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Rated 4 out of 5 stars

I would have liked to give a 5 star as openstart have been very helpful in these difficult times. However I'm having to give 4 stars due to not getting any help from their recommended company citydel... See more

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Open Start is the best vehicle provider ever and all others can only try to keep up or admire the way Open Start operates. The deals and understandings of client needs are so mutual and affordable... See more

Company replied

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Been renting a PCO car from Openstart since February and I'm very happy with the car and customer services they provide too. Their cars are all in good conditions and they include car service and full... See more

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

I got a flat tyre after I got the car. I went straight to Kwik fit to fix it. After I called openstart. The guy who picked up the phone said I have to pay it. I just checked the mot it says screw in t... See more

Company details

  1. Vehicles & Transportation

Written by the company

Ride-Hailing & Luxury Car Subscriptions


Contact info

3.3

Average

TrustScore 3.5 out of 5

180 reviews

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Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Same dodgy as all rentals

I got a flat tyre after I got the car. I went straight to Kwik fit to fix it. After I called openstart. The guy who picked up the phone said I have to pay it. I just checked the mot it says screw in the tyre. The mot was done before I got the car... I just noticed now after I don't know, 2 years. I wish if swearing is legal

10 May 2022
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Avoid them

One of the worst company ever
Strongly recommend to avoid them and not rent cars from them.
When I rented the car guy refused to check properly the car and make photos of all damages he just made one for the biggest one. And when I was giving car back guy check it properly even from down under the car and they charge me over 400 £ for damages I didn't made. That's mean they literally stolen this money from my bank account and I couldn't stop them.

22 February 2022
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Avoid like the plague.

Avoid like the plague.

Communication and support is abhorrent. Tried to contact on multiple occasions when I needed support during the December lockdown; on one occasion I was attempting to contact them to return the vehicle under contract clause 9.4.1, and was ready to pay the fee for early return, I received no response and no communication, 3 weeks later I'm late on a payment and receive a barrage of phone calls asking where the money is, and when I would be able to pay; where was this contact when I messaged and called multiple times prior. Their customer service is horrendous, just read some of the other reviews and you'll see how they treat their customers.

On another occasion, I was ready to be onboarded on FreeNow, early November, but was told during a video call with FreeNow that I needed a specific document to be onboarded, which is the duty of OpenStart to provide, emailed them and heard nothing; as other PCO drivers know, being onboarded on multiple platforms can literally be the difference between making enough to pay for basic expenses and not during a lockdown period when there isn't a lot of work, contacted them again and received a generic response early January that they would arrange it (almost 5 weeks later), after which I didn't hear from them again, other than when i missed a payment later that month late January. I never was able to complete my onboarding to FreeNow, and it is a direct consequence of this negligence.

The payment system on their app would imply that you can only store one card at a time for payment, but in reality when you replace a card they actually store your card details on their systems and can charge it at any time they wish, which was the case with me when I signed up with my credit card, but later replaced with Debit Card, but ended up being charged on my credit card anyway, pretty sure this is a data/privacy breach as once I replaced my card on their app, I did not provide consent for the use of my credit card.

Lastly the vehicle I was provided did not actually come with a dashcam despite being advertised that it would, so I contacted them to see if this could be arranged. It was arranged for a date that I couldn't attend, but was fortunate enough to have it rearranged for the next morning, I went at the time indicated and the dashcam was installed. Unfortunately for the next 2 months every other day I received an email or phone call (sometimes whilst I had passengers in my vehicle) asking when i would be available to attend a dashcam installation, the first time this occurred I shrugged it off as an honest mistake, and emailed through pictures of the dashcam having already been installed, it became rather absurd after the 5th call whereby each time they would claim that this mistake would not happen again and continued to happen, even more ridiculous was being told by one colleague that if I did not attend the "next" dashcam installation date I would be FINED, but then the next colleague informed this is actually something they can't do.

It appears they are mismanaged, disorganised, and have untrained staff running their business. The lack of communication I would normally understand due to the coronavirus pandemic and the lack of staff, but when it seems they can communicate with you at anytime when it best suits them and not when you need the assistance, and on top of which they speak in a manner that dictates that they don't actually care about the customer whatsoever, I would be extremely wary of doing any business with them in the future.

I have since had extremely good service and support from one of their competitors and would highly recommend any new customers avoid OpenStarts services at all costs.

15 February 2021
Unprompted review
Openstart logo

Reply from Openstart

We are indeed sorry that we didn't satisfy your needs whilst subscribing from our platform. We are currently working on improving our customer service to ensure customer's needs are met within an efficient time frame. However we never store a customer's payment details when requested to remove and to imply the staff are only available when it serves us is extremely unfair, particularly in a pandemic when we have done so much to help our community. Nevertheless, we wish you the best of luck on your future.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

The worst company you can choose

The worst company you can choose! Support is useless and always very slow. On top of that stuff is very rude and unprofessional! When they give you a car the go around it with a tablet making a video of the vehicle but NOT in detail and when you return the vehicle then they goi to detail and send you a charge for a lot of money for small scruffs that you didn’t do. I would not recommend that company to anyone!

30 September 2020
Unprompted review
Openstart logo

Reply from Openstart

Hello, we have checked our records and I think this review must be for a different company, perhaps a direct vehicle company? We are a technology platform and we dont perform any vehicle check in/outs as we don't own any vehicles, so we must note that these payment accusations are unfounded.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Very good, recommended

Been with them for 4 months now, and they have been very nice and helpful during the covid 19 crisis. Chaziel has been very attentive and anything needed, she is there to help. Many thanks

23 September 2020
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Excellent professional service

Excellent professional service. Very quick and easy to rent a vehicle. They were considerate during the COVID-19 period in terms on rental charges. Would recommend to anyone.

23 September 2020
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Worst company ever to exist

Worst company ever to exist. Just after the money. When giving out cars they do a very shady damage check like taking pictures of the car from 5meters away. But when you return it they like 1cm away from the car finding scratches and all sort. Proper scammers. Avoid at all cost. Also now they are sending out emails to everyone to give them a review on trustpilot cause they reduced the rent to £95 during lockdown. What do you expect people to pay £220 when theres no one out there. Jokers. So dont trust all these reviews you see here as i got the email today aswell but the rent of my vehicle is £200 and lockdown is coming this thursday with no sign of them reducing the price.

23 September 2020
Unprompted review
Openstart logo

Reply from Openstart

Hello, we have checked our records and we have no record of this or you on our files? We have tried to reach out to you, but to no avail. Please remove this review if it is not genuine.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Very bad service

Very bad service
Cant wait for my contract to finish
No clear communication
It's going round n round in the circle
Like a teddy bear
This company it a joke
Never will recommend this company to anyone
It's all fake reviews I'm 100% sure but up to u guys

8 August 2020
Unprompted review
Openstart logo

Reply from Openstart

Dear Mr Miah, we are sorry that you feel this way but after investigation, it appears there was significant damage to one of our fleet provider's vehicles. Please note that we are just the technology platform and do not profit whatsoever from damage expenses but your check in and check out sheets clearly show that damage was caused during your time of rental. Therefore we feel it is very unfair for you to leave such a review that does not even reflect our business.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Worst company I've ever seen. They don't care about their clients, they just about £££

-Thier communication over the phone is useless, unless they want contact you.
-They waved the deposit and introduced a "joining fee" which is not refundable.
-I told them the PCO license is expiring 3 weeks before the date and they still let me without the car 5 days (where I got a discount of 50% for not being able to use it), so I had to pay for not being able to use the car, for their bad management.
-I had to drive all the way to Iver to return the car on Friday but no one was there.
Two words for their service - Zero implication
Never get a car from them!!!

17 July 2020
Unprompted review
Openstart logo

Reply from Openstart

Hi there, apologies for the lack of customer phone support, we were going through a lot of changes since the pandemic. Regarding the joining fee, your deposit was refunded, you did not need to sign up and pay the joining fee if you did not want to. Apologies if no one was there to return your vehicle. Even though this is not relating to our business but rather the fleet owner of your vehicle, we will pick this up with them to ensure it does not happen again. Best of luck in the future!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Really Trustworthy and Professional PCO car rental company

I've been with OpenStart since beginning of the year and from the day one I've been very pleased with their friendly yet professional service. They always been very cooperative and helpful with all my queries as well as a massive support has been the rental price reduction during the Covid19 from £220 to £95 p/w, this has been incredibly helpful and appreciated.
I definitely recommend to rent a PCO from Open Start.

20 May 2020
Unprompted review

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