Sapphireparking Avis 

(THERE IS A PAY STATION ON LEVEL 1. THEY WILL ADVISE THERE IS NO PAY STATION ON LEVEL 4 SO YOU NOW MUST PAY THEM DIRECT. DO NOT DO THIS. JUST GO DOWN A FEW LEVELS AND GET YOUR TICKET) please read our experience:

We booked this company through a website called ‘Compare the parking’ which is a website supposedly providing ‘legitimate’ parking agencies at Gatwick Airport. Sapphire were the only company on there which had a rating of 5 stars, so we felt comfortable to book with them. Once booked (money has been taken out & paid) we read the drop off procedure which came through via email and in big, BOLD capital letters.. I quote ‘DO NOT PAY ANY CASH TO THE DRIVER AT ALL. PAY THE SHORT STAY PARKING TICKET AT THE MACHINE AND HAND THE TICKET TO THE DRIVER’. Firstly, this is a hidden fee which is not stated anywhere when booking. This has to be paid on arrival and on exit. Secondly, the company are clearly having issues with their staff scamming customers but at this point we had paid & were travelling the next day. These all should have been red flags from the get go but we were to be arriving at Gatwick the next morning so did not read to much into it.

So we get to Gatwick early in the morning. We phoned 30 minutes prior to let them know we were arriving & we’re told to meet in the orange car park on level 4. Once arrived, no one was there to greet us so we phoned to check in and that is when a grey/black car came up behind us. No uniform, no ID, didn’t need our ‘booking reference’ but was here to pick up our car. This is when he told us we need to park the car in a space and pay HIM direct a £10 fee. We challenged him immediately advising on their T&C’s it’s in bold letters to NOT do that. He gave every excuse under the sun. ‘There are no pay machines on this level, go look’, ‘I’m not the driver so that’s why you pay me direct’, ‘it’s either bank transfer or cash but you pay me’, ‘phone my colleague and he will tell you’. We did in fact phone the general number which is given to you when booking and he ALSO advised to pay the driver direct. We were panicked and needed to catch our flight so we paid him £10 via an app on HIS phone. Immediately all sorts of thoughts were rushing through our heads and we were just not thinking straight. He requested our car keys and then drove off.

We both stood there feeling completely lost. Who have we just handed our car keys to? I’ve just paid this man direct, has he got my card details? Was that a Legitimate colleague we spoke to? These are not questions you should be asking yourself when you have paid £83 for a weeks service at an airport.

We then checked to see if we locked the car and we in fact did not. We phoned the number AGAIN to advise the car was not locked and they need to come back and lock it. We were told ‘yes we will’ but when requesting a time of when, he got angry saying ‘yes in a minute’ and hung up the phone. Alarm bells were truly ringing at this point so we decided we were going to get family members to pick up our car early. We didn’t want any money back from the company, just an early pick up of our car so we knew it was safe. Little did we know this was be a HUGE issue. Please bear in mind we were trying to get this is all sorted before our long haul flight. We phoned them (again), to let them know family will be picking up car tonight between 7/8pm and we consent to this. Rudely we were told that it was fine, they just need to ring 30 minutes prior to arriving and then the phone line was hung up. All we could do now was board our flight and just hope family can sort it.

They traveled an hour to the airport for our car not to be there. When they phoned, they were told there was no record of that phone call and they cannot hand over the car keys as they were not given 24hr notice. Unfortunately they had to travel all the way home empty handed. So once we had landed, we emailed their customer service to advise we consent to the car being picked up, they will bring ID and we demand our car is given over to them. The next day, our family travel again to get the car. They were told to meet at a near by BP garage? In the end, no ID was needed. The car keys were just handed over and off he went but FINALLY we had our car back.

We dread to think how much money they are taking from people. Unfortunately no matter how many bad reviews, people will still book as the ‘compare’ website which states ‘5 stars’. We do question whether those reviews are legitimate.

As mentioned at the top of this review, please just go down a couple levels and pay at the machine. If we were thinking straight, we would have done this. Ultimately we don’t want ANYONE using this service and would recommend at ALL costs to AVOID. However, if do book with them, just go and pay at the machine because that £10 is going directly in their pocket.

I did film this experience and will attempt to take this further.

If I could give this appalling firm 0 stars I would. They left me and my companions (one severely disabled) wait over an hour and a half before they dropped the car off, although their website requires you to call 30 minutes before arrival as we did. They tell you it's valet parking but they look like they have wondered off a building site (no shade to trades). There are multiple hidden charges not disclosed online. Oh and if you want insight into their professionalism please leave a message on their Giffgaff mobile and listen to the message they leave. BEWARE DO NOT USE!!!

Avoid at all costs - an absolute joke of a company. We paid for valet parking - expecting a uniformed driver to meet us, nope some odd looking man in joggers and a ripped t shirt who stated we also had to pay him £8 but he had no change so he got £10, return journey - called them as soon as we landed - over an hour and 20 minutes later and numerous phone calls where we were spoken to incredibly unprofessionally, kept being told the car is on it way it finally turned up with another scruffy bloke, half a tank of petrol had been used, numerous miles oh and we had to pay another £8 to leave the carpark - will be reporting them to trading standards -

This is an unapproved valet service. They have changed their name from iPark which was mentioned on TV recently scamming people, stealing from vehicles, not returning vehicles, damaging vehicles, and being aggressive and abusive to customers. They also do not dispose of customer details properly resulting in them breaching in data protection. Avoid at all costs.

Booking was easy, drop off was okay (although level 5 was full and I had to call several times to get an answer to go to level 6 instead). I had to pay £8 car park ticket despite paying £xx for the parking already.

The big issue was on our return. I paid for short stay meet & greet parking as I was travelling alone with my daughter (two females) and didn’t want any issues with navigating Gatwick at nighttime on our return. However, I called the number as soon as we landed, he told me ‘I’ll call you back in 2 minutes’ he didn’t call back, it was 11pm by now. I called him about 11.15 and he said ‘I said 2 minutes so give me 2 minutes’ and hung up!!

Half hour later, still no call back. I tried calling the number repeatedly until someone answered. Same rude man told me I’d have to wait for my car at least half hour and if I didn’t like it I should check the terms and conditions. So I waited on level 6 in the cold, dark with my teenage daughter for an hour.

He was unnecessarily rude and unhelpful. I don’t leave reviews usually but given our terrible experience, I want to warn others…don’t use Sapphire Meet & Greet!

Worse than poor, do not use - kept us waiting, demanded cash at the drop off, waited an hour for the return, terrible customer service, unprofessional and utterly useless, chaotic and poor - do not use!

DO NOT USE!!

They dont answer the phone, and when they do they are rude!

Nearly missed our flight as they were so late,

On our return after 10-15 Phone calls that weren't answered, car shows up after an hour of waiting there was ash inside my car so they had also been smoking in my car also!

It looks like the comparison website is owned by them aswell so dont be fooled by the circus of Sapphire or Compare The Parking

Avoid at all costs! They should actually be removed from Compare the Parking as my review matches all others.

Called 30 mins out

Numerous phone calls

Last contact I had was “my boy is on the way”

Never arrived - paid for Gatwick Short Stay. Now trying to get a refund being bounced between CTP and Sapphire.

Awful awful company (if they even are a company)

“Welcome to the GifGaf voicemail should be all you need to know ”

So bad! Paid Compare the Parking - Sapphire Cars £120 for their executive meet and greet at Gatwick south terminal all charges paid, driver in uniform etc. What turned up was stinky man, no id, no uniform. Had to quiz him to show me proof he was picking up my car. Then told me I had to pay him £10 for the entry to parking which then changed to £8 - direct to his bank account. A When I picked up car after he was still stinky, gave me a ticket to get out of barrier but he hasn’t paid it to I had to pay £8 to get out of Gatwick. He’d also used my metal cup in the car for his coffee. Unreal. Will complain to trading standards. Do not use this business or compare the parking. They are dishonest as they looked as though they had 5star reviews on the website but trust pilot says otherwise

⭐☆☆☆☆

Absolutely unacceptable experience — avoid this company.

I booked a meet and greet parking service at Gatwick Airport and paid £74.38 in advance. I followed all instructions provided, including contacting the company 45 minutes before arrival and again when we reached the airport at 2:50am, giving our exact location as requested.

Despite this, nobody arrived to collect our vehicle. We waited for over an hour, made multiple phone calls, and still received no proper assistance or resolution. We were left stranded with no choice but to make last-minute alternative arrangements to avoid missing our flight.

Because the service was not provided, we had to use Gatwick Long Stay parking at short notice, costing us an additional £262, plus an £18 parking charge. A service advertised as convenient and stress-free caused significant stress, disruption, and unexpected costs.

While waiting, we also met others families who had used the same company and were experiencing issues, having waited hours for their vehicle to be returned after their holidays and incurring massive parking charges because their vehicles hadn’t even left the short stay Carpark!

I would not recommend this company. If you are relying on this service for an airport departure, be aware that there is a serious risk of being left without the service you paid for and facing extra costs.