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Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2020 6:56pm
Very helpful member
We had the same with Goldcar a few years ago.
They're chancing their arm & sadly, it's a well known scam with hire cars at Alicante Airport.
I rang the Nat West & they knew all about this kind of thing & refunded the money to my card immediately.
I never heard anything more form Goldcar or NW so I presume it got sorted between the two.
Good luck.
Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2020 10:37pm
There's the initial annoyance at the dishonesty of the hire company but this is compounded by the fact that they take your money with absolutely no intention of repairing the damage. Surely illegal ???
Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2020 10:47pm
Very helpful member
Dingusmmm wrote on Wed Sep 30, 2020 10:37pm:
There's the initial annoyance at the dishonesty of the hire company but this is compounded by the fact that they take your money with absolutely no intention of repairing the damage. Surely illegal ???
Agree totally, where is the protection here ? As far as I can see there isn't any.
Posted: Fri Oct 2, 2020 5:38pm
gerardwilkie wrote on Sun Sep 27, 2020 3:14pm:
I've had the exact same experience with Goldcar unfortunately. Currently in dispute with them and trying to get €320 back from my credit card company.
How have you got on with the Golcar issue. I'm currently in Spain with a goldcar rental. Its full of scratches and dints. I photod them at the airport + the documents showed all the damage. Take it back next Friday but expecting a battle to get my deposit back
Posted: Fri Oct 2, 2020 6:39pm
casajulian wrote on Fri Oct 2, 2020 5:38pm:
How have you got on with the Golcar issue. I'm currently in Spain with a goldcar rental. Its full of scratches and dints. I photod them at the airport + the documents showed all the damage. Take it back next Friday but expecting a battle to get my deposit back
Good luck
It's such a scandal
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Posted: Fri Oct 2, 2020 7:51pm
Helpful member
casajulian wrote on Fri Oct 2, 2020 5:38pm:
How have you got on with the Golcar issue. I'm currently in Spain with a goldcar rental. Its full of scratches and dints. I photod them at the airport + the documents showed all the damage. Take it back next Friday but expecting a battle to get my deposit back
All my complaints to Goldcar have been futile, and I have even had an email from them threatening legal action against me if my credit card company refunds . My bank have contacted me saying they are near a decision, so I should find out soon. Hope you have better luck yourself.
Posted: Fri Oct 2, 2020 9:19pm
Very helpful member
gerardwilkie wrote on Fri Oct 2, 2020 7:51pm:
All my complaints to Goldcar have been futile, and I have even had an email from them threatening legal action against me if my credit card company refunds . My bank have contacted me saying they are near a decision, so I should find out soon. Hope you have better luck yourself.
You have done the right thing getting your bank and credit card company involved.
Goldcar can make all the threats that they want, I know who I would put my money on.
Posted: Fri Oct 2, 2020 10:33pm
Helpful member
gerardwilkie wrote on Fri Oct 2, 2020 7:51pm:
All my complaints to Goldcar have been futile, and I have even had an email from them threatening legal action against me if my credit card company refunds . My bank have contacted me saying they are near a decision, so I should find out soon. Hope you have better luck yourself.
A lot of folk know the bad firms at the airport especially Goldcar and try and steer clear of them. There are websites created by angry customers Goldcar’s name in the heading. Not saying it happened in your case but booking through an agency can often unexpectedly land you with one of the worst firms anyway. There are so many stories over the last decade where so many good folk have been caught out. They’re never in much hurry to repair a car either as a nice scrape or scratch that they’ll never fix anyway can net them thousands. I felt myself about 3 or 4 years ago that adverse publicity had caused it to ease off a little but now it’s worse than ever. I can never remember hearing where the Spanish authorities took a case against any of the dodgy firms. It’d be so easy for them to do that with so many instances happening but there’s no will at all there to clean the industry up. Bad publicity means nothing to the firms as the volume of business will overcome that & the Government keep getting their tax cut out of it. With firms knowing there’s no real punishment it’s only going to continue especially now during Covid as customers are as scarce as hens teeth.
Posted: Sat Oct 3, 2020 9:14pm
Hi
I had a very similar experience back in july unfortunately that is the way they operate and there isn't a lot you can do about it
Posted: Sat Oct 3, 2020 9:52pm
Helpful member
SheilaOD wrote on Sun Sep 27, 2020 1:05pm:
I rented a car through Ryanair website prior to travelling on 16th Sept. Paid upfront for full insurance. At Alicante airport, took shuttle to the office off site, WIBER CAR RENTAL. Went through the hire documentation, and the staff member wanted me to take out further excess insuranc...
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...e. I had done this on another occasion, however having already paid with Ryanair, I declined. After a few minutes of "trying to find you the best car...." I was given key to a Fiat Trivo ? Found the car, parked nearby. Also then received my contract details and 27 photos of current damage. Some patently obvious, some only the slightest of scratches. I checked as best I could, and went off to Villamartin. The last thing i spoke to staff about was coming back 9 days later. As flight was at 1015, we wanted to drop off as near to 7am as poss. He assured me that was fine, as they opened at 7.
9 days later, we arrived, using the Satnav on our phone, to find the gates shut, with reduced opening hours due to Covid 19....having made our way 1/4 mile further along to Out of Hours drop off, we checked car back. No problems, so I thought
Hand on heart, I treated the car with great care, driving it just over 150km in total, parking it insight of our apartment and keeping empty spaces on either side when parking elsewhere.
On arrival back at East Mids, I received email thanking me for my business, and stating (in Spanish) that there was a fresh scratch on pax front door....also, a charge for out of hours drop off. Total, incl tax, €220. I telephoned their main office when I got home; absolutely no come back. He wasn't at all bothered that I disputed the scratch, and told me to provide photographic evidence that it was there all the time. He also said that I must be mistaken about their hours of operation, as the 9am opening time was not new. And then he directed me to Ryanair to claim back the cost of the damage (but not the out of hours charge).
Livid. They obviously are NOT repairing the damage they claim for, otherwise I would not have had 27 photos of previous damage.
Oh, by the way, my own small Peugeot was also damaged in the Short Stay 3 car park at East Mids; the bays are smaller than they were before lockdown. No note. No CCTV etc.
Should have stayed at home 😪
Yeo really have to watch out but you could put a chargeback via your credit card - always pay with credit card too.
(ps I have dropped keys in out of hours - never been a charge that's akin to theft. Still make sure you video/pic the car on the return even if their office is closed. Bring a newspaper to prove the date on newspaper matches returned date in case they use that one (yes I do overthink lol)
Before I bought my old Spanish banger I used DoYouSpain.com which has prices which make you wonder how they make a profit but on arrival at Alicante the extra insurnce hard sell begins which includes making you seem a skinflint, uncaring, blackmailing along with their insistant - obviously on bonus payment to upsell.
My stock responce is no, no, no thanks I am 3rd party covered (avoid this one as they will want to get into a convo about your cover) and just no - you want to pay the price on the agreement. Eventually they will realise they are getting nowhere and a queue is building BUT, the car will be in the dark underground car park so put your phone led lamp on and video very carefully. Make sure you date stamp or show proof of date on the video - the key guy/ gal will be there so ask them on video to confirm the date and time then video the milage. Make an note of any marks inc. on the alloys over 1cm long. If it's tight move the car out so you can get a full 360 view. I don't need to use them at Alicante now but have used 5 to 6 times there and,dispite the horror stories, I hve never had an issue apart from the boring hard upsell dance.. Oh also note the fuel level and ask it its like for like on return or otherwise. Only sign once 100%
PS. I do recomment excess but shop around for third party to save you $$$s - sites such as https://www.icarhireinsurance.com and many many more. Doyospain will say that's not acceptable but that is not their choice - any accident, they will excess you then you claim from the third party insurer. Simples.....
Good luck
G
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