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Green Motion Bristol airport - avoid at all cost!

Amsterdam, The...
4 posts
Green Motion Bristol airport - avoid at all cost!
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I rented a car for two days in Bristol through Atlaschoice and got a car from Green Motion, who I wasn't familiar with. Upon arriving to their Bristol Airport location (which isn't really at the airport but a long walk away in a dinghy alley with only 1 small room) I noticed straight away the staff were very rude to another client. When it was my turn, the person behind the desk treated me like a criminal who is planning to steal their vehicle. I didn't get a hello let alone a smile, and all the documents I was asked to provide (several ID's, proof of address etc) were examined long and hard as if they had been fake.

Eventually came the time to pay and having read the rental agreement from Atlaschoice beforehand that says "The lead driver must have a valid major credit card. Solo and Maestro are not accepted" I handed over my American Express. I have rented with ALL the other rental car providers at Bristol Airport and never had a problem paying with Amex. The person behind the desk abruptly said they do not accept American Express. I then offered to leave the deposit amount of 300 pounds in cash. Again this was refused. As these were the only two options I had, I asked if my husband could pay with his card. They said it's fine but he will need to be registered as a driver too. He handed over his credit card and license but was told the paper part was needed too. We explained that he would not be doing any driving as he was heading to London with our car (which is why we were renting a car in the first place). This wasn't good enough for the person behind the desk though, so my partner set off back home getting his paper part. After he had left, I was told there would be a fee of 16 pounds for the additional driver. I found this unreasonable as we didn't need or want to add a driver in the contract and were only forced to do so due to the fact they do not accept American Express, unlike every other car rental company.

The person behind the desk told me he couldn't possibly "give me a free additional driver" and the member of staff standing at the computer desk, having been chuckling at the situation all along, laughed out loud. I called my husband who also found the situation totally unbelievable and we decided to cancel the booking altogether. As I told this to the person behind the desk, the other member of staff behind him continued to chuckle and shake his head. I do not know what kind of briefing on customer service the agents at Green Motion are given, but this kind of behaviour is unacceptable.

I understand there are rules to follow and we would have probably been happy to pay the extra and get on with our day if it hadn't been for the extremely rude demeanor of the Green Motion agents. During the whole discussion, the person behind the desk was extremely rude and unhelpful, while another member of the staff stood behind by a computer desk LAUGHING at my situation. Is this really the type of service they like to provide to the customers? It is the first time I experienced anything like it and you can be sure I'll never use Green Motion rental service again.

Looking at the other reviews from other Green Motion locations, it seems there are several fake profiles with fake reviews! There's clearly a general disinterest in customers and several attempt to actually make customers pay for scratches that were already there when the car was rented - we might have had a lucky escape not renting a car through Green Motion! I strongly recommend you won't either.

shoestring-UK
Level Contributor
992 posts
28 reviews
49 helpful votes
1. Re: Green Motion Bristol airport - avoid at all cost!
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Sounds like a hidden camera show... without the big reveal at the end. Hardly surprising you feel so strongly about this... however... you registered this week and have only made 4 contributions to this site and they are all about this one company. Thankfully now this post is on our local forum other people will have an opportunity to contribute their own experiences and we might all get a better idea of what is really going on.

Bristol, United...
Level Contributor
402 posts
16 reviews
17 helpful votes
2. Re: Green Motion Bristol airport - avoid at all cost!
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Is this company related to the Forge Car park at Bristol which receives much attention on this forum!

Bristol Location is almost the same at "The old Forge"

Dublin, Ireland
Level Contributor
47,245 posts
112 reviews
84 helpful votes
3. Re: Green Motion Bristol airport - avoid at all cost!
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some of the ops comments display a lack of understanding of normal rental companies. I am not defending green motion, but very very few companies will accept amex or debit cards, neither will they accept cash. as regards additional drivers, an extra charge is not unusual. the deposit is only required if you do not accept scdw, so if you had accepted that, there would have been little or no fuss.

Marmande, France
Level Contributor
40 posts
141 reviews
120 helpful votes
4. Re: Green Motion Bristol airport - avoid at all cost!
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I came on to Trip Advisor with the intention of reviewing this company and wasn't surprised to read the very negative comments made. We rented a car at about the same time as the op. It's not an experience I'd care to repeat. They pick you up from the airport and take you to a grotty little office where it takes about half an hour to process the rental. We already have an annual hire car insurance and didn't want the extra cover which seems to involve the process taking longer for some inexplicable reason. When we returned the car a few days later the guy seemed to 'find' a tiny scuff on the front bumper. Like some other reviewers have said, it was almost like he knew where to look! The scuff was one of those you could quite easily polish out if needed but this guy said it would cost an extra £30 to get this done. My husband was furious, but what could we do, we didn't want to stand round arguing, so we paid the money and got the transfer back to the airport. Looking at what other reviewers have said and the outrageous sums involved, we feel we got away lightly. We would never use them again.

Dublin, Ireland
Level Contributor
47,245 posts
112 reviews
84 helpful votes
5. Re: Green Motion Bristol airport - avoid at all cost!
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the rental companies do not take cash. so it appears as if you were scammed by a person. take the matter up with green motion, but if you have no proof of handing over the money, then you were just victim of a con man!

did you not get a receipt from green motion?

Bristol, United...
1 post
6. Re: Green Motion Bristol airport - avoid at all cost!
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Tear able service extremely rude to my partner on the phone. On arriving at the pokey little office i immediately encountered more rudeness and sarcasm. Because of his incompetence he was unable to find my booking then had the affront to suggest that i had probably cancelled my payment. Even with the paperwork reference number and my E-voucher. After several rude comments and sarcasm his colleague managed to find the booking immediately. He then took accept ion when i told him his attitude stank and i would be reporting him and the level of service was crap so would not be using them again. That was it i never got the car he got the hump managed to drop me back at the airport where i rented a car from Enterprize. What a difference great service really polite. Never again greenmotion crap crap crap.

Bristol, England
Level Contributor
3,933 posts
27 reviews
28 helpful votes
7. Re: Green Motion Bristol airport - avoid at all cost!
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Tilly00, what you can do next time you rent is what a lot of us do as a matter of course. Walk round the car when you get it, taking photographs. If you'd done that and the scuff was indeed there before, you'd have been able to prove it. On the subject of Amex, as nakagoli has said, Amex is not popular in the UK and a lot of shops and other businesses have signs up saying they won't take it.

Curridge, United...
Level Contributor
17 posts
36 reviews
33 helpful votes
8. Re: Green Motion Bristol airport - avoid at all cost!
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My family rented a car from here while visiting me. They were picked up from the airport once they arrived. I returned the car. Yes, they haven't been the most polite people I've met but other than that we had no issues.

Edited: 9 years ago
Pontypridd, United...
Level Contributor
1 post
10 reviews
8 helpful votes
9. Re: Green Motion Bristol airport - avoid at all cost!
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I hired my car in Bristol airport and just knew from the outset that I was going to be charged for something. I took especial care of the car and did no damage as everyone should. However on car return they went straight to the furthest wheel and pointed out a small scuff in the alloy which was nearly invisible and which I did not do. They charged me for a new alloy wheel. Did anyone else get charged for this scuff on car reg Nr LM14 MJU? I felt robbed & will never use this company again.

Villablanca, Spain
Level Contributor
4 posts
21 reviews
45 helpful votes
10. Re: Green Motion Bristol airport - avoid at all cost!
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Been using Green Motion twice a year for the last five years,cheapest at Bristol Airport probably because they are off airport,great cars,great service and cant fault them.

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