1 reviews | Active since Nov 2012
Woodford promises great service but fails to deliver
We booked two rental vehicles to be collected at Cape Town airport on 25th April 2021.
The website booking process was excellent, the rates were good and the follow up communications via e-mail and text message were great. I was looking forward to very good service from this company based on these experiences.
However, when we arrived at the office to collect our vehicles we were told that none were available! After the gentlemen behind the desk spent a long time on the phone he advise that there was one vehicle that was being washed that we could have (not the one we booked, but an upgraded class so that was ok) but we'd have to wait for it to be washed.
The only other vehicle available was two hours away and they weren't sure when it would come.
And that was that. No offer to make a plan in any way or to address the fact that there were now 6 of us sitting there with our luggage and no transport.
After 40min of waiting and more phonecalls I eventually went next door to Hertz and was able to book a replacement vehicle on the spot. I came back, cancelled the second vehicle booking and we took the replacement upgrade.
Of course we missed our appointments that day as we were ultimately delayed by 2 hours.
Then, when I checked my mail, I found an e-mail from Woodford in response to the cancellation I'd made at the desk, to inform me that their policy was to not pay a refund on cancellation but rather to give me a credit on my next hire!
I was forced to get the MD involved to press this - explaining that it was not a cancellation - it was a failure to provide the service.
Thereafter they refunded only the holding deposit and I had to chase up again to get the rental fee refunded.
So... finally (a month later), all was refunded... but the MD's response to my complaint was "Hi James My apologies for the inconvenience caused Please provide me with your rental agreement I can ensure you it won't happen again. My apologies once again".
Well, it's good to apologise but I'm afraid that's not good enough. The failure cost two hours of time, extra rental fees (walk-in rental is not as cheap as pre-booked) and a great deal of time and effort getting the refund through.
And we were incredibly fortunate to be able to rent from Hertz on the spot or else we'd really have been stuck.
Everyone makes mistakes and there are glitches that happen but it's how you respond that makes all the difference.
Management should have taken responsibility on the spot and made sure we were sorted. They could easily have called us personally, arranged for an Uber to take us where we needed to be while they sorted out the vehicles in the background. Instead, that man at the desk just says "sorry... no vehicles available".
Pity... because the website was really good, it all looked so promising. But I have no confidence that should I use these services again, I won't be left high and dry again. And with no compensation except a brief sorry... I'm afraid I cannot recommend this company to anyone.
If you ever need assistance at any time, you can consult my customer care team on ***********
The Woodford Customer Care Team
Smangele Mbhele
If you ever need assistance at any time, you can consult my customer care team on ***********
The Woodford Customer Care Team
Smangele Mbhele
I received a call promptly from their customer care team after posting this review and they were very keen to apologise and rectify the matter.
What followed was a series of discussions where I clarified that my primary concern was the glitch in the business and that Woodford ensure this is fixed. I was assured this would be the case and was not the norm and was offered a discount on my next rental. I said I would update my review with this information.
However, I then received a follow-up e-mail when I hadn't updated my review yet. I clarified that I would be updating my review because I think it is fair that Woodford is acknowledged for their follow up customer service, but I re-iterated that I could not change the rating of the initial review because that rating is an accurate reflection of the service I received. I added that I had been convinced that this was a once off glitch and that I would definitely use Woodford next time and then rate their service according to that experience.
When I logged in this morning to update the review I received a message from Hello Peter telling me that the business had reported my review as inappropriate and incorrect! They base this on the time between one of the agreements being "opened" and then "cancelled" on the computer (once I was able to source an alternative from next door). From this, they concluded that, and I quote from their report to Hello Peter "...By all means my staff had attempted to assist this customer but refused assistance and was not willing to wait more than 30 minutes The agreement will prove the time the booking was closed"
Well, I have no idea what the staff were or were not doing on their computers with our agreement while we waited in the queue, drank the water in the dispenser and requested multiple times to speak to management. But I do know that eventually a voice note to our lunch hosts was sent at 13.10 to advise them we'd be late. And then later a message to say we finally had a car at 14.00. So it was at least 50min, probably more.
And it's just laughable to say "the customer refused assistance". My wife spent most of the time asking them to "make a plan". When there was nothing forthcoming I went to the other rental offices to try to find anyone that could help.
But what was really distressing was to see that after all the apparent acceptance of responsibility and keenness to rectify the situation internally, it seems in the final analysis that Woodford concluded that this is just an unreasonable customer who misrepresented his experience.
Well... I leave it up to future customers to assess this and I do hope, for their sake, that this was a once-off bad experience. Unfortunately, Woodford's willingness to distrust me has left me with no option but to use other providers in future.
I received a call promptly from their customer care team after posting this review and they were very keen to apologise and rectify the matter.
What followed was a series of discussions where I clarified that my primary concern was the glitch in the business and that Woodford ensure this is fixed. I was assured this would be the case and was not the norm and was offered a discount on my next rental. I said I would update my review with this information.
However, I then received a follow-up e-mail when I hadn't updated my review yet. I clarified that I would be updating my review because I think it is fair that Woodford is acknowledged for their follow up customer service, but I re-iterated that I could not change the rating of the initial review because that rating is an accurate reflection of the service I received. I added that I had been convinced that this was a once off glitch and that I would definitely use Woodford next time and then rate their service according to that experience.
When I logged in this morning to update the review I received a message from Hello Peter telling me that the business had reported my review as inappropriate and incorrect! They base this on the time between one of the agreements being "opened" and then "cancelled" on the computer (once I was able to source an alternative from next door). From this, they concluded that, and I quote from their report to Hello Peter "...By all means my staff had attempted to assist this customer but refused assistance and was not willing to wait more than 30 minutes The agreement will prove the time the booking was closed"
Well, I have no idea what the staff were or were not doing on their computers with our agreement while we waited in the queue, drank the water in the dispenser and requested multiple times to speak to management. But I do know that eventually a voice note to our lunch hosts was sent at 13.10 to advise them we'd be late. And then later a message to say we finally had a car at 14.00. So it was at least 50min, probably more.
And it's just laughable to say "the customer refused assistance". My wife spent most of the time asking them to "make a plan". When there was nothing forthcoming I went to the other rental offices to try to find anyone that could help.
But what was really distressing was to see that after all the apparent acceptance of responsibility and keenness to rectify the situation internally, it seems in the final analysis that Woodford concluded that this is just an unreasonable customer who misrepresented his experience.
Well... I leave it up to future customers to assess this and I do hope, for their sake, that this was a once-off bad experience. Unfortunately, Woodford's willingness to distrust me has left me with no option but to use other providers in future.
I have sent the proof to Hello Peter admin to view the time of the rental and at what time the reservation was cancelled, based on the new information I had seen on the invoice I updated Hello Peter correcting you had not waited 2hrs as stipulated in your original review
You were offered alternates and as mentioned to you before we offer the uber in the event there is an emergency
In closing we had provided a R500.00 voucher as a token of customer care which you have opted not to accept
I have sent the proof to Hello Peter admin to view the time of the rental and at what time the reservation was cancelled, based on the new information I had seen on the invoice I updated Hello Peter correcting you had not waited 2hrs as stipulated in your original review
You were offered alternates and as mentioned to you before we offer the uber in the event there is an emergency
In closing we had provided a R500.00 voucher as a token of customer care which you have opted not to accept