StreetCar - www.streetcar.co.uk

I used their service for about three weeks every morning and I must say I've never experienced such rudeness and unprofessionalism by a firm.

Got told several times taxi would be there in 5 min but I was lucky if it came after 15 minutes. I missed my tram to work so many times due to them. Last day I booked a taxi via them I was really upset and asked to speak to a manager. Got to speak to one of their agents as I recognised his voice then he said yes I am the agent you booked the taxi with. Instead of apologising for the cab to be so late he was firm in his opinion that it wasn't late at all and did not even once express his apologies during the conversation. Unbelievable!!

Will never recommend to friends or family and of course not booking them again.

Initially staff were fantastic, I really thought we'd made a great choice by signing up for streetcar. My one and only attempt at using their cars was a disaster.

I needed the car as I was hoping to get to an antique fair to source products for work. When I got to the car at 4.30 in the morning I noticed the car was a lot more battered than I could ever have imagined. It took me about 20mins to look through the damage report as there was so much previous damage and I had to make sure I didn't miss any new damage.

I finally sat in the car to check over the interior and I noticed the gear stick knob was missing. I attempted to drive the car without it but could not get the thing into reverse?? I had no choice but to return car after an hour as I felt unsafe to drive. I reported the situation and was offered a £10 refund?!!

I thought I'd give them another chance today because i need a van for a few hours, I rang their customer service team as i needed to find an answer to something I couldn't find on their website. After spending 25mins, being cut off 3 times ( i could hear them talking to their colleague before they cut me off) I eventually got through to someone.

When I explained my frustration his response was "Oh well".

I am writing to their head office as I don't think an email will be attended to. I am also going to speak to the office of fair trading.

I personally do not think some of their vehicles are safe to drive and will be raising that issue with the relevant party.

Don't waste your money, time and safety on these people.

Unbelieveable. The car stopped in the middle of a busy high road.

The people at Streetcar were not helpful or quick in responding, in fact it was horribly frustrating.

Eventually they realised that the the "demobilisation system had come on by mistake", by which time I'd been sitting in a busy high street for 30 minutes. Scary, with traffic hooting and going by quickly.

Then to make matters worse, Streetcar charged me for a late return of the car! The man on the phone was rude to my girlfriend, saying that "late fees were charged for late return" - even though it was their fault.

Streetcar still haven't respond to my email to complain - nor have they offered me a refund!

I'm going to take this further - any suggestions on how to do this?

Awful.

It sounds like your issues were more a function of you not playing by the rules than any fault of streetcar.

There service is what it is. Accept the cars are sometimes dirty and likely to be damaged and move on. Perfection costs much more than 5.95/hour.

I think their service is great. Where else can you pick up a van at the last minute for an hour late Sunday afternoon and only pay 8.95/hour!

When you live in London do you really want a car? Add the price of insurance, depreciation, fuel and the fact you would only rarely use it.

I agree that it is not a service for prima donnas.

I love the idea of Streetcar, it's brilliant how easy it is to book and pick up their cars and beats picking up a hire car which is a very painful process!

One problem is that Streetcar estimate the price of your trip, then when you get back they hit you with massive charges - charges which you are not prewarned will be taken from your account.

I've also had some seriously dirty cars and one which was really smashed up.

The staff are lovely and helpful and I just wish the experience was as good as the idea.

In short they charge way more than a hire car, they are not up front about the charges and you run the risk of picking up a dirty or damaged car.

The promise of a convenient hassle free service that's more affordable than having a car is a BIG FAT LIE.

The first time I used the service I arrived at the car (after a 20 minute walk because they don't have an automatic car near me) to find a severely damaged vehicle. I called them immediately and they apparently had no idea it was damaged. They weren't prepared to bring me a replacement car so I had to drive a crashed car.

I had to arrive at a wedding as a professional and suffer the embarrassment of people thinking that I had caused this damage. After returning the vehicle, I felt I was due some kind of compensation or refund and StreetCar were only prepared to give me £20 off.

The second time I borrowed a vehicle (after travelling via public transport around 30 minutes because they don't have an un-damaged automatic vehicle in my area) after returning the car on time I was later told that I had returned the car late and was being charged a late fee plus extra mileage incurred. They then realised that a member of their own staff had taken the car immediately after me and this was not my fault. I still had to pay a bank charge which they were not prepared to pay for.

Every time I rent a vehicle it is dirty inside and out. I have spent time and money on getting them cleaned which I am still yet to be reimbursed for.

I contacted the company to fond out if the damaged vehicle had been repaired yet and they told me it had. So I booked it.

I went to check the car that evening to avoid embarrassment again and the damage was still there. She had blatantly lied to me.

I called to cancel my membership and I was told I cannot get my payment refunded and the closest thing to cancellation was to just not renew my membership the next year.

I am so unhappy with the service and feel like all they care about is money.

My advice is not to join. It really is cheaper to own your own vehicle.

Hi

I have not had a problem itself, i sold my car and been using streetcar for over a year. I was using brand new BMW1 series, and really loved the service.

However over time - people could not be bothered to clean the cars and so when the next person turned up they were a right state.

The prices have gone up, the miles you get have gone down but the worse part is the number of cars that have been removed, particularly in central Kingston where I live. It ended up being impossible to use the service without travelling by train or bus to find a car!

Customer service ignore emails, and where really good. I suspect they have seriously cut back on people.

I am sorry to all the people I recommended.

I am back shopping for my own car! RIP StreetCar!

Street car are expensive car renters! Include the membership, insurance, fee for less excess and the extra miles you have to pay it is not even worth it. Unsatisfied!

Streetcar has an optional insurance. You can pay 10 pounds monthly to reduce the excess to 250 Pounds and 15 pounds to reduce the excess to 0 pounds in case of an accident etc. I am a student and I cannot afford to pay money in the case of a breakdown or accident, so I paid the 15 pounds monthly additionally to the usual fee to be save. What they don't tell you is that many things are not covered at all. I had a flat tyre, needed to be picked up and now they want me to pay everything... Apparently, even with the full insurance you need always to pay some charges (which are not too cheap...) THERFORE, BE VERY CAUTIOUS WITH STREETCAR!!!!

Joined street car several months ago and have nothing but bad things to say about them. I joined purely on convenience basis as there was a car right at the end of my road. 1 week after joining they removed the car with out warning. When I called to ask why they started to say it was in garage and could take a month to come back, then they said it was due to demand, then they said it was that they may have lost parking space on road. I asked why they don't inform customers of the decision to remove cars; rep said "we do notify members of new cars, but yes it would be a good idea, I suppose, to do same for removed cars". The customer service rep I spoke to sounded about 18 and clearly had very little experience in dealing with annoyed clients! I have tried to book a car several times but weekends and evenings are near impossible unless you book 2 weeks in advance, which defeats the whole point for my money. Having hired cars from them, when you take booking fees (for what!!) and everything else into account you can hire a car for the day, with better insurance cover, cheaper than streetcar, every time.

Overall, rubbish customers service, cars not very clean (to extent you wouldn't spot a scratch on them), not convenient and dam expensive considering what you get. TOP TIP - take photos of car before and after to prove any damage was not you!