GoldCar Rental

I've used GoldCar extensively over the years and they seem to have gotten their act together with good quality cars at reasonable prices. True they are extortionate with additional costs but you can minimise these if you go into your car hire prepared. I thought I had but however, after returning my car in late November I still have not received my deposit back into my Credit Card account, and am now incurring unnecessary fees because of it, over 20 days ago! Disgraceful. What makes it worse is apart from the telephone, their is no email complaint or query service. I'm no longer impressed with GoldCar.

GoldCar have responded today 21/12/2017 with the following:-

Dear Peter,

We have double check your contract and we have seen that the fuel deposit amount and caution, 1483€, was unblocked under operation code A07153. Note that we have charged 900€ for damages occurred during your rental period.
Take into account that this amount was not charged/refunded, so you will not be able to see any movement on your bank statement. This amount was a pre-authorisation. Please check this matter with your Bank.

Don't hesitate to contact us if you need further information.

Kind regards,

Victoria R,

Goldcar Representative.

My complaint is that I've returned the car fully fuelled and undamaged, and at the carpark had the car checked by a GoldCar representative in Alicante. They stated everything was normal and thanked me.

Now, without any communication, any proof, and justification they have held 1400+ Euros, pre-charged onto my account!

I've been using GoldCar.es for many years, and other return companies around the world, but I've never before have I been subject to such erroneous business malpractice. They have all my details, my telephone, home address, email, yet no contact whatsoever. Something is seriously wrong with this company.

My booking was through DoYouSpain Reference DYS [protected], customer complain CS-697384

My contract with GoldCar is [protected]

The car hire was for a Ford Focus Reg 3141JZZ

Other than phoning, I have no method of contacting GoldCar at Alicante.

GoldCar is a SCAM, we received a letter via email stating that we were being charged 165 euros, for 3 tickets (that we supposedly received during our time in Italy). The problem is that we NEVER received a single ticket! In fact, we barely drove the car, since we were there for our wedding, and stayed fairly local.

In their letter, Goldcar was extremely vague. The letter said we had received these 3 tickets sometime during our rental period, but it did not specify the dates, locations, or time of supposed tickets. It also said that the although we had gotten these tickets (that they were charging us for), they could not provide any proof or copy of the tickets. There was also no contact information, and the email was sent from a noreply address, making it impossible to contact them in regards to this issue.

I plugged in our ticket number on their website and received an error message, not allowing me to proceed to filing a claim. I contacted them through Facebook (and have yet to receive a response). I then googled their company and found that thousands of people all over the internet had also been victims of this "ticket" scam by GoldCar.

If Goldcar does not respond with PROOF of these tickets (dates, times, actual copies that these tickets exist), then I will be filing a dispute with my Credit Card Company, will be filing Fraud/Scam with International Consumer Affairs, and will be sure to post about this on every social media forum.

Scamming customers is unacceptable. Car companies like Hertz, Enterprise, Budget make perfectly good money just renting out their cars to customers, without the need to scam or steal from its customers, these companies are also easy to reach when customer service is needed. GoldCar does not respond to customer issues, they do not even provide an email address, and make it extremely difficult and time consuming to reach out to them, however they have no problem sending customers vague emails about fake tickets and charging their customers ilegally.

Hi all, I m from india and was in spain btwn 14th&29th nov 2017. Hired a car @ airport palma... Returned in 2 days... Again hired a car at airport teneriffe for 3 days, here they charged me 35 euros extra.. Reason :- documents from the car missing? I disputed it... Sent them 4 mails, (1468907, [protected], 1470839,) called them twice from india (5 euros each call) still no response... And then I receive another mail, that there was a ticket against the car in palma? When asked to clarify that.. Still no response... Its already 20 days now... I will post in all the available media... How not to hire gold car services...

Reservation, made for November, 2017 in Tenerife Airport South (TFS) .

I still have around 1000 Euros hold on my credit card, although the
contract was cancelled due to a malfunctioning
car, and all expenses should have been refunded.
No one is answering the emails sent...

Their customer support was very disrespectful, and tried to blame the malfunctioning on me...

This is the email I have just received from Goldcar:
Oficinas Centrales de Goldcar, 05/12/2017
Estimado cliente,
Gracias por haber confiado en Goldcar para el alquiler de un vehículo con contratonúmero [protected] entre el 12/08/2017 y el 17/08/2017.
Debemos comunicarle que hemos sido informados que durante el transcurso de dicho alquiler el vehículo ha sido multado 1 vez.
Tal y como nos obliga la ley procedemos a comunicar sus datos a las autoridades pertinentes, quienes le reenviarán a su domicilio en las próximas semanas la multa a su nombre junto con las instrucciones de pago para que usted pueda realizar el pago de la sanción o en su defecto ejercer las acciones de recurso que considere oportunas.
Debemos comunicarle además que, como se recoge en las condiciones
del contrato que usted firmó con Goldcar el pasado 12/08/2017, en los próximos días se procederá a realizar un único cargo en su cuenta de 55, 00 € en concepto de gastos de gestión (resultantes de aplicar un coste de 55, 00 € por multa recibida)
Dicho cargo contempla exclusivamente los gastos incurridos por Goldcar como consecuencia de los trámites administrativos realizados para identificar ante las autoridades que así lo exigen al conductor del vehículo y no suponen en ningún caso el pago parcial o total de la sanción impuesta, importe, que como se recoge en las condiciones del contrato de alquiler firmado por usted, le corresponde abonar.
En esta ocasión Goldcar ha recibido notificación de la multa por internet y no podemos facilitar una copia de la multa. Los detalles de la multa, e indicaciones sobre la forma de pago, le llegaran con la notificación de las autoridades pertinentes por correo postal.
Por favor no conteste a esta comunicación. Si no está de acuerdo con lo recogido en ella debe hacernos llegar su disconformidad a través de la sección de Atención al Cliente de la página web de Goldcar (www.goldcar.es).
Atentamente,
Goldcar rental
I have emailed my lawyer this email to read and inform me about the fine online. As I have a special insurance for fines, he will tell me what I have to do, but I must confirm we are very careful middle aged drivers and the car has been parked in a garage and in special parkings. I want to receive the online fine, before paying it because it is obligatory for every citizen to have the copy of the fine he/she has committed.

We have been charged for a parcel shelf that was missing when we started the rental. You could not have checked the car properly yourselves because we found 6 areas on the bodywork of additional scuffs and scratches which you agreed were there in addition to numerous others you identified.
You assured us when we returned the car that the fuel cost would be refunded automatically, together with unused toll fees from the pre loaded card.
We have not yet received a refund for the fuel or the toll fees ( full tank on return)
Please can you organise to have the fuel refunded?

We have ended up paying you 199.85 Euro for nothing!

Please sort this out

M J and G Smith

We paid for a hire car 18 October through Ryanair, a total of £33.79. When we arrived at the GoldCar desk at Malaga 9 November we were not asked if we wanted to purchase extra insurance cover or choose to have to 1100 euros as a deposit on our credit card. We would not have opted for additional cover as we have an annual policy which gives us full cover including zero excess. Paperwork was signed at the desk without any indication that any extra charges would be incurred.

On receipt of our credit card statement we have found a charge of £249.35 then a refund of £61.76 leaving us with a charge of £187.59 when we believed that we had paid Ryanair in full.

Staff at the GoldCar desk did not explain what was being signed for or give any choice as to our options therefore we feel that the sum of £187.59 should be refunded immediately.

Avoid Gold Car.

They check in desk won't take no for an answer when you say you don't want the insurance. I take an annual policy out each year in the UK (see money saving expert for details of companies) and it is less than half of a weeks cover when buying with car hire. Around £75 for the year for worldwide cover.

She spent half an hour arguing with me saying I needed there cover or I would be charged the full price of the car if anything happened to the vehicle!

An old couple who were stood next to me in check in and had paid for a single trip cover for 2 weeks for £50 through admiral were told the same but from a more aggressive customer service person who said that their cover from the UK was not valid and through the piece of paper in the bin. The lady got very upset an they ended up paying €174 for the weeks insurance. I tried to reassure them that it was valid but the lady was soo upset that the husband just paid! These are not customer service representatives they are criminals.

The insurance is valid I can assure you as I have had to claim twice and received the full money back within days.

On top of this awful experience I returned my car. It was checked and I got told I would get my fuel refund as I have returned it full. I have not and still have not.

I have called Spain twice now and been cut off each time I ended up getting through.

They make it awkward for you online by not providing a contact form or customer service email to email direct. Instead you have to put in your contract number and email address which then comes up with a message to say they are not associated so you can't complete your request for fuel refund. It is exactly what was emailed so they must be linked?!

On top of the above the queues and the queuing system is confusing for everyone and not only old or non techy people. There is a tiny ipad in a corner where you are meant to enter your booking reference number and take a ticket.

But do not go to to the counter if you are alone and have baggage. You get told to push your trolley away from the counter! I didn't get served unless I pushed it 2 meters behind me. Thieves will have a heyday!

Avoid this company like the plague. There are much better companies to hire from in Alicante Airport.

Hire Agreement No: ES781220440 booked via Ryanair

Hire Dates Collection: 29/11/2017 21.00 hrs Return 13/10/2017 18.30 hrsw

Mr G WEBB

We have properties in Spain and regularly use car hire services and for the past tow trip tried GoldCar. On the first booking we were allocated Fiat 500 rather than the larger vehicle booked on-line and on the second booking were allocated a very well worn and body damaged Ford Fiesta of which we took numerous photos before accepting it as our allocated hire vehicle. We have European Wide Collision Damage Insurance Sorry! but still had over £1250 taken from our debit card for the period of the hire. To date the £1, 000 has still not been refunded some 7-8 week after week returned the vehicle washed and vacuumed inside to San Javier Airport. I checked in with the car and again at the hire desk and was assured I needed to do nothing else and my £1000 would be credited in the next 2-3 days... sorry no sight of it.
As I own and run an international business I have now imposed no hire of any vehicle from GoldCar.
I look forward to your reply and hopefully my money returned before I take the matter further?

Graham Webb

I rented a car from Palma in Sept, paid in full in the UK. I was offered a "...free upgrade... " on pick up which I accepted. I returned the car with a full tank for which I have photo evidence.

Upon returning home, I find I have been charged an extra £160. Not details or info supplied on why? I find out via my credit card that it's because I rented a diesel car (part of the free upgrade) and am still unclear where the the £160 came from.

I repeatedly emailed and tried to contact Goldcar with no success. No details of where the £160 came from, no details of the complaints policy, they refuse to accept that this is incorrect. Their policy seems to be ignore the customer.

This is a scam and I intend taking them to the European claims court to recoup my costs. Need-less-to-say, after being a repeat customer with Goldcar, I will no longer rent from them

Re: Goldcar Car Hire - Contract No: [protected] Vehicle 7369JPR - Alicante Airport 08/10/2017

We reserved the above car through a UK booking agent "Do You Spain" and paid the hire charge of Euros 26.32 (GBP 25.13) through our Barclaycard credit card on 30th August. As you are aware when I picked the car up at Alicante airport on the 8th October the agreed rental charge was Euros 26.52 plus 73.00 Euros for a full tank of fuel. You also took a "suspended" charge for accident indemnity of Euros 1, 100.00. My understanding was that the Euros 1, 100.00 would be returned, in the event that the car was returned undamaged, and we would be refunded the value of whatever fuel was left in the tank upon returning the car to Alicante airport. We were also under the impression that the hire charge was also covered (Euros 26.52) as we had already paid this amount to " Do You Spain on 30th August.

I have just received my credit card statement and it was of some surprise to note that Goldcarhave deducted a charge of Euros 255.08 (GBP 234.61) on 17th October and a further charge of GBP 24.98 on the 8th October, that appears to be a duplicate charge, which had already been paid to "Do You Spain" to reserve the booking. The car was returned undamaged and I have received no notification or explanation from Goldcar that there is any additional charge applicable to my booking . I expected to pay only Euros 73.00 for the full tank of fuel, less a credit for the remaining fuel. As Goldcar have double charged me for the booking I expect to pay only for the fuel charge of Euros 73.00 less the double charge car hire fee of Euros 26.52 and whatever credit for returned fuel.

My total charge expectation is around Euros 40.00 and Goldcar have charged me a total of Euros 255.08 and 26.52 = Euros 281.60. I have notified my credit card company to withhold payment from Goldcar until the overcharge is sorted out.

Goldcar have charged me for a cleaning charge over in Spain at Alicante Airport.
All cars have a vacuum after people hiring them!
This company I will never use again.
They rip people off.
After going online I have read so many complaints about them.
They have lost my business from now on.
I left an empty water bottle on the seat when I returned the car is this what they are charging me for and to clean it? I couldn't see no bins in the car park.
They state that the cars should be left in the same condition inside.
DO THEY EXPECT ALL CUSTOMERS TO VACUUM THE CAR BEFORE THEY RETURN IT.
Very annoyed.
I am going to make a complaint to the European Consumer Authorities
Regards
Geoff

Tenerife Sur, collected a very dented old VW Polo on 31st October - damage to bodywork was noted on documentation. Interior had not been cleaned, salty/ water marks on back seat. We assumed this was normal for a rough car.

Returned it on Monday 6th - no one at office. When an employee was found he casually waved at the key drop-off box.

A day later my son received an email with a bill for 150eur and photos of the back seats and a crumb on a front seat. However, there was no photo of our sandy footprints in the front footwells caused by not having removable mats to shake out.

I am appalled by this charge and ' dismissive attitude to my son's email. They've already taken the money out of his Nationwide credit card account. Is this legal?

On the 13/10/2017 I rented a car with GoldCar. I paid for taxes and activation of the road toll monitor for the car on my Tesco credit card. I was asked to provide a credit card for any additional charges and road tolls. I gave them my Barclaycard. On returning my car, on the 20/10/2017, they inspected my car and informed me that were happy with it and I would not need to pay any additional charges (except road tolls). On returning home I noticed that my Tesco card have been charged 50 euros on the 20/10/2017. I have received an email informing me on the 5.90 euros that have been taken from my Barclaycard for tolls, however have not been informed of why they have taken 50 euros from a card that were not authorized to use. This is stealing and they will not reply to my emails asking why they took this money.

I've made mistake and booked car from Goldcar in Gran Canaria via Ryanair, before reading reviews. The original cost was €43.30, but actual cost was €900. This is what everyone should know before renting with Goldcar.

I've booked and paid for a VW Polo like car in advance £36 via Ryanair car hire and was supposed to pay €2.32 at the desk, but they charged me additional €29.

I was supposed to leave deposit of €1100, but they took €1213 for some reason. Actually, the money was taken and not just blocked which cost me additional £31 non sterling transaction.

Well the nightmare started with thieves breaking rear door window. They charged me €150, which is supposed to be excess, but this actually covers new window and labour in London, so I assume the labour is either the same or cheaper in Spain plus the window should cost about the same. I paid that. Anyway, they gave me a new car with two damages. I was able to find additional two damages despite very dim light in the underground car park in Gran Canaria airport and had it signed.

The car was booked to be returned at 5:30 and no one was serving out of hours, so I had to push the key through the letter box on the office door as I had a flight to catch. This means I had no signed check in document. Two days later I got email from Goldcar claiming I've done three scratches. One on bonnet which cost €250, one on front door €200 and one on rear door €200. Well, I've been parking in underground expensive car parks to avoid this as on street parking in Gran Canaria is worse than in London. Funny enough they did not find any of the damages which I had signed.

However, the scratches are so shallow you can easily wipe them with T-cut or any paint polish. Actually, if I knew about them I would polish them with toothpaste and clean cloth. The whole car could be painted for €650.

I've contacted Goldcar with complain and they responded I was offered collision damage waiver CDL and refused. I asked for proof of damages and real cost after repair with no response from them.

Booking Reference Number: IT823027600

Confirmation no. [protected]

We rented car at airport due to flight delays as we had to change flights and stay overnight.
Brought back next day 3 hours late due to more delays at airport.
Lady said she rang us but did not receive any calls or missed calls.
Explained about flight delay and she said ok.
Just checked my credit card and £62.47p taken out of credit card.
As I appreciate there is a charge of late returns it would have been more professional and law abiding notification of money being taken from my credit card before you take it. But most of all due to unforeseen circumstances a little leniency of penalties would have been more appreciated after a somewhat already expensive and stressful trip.
Just taking money from peoples accounts without informing them must be illegal.
I am very disappointed with this company with the way they conduct business and feel something has to be done to regulate what companies can and cannot do concerning helping themselves to your money without permission or notification.

On the 2nd of november 2017 i've been scammed to pay a load of car insurance out on this rental car, because they didn't accept the insurance which I had already covered the car with (Part of their broker) through ryanair!
Not only do I wait one hour in the line to be seen, but they ask me to insure the car again.. Make it clear on the website if you don't accept insurance through other companies! After it was mentioned that I get the deposite on some of the insurance back.. I take the car back with full petrol no scratches etc waiting for some money back... But no I get charged even more money with out knowing why?
This whole experience has made me so angry and if I don't get my money back.. Will have to take this a step further because this is unacceptable!

Ryan gallagher
[protected]@hotmail.com

On 15 sptember coming from Begium I rented a car in Bucharest Airport three days for de price of 32.12 € car Opel Corsa. when I arrived at the Goldcar office they told me to bring the car in three days but after 9 am. I said I can't because i'm leaving early at 7 a clock, so I will gonna bring the car earlier, they said it is possible but they will gonna charge me more 40 € cause wil come someone specially just for me to check the car and to receive de keys. Me I didn't agree because on de site i've seen something about it and other companys have box letters where you can return the keys. The person in charge told me not by them an isn't other solution just to pay the extra amount. I was already to pay but then the guy told me to say at what hour sharp I will be there, I couldn't say exactly and I said that is not normal for rent company. Then he become very nervous and refused to give me a car, me I said I wouldn't go till i've my car because I paid for it. He answered very brutal that he will gonna call the police to put me out then he tried to lock me up in his office. I couldn't believe my eyes. Then he started his lunch behind the desk. Then I realized that I don't have any choice and I left without a car. Money that I paid i've never seen back. So 32.12 € gone away or theft I should say. Is not a huge amount of money but is about honesty and being polite to the customer.

Unfortunately I had an accident in a Goldcar rental. I had paid for separate insurance back in England. I have paid the bill in Palma and I need a detailed report of the damage to the vehicle together with a copy of the invoice for the repair to claim on my insurance. I have emailed repeatedly, together with compiling a number of automated queries. I have also telephoned the Palma office. I keep getting copies of the information that I already have rather than that which I require. Follow-up emails addressed to individuals go unanswered.
I have had several notices to say that the email addresses I have utilised "will no longer be used to provide customer support."
I do not think that my request is unreasonable, but I am just hitting my head against a brick wall. I really don't wish to get to the stage of contacting the CEO but not sure what alternatives I have left.

See Incident Numbers :-
1341457
1366244
1366266
1443220
Contract Number:-
[protected]

Extremely rude worker in GoldCar name Bella (that does not wear a name tag).
My Booking Ref Number:- DYS-[protected]

Arrived to the airport of Seville airport on the 24.10 at 23:30-00:00 the Car rental was open as all of the rest, we booked the car through DoYouSpain.com, bought an insurance with them and fully payed for the car for two weeks, the woman at the Goldcar rental started explaining very rudely and aggressively that the insurance doesn't work and that we need to buy another insurance with them for 250 euro or have a deposit of 1100 euro on the card, we didn't have that amount on our card so we offered cash for the full insurance of 250 euro, to which once again she started to raise her voice saying -"Madame", -"Madame I told you, credit card credit card!" talking to me like I a kid, I fully understand the rules and that if it has to be a card its not a problem but I didn't have a lot of experience in car rentals and wasn't aware all that could have been explained in a calm manner. She was very very aggiated!
After that we made a few phone calls to get money transferred to our card for the amount of 1100 euro to give them the deposit, the lady waited a little and then started to say that is will be charging is another 40 euro because of the late arrival (after 23:00 and that she had to wait for us, even though there were other costumers that came after us that were also charged 40 euro also, but never mind that that is written down in their rule and just has to be know of.
That night we didn't manage to pay the deposit pf 1100 euro or pay full insurance of 250 as we only had cash and that is our fault, we decided we will stay over night in Seville as we didn't have much options, the lady said she had to close down and not mentioning the fact that the car will not belong to us next morning (we only had 6 hours to pick it up)
Next morning we returned to the airport and spending a lot of time on the phone to DoYouSpain which was very helpful actually and helped us find another car that we could rent, the prices were 3-4 times more expensive than we originaly rented. But we had to go for Goldcar again for 76 euros a day with full insurance (rented for two days) and then would have to return to Seville and change the car to Europecar. The rude lady was not there anymore and the other staff was polite.
We returned in two days to give the car back to GoldCar, the lady who was on the Parking Office of Goldcar was the same rude lady that was on the desk in the airport on the 24.10, she accepted the car from us went to look at it, my boyfriend asked her a question about the return of the deposit as the car tank being returned full, she didn't understand the question and was once again very rude replying with a -"what"? (not sorry, or I didn't understand your question…)

Once again noticing her rudeness I asked her for her name as she didn't have a badge on, she said -"For"? I replied that I wanted to leave a review.
She didn't give me her name and said that the name is on the contract that we are holding in our hands, which as we looked after clearly was not her name because she was not the one that gave us this particular car, as we took it next morning when she was not on post it was another lady and she knew that.

I went to the GoldCar office straight after and asked for the name of the woman who was on post outside in the parking they first told me that she should be wearing a name badge and I said that she wasn't and they thought that was strange and so did I because all of them were wearing one, they gave me the name, the name is Bella, if the name was not given to me correctly just in case she is about 165 m tall, very curly black hair, wears glasses.

As I told Bella that I was going to write a review, she could have got in trouble another colleague as I would have used the name of that person on the contract instead oh hers when writing the review but that didn't bother her. She wanted to keep clear of complains toward her.

As we were leaving the airport I seen another customer arguing with her outside on the parking, being very irritated as she told him to go to the wrong building or something like that. And hearing her talking with that rude tone again.

I fully accept our misreading and misunderstanding of the payment and timing of our contract, but this particular unhappy and angry worker should not be working in an office in an airport and dealing with costumers as its is clearly something she is not happy doing and not enjoying a little bit even tries her best to annoy the clients id say not helping at all, just because of that experience with her I will not be ever returning to GoldCar. And will not be recommending, terrible Costumer Service.