Dennis M.

Pasted here is the text of my email complaint to Green Motion, which Green Motion did not address (I had to enlist support of my credit card company to get my pre-payment refunded). Text: Yesterday (Jan. 31) I arrived to pick up my prepaid 28-day hire car at Green Motion (GM) Manchester Airport booked through RentalCars.com. I am a US citizen with valid USA-based driver licenses who spends considerable time each year in the UK, having used hire cars with major providers in the UK many times during the past 35 years without problems. However, yesterday I departed WITHOUT getting my prepaid hire car because (a) GM Manchester staff at first stated that my driver's license(s) did not meet their requirements and that nothing could be done; then (b) GM Manchester staff re-stated their original position and stated that they would provide me the car ONLY if I added comprehensive insurance at a cost of approximately 500 GBP more than my prepaid amount. Recognizing this as a bait-and-switch tactic, I departed the GM Manchester office without my hire car, had to buy a walk-in rail ticket back to Leeds Rail Station, a bus ticket for travel back to Leeds-Bradford Airport (LBA), and booked and paid a walk-in car hire at a walk-in rate at LBA with Budget/Avis, then returned home. I then cancelled three additional 28-day bookings (also made via RentalCars.com) that I made for GM Manchester hire car because I will not do business with GM Manchester after my experience yesterday. I checked GM's Terms and Conditions and those Terms and Conditions as printed in "License Requirements" are NOT consistent with what GM Manchester staff did and said yesterday. More specifically, GM's Terms and Conditions under the section "License Requirements" state: "All drivers must have held their driving license for at least 2 years." I have held my driving license(s) for 40+ years since the time I was 18 years old. I showed GM Manchester my (a) Hawaii state driver's license, and (b) my Washington state driver's license. I also had an international driver's license that I carry with me as a back-up (not needed in this case as my state driver's licenses are printed in English). The GM Manchester staff erroneously interprets the word/phrase about "held" in the aforementioned GM printed requirement as follows: If a customer presents a non-UK (USA state license in this case) driving license and that license has printed on it an initial or renewal date that is less than two years prior to the date of the prepaid car hire, then GM Manchester will not release the prepaid car to the customer and/or will release the prepaid car to the customer only if that customer agrees to add comprehensive insurance coverage. If GM (any location) had a clearly written statement regarding the aforementioned license requirement(s), then GM could avoid these situations. I have attached three relevant documents, including (a) booking document per RentalCars.com, (b) confirmation e-mail dated Jan. 7,2020, and (c) GM's Terms & Conditions document that I entitled "Misleading Wording See License Requirements re word HELD."
1. Refund my prepaid booking (224.95 GBP) that I paid via RentalCars.com --- and, no, I am not interested in receiving a voucher for a future rental with Green Motion Manchester.
2. You contact RentalCars.com to inform them of my experience with GM Manchester yesterday and ensure that I get back my 224.95 payment.
2. Please reply as to Green Motion's willingness to refund me also for my rail and bus transportation costs (approximately 67 GBP) in getting to Manchester Green Motion's office from Leeds Airport. I will provide documents to verify those exact costs if and when GM agrees to pay for my transportation costs.