VMS Vehicle Hire Stevenage

Mar 16th, 2023

Nov 15th, 2021

Oct 13th, 2021

Oct 9th, 2021

We booked a 9 seater van or similar in April for a group holiday in August. It was a fairly painful process making the booking, but managed to get it done. I then visited branch on a couple of occasions to make sure everything was in order and a deposit was taken. No problem. I then visited branch a day before we were due to collect the van on the off chance it was in branch. This was so I could look at the luggage space. I was then presented with 6 seater crew van which they deemed acceptable. Despite us booking a 9 seater. I was then told this was a booking error, but a driver was on his way to collect the 9 seater from Norwich. Not a problem, we still had time to get it to the Stevenage branch. Upon the driver collecting, the van apparently had an engine management light on and subsequently was taken off the road. The solution? No alternative vehicle offered and not a care given. Just a "thanks but we can't help. We only have one 9 seater in the fleet". The branch manager suddenly had the afternoon off work so I could not escalate the issue with branch. This sounded all very odd and I suspected was a booking/vehicle assignment error and they were now making excuses. One 9 seater in the fleet? I managed to speak to head office that did their best, but ultimately the responsibility sat with the branch manager. Fortunately, the group going on holiday had our own cars so we could travel, but our holiday could have been ruined if we did not have our own transport. I requested a call from the branch manager via head office with a gesture of goodwill to recompense for the inconvenience and afternoon spent trying to find a 9 seater at such short notice. (We also lost out on our third party vehicle excess ensurance because this was no longer needed but too late to cancel). I'm still waiting for that phone call from the branch manager. I appreciate that these things happen and if a company is busy they may not have another vehicle available, but the customer service and care was shocking. No real apology, no care for how we can get on holiday, no follow-up call. They didn't even offer us 2 cars or vans at the same price. We went with VMS because they offered a good rate and on the face of it, a professional company with branches across the UK so expected back-up you perhaps wouldn't get with a small car hire company. After the customer service received I would not use VMS again, nor recommend them.
Aug 5th, 2021