Another Goldcar rant

[lorca lad]

Hi,

Not sure if people are aware of this, but Ryanair use third parties for car hire (CarTrawler) and for room hire (not sure who this is).

During my many messages with Ryanair,  they informed me that "Ryanair use third parties for car hire and room booking and as such, accept no responsibility for any problems arising from these bookings".

I think that this may be against a law as the booking is made on the Ryanair site and I believe the contract is with the provider.  However, I wouldn't  like to challenge  this in a court !!

Despite this issue, we nearly always use Ryanair, following all their rules, as they are usually the cheapest and most convenient time wise.

Regards
L.L.

[Crancrank]

Hi, yes a very interesting post and I am also no novice to car hire.

Re: Europecar car hire.
In my experience a bunch of chancers.
We first arrived in Spain last year and prior to leaving the UK we booked a hire car for 4 weeks collecting from Almeria airport on arrival through Europecar.
I specifically booked a car fitted with SatNav so that we could find our way around however the car we were offered did not have SatNav so I complained and the staff happily gave me a Tom Tom to fix in the car and assured me this was free of charge. We then drove around happily for 4 weeks and retuned the car washed, hoovered, refueled and on time to the Mojacar Europecar office all as agreed at the time of hiring. 3 weeks later they emailed me with an invoice attached showing a 50 Euro charge for returning the car to a different office and a 220 Euro charge for the hire of the Tom Tom. I had argue with them for 6 weeks including the threat of a denuncia and in the end they just gave up hassling me. Would definitely not use them again.

However, on the flip side.
Re Ryanair Car Hire:
In my recent experience an excellent service.
We recently booked a hire car through Ryanair to collect at Hertz car hire Gatwick. Knowing that we would be taking the car through the chunnel to France & Belgium we had to make the hire staff aware of this and were expecting a £165 charge at the hire desk for European breakdown insurance all as stated on the Hertz car hire voucher. The very nice man on the Hertz desk not only reduced this by 50% because the car I had booked was not available but he also upgraded me from a manual Skoda to a very nice automatic Volvo (2 groups above the Skoda) happy days!
Incidentally the reason that I booked a Hertz car through Ryanair and not directly with Hertz is that they were cheaper on the deal by 35 quid.

CC

[lorca lad]

Hi,

Interesting post, as I have recently returned from the UK, where I rented a car through the Ryanair website. Rental company was Europcar.

Late night collection, so failed to notice until next day that the car only had 4 seatbelts, I needed 5 the next day (it was also a group below the one I had selected with Ryanair). Car was replaced at a local depot ......... I had to take it there.

Now .... BEWARE ....... Ryanair voucher states that Breakdown cover is included.  Europcar desk said it was NOT covered and NEVER is when renting through a broker !! I could purchase their Breakdown cover for almost £5 per day. I refused. They told me that in the event of a breakdown, I would be charged £300 plus 22 pence a mile for recovery ..... and (note this) the rental agreement would be immediately cancelled.  I would then have to find my own way to my destination  !!
Several other things were wrong, but I won't  bore you with those. I am now in communication with Europcar and Ryanair who both take the attitude that a customer will give up after their second email complaint if the replies are the normal computer generated ones ........  six or seven messages later and I am finally getting sensible replies !
Two things - Do not believe everything printed on the car hire voucher, if it is through a broker. Their prices are lower than booking directly, because they often do not include things they say they have. Not sure how one can check this because the broker says they do.
Second - Never give up if complaining by email ...... they will send you computer generated messages that do not answer your questions and make it as hard as possible for you to find the correct place to send your complaint.The more people who keep pestering them for sensible answers, the sooner they "might" change their attitudes.
Rant over !!!!
Regards
L.L.

[recordman]

I'm not a novice when it comes to car rentals (10 or so rentals a year for the past 20 years)

This relates to a booking that I made for a 16 day rental from Almeria (Spain) airport. The following is a mail that I sent to a mate of mine (saves me typing it out again!)

''A few weeks ago I booked a rental car through Do You Spain with Budget for €150 for 16 days, small car full/full. Meant getting a mini bus to somewhere off the airport, but it's not far. Anyway, last week had another look at cars and found that I could get a Ford Focus from Interrent (part of Europcar) for €70 full/full, on airport pick up. Used Interrent many times before with no problems, so I cancelled Budget and got a refund and booked Interrent. I was ecstatic!

Arrived at the Europcar desk to see no sign of Interrent (despite DYSpain's voucher telling me to go to Europcar). A quick scout around and Interrent is now found at the bleedin' Gold Car desk. snot.

I did read a few weeks ago that Europcar had bought Gold Car, but didn't think that it would affect me. What's happened is that Europcar have now put all of their crap brands together, leaving themselves to deal with premium customers.

Anyway, my turn and I get to the desk, all seems OK. He asks did I want to buy their excess insurance cover. No thank you, I have my own. He then says in that case I have to block €900 on your credit card. No problem says I. He presents me with the machine for me to key in my pin and it shows something like €430. I said to him you are just blocking this amount on my card aren't you and not taking the money? He replied, yes we're only blocking it. I did wonder why it was 'only' €430 instead of €900. but I've had this before where they only block about €300 and I thought the rest was to cover the fuel in case I don't return it full.

Off we trot into a quite nice Opel Astra with loads of bells and whistles. Get to our house (Turre) and I had a read of the rental agreement and start smelling rats. The charge was debited to my card in GBP, which made me suspicious that it was only a block instead of a charge. A check on my card's App shows that it has been charged in GBP at a poor rate. Then looking at the detail, they've charged me for the full insurance, an on airport surcharge, a surcharge for a diesel car and some other unknown stuff totalling €436 (£399) over and above what I've already paid DYS. I'm fuming!

I phone Interrent and tried to get through to Almeria airport office. I failed, but did speak to a helpful English speaker who confirmed that I had been well and truly stitched up by a lying 'tard at the airport. There was nothing that could be done without me returning to the airport to get the contract cancelled and a new one drawn up. With £400 at stake we beetle back to the airport, luckily their office was still open.

The ahole that lied wasn't there but another bloke who wasn't exactly thrilled to see me was. I explained what had happened and he said OK we'll cancel the contract, but you'll have to pay for one day's insurance. I refused, he phones his boss, no answer. I asked how much is one day's insurance = €65, I said no. I then went on to talk about the other things they'd billed me for such as the diesel surcharge. I don't need a diesel, I'm happy with a petrol. We weren't getting on at all well! Luckily, his boss phones back and tells him to refund the complete bill.

I've come away with another Astra (petrol) and have had my card blocked with €900 plus the cost of a tank of fuel. He assures me that it has been blocked only and not charged (I haven't checked the card App yet). They'd better be telling the truth otherwise I'll get in touch with the card provider to do a charge back.

All in all a most unpleasant business and another car hire firm to blacklist. A shame as they were quite good.''

At he end of the rental I returned the car full and undamaged and there were no more charges.

I still suffered a loss of about £16 due to them using Dynamic Currency Conversion for the charge on my card and then crediting me with the Euro amount.

Please be aware that when renting from Goldcar/Interrent what they tell you might not always be the truth. I was fortunate that I could go back to the airport on the same day and get it sorted out, without doing that I think it would have been impossible to get it resolved satisfactorily.