“I had to reapply twice for the application. The first time it was said that the application was denied because the membership fee wasn't being charged though the "MONTHOFF" discount credit was applied that waived the initial membership fee. After speaking with the agent and the bank that showed the charge had been applied and recredited to my credit card I was advised to make another profile and re-submit my application. I did so and processed the payment, showing on my banking statement that it had been applied. My application was denied again and the agents instructed me to speak with my bank to be sure there was no holds or locks on my card. The bank confirmed that the payment had been put through and that there was no issue, the money was out of my account. I called back to ZipCar and the agent hung up on me after I pressed that the issue was not with my bank and that I would like to know what was the reason for the denial. Calling back what was my 7th time I spoke with another agent and she was unable to verify why my application was denied saying "we have an API that verifies driver information and it can be denied for number or reasons." I requested to speak with a supervisor or manager, Kate, and waited for 40 minutes until being told she could not take my call and that she would eventually give me a call back. I do not understand why my application was denied as my record is spotless, nothing is expired, and I met all requirements posted yet literally less than 1 minute after applying was swiftly denied by the "API System". I spent 3 hours trying to resolve this situation and not one person could give me a valid reason or resolution to this issue. Honestly exhausted and do not care what the reason was for the denial. I would like a refund for the application fee as there is no way it could have honestly been vetted and for the number of hours I spent I am very disappointed not one single person could give me an honest reason.”
“I would not recommend this service to anyone. Our experience was we bought a private hire through zipcar which was a meet and greet by a driver at the airport.
We were not met by anyone and had to find someone who then gave us a voucher where we then had to join a large taxi queue at the other end of the airport.
After nearly an hour!!!!! We rode in a car which wouldn’t have been legal in the uk.
The whole experience was awful!!!!
I brought it to zipcars attention directly and confidentially. Their response 15% off next booking.
Clearly I was not happy with that, but they refused to do anymore, hence this review.
DO NOT USE THEM - they could have avoided this review had they treated me only fairly, but they didn’t.”
“I tried to open an account, my application was rejected because my driving licence was not older than 1y. There were no disclaimers on the page about this when opening an account. I also received £15 driving credit, I told them to swap this with the application fee and refund my application which would have not been processed in the first place. They are not responding. Disgraceful people, stay away!”
“I opened an account and deposited an amount required. However my application was not approved due to my license not having a year experience. Therefore i have asked for a refund but couldn’t get it.”
“AVOID AT ANY COST! THIEVES!!!
They will charge your card unfairly for they’re malfunctioning cars and stupid customer service. Please save yourself money and sanity!”
“Terrible experience! I had to report them as Fraud as they are still charging my account every month! So far they have pocketed more than $100
I used them only once and the car was delivered in extremely bad condition in and out. Pressed to make a meeting I took the car.
The car was shifting left at all times. The car model dated from the late 70s as well so no radio no place to charge ur phone etc...
This company is not only a fraud but is dangerous!
Reported them to the BBB and all websites”
“This Company is an absolute disgrace and has left me £500 out of pocket including taking an erroneous recovery vehicle charge of £162. No answer for 3 weeks despite calling them 4-5 times.
We rented a Zipcar for the day (£145+). The electronics system malfunctioned and left us stranded at a service station on the motorway on a Saturday afternoon. The engineer took 5 hours to come and couldn't fix the vehicle. He refused to tow us as we had a dog. By this time it was 9pm at night and the weather was horrendous.
My family were distressed so eventually Zipcar agreed we could take an Uber back to London (£188) and they would tow the car and reimburse the taxi and original journey.
I am still waiting for both payments. Worse, they have just charged me a further £162 for the recovery vehicle.
I am close to £500 out of pocket and this disgraceful company couldn't care less, ignoring my requests for an update.”
“2 months trying to apply. They have monkeys doing that process. I sent them every info they asked for, and they´re not able or interested in reviewing it properly. If they charge you money, they should be professional. AVOID this company to charge you a single penny.
No way of contacting them by phone. Every email response was written like a bot.”
“Terrible company. I am so disappointed I rented a car that was busted and very dirty inside. I had to go to several petrol stations, all of them refusing to take the zipcard for payment. When I asked why, they told me that the company is not paying their bills. I wasted an hour trying to find a petrol station that would accept their card, all to turn me down. When I came back to park the car, the card park was closed for which I wasted another 45 min trying to find parking, whilst on the phone with the agent telling me to park in certain areas where there was no parking!!! When I complained about the whole experience having lost 2 hours of my time with a dirty busted car I was sent some automated emails how they apologise for my experience but wont do anything about it. Closing my account very disappointed, and will not support a company that scams the users and other companies by not paying for the petrol being used!! They told me to use my own card and they will reimburse me, having read other reviews it looks like thats a lie too.. use another service people they are not reliable”
“Zipcar failed to notify me about a penalty ticket which was then passed to DEBT COLLECTORS. Which I found out 12 months (!!!) after the incident.
I ended up paying c.£300 for the offence I was not even aware of.
August 2021: I had a rental with Zipcar. Apparently, had a traffic offence which I was not notified about back then.
August 2022: I'm getting a paper letter from a debt collector agency saying I have an outstanding debt of c.£300.
It turned out that Zipcar failed to notify me about the penalty ticket back in 2021. Therefore, it was not paid on time and ended up with debt collectors.
Which I figured out only in August 2022, 1 year after the incident.
Zipcar support was absolutely horrendous.
First, they general support were taking ages to connect me to the relevant team (violations), even though I had a hard deadline with the collectors (1 week left) which I emphasised to them several times.
And them the violations team showed no interest in and understanding of my situation, even though it was clearly caused by a flaw in their notification procedure.
Needless to say, it took us 5-6 email interactions until I finally saw the scanned copy of the actual penalty ticket I had to pay for.
CONCLUSION: I have been Zipcar customer for nearly 4 years, using them very often and spreading a good word within my circle.
They've now effectively robbed me for £300, and have made me through humiliating experience of having and paying the collectors' debt.
The worst of all, they did not even admit any flaws from their side, and showed no respect and compassion.
With regret, I'm now closing my account and will make sure my case is known to as many existing users as possible, so that they are aware of what risks they are actually exposed to.
I'm happy to provide the debt collectors' enforcement notice and the penalty ticket with dates and all the details upon request.”
“Took money without warning or permission - Never give them your card details
Zipcar has been great up until now. Last week I was charged twice for the same journey, and it took 2 weeks for the money to be returned or to receive any response from Zipcar.
Today, I woke up to an email from zipcar saying I had received a parking ticket given the morning after a journey I made 9 months ago (Sept 21). This ticket was sent to Zipcar on 30/11/21 and was a charge of £130 -
I was advised to park in this space by one of their members of customer service, as the assigned space for the car (car club spaces) had roadworks being done and were blocked. I explained this on the phone at the time, and was told that it would be fine to park in any other pay and display space on the road.
£80 was taken from my account without warning (not even corresponding to the amount of the ticket, and no explanation of why this amount was taken, or why its taken them 9 months to send it on to me). I'm a student, and this has forced me to go into my overdraft, incur charges, and have to contact my bank to investigate it. I am now going to have to pay bills from my overdraft that are due as I was not expecting this money to be instantly taken without warning.
I also do not believe its my responsibility to pay it, given they advised me to park in that space.”
“I was charged 15 pounds for membership but was later rejected due to further requirement than was never mentioned before. No refund given and my last email was ignored. Last I checked in their website, the fee is due for renewal on my credit card. I feel like being scammed.”
“DO NOT USE THIS APP OR SERVICE! They rejected my application because I renewed my license recently and it only shows 6 months of driving. I am 61 years old and have been driving for 40+ years. But how do I prove it? They refuse to refund my application fee. I wonder how much money they make from taking fees and rejecting the application? DO NOT USE!”
“1. I ordered the car 7 weeks before the rental and Zipcar notifies me they changed the car at 6am, 2h before the rental started, to give me ZERO CHANCE TO FIND A REPLACEMENT with other providers
2. they provided me a “similar” car, where similar meant SMALLER. We were 4 adults + a newborn!!!
3. a car with MANUAL transmission when I ordered one with AUTOMATIC!!! How is that a similar vehicle???”
“Was hoping to rent a van and got swayed by the "thousands of vehicles to choose from". Unfortunately though they don't let you look at the map until you've coughed up a £10 admin fee which I stupidly did and then found no vans remotely nearby.
Within 5 minutes of signing up I requested that they cancel my application and refund me to which they are refusing to do.
Be careful with these crooks!”
“Disgraceful company - beware of fraudulent charging!
First experience and truly woeful.
Parking bays not marked as zipcar use only so eventually found the vehicle a long way away - wasted time.
Returned and just managed to park in bay app suggested by convincing a kind person to move their car (again - only because unmarked).
Despite leaving the vehicle 5 mins before session end, was given a late penalty charge!! Now arguing (luckily have proof in form of uber receipt showing I left scene before session end - imagine if I didn't) but customer services are refusing to compensate.
Unethical and simply fraudulent. Would give zero stars if I could...”
