Heads up for Holiday Car rental

Third Opinion · 4 Jan 2017 at 20:43

I am off on my long awaited honeymoon on the 12th Jan. All booked but received a shock today. 8 days until we leave we have received notice from Atlas Choice Cars our rental voucher is longer valid. No explanation and no refund (lucky I paid on Credit Card).

I have used Atlas before and they are heavily promoted on comparison websites. Just a simple email today.

Dear Customer,

We are writing to advise that unfortunately due to exceptional circumstances the Atlas Choice voucher for your upcoming car hire will not be honoured at present by the car hire company indicated on the voucher.

As a result of this, I advise you to contact the car hire desk of the supplier in advance to check that a car will still be available to you, to confirm the price with them and further confirm how this car should be paid for at the desk or prior to the pickup.

The contact details for the supplier you had booked with can be found on your voucher.

What should I do if no car is available or the price is not suitable?

We have requested that all car hire companies keep cars in place to fulfil bookings and honour the previously agreed price. In the event that this does not occur
please contact an alternative supplier as Atlas Choice is unfortunately unable to assist.

We recommend that you visit a travel search engine like SkyScanner or TravelSupermarket, for US clients Priceline to source an alternative supplier- as at the present time Atlas Choice is unfortunately unable to assist.

Please note that should you purchase any local extras that are outside the original booking package these fall outside the terms of Atlas Choice’s provision of the original voucher.

How do I recover the money I paid to Atlas Choice?

Our payment provider, WorldPay, are not processing any refunds and therefore we are unable to assist. The only alternative is to contact the customer services department for your card provider (you many find customer contact number on the back of your card) and ask them to commence a charge back claim for the total cost of your original booking including prepaid extras.

What if I have purchased Excess Refund?

We recommend that in the event you still require this Excess Refund, that you make alternative arrangements.

Please note that our telephone lines are exceptionally busy, and our call centre team are unable to provide any further information than we’ve written above. The fastest way to contact us is by replying to this email, where we can answer any questions you have directly.

Please accept our sincere apologies for any inconvenience that this may cause you, especially at this time of year.

Yours faithfully

Atlas Choice Team

I must admit I booked it in November but doing some research it seems that this has been happening for at least a month and they don't seem to inform you until 7 days before.

As last minute I have had to take what is available as alternative and been thoroughly tucked up.

Thought I would let you guys know in case anyone else has a booking for later on. No refunds are being issued so it is up to your Credit card provider

LewisRaz · 4 Jan 2017 at 21:15

How do they get away with that?

You paid for a service. Didnt receive it. Yet they will not even consider refunds?

Uther · 4 Jan 2017 at 21:22

Are they/have they gone under? Seems a weird thing to do unless they are in administration.

Third Opinion · 4 Jan 2017 at 21:24

LewisRaz said:
How do they get away with that?

You paid for a service. Didnt receive it. Yet they will not even consider refunds?

Seems they have spent all their money (and mine) so have nothing to refund.

I booked in good faith yet only did some research on receiving this email. Bookings have been cancelled as far back as 16th December, I booked mine in November.

I have been stung now but thought I would warn others who have chosen this route as they may be able to get a refund and make other arrangements before they get their 7/8 notice.

LewisRaz · 4 Jan 2017 at 21:31

Third Opinion said:
Seems they have spent all their money (and mine) so have nothing to refund.

I booked in good faith yet only did some research on receiving this email. Bookings have been cancelled as far back as 16th December, I booked mine in November.

I have been stung now but thought I would warn others who have chosen this route as they may be able to get a refund and make other arrangements before they get their 7/8 notice.

Oh right, fair play for the warning.

jon86 · 4 Jan 2017 at 21:57

Third Opinion said:
... I have been stung now but thought I would warn others who have chosen this route as they may be able to get a refund and make other arrangements before they get their 7/8 notice.

I would imagine that you can request a credit card chargeback, or the debit card equivalent of that if you paid with a debit card.

andy_mk3 · 4 Jan 2017 at 22:01

My Dad phoned me tonight as he had a booking with them, luckily only lost out about £10. He's booked it through somewhere else now and got a Corsa for 2 weeks for something stupid like £12!

Third Opinion · 5 Jan 2017 at 12:30

andy_mk3 said:
My Dad phoned me tonight as he had a booking with them, luckily only lost out about £10. He's booked it through somewhere else now and got a Corsa for 2 weeks for something stupid like £12!

I called Budget who got close to the original price. However their policy in the Canaries is to take payment for fuel up front. So they have charged me nearly £80 to fill up a Fiat 500. That is more than the car hire cost.

R.O.S.S.I · 5 Jan 2017 at 15:13

Where are you all finding car rental for that cheap? I've been looking to hire a car for 7-9 days in Ibiza this August and its coming out £300 min for the smallest car available!

Rotty · 5 Jan 2017 at 17:56

R.O.S.S.I said:
Where are you all finding car rental for that cheap? I've been looking to hire a car for 7-9 days in Ibiza this August and its coming out £300 min for the smallest car available!

thats sounds ridiculous, only ever pay £10-15 a day in european holiday resorts

Haggisman · 5 Jan 2017 at 18:04

R.O.S.S.I said:
Where are you all finding car rental for that cheap? I've been looking to hire a car for 7-9 days in Ibiza this August and its coming out £300 min for the smallest car available!

That's a hideous amount, i've booked a midsize for a week in Croatia in May which is costing about -£20/day!

Where are you looking? A very quick search for a week in the middle of august is coming out at £150 for a golf

holymonk · 5 Jan 2017 at 19:54

Used atlas once utterly appalling avoid at all costs. Seems like you're saving money at the time trust me you won't.

andy_mk3 · 5 Jan 2017 at 20:19

R.O.S.S.I said:
Where are you all finding car rental for that cheap? I've been looking to hire a car for 7-9 days in Ibiza this August and its coming out £300 min for the smallest car available!

My Dad is off to Alicante end of the month, being out of season they're practically giving the hire cars away.

Third Opinion · 5 Jan 2017 at 20:31

R.O.S.S.I said:
Where are you all finding car rental for that cheap? I've been looking to hire a car for 7-9 days in Ibiza this August and its coming out £300 min for the smallest car available!

Don't book through your travel agent?

My travel agent tried to push a taxi on me from the airport to my resort that is 12 minutes away for £59!

Car hire was £350 a week. Fair play I booked with Atlas that went bust but the Travel Company wanted 4x what it has cost me with Budget.

Money Supermarket etc will help, just ignore Atlas that are still coming up.

Rotty · 5 Jan 2017 at 21:15

look on the tripadvisor forum for the relevant area, will be loads of recommendations

daver · 5 Jan 2017 at 21:27

Sounds even worse that just cancelling bookings - apparently they havent paid any of the rental companies since the summer and so some of those are contacting people who used them and telling them they are charging their credit cards to recover the money Atlas was supposed to pay them.