UnbeatableHire 

Do your homework on this company. All the nightmare stories are correct. Think I'd sooner buy one the rent anyway.

HIGHWAY ROBBERY

I suffered a massive cost blowout when I hired a campervan in England from Unbeatablehire Ltd (unbeatablehire.com) through its subsidiary Hire Booking Centre Ltd (hirebookingcentre.com).

A series of bills blew the cost out from the original price of £488 to £693.55 - an increase of £205.55 - more than 40%.

In addition, the company took £1250 from my credit card as a returnable deposit against damage and insurance claims and failed to return my money in reasonable time when I returned my campervan in pristine condition and without having had any accidents, despite two emails requesting repayment.

And it charged me another £30 as an administration fee to take the £1250 from my account.

If you obtain what appears to be a cheap quote from Unbeatablehire be aware the company boasted in 2013 to would-be investors that it took an average of £1,193 on each hire.

Dozens of people have made complaints about the companies and their former incarnations as Motorholme Ltd and Motorholme Hire Ltd. In fact, the name Motorholme Force is still used on some forms and motorholme.co.uk is still used by the companies on the Internet to solicit bookings.

On September 21 2012 The Guardian carried a complaint from someone who had received a quote of £897 plus £12.50 a day for insurance from Motorholme "but the company then took another £331 for an insurance surcharge not covered in the original conversation".

On complaintsboard.com "VAB1234" wrote on April 21 2015 of having been charged £75 plus an administration fee for six hours cleaning for a muddy floor.

"Sonjet" from Fife, Scotland, wrote on November 3 2012 his total hire charge had been £558 but the total pre-hire payment had been £1,949.61.

"Genniem" wrote on November 12 2015: "We returned our van immaculate and with the required amount of petrol." He said it was not until several weeks later the returnable deposit was returned minus over £40 - "apparently for 10 litres of petrol".

Kris Watson wrote on March 1 2016 of a returnable deposit: "I've been chasing them for 13 weeks now and they will not respond to emails, phone messages nor live chat."

"Nomis3" from Durham reported on July 20, 2015 of the battle to retrieve the refundable deposit: "We had to ring up every day to chase it up and when they did put a payment in it was £60 short."

TripAdvisor has similar complaints.

"Hazel94" wrote on August 8 2013: "They take a £1250 deposit for a week's hire and return it four weeks after the vehicle is safely returned. You have to threaten them with a bank investigation to suddenly get it back six days after they say they have returned it."

"TheGrebes" from Auckland said on August 30 2013 complained of heaps of hidden fees. "I had to wait 45 days for my security refund" - minus a £45 fee.

It cost "Wanderingstarlet" from the midlands £9.80 for a toilet roll that was taken from the company's toilet pack, according to a complaint on May 29 2013.

There are dozens more complaints.

It's not just renters who are outraged. The company invites motorhome owners to use it as a booking agency. "Sealover71" told TripAdvisor on June 27 2014: "As a motorhome owner who wanted to rent our vehicle out we had an awful experience with Motorholme."

And "InHudson1945" told Reviewcentre.com on June 9 2014: "this company used my motorhome for several hires...I had to wait several months for payments despite them saying it would be paid straight after a hire."

Believe it or not, there are good reviews.

But reviewcentre.com says it understands Hire Booking Centre and Unbeatable Hire(sic) have requested positive reviews in exchange for £30 Amazon vouchers.

This is confirmed by a review on complaintsboard.com by "PEH1962" on April 21 2016. He revealed he had been offered £30 Amazon vouchers as an inducement by UnbeatableHire. He says the company told him: "All you have to do is provide either a four star or five star review on He added: "To my mind that's a bribe."

My own rental started with a hire charge of £488 but this was soured by a b

I wish this review could go to minus stars.....

Please read this review before using this company or any other name they decide to use. I hired a motorhome the end of last year, everything seemed ok to start with.. Even the customer service started ok.
So, you pay a fee to book the motorhome which seems really affordable/UNBEATABLE.. Then you get bombarded with extras, eveything Is an extra, I'm supprised you don't have to pay a fee for the steering wheel and gear knob..... I will list all the extras- tv, bedding, gas bottle, toilet chemicals, bike rake, sat nav, pots and pans, knives and forks, early collection fee, a fee to show you around the motorhome on collection, parking fee, insurance waiver fee, deposit processing fee, just a general admin fee...the list goes on and on. Just so you are all aware, I opted out for all extras and guess what, it was all inside the motorhome upon collection.

So the collection process was lacking any customer service, the manager was lacking English communication skills too.
The motorhome went back to them cleaner then when i picked it up, it was dirty inside, the fridge had a funny smell and the oven was dirty.

Right, so I take the motorhome back after our holiday and had to wait outside for someone to turn up as the hours provided was obviously wrong. Handed the keys over, checked the fuel level and I was on my way. No mention of did you have a nice time, was everything ok? Etc and the important part... No mention of my deposit.

This is where it gets interesting, they have a small print when booking that stats your security deposit will take 28 WORKING DAYS!! to be refunded.. That's nearly two months. I had to make fake booking quotes on there own website just to get someone to call me and chase my deposit. They have a support line you can call for admin and service enquiries, I've probably called the number over 50 times in the last 2 weeks and nobody has ever answered.

So two and a half months on, and still no deposit back..... Please anyone reading this, I'm a genuine unbeatable hire customer and will never ever use this cowboy company again.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!!

AVOID THIS COMPANY AT ALL COST ALSO THEY TRADE UNDER MANY DIFFERENT NAMES BUYER BEWARE.
Trust me they are nothing but DAYLIGHT robbers.
Ignore their positive reviews on here because they paid people to say good things about them with amazon vouchers. If you read the positive reviews you will soon find out the reviews are not genuine because nobody has actually took a booking out.
I got sucked in when I seen an advertisement for £99 for a weeks Motorhome hire.
This very soon went to over £600.
They ask for money for TV Licence, Toilet roll, cutlery, gas bottle, RAC cover, electric hook up lead,extra for a dog,cleaning before and after even though the van we got was filthy we returned it spotless because we feared our deposit would not be returned. the list goes on and on. I’m surprised they never asked for tyre wear. The Motorhome we got must of had over a hundred defects that’s what was on their list.
The handover was shockingly bad I paid for extra gas when we got to the first campsite the only gas bottle was empty. When I rang up they said but your own. Front tyres were bald all the external lockers were broken we could not lock any. Somebody needs to stop this company trading because they are ripping people off by not returning their deposits and sending out faulty vans. Please be aware they trade under many different names like festival hire Motorholm hire notice the deliberate spelling mistake to confuse people. Motorhomehire. Etc PLEASE AVOID THUS COMPANY AT ALL COST. WE GOT THROUGH THE HIRE BUT IT WAS THE MOST STRESSFUL HOLIDAY BOOKING I HAVE MADE HOW THEY SLEEP AT NIGHT IS SIMPLY AMAZING

Avoid like the plague, was told initially there would only be my rental and daily charget of £24 for insurance, after asking 3 times for exact amount to be taken from my account, I was told £69 then £96 for insurance, guess what first day £69, second day £355, which by the way was amount I was originally quoTed for 4 days, and surprisingly for 7 days, seems to be their default amount, don't accept their first offer, in fact avoid totally, I then waited from 10 Dec til 23 Jan for refund for them to try to add £69 for parking in their yard, didn't do this, cleaning toilet, actually took back cleaner than received, and £9 for TV licence which hadn't asked for TV and anyway didn't work, I got refund but their terms say 2/3 working days to credit, guess what, now 1st February and still waiting but after various emails etc got told today it has been credited but will take 4/5 days, not what terms say, now I charging interest on my owed monies at 5% per day which I am within my rights to do and urge anyone else to do in same situation, maybe they will play fair eventuslly

They are a con - they'll charge you for damage you didn't cause. AVOID
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This company are the pits...absolutely disgusted with the way they have spun out the return of a $3000 security deposit. I have to credit them for something though, they have infiltrated most review forums. I presume they employ someone to ghost positive reviews on review forums like this. They have a playbook of excuses that are trotted out...unfortunately for us, it was only after the initial booking that we looked at the reviews...oh my God....we got a real going over from them...it would make you puke the way the excuses are rolled out...unfortunately it is only too easy to imagine these guys cracking up laughing at their unfortunate customers as they hold a vice like grip on your money....long after their own odious contract promised it would be returned...avoid like the plague!!

Worst ever !!!! A lot hidden charges, poor delivery of the van, Weeks for deposit, never answer the phone, or reply emails, returned the van cleaner than it was and now they want to charge me cleaning fee, car park which I never used, and paid for extra gas bottle which never came with it just find out after running out on first day of rental.

Felt that the online and phone service was great and information was easily accessible. Would recommend these guys anytime.

Rented twice from this company and should have learnt my lesson the first time. I cannot believe any of the positive reviews on this site are genuine - they are likely fabricated or customers have been bribed to place a good review.

I placed a booking online and annoyingly within a few days, I kept getting text and email messages that I could rent the same deal for half the price. I contacted them a few times to see if they could honor but no reply so had no choice but to pay full price. As others have said, everything is an extra and they want the deposit in full upfront (no other rental company does this). The other annoying issue is that you can't collect until after 3pm but have to return by 11am, which means having to book extra days if you're going away to allow time. I paid extra for the 'toilet pack' including extra loo roll and chemical but the depot staff included this anyway but didn't want to take the chance. The van also had cutlery, plates, tea towels, fairy liquid etc - this was also marked as a payable extra on booking but seemed to be included anyway?? There was also some confusion over whether breakdown cover was included or not (you guessed it, an optional extra).

The only positive feedback is the motorhome was modern / clean and the depot staff at Gatwick were very good. The motorhome did have a blown indicator bulb that I had to sort after pick-up and I had to buy some AdBlue as ran-out during first day of hire (never got reimbursed for the bulb or adblue). Although frustrating, relatively easy to sort out and didn't impact our holiday.

Fortunately, we had no damage and returned the vehicle in the same condition. No doubt we would have lost our full deposit and then some if we had been involved in any accidents or damaged the vehicle. Doesn't seem you have a leg to stand on once there is damage even if it's not your fault.

Getting the deposit back was the most difficult issue taking almost 3 months and multiple emails, failed chat messages and attempted phone calls to chase. The phone number doesn't connect and it's pot luck if you ever receive a reply to your emails. Some of the emails are misleading and I can only imagine some kind of attempt to fob you off and keep hold of your deposit for longer.

The only way to get this company to react is to write a formal letter of complaint as a first step in preparation to file with the small claims court. A very frustrating experience dealing with the head-office / admin staff who ruined the holiday as was anxious the whole time about damage to the vehicle. The company operates under a number of names and most of the phone numbers (aside from sales) either don't work or are not manned.

Please avoid and rent from a reputable company as simply isn't worth the headache.

Heavily advertised “special deal” pricing was not available when enquires despite confirmation on two different bookings.
Also the list of additional costs is hidden and ramps the price you pay significantly

Posted on behalf of my parents:

Serious Financial Health Warning if you book with this organisation

All the points I would make are covered in the long litany of complaints by other reviewers. I strongly recommend you read them before considering hiring.

On the plus side the 5-berth Chausson motorhome we hired was fine; it was about a year old and clean / everything working except the TV. We took the precaution of taking photos of every aspect on collection. The depot in Scotland - I believe the depots used by this company may be independent businesses - was OK though there was longer waiting around on collection than ideal.

But, oh the negatives. All that has been said before about “Ryanair pricing techniques” once you have made a booking and parted with the first stage of payment. “You want a pair of wings on your aeroplane? That’s extra”. Lot of up-selling attempts including spurious “admin fees” for seemingly every part of the transaction process. Extras include the ludicrously high day rate for IEW (insurance excess waiver) which they insist you have, or else provide an extra deposit of £1,000. As I have my own IEW policy for vehicle hire (£40 p.a.) I had to pay over the £1,000 because by then I had paid the upfront rental and I was suspicious I may not get a rental refund if I cancelled. And they did the “try-on” of making a charge against the deposit for something which was blatantly not true, and for which I thank the local depot manager for confirming recently that we handed back (and signed for) the van without any matters that needed rectification or servicing post-hire.

The really cr**in*l part of this company is the amount of chasing needed to get back deposits (£1,250 in our case). In short I had to involve my credit card company in parallel with commencing legal action through the “Small Claims Court”. Having notified the company of this action twice after they failed to return the deposits on the first communication I sent as regards action I was taking, they did return the deposits; some two months (2 Oct to 1 Dec) or 44 working days after end of hire versus the 28 days in their Ts&Cs. As others have pointed out, legally they should not hang on to deposits for even 28 working days as any insurance excess claim that was received after hire would be handled by them for the daily fee or deposit paid. And any parking tickets would be pursued with the renter directly, not the hire company.

So, folks, be warned, do not use this company.

Without doubt the most unreasonable and dishonest company I have ever dealt with. There are a huge number of hidden costs that you are only made aware of after the point of purchase with no ability to cancel the contract without losing your initial payment. The deposit system requires you to put down up to £2500 which will not be returned to you for at least 35 days (but usually closer to 50) following the return of your hire (this is not just a block on your card, they take this as a payment two weeks ahead of the booking). The company couldn't seem to care less that a large number of their business practices are in breach of the Consumer Rights Act and their entire business model is based on abusing the trust of honest customers just trying to find a good deal.

The motorhome itself was of good quality, but when you combine this with the hidden costs, the stress of a dodgy company holding onto a significant portion of your savings for months on end, and the extremely restrictive pick up and drop off policy it is absolutely not worth booking with Unbeatable Hire.

Avoid booking with this company at all costs.

Beware this organisation; they go under various guises on the internet and are effectively not a good choice, particularly if you are new to motormomes, which incidentally are brilliant fun.
I will go into significant detail on this review as I feel that potential hirers need to be aware of the workings of this firm, which are based on initial cheap hire prices which are then inflated by non-necessary extra costs, coupled with them holding your security deposit (£1250 if you do not take out their sky-high excess reduction option*) for 28 working days after you return the vehicle.
In realistic calendar terms, this is 40 days at best, which means that the amount will usually bridge two credit card statements meaning interest charges.
*Re the excess on these vehicles, it is about £1000 which they take from you pre-hire and they offer you the option of reducing this to zero if you pay approx £27 per day which amounts to £190 for a seven day hire.
I bought motorhome insurance cover on the web for just under £60 before my hire with Unbeatable and this covered me for the £550 including time off road and admin fees that they charged me for superficial damage a wing mirror casing (not even the glass) when overhanging branches caused the damage.
They assign extra charges for kitchen pack (knives, forks, pans etc., travel pack including water hose, 240v hook-up cable and leveling chocks and chemical toilet pack + toilet roll) and finally roadside assistance pack for the princely sum of £24 each, when the depot manager at Manchester, assured me that the vehicles are sent out with all this as standard.
Our vehicle was dirty with dog hair all over plus unstable table fittings and missing kitchen items, as well as irrelevant and outdated vehicle user instructions.
Possibly the worst thing is the poor communication from this company. They do not answer the telephone and do not reply to voicemails or emails which is incredibly frustrating and exceptionally poor customer service.
I've since researched other companies who are involved in the ever increasing popularity of RV hire and many of them out there adopt a more honest, efficient and effective regime than Unbeatable Hire.

Just put all costs upfront!!

The headline price much like budget airlines is cheap, however there are loads and loads of hidden extras that just keep coming.

I rented in October and had a lot of issues with the van. It was very difficult to get hold of anyone to assist with issues. Ended up having to cut short our short break. Still waiting for deposit!!

Have now been waiting 80 DAYS for my £1250 refund have paid more in interest on my credit card than what the hire was ! Oh and yes am still waiting for it , they won't take phone calls respond to text email or even their live chat facility, seems like its time to seek legal advice.

Booked special offer £199 for 3 nights. By time you pay all extras is closer to £1000! On top of that also got your fuel to pay for. Quick to take money from you not quick to reimburse security deposit - 28 days - why? You can tell almost immediately if the refund is not available. Still waiting for mine! All seems so good till you start to book. Would seriously consider buying my own motorhome. After a few hires would pay for itself.

Very helpful website. and quick response to inquiries

Simple to use website, quote was very competitive with other companies. No complaints at all

Only gave one star as not possible to give none. Came across this company through petfriendlymotorhomes.co.uk super helpful with really competitive quote. But BEWARE loads of hidden charges, admin fees & the best - being asked to provide documentary evidence that you have a UK tv licence less than 24 hours before picking up the motorhome or be faced with ANOTHER charge. This made the hire actually really expensive. Then it Took over 50 days to get our deposit back & that was only after phoning them, emailing every day. Total bunch of sharks. I wish I’d seen these reviews beforehand. Really spoiled our experience in the end.