RC
Robert C
Active since Aug 2013
3
Reviews
0
Industries
Reviews
3 reviews6 months ago
Never again
My wife recently had the misfortune to book a rental car from Alamo, a company operated by Woodford Car Hire, which is also in partnership with Enterprise and National. My wife, together with three long-time friends who had flown overnight from the UK for a three week tour of the Cape, went to Woodford’s Alamo branch at Cape Town airport to collect the vehicle that she had ordered for their holiday. All were unaware that the powers that be who control Woodford had decided that they only wanted certain South African residents to be their customers. My wife has neither a credit score nor a smart identity card both of which are essential requirements for hiring vehicles from Woodford. Regrettably Woodford hasn’t bothered either to publicise or to advise all its prospective customers about the requirements. Apparently Woodford advises customers who have booked directly with them that that a credit check is made, but this is worthless information as they are not told the score required to be accepted as a customer. My wife’s booking was made through Economy Car Rentals, a booking platform from which Woodford happily accepts bookings but does not liaise with about the terms and conditions required for the bookings. Even though she did not have the essential requirements, staff at the Cape Town branch attempted, but failed, to process her rental agreement and this resulted in her being told that she couldn’t hire a vehicle, meaning that she and her friends would not be able to go on their holiday. I cannot imagine what went through the minds of four elderly ladies when they were given information that meant their vacation was ruined! My wife had a credit card to pay for the hire but Woodford’s systems blocked its use as she wasn’t qualified to be a customer. The systems were poorly designed as, it seemed, there was no way that the block could be bypassed or overridden. Eventually a member of Woodford’s staff managed to take payment from the credit card. Unfortunately this took well over an hour, a long wait especially for her friends who had just flown in from the UK. Although we have complained, Woodford’s staff are only interested in defending their poor, ludicrous and impractical systems; there has been little sympathy shown for us, the customers. Clearly we will never use Woodford or its associated companies again and I would strongly recommend that other members of the public steer well clear. Nobody should deal with an organisation that creates its own rules about which members of the public it wants as customers and then doesn’t bother to publicise those rules effectively. Regrettably my wife’s dealings with Woodford worsened throughout the rental period and, also, after it ended.
53 replies
26 months ago
GREED
I recently had an operation at St Augustine’s Hospital in Durban and the anaesthetist was a partner with Drs Edington & Partners. I was in the theatre for less than an hour and, whilst I have no problems with the anaesthetist, I was shocked to find that Drs Edington & Partners charged four time medical aid rates. I do not have gap cover and was lucky to be charged only double medical aid rates. To me this practice is sheer greed.
0 replies
85 months ago
DO NOT TRUST MONEY-GRABBING VODACOM
Towards the end of last year my wife and I renewed our contracts, both of which are in my name, with Vodacom for a further two years. At the beginning of April 2019, less than six months into the new contracts, Vodacom decided to increase its rental and subscription charges by over 3%. The discounts that we had been given were NOT increased. I was told by a consultant at Vodacom’s call centre that Vodacom’s contracts allowed it to increase its charges at any time. I was also told that Vodacom had sent us SMS’s advising us of the proposed increases. My contract was renewed by telephone and I have never been given a contract. My wife renewed her contract in a Vodacom store and cannot remember seeing a contract. Neither my wife nor I have received any SMS’s from Vodacom about rental and subscription increases. I cannot trust an organisation that sells two year contracts and then within six months increases the charges, especially as customers are given little opportunity to read the terms of the contacts. This mistrust is aggravated when the organisation tells its consultants to lie to customers about SMS’s. I also find Vodacom pathetic as it is too greedy to absorb a relatively small increase. Clearly Vodacom is not interested in long-term relationships with its customers, as demonstrated by its standard response to reviews on “Hellopeter.com”.
112 replies
Review Distribution
5 Star
0 (0%)
4 Star
0 (0%)
3 Star
0 (0%)
2 Star
0 (0%)
1 Star
3 (100%)