Rental van woes

[SlimRick]

We moved house at the weekend, and rented a 7.5 tonne with a tail lift so we could get all our shite moved in one journey.

Friday night - packing from about 8.20pm until 1am. Got it all in ready for an early start on Saturday morning.

Set off on Saturday at about 8.30am, managed all of 60 miles before the damn thing started playing up. Loads of warning lights on the dash, temp guage into the red, no power steering. Nursed it off the A55 and had a quick look. There was hydraulic fluid pissing out the bottom, and the remains of the fan belt were hanging down.

Called the breakdown number, and after a 2 hour wait he turns up and takes a look. Fan belt had snapped, and in the process had whipped round and cut through the power steering return pipe. He managed to fix both, so we were on our way - only 4.5 hours behind schedule so far!

40 miles later - battery charge light comes on, and temp guage goes into the red again....pulled off the A55, and have another look. Sure enough the fan belt had come off again. Call recovery #2 and it's the same 2 hour wait until he gets there. Turns out the alternator and bracket are bent so the pulleys aren't lining up. He does his best to bend it back, fits a new belt and sends us on our way.

His repair holds out until we unload, and head back to the old house. About 500yds away the fucking fan belt goes again. Fuck it, left it there over night and phoned the rental company in the morning. Left them a message that I'm not dealing with it, they can come and pick the sodding thing up.

So - are they gonna try and rape my credit card for an extras? Can they insist that I should've waited with it until it got repaired and return it to them? Can they make out that I've nicked it as I didn't return it to them?

[Feasty]

Did you leave a deposit for the van? Also it's not really the van rental place's fault is it, sounds more like the breakdown guys did a shit job. I'd have stayed with the van, got it fixed and back to the rental place asap and seen if they were willing to refund some money for the poor service you'd received.
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Previous: Aprilia Habana Retro 50cc (beauty), Yamaha SR125 (fell apart), Honda XR125 (nippy little commuter), Honda SLR650 (Geewhizz), Yamaha Diversion 900S (Smoooooth) written off courtesy of a stupid escaped horse.
(7 year gap), BMW F650 (Relaxing ride). Aprilia Caponord ETV1000 (Big and bold). Yamaha FZS600 (got me in trouble too quick!).
Current: Yamaha TDM 900 (Comfy, light but big, power when needed).

[plugger147]

They shouldn't charge you for anything, the mechanical breakdowns are not your fault at all and as long as you've told them where they can collect the keys from within the hire period you shouldn't be charged. Any decent company should have offered you a replacement as soon as it was odvious that a decent repair wasn't avalible at the roadside.
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Tristan the wrote: just whipped off my trousers to find a big bruise on my arse, caused by matt rear ending me...

[Phil_G]

which rental outfit was this? If they're local to the A55 then they're local to me, and I want to avoid them!

ta

phil
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1997 Kawasaki ER 500 A1:- Once again, Its merely crap

[SlimRick]

After the second breakdown, even though it had eaten away 8.5 hours of the day, I would still have taken it back and then talked about a refund. After the third breakdown I just couldn't be arsed with it. It had completely fucked up our move. The recovery guys were tops, but both commented that servicing seemed to have been overlooked on this particular truck. I would assume that the alternator was loose when we picked the truck up, and both chaps did their best to get us moving again.

Fuck em!

[Stoo]

I expect asking a punter to wait 6 hours for repairs in a 24 hour period isn't reasonable in anyone's book. If they rape your credit card then ask your credit card company to issue a chargeback.

[kenny]

they should make sure then vehicle is ok for use and by the sounds of it its not, i work at a hire company and if i send something out thats not up to scratch its my fault not the punters. the vehicle should have been checked over when the last person returned it, just say to them they have made you miss dealines because of the repeated problems etc and you are going to take it to trading standards then you'll see them bend over backwards.
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KeNNy 100cc peugot speedfight 125cc Honda NSR125R 650cc suzuki SV650R 125cc suzuki GZ125 600cc yamaha YZF-R6