Speedy Hire Avis 

Speedy left a whole load of their waste in our new street for over 1 year and refuse to collect it because whoever ordered it didn't ask for it to be collected. My asking isn't enough. Customer services are polite but fob you off. Not so speedy when it is to be collected.

Speedy Hire is my first choice hire shop in Cardiff. They have a very wide choice of tools. Customer service is excellent too.

Following up with another review as an update on my 4 month battle to get my deposit back from SpeedyHire.

I had to submit a section 75 claim with my card company who this morning sent this.

Hello Justin,

We have an update on the claim on your credit card claim ending xxxx.

Retailer: SPEEDY ASSET SERVICES
Claim amount: £86.65
Your claim update
We’re happy to tell you that your claim was successful.

Only took 4 months but this is why you should always pay with a credit card. Only response I got was stock answer via the original review.

--------------

See original review below.

A bit of an odd experience with Speedy Hire, and as they were recommended by B&Q I trusted the B&Q referral which was a mistake. I am going to contact B&Q and complan too as they need to know its impacting B&Q's reputation as well.

Some context on this hire, I went to SH website after B&Q recommended them and ordered an aluminium ladder for a weeks rental. The online order process seemed straightforward and I booked the delivery date for a few weeks out for the order date.

On the date of delivery it got to around 1pm and no emails, messages or confirmation the delivery was on its way so I called the SH support line and was told the Northampton depo was going to deliver it and to call them direct.

I called the Northampton depo and was told the ladder had not been delivered to them and it might be in tomorrow and to call back. I said I have a trade booked in to use the ladder and if it does not arrive they can't do the work and I pre-paid them for the work and can't cancel. The person at the Northampton depo said they would check and call me back that day but no call arrived. The next day I called again at 11am and was told the ladder had just arrived they were waiting for a driver to deliver it to me and would be delivered around 1pm so technically a day and a half lost already from the weeks rental. The Northampton depo said the rental only starts when it arrives not good as my trade can't stay and extra 2 days to make up for the late delivery.

The ladder arrived that day so no real issue well other than I'd lost a day and half on the schedule.

Now this is where the fun and games starts... I paid
Total Hire Value EX VAT £52.84 Total Speedy Shield £5.28 Delivery £25.00 VAT £16.62 Sub-total £99.74 Refundable deposit £86.65 You pay today £186.39

So after the ladder was collected and returned on time now issues I assumed the Refundable deposit £86.65 would be paid back after 3/5 days. I checked and no deposit returned so I called the Northampton depo to be told there was a discrepancy between what the Speedy Hire website had charged me and what they (The depo) charge? I explained what I was charged and was asked to send my web order receipt so the depo could check it. Nothing for a few days so than called again and was assured this would be investigated and resolved. A few days went by no call back or updates so I called again and was told it is being assessed by management and I would hear something soon.

After thinking this is going nowhere I called the Speedy Hire head office and the accounts team I explained what had happened and was assured they would contact the depo and have my deposit returned. Again a few days passed no calls or emails so i called the depo again, similar information its with management and then after three more attempts I was told a payment had been made on the card. 5 days later no refund so I called my credit card company to check and nothing.

After several more attempts of calling Northampton depo and being told the same thing with no refund arriving I had to raise a section 75 claim with the credit card company to get my deposit back.

As an IT architect, I suspect this is an IT logistics issue where the overarching sales system Speedy Hire's website and backend account systems, retail workflow and local depo's systems are not aligned and linked to provide a frictionless service to customers who order via the Speedy Hire website.

What could be a great service is failing due to customer experience, poor IT and business process workflow.

To be honest the amount of time i spent and my hourly IT consultancy rate (4 hours over different days trying to sort this) and trying to get my £86.65 deposit back is probably not worth the aggravation. But I wonder how many customers just walk away without getting their deposits back? And is this even legal?

The team at Northampton who I spoke to on calls where trying their best to sort this but could not, so something is very broken with Speedy Hire. Will I use them again or trust B&Q when that say use and recommend partners, absolutley No!

Avoid at all cost.

I rented a cement mixer from B and Q and they are the company that deals with the delivery and collection.Speedy Hire promised to deliver the item Friday morning but had to ring them again and sent the mixer to us in the afternoon instead. We already wasted half of our day waiting. Now for the collection, we off hired it on June first, Monday but again they didn’t collect it on time. I kept on ringing them everyday to request for a collection. It is now Thursday and still they didn’t collect the mixer yet. Terrible customer service. Nobody answers their phone number in Hull Depot branch. AVOID the company at all cost.

Update: It is now Friday the 5th of June 2026 and again they cancelled the collection and promised to be done on Monday. Awful customer service

No power cord to cleaner, not told I need one. Not offered any instruction to use it!

I would strongly advise others to think carefully before hiring equipment from HSS.COM and Speedy Hire based on my experience.

I hired a floor sanding machine and an edging machine for four days. On the very first day, I reported a fault with the equipment. Despite notifying them immediately, neither company made any meaningful effort to assist or resolve the issue. As a result, I was forced to hire replacement machines from another company at additional cost and inconvenience.
>
> The problems did not end there. It has now been over a week since I requested collection of the faulty equipment. Collection appointments have been repeatedly rescheduled, and each time I have rearranged my work commitments to be available. So far, I have taken three separate days off work waiting for collection, only for the date to be changed again at the last minute.

Today, after waiting once more, I called for an update and was informed that they would no longer be collecting the equipment today and that I would now have to wait until Thursday. This level of service is completely unacceptable.
>
The lack of communication, failure to support customers when equipment develops faults, and repeated failure to honour agreed collection dates have caused significant inconvenience and wasted both my time and money.

Based on my experience, I would not use either HSS Hire or Speedy Hire again and cannot recommend them to others.

Appalling service, broken promises, and zero accountability.
Avoid the Hull branch. No one answers the phone, forcing 30-minute drives just to speak to staff. I ordered a mini digger with a specific 600mm bucket for foundations—they sent the wrong sizes twice, turning a 1-day job into 4 days.
​Later, I ordered lifting gear. I allowed a responsible 24-hour buffer for delivery, but they broke their "guaranteed morning delivery" promise, leaving a 5-man site crew standing idle for a full day, costing me £750 in wasted wages. To top it off, they supplied half the required scaffolding boards for trestles, creating a severe health and safety hazard.
​Total direct labor losses caused by their negligence: £1,590. After months of chasing, regional management offered a pathetic £400 in "future hire credit" and threatened legal action when I refused to pay for their mistakes. Absolute cowboys.

Place an order through HSS which was fulfilled by Speedy Hire for a cement mixer. They cancelled at the last minute. Left me massively in the lurch.

Do not use under any circumstances! Went through Screwfix to order a wacker plate and cancelled it 24 hours later. One week later still not got my money back. Speedy blame Screwfix and Screwfix blame Speedy Hire. Stay well away+

Just do not use this company they are appalling. Hired a breaker, confirnation through told it would be delivered the next day, but a specific timeslot would ve provided. No time slot was provided abd by 3pm no one had showed up. Called repeatedly on the helpline and after 30 mins gave up. Retried as a new customer and they picked up within 80 seconds, when I explained I needed an update they cut me off. I phoned again finally the guy listened, however he said he could not see when they would deliver as they had all gone home. I asked him to place a note on the system, but he said no point as they would not read it. This company is a joke and does not deserve to be in business. 3 days on and they cannot even arrange a collection, supposed to arrive yesterday at 1132 but once again this incompetent business cannot even do that, a day on no updates and no show. Just do not bother with this company they are a nightmare start to finish.

As a contractor we’ve been using many hire firms for years. Gave Speedy Hire (Southampton) a go and could not have been happier. We engaged with Russ on some urgent requirements and he made everything so, so easy, he managed our needs, really cared about getting things sorted and literally felt part of our team. In fact everyone we engaged with from the in-house guys to the logistics/delivery team were very nice and helpful. We ran into a few issues and Russ removed all the stress. Thanks for your support on our project - it made a a real difference.

the WORST experience

Placed an order via HSS which was to be fulfilled via speedyhire. On the day the hire items were meant to be delivered the driver turned around because he didn't have any of the sanding sheets I ordered. The next day I was given an ETA of 12:45–1:45, and again nothing showed up. I was then emailed that 52/60 of the sanding sheets I ordered were cancelled because they didn't have enough in stock. Why let me place the order if you don't have most of the items in stock?? The equipment arrived the next day without most of my order, and I wasn't able to start the project because they hadn't sent the sheets i needed. I then placed another order via HSS for the sanding sheets, and the Speedy Hire depot confirmed they ordered the sanding sheets for pickup wednesday or thursday, a week after they were meant to arrive. Imagine my surprise (not) that when those days rolled around they couldn't find anything on their system. On top of this they have sent out the wrong RCD and extension cable. It's now been A WEEK since I was supposed to start the project and because of this INCOMPETENCE I haven't even got what I need to start it.

Still waiting for my deposit back . The time delay is decusting .

Speedy Hire Exeter - completely useless from start to finish - I ordered an item to hire, the guy on the front desk seriously could not be bothered to get out of his own way, 'forgot' to order the item. I then had a lady order the item in, when I went to collect it, it was coming on a different day & no one had bothered to tell me. When they say 'they will call you back' this is totally not true, I was told on 7 occasions they would call me back, on 7 occasions they did not. When asked when the item was coming in, it came in hours later. If you want to be totally messed about, deal with useless staff, have antiquated items to hire which do not work, have your time totally wasted then Speedy Hire are for you - if you are busy working on projects and need a company who will actually want to help then GO ANYWHERE ELSE BUT TO EXETER SPEEDY HIRE - they are a complete shambles and utterly useless - never ever using them again - an untrained chimp would do a more professional and helpful job - totally, totally useless

AVOID AVOID AVOID

SHOCKING COMPANY

Ordered a wacker plate for delivery on Friday 22nd. Never turned up no communication so contacted customer services. They told me cant deliver unit until Tues. If I wanted it for Tues I would've selected Tues. Customer services didnt give a s### but they said they would refund in 7 DAYS!!!!

Had contact from Speedy Hire customer services. They blamed B&Q for the issues with the order and stated it was nothing to do with them. If I wanted a refund then I would need to contact B&Q myself.
I explained that I had email from SpeedyHire confirming the order and they would be in touch with a delivery time. They stated they could still deliver the unit in 2 weeks time.

No wonder they have so many bad reviews

I have requested sevral times for a quote on MEWPS and had no response. The first quote I received was from their supplier with a ridiculous quote.
The person who is responsible for the quote is Jack Mc Clafferty. Myoriginal request dated 29/04/2026. On 30/04/2026 I requested him to amend the quote. On 11/05/2026 I requested again for a new quote. I sent a last mail on 19/05/2026. On the website Speedy displays certain models and heights of wich I selected two for long term rentals. Nobody responds from the mail address.
I can not attach the mail or a screen shot a reference number is CRM003692000373

I used HSS/Speedyhire for a vibrating plate and at the checkout a pop up recommendation for ‘fuel - petrol can - 5ltrs’ came up, thinking it was fuel for the plate, I ordered it for easy. I was wrong it was empty, I called customer service to say it was empty, they explained it was just the can, my misunderstanding, and asked if I could return it as it was £13:00, they said it would be picked up with the plate, well it wasn’t, since then I have been passed everywhere and 4 different calls and people, which none noted the conversation, to being asked to send a picture of the can on email, and surprise not hearing anymore, contacted them again, 5th time, 11 days later and again no one knows nothing about it?? You will struggle to get any money owed back, such a disappointment, this was HSS on behalf of speedy hire

⭐☆☆☆☆
Terrible service, huge waste of time and money

I ordered a wacker plate online 3 days before the intended delivery. I was first told it would arrive on Friday morning between 7am and 12pm. I took the day off work to be there, and my builder arrived at midday ready to start work – but there was no sign of the delivery at all. My builder waited for 2 hours before having to leave, and I still had to pay him for his wasted time.

When I called to check, they admitted they’d made a mistake and said delivery would now be between 12pm and 7pm. I chased them countless times through the day, only to be told at the very end: “we are very sorry, we can’t deliver it today at all”.

This was completely unacceptable. I cancelled the order straight away. They wasted my entire day, I lost a day’s pay from work, and I was left out of pocket paying a builder for work he couldn’t even do. No proper apology, no solution offered – just empty promises and total disorganisation. I definitely won’t be using Speedy Hire again, and I’d warn anyone else

Speedy Hire must be the most ironic name choice imaginable, for this pathetic joke of a business.

They are not speedy and they do not actually seem to have any tools available for hire, when people want them.

When you call them, expect to wait at least 40 minute for someone to finally take your call and then the real disappointment begins.

I have tried to hire a nail gun on 2 occassions and been let down both time. First attempt was to arrange for sameday or next day delivery (Speedy - I think not) and the second attempt allowed 2 days prior to delivery (not even quick - how about 5 days after the job is meant to be completed).

Utterly pointless company. Now that I have read the reviews here, it seems like this is not a surprise. It is likley to be easier and more cost effective to buy a tool and sell after use.

Contact me if you want to buy a used Nail Gun, so that you have at least 1 that someone could hire, if they have the patience to wait on your phone lines.

In summary, they are unable to deliver on their sole business purpose, there is clearly no investment in equipment or enough people to run the business. No wonder this is a failing enterprise.

The people I have spoken to on the phone have been nice and it seems they are used to dealing with unhappy customers. I wish all the employees well, for when the envitable happens.

Ordered a breaker on friday the 8th of may, used for the first time on same day, machine works fine, only problem being it leaks oil all over the place all on my grass where i layed it down and also on my paving slabs, not very happy, this breaker clearly needs a oil seal, which should have been flagged up before it was sent out on hire again, it has also leaked all over my garage floor, really poor maintainance especially for the price i paid, with the deposit included is bordering on extortionate!

Won't be useing them again!

Phil byard

Hired from london road depot derby!