Woodford Car Hire Anmeldelser 

I recently rented a car for three days. Upon returning the vehicle with a full tank of fuel, I was unexpectedly charged for an additional full tank, a service fee, and excessive mileage. Despite providing irrefutable evidence to dispute these charges, including fuel receipts and photos of accurate mileage records, I have yet to receive a promised refund four weeks later.
It is disheartening that a company of this size could exhibit such a level of disorganization and disregard for customer satisfaction. Such behavior raises serious concerns about potential fraudulent practices. I urge potential customers to exercise caution when dealing with this company.

Vehicle broke down. Repaired under warranty by Haval (eg failure not my fault). Vehicle with dealership for 2 weeks. Vehicle damaged at dealership but I have been charged.
Also - when vehicle broke down I was left in very dangerous situation with no help for 11 hours. This is because Woodford Emergency Response do not telephone emergency services but instead send an email which was not read for several hours. Company would not enter into dialogue to resolve issues and simply ignored everything I said and sent an invoice. Actually nice people at airport but they dont seem to be able or willing to help. You have been warned.

I had rented before with Woodford and their service was acceptable, however, the last time has been remarkably bad.
When I returned the vehicle and upon inspection a chip in the windscreen was found and they charged me a new windscreen. I do not remember having chipped the windscreen and since no one bothered to do the inspection with me upon pick up, I have no guarantee that it was actually me that chipped the windscreen. For these reasons I have argued that I should not be responsible for the windscreen expense.
Now comes the worst part. This was in July, we are now getting close to the end of October and even after several emails I have not received an answer and I have not received my deposit back!
This is totally unacceptable.

Declining Standards and Poor Customer Service

I have rented from Woodford Alamo Car Hire many times, but the past two experiences have been very disappointing. On one occasion, I discovered that the branch doesn't even carry the class of vehicle I had booked, i was offered a cheaper alternative that had to then be replaced due to a engine management light. On the 2nd ocassion, I was offered a supposed "alternative" to the vehicle I reserved, which they insisted was in the same group. However, this vehicle isn’t even listed on their website—it was a cheap Chinese knockoff, costing less than half of what I had paid for. The car was in poor condition, had budget tires, and was clearly not up to standard. Despite repeated promises from the branch manager to resolve this, I never received any follow-up. When I requested compensation, they insulted me with an offer of just £15. Very poor customer service overall.

Woodford car rental at OR Tambo in JHB is probably the worst car rental company I have ever dealt with. I would very strongly recommend anyone to not book a car with them.
Firstly the car I booked was not available. After almost an hour I was given a different car and promised I could return the car without filling it up and paying. Only to receive an email later informing me that I now needed to fill it up, breaking the promise of the individual at the desk.
I find it very disappointing that a company can promise you something, especially face to face, and then lie about it.
It is not worth hiring a car from Woodford, avoid it at all costs.

I rented a Toyota Corolla Cross for 24 days from Woodruff in Cape Town. I selected - and paid extra for - their Zero Liability option. I travelled to Namibia and back. While in Etosha National Park, the front-right tie rod rattled loose. I twice tried to contact Woodford, but was not able to get through. So I paid the Okaukuejo Camp mechanic to repair the tie rod. When I returned the car in Cape Town, I suggested to the attendant that Woodford have their own mechanic review the repair to ensure that it was up to their standards.  The attendant instructed me to complete a "Motor Accident / Incident Claim Form", which I did, describing what happened and how much the repair cost me. 

At the time I returned the car, I didn't ask for, or expect, to be reimbursed for the repair; after all, I had approved and paid for it without prior authorization from Woodford. But I was under the impression that by compIeting the Form as instructed, I could potentially get reimbursed. The opposite happened. A few days after returning the car, Woodford unilaterally charged R500 (plus tax) to my credit card ... just for submitting the Form.
   
I contacted Woodford to seek clarification, as well as a refund of the R500. That resulted in a 15 email exchange. The agent was consistently polite, but never actually answered any of my basic questions e.g. Why are you charging me for completing a form that you told me to complete? Does completing the form mean that I requested a refund for the repair cost I incurred? And if so, why have you not approved (or disapproved) my "claim"? Etc. In the end, they declined to pay for the repair or reimburse the R500.

Bottom line: This feels like a penny-pinching money-grab to me. My Zero-Liability rental cost well over R20,000. Then they dinged me for another R500 for honestly informing them about a repair that I paid for, and for which I was not seeking reimbursement.

Terrible company - no scruples at all. Billed for extra charges constantly for over a month (so far) after return. Then get an apology and a refund onto the pre authorisation card, but it keeps happening. They clearly are hoping you don’t notice. You ask for proof of charges and they charge you before supplying the proof. I would recommend using a known company rather than this cowboy outfit! I wish I had taken heed of all the negative reviews and not used Woodford.
Additional:
Just be warned too (I’m sure it’s in the terms and conditions but they don’t highlight it). If you get a speeding ticket (very easy to do in South Africa) Woodford will charge you more than the cost of the fine to forward it to you. A disgusting 150% markup and this is per fine. How they can justify this is beyond me. They will do whatever it takes to exploit as much money out of you as they can!

Their refund process is super slow. If you want your money back quickly, don't use them. There are other services that are much faster.

Although my experience was 11 months ago, I was too upset to do anything about it. This was at Cape international airport w. r. t. a rental car from Woodford. We rented a beautiful Mitsubishi and took extreme care of the car. My hubby was using a motorized wheelchair. The last stop I made was at the filling station. I got out to ensure all went smooth. There was no scratches on the car at all. At the airport there were 2 gentlemen waiting for me where one leaves the car. The one gentleman moved to the back of the, I had the radio on. Guess what, when I got out, there were Fresh scratches on the car. We went to the office to fill in paperwork. I was shocked to see all the incidents in 1 day for car scratches. My bill was about R4600 extra for scratching I am convinced was done there for extra income. Any other customers who experienced the same thing? Would love to hear.

Would I choose Alamo/Woodford again? Absolutely not!!!

I experienced significant pressure from staff to purchase additional "compulsory car insurance" at Alamo Car Hire at Joburg Airport collection desk, (after long flight) even though I already had "full coverage." As a result, I incurred an extra charge of 3,500 ZR on top of what I had already paid. After returning the car, I received confirmation from an email from Alamo, ZA, that this additional insurance was "not compulsory" and was simply an optional waiver. Despite my repeated attempts over the past six weeks to have my complaint addressed, Alamo/Woodford has chosen to ignore me. Despite requesting repeatedly to speak with a manager rather than receiving generic responses, but to no avail.

Would I choose Alamo again - definitely NOT

Also there were other charges incurred to what I had originally signed up for, my final bill was more than double of the original booking.

Are Alamo/Woodford Group dealing with my serious complaint, NO. Yet they were quick to put pressure onto me for more insurance when it was not compulsory. Have they refunded me for mis selling despite me having it in writing, NO.

Alamo is quick to convince customers that the additional insurance is compulsory and to collect your hard earned money, but when it comes to addressing complaints, they are unresponsive and seem to want nothing to do with you.

We hired a Toyota Starlet from Woodford for a day tour of the cape. Much cheaper and more flexible than the commercial tours. The car was clean and in good condition, the shop convenient and the staff polite and friendly. Would definitely recommend

Picked up a ‘monster truck’ from Joburg airport for a 4 hour drive to our game reserve in north South Africa. Drove back 5 days later and dropped the car back at Pretoria. The collection and drop off were quick and smooth and the vehicle almost new and spotless. Happy to recommend based on my experience

Scariest Experiance of my Life

On a wedding trip to South Africa, one of the three rentals cars carrying my party never should have been allowed on the road. As we were driving to the Kruger on Wednesday night September 4th 2024 we noticed a taillight out. Then a ticking noise. Trusting that Woodford would not send out a faulty car we drove into the Kruger. In the middle of nowhere the tire pops and goes out. So we had to get out of the car in the middle of nowhere with lions, leapords, and hyenas to put the donut tire on noticing most all of the tires were bald. Completely dangerous situation but there was no signal and no one to help us. I finally got into reception called Woodford and what is the solution? We were an hour and a half from a civilization and they say drive it to the garage and get it fixed. At first they offered a replacement car but quickly negated that and said it could NOT be done today at 2:30pm because it was too late. It doesn’t matter our safety is in jeopardy we are far away from our Airbnb. And this has completely ruined my wedding celebration that is supposed to be a once in a life time trip as all my friends and family flew 20+ hours to get here. The whole situation is stressful and unneeded.

Very helpful and friendly at pick-up which became threatening and hiding behind "policies and procedures" upon us needing to extend the rental. Note: needing to extend because of circumstances beyond our control. Despite being PAID IN FULL during the entire period of rental and despite us sending pictures of the car in perfect working condition and shape, they still took "cheap" threatening shots at us. What a waste. With so many car rental companies available out there, best is to avoid this lot.

I rented a car from Woodford in Cape Town from August 8th to August 11th, and my experience has been nothing short of frustrating from start to finish.

Upon arrival on the 8th, the SUV I had booked, a Corolla Cross, was not available. Instead, I was given a Corolla Quest, with the promise that the correct vehicle would be delivered to me the next day. They also assured me I would be credited for the difference in cost. However, no one from Woodford contacted me the next day. I had to reach out to them myself to finally receive the car I had originally booked.

When returning the car on the 11th, I was asked to fill out an accident report for a crack on the windscreen, which I didn’t mind, as I had taken out full coverage for the rental to avoid unexpected charges. Unfortunately, Woodford failed to mention that they would still charge a "processing fee" of R575.00, which I find absurd.

To add to my dissatisfaction, on August 16th, I received an invoice showing that R1055.95 would be deducted from my deposit of R8000.00. This amount is unclear to me, and to make matters worse, I was not credited for the day I had to use the cheaper Corolla Quest instead of the more expensive SUV I had booked.

Despite my frustration, I decided to move on and focus on getting my deposit back. However, when I called on August 20th to check on the refund status, I found out that my refund hadn’t even been processed yet. I spoke with two agents, both of whom promised to send an email confirming that the refund was being processed, but I have yet to receive any communication.

It has now been over eight working days since I returned the car, and my refund is still pending. The service and customer support from Woodford have been incredibly disappointing, and I would strongly advise against using their services.

Woodford Super Cover falls away if they allege negligence
• I entered into an agreement for car rental with Woodford, and included their
product, Super Cover, in terms of which my liability would be limited to R5000 per incident.
I was in a small accident where I reversed into a small, black tar fence pole in the dark which was not visible on the on board camera or when I looked over my shoulder.
• Woodford refused to now honour this agreement for Super cover on the basis of negligence on my side, a decision come to purely from the fact that there was no 3rd party involved and deducted an amount of around R11400 of my credit card.
• I pointed out to them that I was not negligent and that in
order to successfully decline the cover based on any form of alleged negligence they would have to prove that there was indeed such negligence present as required in terms of the South-African law
• They seem to argue that based on the fact that
there was no other party involved there is automatic negligence, despite their contract specifically acknowledging that an accident with an object would be covered, unless negligence was present. Again, as per my argument – negligence cannot be assumed and must be proven.
Nowhere in their contract do they state that if a third party is not involved this cover will fall away.
• In the emails sent by a manager of their company it seems as if they are of the ill-considered view that the mere fact that there was no third party involved is sufficient proof of negligence to disallow a
claim. They seem to believe that this is a matter of law and that there is no actual requirement to prove negligence.

I have had multiple conversations with various people and managers at Woodford that have no knowledge to discuss the terms of their agreement but still won't put me in contact with someone who does or their legal people.

After multiple fruitless attempts to resolve I have now gone to the industry Ombudsman

Update to complaint here above:
Abigail Mentor requested that I send an email to the starred out address here above. I rep**** privately to ask for the address unstarred. This has not been sent to me - I see that this has happened in the past with other complaints.

I have again asked that my complaint be sent to legal. The manager involved agreed to do so as soon as I provide them with the contact details of the third party. This after they declined my claim because there was no third party! Still waiting for a response on this.

I sent an email to the CEO of the company - still waiting to see if anything will come from this.

There is a slide pack of a presentation that Woodford did floating around on the internet proudly proclaiming that they take complaints on Hello Peter very seriously and that this is one of the methods they use to gauge customer happiness.
So far this has not proven to be true.

We called their emergency line when we experienced the car making dreadful noises in Kruger National Park. We stopped at a rest camp and called the emergency line. They said they would return my call, we called them numerous times in 2 hours to be told that we would have to pay 25000Rand to have car towed, plus drop off fees for another car to be delivered and repair bill even though we took out their insurance! What a scam, you don’t want to be stranded in Kruger where you cannot get out of a vehicle and sketchy cell service. Got a bill for admin fees and we were twice charged, took 2 weeks to get refunded. BEWARE… TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE

We (two adults and three children) rented a Mercedes Vito from Woodford in South Africa, Johannesburg by booking, which unfortunately caused several tire damages. The vehicle was not drivable with the tires and the aluminum rims in South Africa or completely incorrectly matured and absolutely unfit for the road conditions in South Africa.
There was no support from Woodford during the flat tire. We had to organize everything ourselves.
The only solution that Woodford offered us after the 2nd damage is to replace the vehicle. We paid any invoice immediately on site. This replacement vehicle was also a Mercedes Vito with completely different rims and tires. (Absolutely right for Süfafrika)
Such poor customer service frustrates us incredibly. It is sad that we lost at least four days from our dream trip and shocking how grossly negligent (wheel equipment and repair) one provides a defective vehicle to a customer with three children in the car and doesn't help in the event of damage. An incredibly dangerous constellation. We have been waiting for our damage costs for over five weeks (despite fully comprehensive insurance). These amount to well over€ 3500

Cette entreprise prélève sans raison, ni facture, des sommes sur la carte de crédit, en plus de la caution non rendue, et refuse de fournir les justificatifs demandés.

I had a very easy and convinient experience. The booking process was quick. Woodford team was very helpful in assisting us with collection and attending to our preferences.. Thank you Woodford.