“The owner is rude over the phone when trying to make a booking. Just because he woke up wrong side of the bed. This has happened on numerous occasions. So in the end I stopped hiring.”
“I booked a 9 seater minibus online and when I went in to collect it it wasn’t available so it was upgraded free of charge for a larger one. I was happy with that and the staff member at the Chelmsford branch was very helpful. Thank you and will use Allied again.”
“I hired a transit van from Paul the manager/ owner at Brentwood and I wanted to say how happy I was with the service. I was delivering furniture to a once homeless man who was delighted with the outcome. Thank you for your kindness Paul. I will definitely be recommending you to all my friends.
O(The website wouldn’t allow me to give service 5 * for some reason.)”
“Shocking response from management following brake failure.
“If you knew the breaks were going to fail why didn’t you call recovery” - Manager, Allied Chelmsford branch (8 Aug 4pm)
I am not a mechanic. I’m not clairvoyant. When I hire a car I expect to be road worthy. Something wasn’t right so I called the hire company. It is their responsibility to maintain their cars in working condition. I never thought that the brakes of a hire car would fail given the cars should be serviced.
I asked if my email had been received. Management said “that email is a black hole that no one looks at”. Why have an email address then?
I only emailed because the phone is always engaged. Plus better to provide all the details in writing.
When I mentioned my numerous calls Management said “who did you speak to”. I hadn’t taken their names. Management said “if you don’t have their names I can’t help you”. I have the dates and times I called and asked The manager if she could match with staff roster. Response “no”.
Who I spoke to is irrelevant. All staff represent the company and there must be some basic service standards especially when a customer is calling about the brakes.
I then asked The manager to read my review to get all the facts before we continue. Management response “I don’t care what reviews you write”.
At this point I started to lose my calm. I was gobsmacked by the utter rudeness and unprofessional behaviour.
I could have killed someone or my family could have been injured as a result of Allied rentals negligence.
If you value your safety please consider an alternative to this shocking company.”
“Brakes failed - narrowly avoided an accident. Luckily at 30mph and not on the motorway!
My father in law hired a car for us on 18 July from the Brentwood branch.
The next day I drove the car to Norfolk. I could hear a grating noise and it got very loud when braking. I could feel the vibration on the brake pedal.
I called Allied on the 20th and advised them of the noise. As I was in Norfolk for a week on holiday, I was told that a mechanic would call and come by. No one called.
I called Allied again on the 27th morning. I was told that the manager would call me back. No one called.
On the 29th I drove to Lincolnshire. Still no one called.
On 4 August, I was driving in Marlborough. I was braking for a pedestrian crossing in a 30mph zone. The car didn’t slow down. I did an emergency stop with the brake and saw (and felt) something fly out of the tyre. The car did not stop. It went past the pedestrian crossing. I had to pull the handbrake to stop the car.
The pedestrians were scared. My wife was screaming and my children were crying.
I was braking on amber. If I had arrived later and braked on a red light people would have been crossing the road. I would have hit them.
I had been driving on motorways and country roads for days. The brakes could have failed then. My family and I could have been involved in a major accident.
I drove to a safe place using the handbrake and called the AA.
The AA repairman was shocked when he saw the brake pads and discs. His exact words were “who the hell serviced this car!”.
He had to drive and get replacement parts. He came back and took of the brake pads. It was down to the metal. He had to hammer of the discs as they had eroded and were stuck. The disc was heavily grooved due to metal on metal contact I.e. pad had been worn down for awhile.
The brake fluid container appeared empty. He had to push the fluid all the way back. This was a sign that the fluid had not been topped up. Also a proper service would have picked up the empty brake fluid container and replaced the pads and discs accordingly. The repair took 3 hours in total. Time I could have been on holiday with my family instead of waiting for a repair and counting my lucky stars that no one got hurt.
Just after calling the AA I called Allied - no answer. I wrote an email detailing what happened. No response or a call to date.
The car was not road worthy. The service has been non existent. I had to give one star in order to write this review. If I could, I would have given negative stars.
I hope this is a one off incident for them. It could have been a deadly incident for my family and I.”
“My dad hired a Nissan qashqai for our weeks holiday there was plenty of room in the back for 3 adults to sit comfortable and there was enough room in the boot for 2 wheelchairs, 3 medium sized suitcases and a hold-all. I highly recommending the car for a family of 5.”
“My dad hired a Nissan qashqai for a week for Our holiday I was very pleased with the car because the boot was large enough to fit two wheelchairs plus 3 medium sized suitcases and a hold-all, there was plenty of room for 3 adults to sit comfortable in the back seat, I highly recommended the car for a family of 5.”
“Always my first choice & been using their services for many years. Friendly, professional and unbeatable on rates. The option to return your vehicle and key drop in the evening makes a massive difference compared to other companies.”
“I have been using Allied van rentals for over 10 years. They assisted me when I was moving into my first flat and I have used them over the weekend. This service is exceptional there minibuses are brand-new and high standard, I will continue to use them as I love the service and the staff are so supportive”
“Absolutely disappointed. Was greeted Thursday morning at Brentwood by a miserable guy (Paul) who gave the impression he didn’t want to be there!, only to be told there was no van for us as it was dropped off at Chelmsford! NOT my problem. was told I would have to wait or go to Chelmsford to collect. I booked the van 3 weeks in advance to avoid any problems on the day of our move. Fortunately managed to find a local company willing to help us out at short notice. Will never use ALLIED again! What an unprofessional approach to logistics and customers.”
Posted 1 year ago
Dear R. Paddock,
Thank you for your feedback. We are very sorry to hear you've had a negative experience with Allied Vehicle Rentals.
We regret that you were not prepared to wait a short while for a member of staff to fetch the van from our other premises and thus went elsewhere.
Following your feedback we will endeavour to improve the efficiency of this particular service.
“I hired a van for two days to help my son move into a new flat in central London. Halfway through the rental period the exhaust system failed. I was stopped by the police and ordered to park-up and arrange for the van to be recovered. Following Allied's recovery procedure I contacted the AA. It took the AA 18 hours to come and recover the van from the Elephant & Castle.
While not blaming Allied for the shortcomings of the AA recovery service, I was not impressed by the fact that their vehicle maintenance programme is questionable plus the fact that I was not offered a refund on the rental fee.”
Posted 1 year ago
Dear Tony,
Thank you for your feedback. We are very sorry to hear your experience with Allied Vehicle Rentals was not satisfactory.
Please be assured that all of our vehicles are regularly checked, but unfortunately unexpected breakdowns can happen at any time. Please accept our apologies for the poor service caused by The AA and the inconvenience this has caused you.
Following your feedback we will look into the matter further to avoid this happening again.
“My own car was in the garage and I was going on holiday. My husband sourced this company for me. I hired a Ford Fiesta for 4 weeks one of which was spent driving round the Cotswolds. There was a generous mileage allowance. There was a warning light which related to a tyre sensor which they had ordered but was coming from Germany. I had no problems at all with the vehicle in fact I hired it for a further week until my car was ready. It was painless to do, I rang them up, they okayed it and I return the vehicle a week later. Excellent all round service. I would definitely use them again.”
“Excellent customer service - really helpful and friendly. The minibus we hired was lovely. I have used Allied before and will certainly use again as my first choice when I need a vehicle again. Many thanks.”
