Horsebox Hire, The hidden dangers.........Please read and reply..

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Vicky7041

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I would like some feedback on hiring horseboxes as I've recently used two different companies and got two COMPLETLY different levels of service, one was fantastic, the other was appalling.

I booked and paid for a 3 stall with living only to find I only had a 2 stall with living on collection of the lorry, when I questioned this I was told it was more than adequate for what I needed as I was only carrying 1 pony (but I have to take lots of bedding and equipment) but I did say that it wasnt the point how many ponies I was carrying, I should have had the lorry that I had paid for.

Many things didnt work on the lorry but the worst thing of all the speedo wasnt working, when I asked about this the lady in question was going to try and get my a Tachiograph (not sure how to spell that!). I didnt get one before my journey so therefore set out on my journey without a working speedometor. It wasnt until I was at my competition that I was told this was illegal and that unless I have my own Tachiograph via DVLA then I should not have been allowed to hire that lorry. Also a window had smashed and there was the remainders of broken glass all over the cab and splinters of glass everywhere including on the living seats. Which apparently they hadnt noticed.

When I questioned all of this on my return of the lorry I was faced with a very RUDE woman who's attitude was appalling. I just felt the whole service was terrible and quite frankly I WOULD never use them again as I don't feel the vehicles are cared for or looked after in anyway.
MOST importantly, and the message I really want to get across is that I was allowed to drive away an illegal lorry and god forbid had I had an accident I would not have been insured which is very scary

Anyway!!! I just wanted to know if anyone has had any similar experiences, And The company that provided EXCELLENT, friendly service with a fantastic box was At a Canter. If you are thinking of hiring I strongly recommend them!!
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What a nightmare for you. Can you not report these operators to the licensing body (DVLA? or VOSA?), surely they should have their licences withdrawn for this. Or Trading Standards would be an excellent place to start, if only to help stop others going through what you have and prevent a potential accident in the future.
 
Self drive is always a worry! It is the drivers responsibility to ensure that the vehicle they are in is road worthy and is the correct weight etc.

Self drives do not have any regulation or licences of any kind. However, a non working tacho is illegal and the enforcement people for this would be VOSA. They can check the lorry and see if it has its 2 yearly calibration check as well as the 6 yealy check. This would be a gv9 which is imediate impound of the vehicle and contents-so you have a very lucky escape with that particular company.

You are quite within your right to check all the paperwork for the vehicle that you hire-MOT, insurances, breakdown recovery etc.
 
a lot of smaller vehicle hire companies send out unroadworthy vehicles, its like that in every business, you get some good and some bad. Still if i were you i would report them.

JM7 - why would she hire a vehicle from her own company????
but correctly pointed out, why put your horses in one thats not safe, i wouldnt
 
watchdog had a bit on unroadworthy vehicles for hire in their program this week, it would be well worth emailing them about this problem with horsebox hire. you never know you might even get on telly!!
 
JM7 Hello you like quoting people don't you,
Yes i know you put it secondly i didnt suggest otherwise.
but the point i was making was if she owned the company she wouldn't need to hire a horsebox in the first place

You are very quick to 'pounce' only making a friendly comment!!!!!!!!!!
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possibly, but we'll never know, could be a genuine post. a lot of people give recommenadations via this forum, not all of them are 'related to the company'
 
[ QUOTE ]
possibly, but we'll never know, could be a genuine post. a lot of people give recommenadations via this forum, not all of them are 'related to the company'



[/ QUOTE ]

However when their post count = 1, I would suspect they are!
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Hi Thanks for all your comments! I can assure I am a genuine horsebox hirer! NOTHING to do with the company I recommended at all! I was just so very impressed with the way I was treated in comparison.

As for reporting to Watchdog, I have thought about it as when I requested to look at paperwork for the vehicle she just dismissed me. Quite frankly I am now going to save up over the winter and buy my own box that I know is serviced and well maintained.

I paid £330 to hire the cr@ppy horsebox plus and extra £90 to have it delivered from their Gatwick depot as I didnt want to drive all the way from Oxford to collect it. I did not receive value for money! I think you'll all agree!

To Kildalton, JM7, Burtie, RLF and anyone else not believing that I am putting a genuine post I really am! I have never used this forum before and just wanted views/advice from other horsey people.

As for the Tacho I did speak to VOSA and they said that the lorry would have required one as its for commercial use, but normal private horseboxes do not need one.
 
Honestly I wasnt upset!

This company don't seam to be a fly by night if you look at their website, they give the impression of being a very reputable company! God how wrong was I!

I don't know wether to name and shame them. I did however contact the other company "AtaCanter" to ask their advice and she was very helpful and apparently the other company (the cr@p one...hope this isnt too confusing!) are her "competition" to which I told her that they do not even come close!

But after I dropped the lorry off and was driving home the lady at the cr@p company rang the other company and slagged me off saying she would not let me hire from them again!!! But the nice lady said that she would definately not hesitate in letting me use one of her lorries again! Thats long winded isnt it? But I was gobsmacked that she was trying to almost black list me from hiring! The cheek!!!!!!!
 
I'm just not very good at letters! But I'm not prepared to let this go, they should not have hired me that lorry but they did not give a damn about it. They just took my money and ran!
 
It doesn't matter if you are not good at letters with Trading Standards. They are just interested in facts and if any goods are not fit for purpose. Don't put anything subjective in it as they can't follow this up.
 
Although I'm a newbie too so I wouldn't want this taken as advertising I have to say the little 2 horse atacanter boxes are superb as - in my experience - is their customer service!

But I'd still rather have my old lorry on the road and know that I can bung in three or four horses and their kit or a couple of nags and my carriage and all that kit and still have room for the loo, the shower and a giant packed lunch with cool beer to keep hubby happy!
 
ive hired from atacanter before and they were very good. although the two boxes i hired only had 0.8t and 1.1t payloads, however it was written in giant letters so you couldnt miss it!

also hired from 'manningtree' in essex who i had no probs with,

could you also pm the company you didnt like? (if thats not against any rules?)
 
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