Malcolm S.

I had the misfortune to deal with this company in mid September, trying to hire a van for a small private removal job from Paris. All seemed fine from making the booking and I made the payment and forwarded all the required documentation. The van was due to be delivered to my home address in the late afternoon.
With everything confirmed, I had booked Eurotunnel return tickets and an overnight hotel in Paris. Mid afternoon, we were phoned to say that they could not get the van to us that afternoon and were given the option to go and collect it from London NW10, some 25 miles away. It was stressed this had to be before 6pm, as they closed then. With everything depending on the van hire, this was agreed and we arrived there at 5.15, to find they had cancelled the booking, shut up and gone home. Various desparate phone calls were made to try and find how we could get the van and after a couple of 'we will ring you back' answers from Nationwide, we were left standing there with no van and no help from Nationwide, as they shut up and went home at 6pm! (and I read many reviews on this site saying about great customer service?)

The whole weekend trip had to be cancelled and re-arranged the following weekend, using a different and professional van hire company, who charged about £50 less and were great to deal with.

I raised a formal written complaint with Nationwide 2 months ago. Their website says they reply within 7 working days, but the achnowledgement you get to your complaint email (they will ONLY take complaints by email) says they will reply within 28 working days. Well let me tell you that they do neither! I have sent 2 reminders to the original complaint and never had any form of reply. So, to all the people who say this company gives great customer service, just be happy that your booking (presumably) went without a problem, because this company ignore problems and refuse to even say sorry.

AVOID THIS COMPANY LIKE THE PLAGUE!