Hi all, I'm currently on holiday in menorca as we speak, and I've rented a car (last Saturday when we got here) and am due to give it back this Saturday. I did say that I wasn't going to go on about it as were on holiday, but while I'm still here I thought I'd at least share it all with you, maybe there is something I can do? Maybe I can at least have some revenge maybe? Well here's the story............. Booked all of this weeks and weeks ago on rhino rentals, (a go compare site for holiday car rental) one week in menorca £113 with special discount and a free additional driver can be added. 2 x toddler seats €70 1 x infant seat €35 Peugeot partner. Simples. So I paid the £113 when booking and expected to pay another €135 upon arrival. All arranged with "ok car rental". So I rock up at the airport looking for the "ok car rental" desk and it's actually a shuttle bus taking you to a tin shack about 10 mins away, already my that impressed as this is all the transfer stuff if was looking I avoid. Any way, we all arrive at this shack after have to wait 25 mins for another bus to take us there, and they didn't have the car I paid for, they only had a Peugeot 308sw or nothing. So in the interests of just wanted to get out of there and keep the peace as my little girl was now screaming for a bottled feed, I agreed. Then the cocky dude tells me the free additional driver was only if I paid for one additional driver then I get the third driver free!!! What a joke, again, just agreed and kept it to me as the driver. Then he wants another €189 the extras being "a fee to clean and prepare it" a full tank of fuel, even tho I didn't want a full tank of fuel. Then he says he wants to hold a deposit of €750 for a MONTH from my credit card, unless I paid €100 there and then for some kind of additional insurance. Now I'm just looking for damage limitation, there was no way I was going to give some cowboy outfit €750 of my money to look after for a month. So I paid the €100, them be says sign here and tosses me the keys and the agreement, I say "shall I check the car for damage first" he says no need as I have paid for the insurance and it doesn't matter what is wrong with the car as I won't pay anything. I paid £113 for the car, and another €289 in total. Oh my god how frustrating, then he's slid the childrens car seats across the floor so I can fit them myself then he's waving the next poor sod (of a long line of them) to take their car. So picture the scene it's midday, were have all been up since 3am, my 2 boys are running round like loonies, my little girl is screaming for milk, my wife is expecting me to produce a magic trick, and I'm fuming as I feel a bit ripped off. So now out in the car park in 35 degree heat with no shade and trying to figure out how the hell these 3 different seats go in the car, plus the car is keyed and the back bumper is hanging off of the 2013 pug. Whilst dong this I have found plenty of the previous renters rubbish in the car. It's done it's job this week, but I'm not really happy, so to at least make my self feel I little better I've keyed the car some more, wrote a very naughty swear word on the bonnet in the dust beginning with C, and I have tried all week to kurb the alloys, to no avail, how the hell do people kurb alloys!!! I paid for all of his with my credit card I'm the hope that somehow I could be protected from such rouges. Can anyone think of what I could do in this situation? Legal advice, get out clauses. Revenge?? I'd love to hear it especially as I am still here. Thanks for reading this, and although I should be drunk now, I'm knackerd after entertaining my family all day, and I not and haven't been able to drown my sorrows all week!!!
Go with a reputable company next time and remember cheap is not always best. Stick it down to one of those life learning experiences. Sorry, I know that's not what you want to hear.
So you've had a bad experience ? Is that any reason to damage the car more and write what you did on the bonnet? I think on balance, yes, it is . Sorry it went a bit Pete Tong for you. As Razzy says, chalk if up to experience and use avis or hertz or someone you've heard of next time.
I booked the cheapest I could find at Alicante and it was fine, nearly always get an upgrade. Rental Cars .com or. Holiday Autos . Com or Money Supermarket etc etc , always up use a "screen scraper". Usually a score a day for something half decent.
I once hired a car in the Uk, when I picked it up it was dirty and stank of fags, I did a video of the car, I dropped it off at Heathrow, there was a language barrier between myself and the rude off hand youth at Heathrow and he just waved me away when I wanted him to check for damage, he stuck the keys in his pocket. When I got home I found that they had charged me a fortune for a new windscreen and an extra days hire. Turned out they had not booked the keys in until hours later. I wrote them a letter pointing out and proving with my flight documents I had handed it hours early and when I asked for details of the broken windscreen they were shocked to find I had a video disproving it with the rude youth in the background. Got a refund from Barclaycard who said they would pursue it. Turned out most people handing cars back with that company got the broken window flat tyre & late treatment, most were company rentals and they just payed up.
It's a rental car, all that does is make the next poor sods holiday even worse. Get busy on the Internet and leave bad feedback everywhere you can. On facebook on all the pages you can get to. All the local hotel face book pages, spread the word. Take lots of photos and videos of the state of the car and the rental place and when you get back start complaining until you get some money back. Might even be worth complaining to the guy as you return it and get your missus to video it to get more evidence.
@sANDYbAY has a more level headed suggestion and is probably the correct course of action. Personally I would want to take full advantage of the extra €100 insurance they fleeced you for. Hit anything and everything you can, leave no panel undamaged. I'm thinking But I'm sure you will be sensible
Austin I feel your pain, but as someone has already said, put it down to experience, but I would write to your credit card company, the hire company and also put feedback on there's and another relevant sites, but as for deliberately causing damage don"the stoop that low.
Well I use auto resident when I go to the Canadiens, last time I went they had up graded there fleet, I thought to new .something bound to happen to it, Someone tried to break in to it. But as it was, I was fully covered, 147 Euro for the week. Picked up at the airport, and dropped it off there.
I used ok rent a car and had a good experience , booked though holiday autos for cheapest 4 door car , turned up and they gave me a brand new audi a1 , they did charge an extra €32 for the pre clean thing but all in all very good
Those sort of extra charges make my blood boil. Charging for cleaning the car? What, they normally hire dirty cars? Our childminding insurance charges £1 for administration. FFS they work in an office, they ARE administrators, it's what they do. It's like paying for petrol and then an extra charge for the person to take the money. I phoned the company and refused to pay their stupid £1 "administration charge", do you know what she said? She said "we've just introduced it to help with the office costs. No one else has objected and we've got thousands of satisfied customers. Anyway" she said "it's only a pound". "No it's not" says I "it's thousands of pounds and I'm not paying it". I just sent them a cheque for the premium without the extra pound and they cashed it and sent us the policy. They tried it again this year and I just paid less the £1. Remember, it's not the principle, it's the money.
I know its no use to you now but give these a try if you ever go down that road again http://www.bravocarhire.com Ive used them for years, they are like an English broker who give you the prices for the top companies, you then pick and book one, printing of a voucher and pay when you pick up the car! Also allows free cancellations which is useful as the price often drops as you get nearer. Cars are always new ie. less than a year old!
We always used the likes of Avis or Hertz. Not because they had the cheapest headline price but because they charged the real price for the use of nearly new cars. Anybody charging less is going to play tricks until they have got the money off you. And if the big players havent got the car you ordered you usually get something better.
