I hired a car through Holiday Autos and paid £186.95. It was to be collected from the Hertz office at Inverness Airport and I provided my flight number.
The confirmation document stated that I would be escorted from the arrivals terminal to the Hertz office by a courtesy driver. This did not happen.
I was advised by airport staff that I should, in fact, wait for the Hertz driver at a small cabin in the corner of the car park. I made my way there, but no pickup arrived from Hertz and I discovered the Hertz office had closed at 4pm. The closing time stated by Holiday Autos on the confirmation was 10.30pm.
Holiday Autos told me to make my way by taxi, at a cost of £10, to the Hertz branch, which was, predictably, locked. Holiday Autos told me it was unable to assist.
Back at the terminal, the only car hire outlet still open was Europcar, so I had no choice but to accept its last available car at a cost of £371.36.
Holiday Autos has refused to refund me any money.
AH, Bristol
The Hertz website states that the office in question shuts at 4pm. Your Holiday Autos booking confirmation cites a pickup time of 4pm, just after your flight landed.
Hertz tells me that if it had received advance notice of your timings, it would have arranged to accommodate you.
Holiday Autos, when you complained, claimed in a letter that you had failed to show up and were therefore not entitled to a refund.
Only when I intervened did it admit that it had failed to pass on your flight number to Hertz so, when 4pm passed, it shut up shop.
You wouldn’t have known to alert Hertz yourself since your Holiday Autos confirmation had the closing time as 10.30pm.
More than two months after the fiasco, Holiday Autos has finally promised to refund you the second hire charge and the taxi fare.
Email your.problems@observer.co.uk. Include an address and phone number. Submission and publication are subject to our terms and conditions
