being stollen from the fridge. I received an email from Green Motion saying I have been blacklisted, without hearing my side of the story. I also received an email from feedback email blast. To which I stated facts and noted they can contact me for further information, but haven't heard. Green Motion branch at Heathrow airport is the worst experience and a ripe off. Only book if you want to a)lose money or b) treated like a third class citizen.

Collected a KIA Stonic on 2nd July. Input my destination into the satnav provided and set off. Satnav directions took me on an unfamiliar route. At Fishers Lane, Chiswick satnav instructed "turn left". I was unable to exit in any other direction and as I entered I noticed on the road the symbol for a cycle and the words "Bus Only". Satnav misdirected me several times during the week's hire. Returned vehicle on the 9th and informed the agent of this incident, was told "shouldn't happen as Satnav's are auto updated". I've been informed by GM of an assignable violation and have been charged £68 for something that was COMPLETELY beyond my control or by any action on my part. I've appealed to GM on 3 occasions for more than a week and was simply ignored by the Heathrow branch. Finally they have responded "providing a GPS this is for guidance only" & "we will NOT underwrite that you may go into a prohibited area when following instructions". NICE TO KNOW, if only they told me that prior to it's use.

A cynic may conclude that it's in their interest to provide out of date satnav's at a cost of £70/week so that when violations occur they profiteer from the £68 admin charge for every violation. BE WARNED.

I will get this post translated into all major European languages and repost them, unsuspecting CUSTOMORS have the right to know about these underhanded practices.

The check out included a member of staff stating 3 times that 'any dent, no matter how small, will be charged'. I could see no dents and photographed the car. On return a different staff member almost immediately spotted a 'dent' that I could neither see nor feel and which cannot be seen in either the before or after photos. They then charged me the standard £243.40. Obviously if another customer damages the same panel, they will be charged the same amount again.To 'prove' the damage they photographed it with parallel line stickers attached. These are supposed to be fixed firmly to the surface, but were just stuck on at the ends, so they bent anyway, not following the substrate.

I chose Green Motion Heathrow because it looked value for money. I felt completely tricked.

I booked through Rental Cars agency. I bought good value insurance through the agency and went with my paperwork. Because the company is off-airport I caught a shuttle. The shuttle took about 45 minutes to arrive and it was getting dark by this time. I really wanted to be on my way.

I arrive at the office. Staff were charming but I was told that if I used the RantalCar insurance they would have to hold £1000 on my credit card. Their insurance was 3 x the price, they suggested that I cancel the insurance but then when I was reluctant to faff about doing that, suggested that they drop the price of their insurance. I just wanted to go!! I was also told that I should upgrade to unlimited mileage which I didn't need. I just wanted to go!!

So I paid all the extras that they suggested (very politely) but felt totally duped. The car was great, but I did not see why I should pay so much.

Reading other's reviews I can see that you need the insurance to prevent them from charging you for minor scratches that were pre-existing.

When I returned the car to Green Motion the employee checking the car back in announced there were two "dents" - one on either rear wing which had been caused by car doors being banged against them. I couldn't see any damage at all, neither could my daughters. I ran my fingers over the areas but couldn't feel any damage either. I took close up photographs from various angles but still nothing. And this was in bright sunshine.

It made no difference that only the Green Motion employee could see the "damage" - I was charged £220.

I had a flight to catch so felt I had no choice but to sign the paperwork and leave. I suspect Green Motion play on this. I have just been reading reviews on several sights and now discover Green Motion has a dreadful reputation for things like this - I'm just another in a long line of people who have been taken in in this manner.

Needless to say I will not be using them again.

I hired a Renault for three days. i drive very carefully so passed on their various, hard-sell ofers of insurance although I was suspicious of how much they pushed it when I picked the car up.

On returning it the guy noted a scratch on the wheel, so small I thought he was joking, less than 10mm long. I wrote to their customer services to state my case and one week later received a reply saying they were keeping my deposit (400 GBP). Of course I wrote back and they then said they would have to keep almost 200 GBP.

I am in the process of taking further action but have no satisfactory outcome yet.

In the meantime I urge anyone reading this to go elsewhere as the conduct of this company is at best unpleasant and at worst, in my opinion, verging on criminal.

While I'm on, there was a guy in the pick-up office whose flight had been delayed so they'd let his car go and were charging him extra to get another one...

This company fell down on every level and aspect of hiring a car to customers (or "dupes").

First they are not on the regular (Heathrow) rental car location, so you have to pay an extortionate £5 each for the bus which is not as frequent (not mentioned when hiring; a "shuttle bus" as advertised is usually free).

They claim to be a "green" hire company, yet charge you extra for a car with good fuel economy, which is still not that good. The diesel I paid a supplement for used as much fuel as my old petrol Honda, or a standard car from other hire companies. So every time they say they are environmentally friendly it's false advertising.

Their 90 miles per day limit is pathetic, so watch out for that. £6 a day extra to remove that limit.

If you do hire from them check the form when you walk round the car. In our case the guy showing us the car told me there was a scuff on one alloy. Of course I assumed that was on the form (foolish, but natural assumption; you don't expect a confidence trick from a large car hire company). When I came to give the car in they said the scuff was new and that they would charge me £192 for it (note that I later hired with Alamo, who said there was no charge for scuffed alloys nor small dents - much better). It was not written on the form.

They were completely unhelpful both at the location and on the phone with the head office.

So my three-day hire cost an extra £64 per day. That is a lot of money.

Then when I complained about it on another review site they had the cheek to tell me:

"With regards to the damage, when hiring a vehicle you are given a vehicle condition form to inspect the vehicle and confirm its condition. I can see that you have not noted this damage prior to check out. The pictures of the damage shows extensive damage to the vehicles alloy and unlikely to be missed by both customer and staff. This was not small damage and must be repaired by the branch. I am sorry that you did not find our customer service helpful however, the charges for the damage have been raised correctly."

Well I had written exactly as I did here: I knew the damage was there. I just assumed their rep was reading from the sheet as he appeared to be, and failed to check it was written in. So they are even dishonest when replying to reviews on line.