Our webmaster passed on an e-mail of complaint by an easyCar customer. easyCar is a low cost, no frills car hire company. We thought we’d pass it along in case any reader decides to rent a car through easyCar. This is what he has to say: Just to let you know that I rented from easyCar last night and they have put in 3 new Ts & Cs which seem very unfair. See for full details, but in summary:

They take a deposit of 50 pounds (80 euro) which is fair enough, BUT:

1. Firstly, they used to refund the deposit automatically (albeit very slowly). Now you have to claim it back from them within 3 days of finishing the rental or else you don't get it back.

2. Secondly, they used to charge you a 10 pounds cleaning fee if you returned the car dirty – again fair enough for a low cost operator. Now however, they take the fee up front and it's on you to prove that the car is clean on return if you want the fee back.

3. Finally, you can no longer pay for excess mileage on returning the car. Now you have to estimate how much further than 75 miles a day you're going to drive, then pay in advance. But the real killer is that if you get your sums wrong, and go even 1 mile over your estimate, then they get to keep all of your deposit !!!!!

And if you're short of the excess mileage that you've already bought, you don't get the excess back either. I think this is outrageous. They clearly don't want to rent cars to people who are likely to do more than the 75 miles a day allowance.