Has anyone hired one in the Sheffield area? I'm after a small 2 horse box, not trailer, to hire this Friday for 2 days. I have found a few online but they are miles away. Has anyone used a local company or have one to hire?

Thanks :)

Because apparently I am useless with Google and my husband isn't! If anyone needs this information in the future then here are 2 local places.

http://www.horseboxrent.com/contact
http://members.multimania.co.uk/chatsworthhorsebox/

I went with the Kinspeed, the first one, but please read the review below before dealing with this company.

Were ya off to Jess? x

Glad you're sorted, and we'll be over to see the new arrival ASAP :D

Picking up a new arrival Hunni :) Especially for when baby Strix grows out of her rocking horse! I'll get some pics sorted and Strix, yes ASAP :D If you posted last night then she must still be in there.

yey details??? mucho plz :) xx

I just thought I would share my experiences with using Kinspeed for this horsebox hire. If I were you, I would go with the other link.

The horsebox was great, drove well, good value and picking the horsebox up was all fine. Infact, dropping it off was all fine too. We were a couple of hours late, which we apologised for and offered to pay any late fees fine, it was late on Saturday so I said we would discus on Monday. I had paid £99 for the day and a £500 deposit was checked on my account. They didn't have a card swipe so used an online Sage Pay system to take the deposit.

So, it gets to Tuesday, after I had delivered the van back in one piece with no problems on Saturday. 28 hours after picking it up. I go to make a large payment on my card and it is declined. I phone my bank up there and then and the "deposit" from Kinspeed was still being held by them, and I didn't have access to this £500. Kinspeed needed to release the hold on it. I get home, and have received an email from Kinspeed, saying they had taken some of the deposit for late return but that the money had been released. When questioned why it had taken so long, I was told it took them time to do a thorough search of the van. Fine, whatever at least I have my money back.

But I hadn't. Thursday and the money is still being held by this company, so Friday morning after speaking to Halifax, my bank, I pass on the details to Kinspeed of how they need to release the money. By faxing some details to Halifax. Simple really. I am still being a reasonable CUSTOMER even though they have had a hold on MY money for at least 3 days longer than they should.

Then I get a phonecall, with me in the wrong, saying that they have released the money and it is my bank that is in the wrong. Funny that, as it seemed the woman didn't know what she was doing in the first place, and behaving like this towards a CUSTOMER was just down right rude. She was acting like I was the one to blame. Very odd. I asked if she would send the fax so it could all be over and she refused.

So I phone my bank again, and guess what, the money was released in the last 2 hours. Suspicious? My bank apologise for me being in the middle, I talk to them in detail about the system that was used. My bank had nothing to do with what has happened. It was Kinspeed, or their bank, whatever, the way I have been treated and spoken to has been awful. They behaved like a victim, when it was my £500 missing and never once apologised! Put it this way, in my opinion, they didn't know what the $£%& they were doing when it came to card transactions, didn't follow the correct procedure, realised this today and tried blaming my bank. A bit worrying when the company also sell Sage software and training.

Just thought I would give anybody else a heads up. If you use this company, don't expect to get your deposit back for a week, be prepared to put in some effort to even get it back and put up with being spoken to in the worst tone of voice possible along the way :)

Pony settled in well btw, and Hunni- I've put some pictures on facebook :)

I just thought I would share my experiences with using Kinspeed for this horsebox hire. If I were you, I would go with the other link.

The horsebox was great, drove well, good value and picking the horsebox up was all fine. Infact, dropping it off was all fine too. We were a couple of hours late, which we apologised for and offered to pay any late fees fine, it was late on Saturday so I said we would discus on Monday. I had paid £99 for the day and a £500 deposit was checked on my account. They didn't have a card swipe so used an online Sage Pay system to take the deposit.

So, it gets to Tuesday, after I had delivered the van back in one piece with no problems on Saturday. 28 hours after picking it up. I go to make a large payment on my card and it is declined. I phone my bank up there and then and the "deposit" from Kinspeed was still being held by them, and I didn't have access to this £500. Kinspeed needed to release the hold on it. I get home, and have received an email from Kinspeed, saying they had taken some of the deposit for late return but that the money had been released. When questioned why it had taken so long, I was told it took them time to do a thorough search of the van. Fine, whatever at least I have my money back.

But I hadn't. Thursday and the money is still being held by this company, so Friday morning after speaking to Halifax, my bank, I pass on the details to Kinspeed of how they need to release the money. By faxing some details to Halifax. Simple really. I am still being a reasonable CUSTOMER even though they have had a hold on MY money for at least 3 days longer than they should.

Then I get a phonecall, with me in the wrong, saying that they have released the money and it is my bank that is in the wrong. Funny that, as it seemed the woman didn't know what she was doing in the first place, and behaving like this towards a CUSTOMER was just down right rude. She was acting like I was the one to blame. Very odd. I asked if she would send the fax so it could all be over and she refused.

So I phone my bank again, and guess what, the money was released in the last 2 hours. Suspicious? My bank apologise for me being in the middle, I talk to them in detail about the system that was used. My bank had nothing to do with what has happened. It was Kinspeed, or their bank, whatever, the way I have been treated and spoken to has been awful. They behaved like a victim, when it was my £500 missing and never once apologised! Put it this way, in my opinion, they didn't know what the $£%& they were doing when it came to card transactions, didn't follow the correct procedure, realised this today and tried blaming my bank. A bit worrying when the company also sell Sage software and training.

Just thought I would give anybody else a heads up. If you use this company, don't expect to get your deposit back for a week, be prepared to put in some effort to even get it back and put up with being spoken to in the worst tone of voice possible along the way :)
I am the MD of Kinspeed and feel that this message is very misleading about what actually happened. Jess was in fact one of the first customers who rented the horsebox and was in fact the first to pay her deposit by debit card. We were trying to be fair by not actually taking the money from the card. Instead we 'ringfenced' the money much as you would do in a hotel at the beginning of your stay. This guarantees that the money is there and cannot be used by the cardholder. After this problem we found out from the bank that if someone pays a deposit by debit card rather than credit card it is best to take the money and refund it when the van comes back in good condition. 'Ringfencing' on debit cards is apparently fraught with problems. We have taken this on board and now follow the advice from our bank.

I am sorry that Jess thought it was us that were the problem. It was not us, it was the bank. The reason you got your money after 2 hours was because we sat on the phone with the bank for an hour until it was sorted. It is not fair to say you will not get your deposit back for a week as this problem was sorted out and has not happened again.

I also do not see the relevance in mentioning that it is worrying because we sell Sage software and training. The problem was with a debit card transaction not Sage software or training.

you used an online sage pay system to take the deposit, it was done incompetently - great advert for a trainer in sage software

Also how come it has taken you over 12 months to correct Jess's observations???

you used an online sage pay system to take the deposit, it was done incompetently - great advert for a trainer in sage software

A member of staff used Sagepay and acting under instructions from our bank used the wrong type of transaction to ringfence a deposit on a debit card. As mentioned we should have taken the money and then refunded it afterwards, and not used ringfencing on debit card transactions. This was contrary to the initial advice from the card acquirers. When we enquired further and explained what had happened we were given a different response and we have now followed that advice. Thankfully there have been no further problems with deposits. We had no problem using the Sage Pay software. Thanks for your interest.

Also how come it has taken you over 12 months to correct Jess's observations???

It has only just come to my notice that Jess had posted her comments. I am not a user of Sheffield Forum and as such did not see the original posting. If Jess had emailed me and told me she was about to post then I would, of course, have answered earlier. Poor publicity is never something you want and if Jess had contacted me about what had happened, I would have certainly spoken to her about it. Jess chose to go public and not inform me, which is her right. I have questioned the member of staff and her recollection of the transaction does not include being rude to Jess. I am sorry if perceived offence has been caused. Thanks for your interest

I am sorry, but I still think this was your problem as you were using a system that you didn't have enough knowledge or experience of at the time. You admit yourself that you no longer use this system with debit cards because of the problems so isn't that accepting blame?

Anyhow, the only reason I ever typed all that out was because I am a reasonable person, and can accept mistakes happen, but the way that the woman spoke to me on the phone the few times I had to speak to her regarding the whole matter really upset me. She was very rude, and made me feel like I was out of place asking for my money back, when there was nothing I did wrong or could have done about the situation. That is the reason I wrote the above post, to vent anger at the way I had been treated. Of course her recollection of the situation does not include being rude. Nobody admits to being rude to a customer when speaking to their boss. I am sorry I didn't contact you personally at the time, as this would have been my preferred option, however the woman in question made me think that you were there with her in the room at the time. Infact, I may have even asked to speak to you but been refused. She was far from helpful, and seemed very stressed with the whole thing - Even though she wasn't having the stress from her card being useless and needing access to the funds.

All I will say on the matter is that every business has problems. I am sure yours does as well. I just think you could have called me on my mobile to discuss your problems, which you did have as you called me a few times on it to say you were going to be late. Whilst I accept there was a misunderstanding with the card refund for the horsebox, I do not feel it was necessary to question our expertise in Sage products, which we have been selling and supporting for 25 years. If you want to discuss this further please call me on my mobile and I will be happy to speak to you

I am sorry, but I still think this was your problem as you were using a system that you didn't have enough knowledge or experience of at the time. You admit yourself that you no longer use this system with debit cards because of the problems so isn't that accepting blame?

Anyhow, the only reason I ever typed all that out was because I am a reasonable person, and can accept mistakes happen, but the way that the woman spoke to me on the phone the few times I had to speak to her regarding the whole matter really upset me. She was very rude, and made me feel like I was out of place asking for my money back, when there was nothing I did wrong or could have done about the situation. That is the reason I wrote the above post, to vent anger at the way I had been treated. Of course her recollection of the situation does not include being rude. Nobody admits to being rude to a customer when speaking to their boss. I am sorry I didn't contact you personally at the time, as this would have been my preferred option, however the woman in question made me think that you were there with her in the room at the time. Infact, I may have even asked to speak to you but been refused. She was far from helpful, and seemed very stressed with the whole thing - Even though she wasn't having the stress from her card being useless and needing access to the funds.