Gran Alacant Forum
Gran Alacant Forum => Local Services, Builders, Installers etc. => Topic started by: Big D on February 10, 2016, 21:29.
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Wife and her sister just returned home yesterday after her loving husband (thats me) having to bear the cost of hotel stay in Santa Pola for 3 days and dhl courier charges after boarding the plane to Alicante without keys. Situation has now got much worse.
Received an email from Goldcar today stating large amount of money now being charged to my card regarding "damage" to the hire car. My wife is a very careful driver and adament that no damage occurred. Usual storey of going to the office at airport carpark to leave in keys and show proof of fuel purchased from garage in El Altet. Goldcar staff member insists on her putting car keys in box outside and assures her all ok. Mistake made by my wife was not insisting on having the hire form signed by staff member, Allowed herslf to be told to just put keys in box and all is ok. Having contacted credit card company they now confirm an amouint much larger that Goldar stated to me in their email now going through but they cannot stop it. Credit card company have advised me to ringback on Friday to confirm the amount has gone through and then start the claim process.
In my opinion these crazy low prices are being used to initially draw in customers and then claim vast amouts from their cards when the hire period ends. In doing so to a large number of people, many drivers will no doubt give up the fight of trying to retrieve their money back. From past experience they just refuse thet accept they are wrong. They are therefore making a forture by deceit. The situation is now making me consder giving up on the apartment altogether. It is not practical for me to purchase an "apartment car" I believe that the Consulate in Alicante or somebody in authority should be made aware of this sharp practice and asked to intervene. This is not the first time I have been ripped off by car hire firms in recent years. I think that ultimately this will result in many people not returning to Alicante after the bad experience of car hire. Comments and ideas from fellow forum urers would be most welcome. Thanks
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Hi there, I wouldn't touch Goldcar with a barge pole
Take a look at their feedback at review centre.
I think it's unfair to judge all car hire companies by this cowboy outfits standard
I've used Record for 10 years and never had a problem.....other than a couple of tatty cars I've rejected
Hope you get the problem sorted
Regards all
John
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Check out
http://www.insurance4carhire.com/?refID=2120&subRefID=0&curID=GBP&langID=1&mkwid=sBQPqefzl_dm&crid=68969651183&mp_kw=insurance4carhire&mp_mt=e&plc=&slid=&gclid=CIia8pKP7soCFUHGGwod6U8KDA
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Hi john. The same thing as I described earlier happened to me with Record in October past. Vowed never to use them again. Only for my wife being out two weeks later and stating the case in person at the desk she managed to convince them to return money. Trying to convince them by email hopeless. Dickmans in early 2015 kept fuel money even after being given fuel docket from el altet garage purchased 10 mins earlier. Can't recall just now the other firm who kept fuel money.
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Thats all very frustrating and annoying. I hope it doesn't put you off. I can imagine how you feel as I had a bad (not car related) experience a few years ago and felt the same - luckily I got over it. We use Xtra car hire and always pay cash on collection. Have never had a problem
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We have used record via e-mail car hire for many years and never had any problem with extra charges etc
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When hiring cars I always write on diagram of car on form car unchecked and several marks noted that are not on diagram. I then ask rep dealing on counter to countersign contract before I sign. Also were I sign I write please note car diagram on this page. always works for me
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This is why we have decided not to hire a car anymore. After visiting GA for 11 years, last year we found a hire car for a good price through one of the main companies on airport site, but they then try to load you up on the insurance and worst of all they blocked 950 Euros on our credit card in case of accident and, took a further amount to cover a tank of fuel, obviously at over inflated prices, when the policy was full/full. I looked through various other car hire companies and in the small print, it all says the same about blocking these amounts.
I am fed up with being ripped off by car hire companies so its taxis and the tourist train for us now!
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Lou Lou.
We did exactly the same as you.the train and local buses are fantastic and cheap.If you do want to go farther afield you can negotiate a good deal with some of the lads from the square,car hire is out for us now ,it's neither worth the worry or the hassle.
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I think if this was me I would go back to the hire company and query as far as I know the additional insurance they offer should only cover damage to body of car over 4cm diamiter and damage to windscreen wheels and tyres and the underbody . Their original insurance that is included in the hire price covers all the rest. So unless it is really major damage you should get a refund .My only bad experience in car hire so far after hiring about 6 a year for 14 years was an additional cleaning charge which I queried and pushed really hard and got a refund for . Having said all of that I still use my phone to video a walk round of every car I hire on pickup show it to the person who gives out keys and write it on the contract but so far have not needed it
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Thanks to all who have viewed and commented so far regarding my situation with Goldcar. The point raised by Spurs stating that minor damage should be covered by the normal insurance is very helpful. Will expore this matter. Goldcar have replied today rejecting my request not to charge my card. However an interesting point has now come to my attention. When i viewed the photos supplied by Goldcar yesterday they were seen by me on my ipad. Today I have viewed the various photos on my laptop with a much larger screen. The first photo shows the full front of the car with the registration plate visible. In this photo an oil stain is on the ground beneath the front left corner of the car. Another close up photo of the front left corner only with no number plate visible shows some scrapes at the bottom edge of the bumper but guess what? THERE IS NO OIL STAIN ON THE GROUND!! I now believe that they are taking money from me regarding scapes on another vehicle of the same model and colour. Amazing.
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Like many of you we have hired dozens of car at alicante airport over the last 10 years, of these we have probably had 4 horror stories. These are normally charges made to the credit card on arrival back in the uk for fuel not refunded or some spurious damage. The aggravation of getting the money back means we are now planning trips to ga this year and using taxis and buses. The spanish never ever learn in my opinion you cant rip the hand that feeds you. Of more concern is this minority of parasites in the car hire world are giving ga a bad name.
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It does make you wonder whether you should grit your teeth at the extra cost and use either Hertz or Europcar.
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Or pay cash with no credit card??
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We have given up hiring cars for use in GA. We now either use the local bus or walk.
Since we live in Brisamar this entails some uphill journeys but we always return to the UK much fitter. Usually we don't notice the uphill bits (except the few hundred metres between The Clot and the old farmacia.) It is sometimes a nuisance that the local circular bus doesn't run after 13.30.
Fortunately some of the best eating places in GA are close at hand.
Keith
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We always have a car as like to travel further afield to Calpe, guadalest, fortune etc and also the golf course! We also have an annual policy which refunds any payments you get charged if you do not take the full insurance policy they try to sell you. We did get caught once when I did not use record but insurance company refunded the 500euros promptly.
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Having said all of this - and I know this is strong language - isn't their some kind of fraud going on here by the car hire companies ?
There have been far to many cases of people handing their cars back in good faith with no apparent damage, getting on the plane and when home finding out there credit card has been charged €100's (or more) for "damage" that didnt occur on their time with the car. There is never any redress or appeal process - I think its shocking
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I'm trying hard to remember a car that I have hired that hasnt had scrapes on the bumpers, "dings" on the panels, an assortment of scratches, kerbed alloys or dented rims, scratches on the dash panels that I can only assume came from a brief encounter with a lady on the 332 and on a couple of occasions stains on the seat that have led me to reject the cars, maybe these came from an encounter on the 332...........often on cars with less than 10,000 kms on the clock...........I guess the folk who had hired these cars said "wasnt me guv, it was like that when I picked it up"
I can quite see why the hire companys make additional charges.
Those of you who rent your houses out, I dread to think how some of your guests leave the property.
I can and have on many occasions managed a week in GA without a car...........any longer would send me stir crazy.
There are lots of places we love to visit, there are still plenty to explore even after all these years, and importantly restaurants we love to visit that would otherwise be out of bounds.
Have a great day all
Regards
John
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Large amount of money now taken out from my account by Goldcar. I rang credit card company today to formally ask them to request my money to be paid back, not very hopeful of a positive outcome to their request. However the person I spoke to at the credit card company stated that they usually get three or four similiar calls every day!! There is without doubt fraud going on here on a large scale. To those who have not been affected , count your lucky stars but be very very careful if you continue to hire cars. I intend to persue this as best I can and will keep the forum updated.
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strange stories.
I have an annual travel insurance policy, costs me some 80 euros a year (incl. medical etc.) - and all this is covered. So should I have a problem, it just takes a simple email and mr Goldcar has to face the insurer.
Had a problem in january - where I was, snow had fallen and roads were impossible (yes, was with rental car: ... only fools and ...). It took the insurer 30 mins. after I sent an email to come back, then ring me at the hotel and find a solution (car was left there, and went by train). They contacted the car rental company and apparently got someone over to bring the car back (300 kms...). No charge for mea it was a case of force majeure (or if you want Act of God).
80 euros is a small price to pay for peace of mind ... for a whole year :-) :o
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Totally agree Rich it is fraud on a massive scale,in all fairness its took the Spanish a long time to catch up with whats been going on for years in other countries, no suprise there though. Last year we hired a car with drivalia on return the girl behind counter asked if i had an excess policy, i stupidly said yes she then went down on her knees and inspected the car with great vigour, she eventually found a 1 inch scratch on the inner face of a wheel, she poppdd up and said i quote That will be 100 euros please as this very small scratch wasnt there when you took the car, i duly argued the point but eventually paid the money, the manager then said why are you worried the insurer will repay you. In my opinion drivalia are no better than thieves and robbers. Saying that ive probably spent well over 1000 euros on car hire since but not a cent with drivalia
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Did you not have an insurance waiver excess policy to cover this? I purchased an annual one for about £40 through Zurich which covers me for this. Having said that have used Goldcar, Dickmans and Firefly and not had any problems at all to put my policy into use. I certainly wouldn't risk charging nearly a thousand euros on my credit card without some insurance cover!! Bit of a gamble. You pays your money and takes your chance imo.
Cheers
Chris
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Have you got anywhere with them Big D ?
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i gave goldcar a go when i first flew out to GA in April, Perfect service, great car and great prices xx
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I took photos of the car when returning it so, if there was any argy bargy, I would report it straight to the credit card company as fraud. If the car companies skim off from the independent insurers we will see the premiums rocket.
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I ordered a car on my last visit through doyouspain. Was a lovely fiat 500 from goldcar. Was ridiculously cheap with a full/full option. The night we were returning it we saw that someone had scratched the side. I do have a waiver but wasn't looking forward to the paper work etc. We returned the car late (there was no one there to inspect it) but never heard a thing. Received our petrol money back minus £2. Total for a 5 day break was just under £20!!!!
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It's a funny world car hire companies are in the same league as estate agents, double glazing sales and second hand car dealers. I recall on a previous forum Gold Car being one of the worst renters and to avoid at all costs maybe they have changed there tactics as losing market shares. A bit like ryanair you can only exploit your customers so far, O leary eventually realised enough was enough.