GoldCar Rental
reviews and complaints

When i rented the car from Malaga Airport it was made quiet clear that I was paying for a full tank of fuel. The person on the desk pointed out that I was to bring the car back empty. When i returned the car there was around a quarter of a tank of fuel left in it. I was expecting a refund as i had already paid for the fuel. I was not expecting a further charge placed on my credit card to refill the car.

I have repeatedly emailed them but to date have had no response. I would like the repayment of the fuel charge

Contract: [protected]
Dear customer,
Thank you for hiring with GOLDCAR.
We are writing to inform you of the details of a charge on your contract [protected] from 19/08/2017 to 02/09/2017:
05/09/2017

Type
Concept
Units
Amount
Total Charge
Fuel Tank
1
40, 70 €
40, 70 €
TOTAL: 40, 70 €
The charge has been made to the credit card that you provided at the start of your contract but it may take a few days before it is visible on your bank statement.
We hope to see you again soon.
For future reservations or information, please visit our websites:
http://www.goldcar.com y http://www.goldcarhelp.com
Kind regards,
Goldcar Rental

I recently hired a car from Goldcar, picking the car up at Marseille airport. The date of the collection was Friday 25th August. My contract number with Goldcar is [protected] and my Client code is 8139340.
On picking up the car, I was told that if I paid 130.50 Euros, I needn't fill up the car on return and also as I had already paid for accident damage, I needn't worry about any damage to the car. So I paid the 103.5 Euros. This has been taken from my credit card.
When I returned the car to Marseille, there was no damage to the car and the tank was half full. This I explained to the lady at the desk. She indicated that this was fine as I had paid the additional 103.5 Euros. She didn't check the car with me for any additional damage.
So I was surprised, although all of the stories that I have heard on BBC RADIO 4 indicate that this is typical... that I was charged two separate amounts of the equivalent to £30.40 on September 5th.
So I need to know what this is for, as there is no explanation of what these charges are for. More to the point, there should be no additional charges.
I will await your reply before I take this up with the BBC consumer program.

We rented a car in Alicante through Rentalcars.com. We paid for the car rental and for the full car insurance through rentalcars.com. But when we got to pick the car up at the airport we were not told that we could either pay 1100 € in deposit OR pay full Goldcar insurance... we were just charged for the full insurance... 64€. Nor were we told that we could have different kind of fuel agreements. So we paid for Flex fuel. It was 21 € just so we could deliver the car with the amount of fuel we wanted to... and then we paid 64 € for a full tank..

We only wanted to buy a full tank, and come back with a full tank, so we got ripped of AGAIN. And when we talked to the "sweet" lady at the desk, she did not understand a word english. She just printed out the invoice and charged us 400 €...

To sum up, we have paid at least 450 € for ONE CAR ONE WEEK... we were on a vacation same location two months ago, and we paid under half, with a different company. For TWO WEEKS HIRE. This was only one. It is absolutely insane. We paid more for the car than for rental of the apparment. That cant possibably be real?

What can you do about it. I'm not accepting the answer i got in the phone: we charged everything right... hell no you did not.

Maria Granat

Car hire booked for 26/8/17-9/9/17 via holiday autos rental booking from Goldcar. Ford fiesta or similar (5 doors, 2 suitcases, 5 doors)
Booking ref [protected]
Total cost EUR 245.21 Payment received GBP 215.83 Payable at counter EUR 0.00
Booking did not include fuel – "Full to Full – This is the best fuel option".
Damage refund Insurance also purchased via AXA Travel Insurance – GBP 47.04. Total UK costs GBP 262.84
At Bordeaux Goldcar desk, assistant did not accept insurance arrangements, would not read documents with Goldcar Voucher and pointed to table (see photo) alleging that UK insurance arrangements did not cover French requirements.
It became a choice:
Either stick with insurance arrangements made in UK and accept a EUR 1, 100 block on credit card
Or accept French insurance Couverture Super EUR 199.96 & Mega Relax Cover EUR 23.33
I chose the 2nd option and then said we wanted fuel full to full. I was told there would be a block on the credit card for EUR 116. I pointed out this was excessive and was told it was a refuelling cost plus an admin fee.
Total French costs EUR 267.95
Complaints:
• The assistant was Mallory – she was not helpful and was dismissive of my views. It was abysmal customer service – it was ‘take it or leave it’!
• I have effectively paid twice for car hire - once in UK and once in France – why was this necessary and why was it not made clear in the UK contract?
• The Fuel - Full to Full advice – should make clear that a block will be placed on the credit card. In fact it would be better to state Full to Empty is better because then there would be no credit card block.
• I am very disappointed by the service from Goldcar and I think you should refund either the UK cost GBP 215.83 or the French cost EUR 267.95.

This Is a copy of the email I have sent to [protected]@goldcar.com There are 13 photos of evidence as well on the email. Customer service was the worst I have ever experienced. Alicante airport in april with gold car was great. Such a shame this branch is letting the company down.

To Gold Car Customer Services /Rhodium

Re: Contract reference Number [protected] / vehicle Registration 9481JXP

11/09/2017

I am emailing you in response to your email dated 8/9/2017 advising me that you intend to take 220 euros from my wife’s credit card account for damage I assume you think that I caused during the hire period of 27/8/17 – 5/9/17.

I have to tell you that I am very very disappointed to hear this. I object to your intention to take the 220 euros from me as I have not caused any damage to the car and can provide this with photographic evidence. (ATTACHED) We believe IMG 8445 above is the picture that you have sent us thinking that I caused it which is not true. These photos are on my iPhone and date and time stamped as 27/08/2017 9.37pm.I also have attached a screen print IMG 6929 showing the date and time the photo was taken which was before we drove out of the carpark with the car.

When I collected the vehicle on 27/8/17 your staff member advised me there was no damage to the car as it was brand new. He gave me the contract form and a diagram of the car, When I saw the vehicle even though it was dark there were numerous additional damage (dents and scratches) that was not on the paperwork.

I marked all the areas of damage on the diagram of the car and photographed it all including the driver’s side front bumper/wheel arch which you claim I caused.

I then returned to the Goldcar desk in the terminal and informed your staff member. He simply photocopied my paperwork showing the damage I had found and put the photocopy in a file. He gave me back the original papers. I then informed him I had taken photographs of all the damage and asked where I should send the pictures but he said there was not needed.

When I returned the vehicle on the 5/9/17 your member of staff stamped my form and wrote ok on it to show it was all fine. I have attached all photos to this email. This evidence should prove to you I did not cause any damage to the car.

We hired from yourselves from Alicante airport in April and the staff and service were great. On this occasion your staff at Palma airport were very rude to all customers in the queue including us and bossing people around and very arrogant in their attitude. The staff there are a discredit to your company who I am sure take customer service very seriously.

Please reconsider your email and advise me no money will be taken or I will take legal advice on this matter. If monies have already been taken then i expect an immediate refund.

All the attachments are our evidence of your error somehow not marking the damage that a previous driver of the vehicle had clearly caused.

Vincent Gidman and Anna Gidman

Wednesday 16th August 2017
contract no. [protected]
We arrived at Ibiza Airport and were told as it was after 11.00pm we would have to pay £40 for them waiting for us to collect the car.
I was totally unaware of this charge as would not of booked otherwise, really? me paying you to stay open late? I am the customer, you cannot leave until all the customers cars have been picked up.
Also I was left to find the car all on my own and check for damage (in a pitch black car park) they said if i found damage to go straight back to the desk so they could sign the paper where all the scratches were recorded. When i went back 15 mins later the desk had shut!
I am seeking if nothing else a refund of £40 please.

I hired a car from San Javier Airport. The rental desk employee was an English lady so there was nothing lost in translation. She tried to sell me their Super Flex Insurance which I declined after her giving me the hard sell. I had purchased my own insurance. She told me they would hold £138 on my credit for fuel, once returned full this would be refunded. Having been home and still no money refunded back on my credits card. I rang customer service who was rude told me the £138 was for insurance. The rental desk clearly lied and blatantly frauded me. This is disgraceful and illegal practice.
[protected]@gmail.com

I've rented a Car in Barcelona from 29th of August to 2nd of September and I've deposited full fuel amount (130 EUR) Refundable + (EUR 48) for Insurance.

I was told that if you return full tank than your Fuel deposit is refunded. I've returned the Car with full tank but now also I'm not able to get my refund.

I also asked from the checking guy who checked the car at the time of Drop Off that everything is OK...than he said Yes and put all the information in the device he used to carry for checking the car.

Please look into this issue and return my Full fuel deposit.

I have had a charge or 40euros to my credit card. This was not authorised and it have been months since I rented a car with your company.

I was appalled with the service I received when I arrived ion Italy and was told to take out your insurance even though I had my own Excess insurance. I was told I either take it or don't get a car. Which is illegal by the way. Your staff thought it was funny that I got a little upset and stressed by the situation and had to pay 190GBP for the insurance.

Now I have an unauthorised charge or 40euros. and this is one step too far. I would like this credited back to my account within 3 days or i will take this further

Booked a car via carrentals, picked up the car yesterday 1 sept, at Nice airprt. At pick up they tried to sell me extra insurance, told them I did not want that. A rather big discussion started that I was taking a "stupid" de dission, as it was ony 18 euro... Expressed again I did not want. The adiministrative proces continued and I thought we could finish without the extra insurance. Surprise, my creditcard, which I use daily, was rejected, so they said they could not settle the deposit, either no car or you have to buy the extra insurance he said with a big smile. Than he did not need my not wotking creditcard, needless to say that the same creditcard was used to book the rentan via rentalcars and 10 minutes later I did another purchase with the same card, that suddenly worked again. I am 100% sure the have a trick, and this way mske sure you can not rent a the discounted rate via rentalcars.com without the extra insurance. Especially the way how the play with you, give a very bad feeling, I will NEVER rent again from Goldcar.

We rented from goldcar and returned the car in the same condition. We then received an email stating wr had damaged the car and they took 180 euros from our deposit.
Adter multiple phone calls asking for an original damage report proving that we did it and almost two weeks later they said it was an administrative error and they would refund the money. Now they are saying thwy cant refund the money to our credit card and said they want my bank account details. I sent them required info and they said the transfer didnt work because i gave them the wrong account number.
They also didnt refund our whole deposit. So total owed to us is $500 and they are still stalling.

To whom it may concern

I would like to make a formal complaint with the service in which we received from a member of your team at Palma airport on Sunday 13th August 2017 from a man named Daniel. We arrived In plenty of time for our rental car yet queued for an hour. On arriving g at the desk we was greeted with Daniel who had no customer service skills what so ever. The car was booked in my partners name as the lead driver however we was putting the deposit and the fuel onto my credit as he does not have one. We were unaware of the terms that's this could not be done and refused to give us the car. So because he does not hold a credit card he was being penalised for this which I found to be disgraceful. He then stated we needed a full insurance to which we had already paid €80 for this back in the uk.
He then said in order for us to be able to take the car we would need to change the name driver on the policy to where we had to ring do you Spain to do this as he said he would not do this for us. So after landing in plenty of time we had now been at the desk for an hour and half. After spending 45 minutes on the phone to change the driver this was successful. He then charged us a further €150 for an additional driver yet the customer that was next to us had a free additional driver due to the time she had waited yet we had been over 2 hours by now and received nothing but grief. I requested to speak to somebody higher to where he said NO.
A young girl who worked there started to deal with us as she could see how frustrating this was and she was very helpful but then was spoken to in his language and we was taken back to Daniel. I feel the whole experience from beginning to end was terrible. We then went back into the terminal after receiving our car to inform them that the washers were not working at the front of the car and was pouring out the bottoms to be told it was ok yet it is a legal requirement in the U.K.
We dropped the car back in good time on Sunday 27th August 2017 and are still waiting for the refund on the fuel as we had full to full.
My family went with record go and received their fuel back by the end of that evening and had a free additional driver. I will not be booking with these again .
I Look forward to your prompt reply in what you are going to do to resolve this
Kirsty lurton

They awful in their attempts in pushing customers to buy something from them, especially their insurance program. If you disagree you will hear long speech about possible consequences. And you'll really get them. That's why I am advising you to take pictures of a renting car from each side not be fined for nothing, just like us. Now we learned it and know how to prove we are not guilty. And it's only because we didn't sign up for their insurance program.

Arrived at Girona Airport (GRO) Aug 12th 2017 at 20:30 with my young family. rental reservation number [protected]
Was told I had to pay an extra €520 for an unpaid fine from a previous (2015) rental. They claimed the boot cover was missing upon return, and that 'special cleaning' was required (it was only a beach holiday, so would have been dust/sand at worst).
Saturday night, middle of August, so clearly I had no other options but to pay (on top of the €700-ish for the initial rental) the demand before they'd release the car. No other firms had cars available so I was left hugely out of pocket. This is on top of the usual rubbish about up-front charges for the full-to-full policy (incase you return it empty) and the extra insurance (even though I paid maximum levels of cover when I booked the rental in England.
Annoyingly I have used Goldcar many times since 2015 with no problem at all-it seems the 'penalty' was applicable only to the local Girona Airport desk. I will never use them again and if anyone has any tips for complaints procedures or claims chasing please let me know. I am requesting a full reimbursement of the extra money I have had to pay. The claim (which I had no choice to pay) is completely unprovable and no one from Goldcar has EVER contacted me to tell me what happened since Aug 2015.

I hired a vehicle on 13 August to 23th August from Palma Airport. On collecting the car I noticed a number of marks and scratches on the rear bumper. The checkout form was amended to reflect this at the Goldcar office and signed (with stamp). I have a copy of this and have attached. After my return back home i checked my credit card bill and noticed that you charged me 200€. I checked the bill on your website and noticed that you charged me the 200€ for a damage on the rear bumber. The damage was recorded by the rental agent just after checked out the car! Please look at the enclosed pictures and return the additional deposit. Thank you.

Contract no [protected]/[protected]
Hi
I hire a car from your company on the 20th August from palma airport.I received my credit card statement to day to find that you have charged me £152.36 then you have refunded me for £40.64.I am very puzzled about this.can you please tell me what the charge is for.because I was not told about any extra charges when I picked up the car.
Many thanks
Patrick Napoli

I had to travel to Tenerife at short notice, after my father took seriously ill while on holiday there. I booked a car for 8 days with Goldcar at short notice, as I had only booked a 1 way flight and didn't know when I would be returning. As I was in a rush to make visiting hours at the hospital when I arrived, I didn't have time to check the car, and took pictures of the vehicle instead. Sadly, my father passed away the next day, and as a result, I returned the car 5 days early. After returning the car, €200 was taken from my card, due to damage on the rear bumper. When I checked my photos, the damage was clearly there when I collected the car. I called customer service immediately, and they said that if I emailed the pictures, then they would refund the charge. They firstly took over 4 weeks to respond to my email, during which time I started to incur charges on my credit card for the money that they had taken. They then replied to say that because the damage was not marked on the check out sheet, they had the right to take a charge, despite knowing that the damage was already there. I had further asked whether they could refund a €50 charge that they also took because the petrol was not full when I returned the car. They obviously had the right to take this charge. However, since I had returned the car 5 days early due to the death of my father, I thought they may be willing to waive the fee, given that they were already making significant financial benefit from my father's death. However, they refused to even consider this, and took the extra charge anyway. Car rental companies have a poor reputation for caring about customers, but I have never come across such a heartless and cynical company in any line of business, anywhere. Goldcar are a disgrace, and no one should ever rent a car from them. Pay extra if needed to use another company that does not treat its customers like scum.

I rented a car in Barcelona airport for less than 24hrs, paid for the full insurance and paid the refundable €110 for fuel. Because it's full insurance, nobody checked the car with me on pick up. Fuel refilled with receipts on the seat! Dropped off the car very early in the morning to catch my flight and 2 weeks after my fuel refund is not yet back.
Called them and they said there was a tray missing in the car and that's why they held back my fuel money!
This is incrediblly fraudulent! What tray? I pad for fuel and brought it back full, I paid for full insurance and still they are saying a tray is missing! I've sent a mail to the complaints dept but from the numerous feedbacks im seeing on various sites about them, I'm not sure they will respond! Fingers crossed!

I was told that I had to pay additional €150 as we were dropping off the vehicle at 4.00am on sept 4 because it's outside office hours. I advised the extremely rude clerk on the desk that I had purchased additional insurance already through axa.
I was very tired and advised I could just call and cancel if I changed my mind.
I've looked into the details and I do not need this insurance, I have paid the €15 for sdr due to drop off being outside office hours.
I have called customer services but they have said I have to complain fir my refund through here.
Please refund the affiontal insurance as I do not need or wAnt this.
Please also note that the derive light for the vehicle came on within 10mins of us leaving the airport! Not great rude unhelpful staff, insurance that's not needed and a car that needs a service!

We have made an official compaint with goldcar customer services but don't hold out any hope.

See

Dear MARTIN ROBERT,

Thank you for contacting Goldcar Rental. Your query has been received and assigned the file number 1353364.

Details of your query:

1st level:
2nd level: / Additional charges - Extras
Comments: Upon arrival at Palma airport, I presented my paperwork to collect the vehicle & even though I insisted that I had CDW insurance I was informed that I had to take your 'Cobertura Super' which cost an additional 123.93 euros. The attendant did not give us any other option and was distinctly rude and evasive. I have evidence to show that my insurance was taken at the same time as the original booking via AutoEurope. This would have been easily visible on your systems. As far as I am concerned the ‘cobertura super’ was an act of mis-selling by your agent and I therefore expect a refund of 123.93 euros. I trust that you would welcome the opportunity to resolve the situation and I look forward to hearing from you.
Our Customer Services Department will send you a reply as soon as possible.

You can consult the details and progress of your query at any stage on our webpage www.goldcar.es, in the Customer Access Section, supplying your customer or agency details and indicating the file number quoted above.

We would like to take the opportunity to thank you for using our services and we hope to see you again in the near future.

Regards,