Doyouspain VAT RIP off

NFH

QueenGladioli wrote: »

Unfortunately, they didn't accept the card so we gave them our debit card which we already used to prepay the rental online.

What type of card was this? You should probably approach your bank with regard to a chargeback in respect of the merchant's breach of contract. This is not as strong as Section 75 (with a credit card), but still worth trying.

QueenGladioli wrote: »

Apparently, it had to be a Visa or MasterCard. On the booking voucher, it said to bring a credit card (Visa MasterCard) but it didn't specify that it had to be that only 2 cards. As far as we were concerned, they were just examples and we could use our American Express.

American Express is one of the largest, if not the largest, credit card issuers in the world. Nevertheless if the contract specified Visa or MasterCard and did not contain words such as "for example" or "e.g.", then you will have a tough time persuading anyone that it meant something else. You could perhaps rely on the doctrine of contra proferentem, whereby any ambiguity in a contract is interpreted in the author's disfavour.

alderpoint

NFH wrote: »

American Express is one of the largest, if not the largest, credit card issuers in the world.

If you say so.

However it is also the least widely accepted credit card in the world. Many retailers do not accept it due to their charges being much higher than Mastercard or Visa.

But I think the OP was a little naive in not having an alternative CC.

NFH

alderpoint wrote: »

However it is also the least widely accepted credit card in the world. Many retailers do not accept it due to their charges being much higher than Mastercard or Visa.

Don't confuse card issuers with card networks. Looking only at the UK as an example, in terms of card issuers I'm guessing that American Express is second only to Barclaycard in terms of cards issued. But in terms of card networks, American Express is third behind Visa and MasterCard, but ahead of Diners Club and JCB. Looking globally, American Express is the largest card issuer, as it operates in so many countries, unlike MBNA and Capital One which are concentrated mainly in the US and UK.

r3za

I booked the car via the doyouspain site and then started receiving emails from doyouspain to buy the extra insurance to avoid any hassles at the counter. I opted for the comprehensive insurance for the peace of mind. It proved completely the opposite. The rental company did not accept the doyouspain insurance and did not understand why doyouspain continues to sell even though doyouspain are fully aware of this fact. This meant that I still had to pay the €850 deposit in cash or credit card. I ended up making a new reservation with insurance directly from the rental company. Doyouspain pointed out that they will not refund the amount I paid for the insurance I bought from them since they had put a disclaimer in the email they sent to me after I my purchase. Doyouspain is not about car rentals, it is about selling dubious insurance!

eDicky

r3za wrote: »

I booked the car via the doyouspain site and then started receiving emails from doyouspain to buy the extra insurance to avoid any hassles at the counter. I opted for the comprehensive insurance for the peace of mind. It proved completely the opposite. The rental company did not accept the doyouspain insurance and did not understand why doyouspain continues to sell even though doyouspain are fully aware of this fact. This meant that I still had to pay the €850 deposit in cash or credit card. I ended up making a new reservation with insurance directly from the rental company. Doyouspain pointed out that they will not refund the amount I paid for the insurance I bought from them since they had put a disclaimer in the email they sent to me after I my purchase. Doyouspain is not about car rentals, it is about selling dubious insurance!

No car rental company is able to 'accept' a third-party excess insurance, because in the event of a claim the insurance will pay the renter who bought it, not the hire company. So, naturally, they still needed to take your deposit for the excess in case of any damage to the car and the only way to avoid that is to buy the hire company's own excess insurance. Douyouspain are unlikely to have expressly claimed otherwise in their insurance sales pitch, if you read their terms carefully. No doubt you made a mistake in buying it from them, there are probably much cheaper options for third party insurance. But in any case, if you are unable or unwilling to provide the deposit for excess liability, the only option is to buy the hire firm's own (usually very pricey) excess insurance. You would have known this if you had consulted the relevant MSE article in advance.

AlexMac

Bob_the_Saver wrote: »

Two first posts! mmmmmm

Oh you harsh cynic, Bob. Surely even 1st time posters deserve sympathy, as there are so many rip-off car renters out there?

OK you could say that if people don't know how to use google they deserve to be ripped off, as anyone who searches for companies like Goldcar wouldn't touch them with a barge-pole. But not everyone thinks like that- there are too many trusting souls in the world!

And for my positive recommendation based on over 40 successful rentals in Europe , look at the post I've just done at https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1091009
(I think it's post 424 or 524 - midway doen the page in that long-
running thread on cheap car hire)

Steve_Holland

Avoid DoYouSpain.com for car hire.... or at least know what you are letting yourself in for. BEWARE:
- "full insurance" (shown on their website) is nothing of the sort (it is third party cover with an extremely high excess), or pay a fortune for full cover (NOT included in the hire price)
- there is a hidden fuel administration charge, non-refundable (on top of the actual fuel cost, which is refunded if you return the car with a full tank)
- even if you arrange the car hire collection 'out of hours' they hit you with a hidden charge rather than including it in the quote


These extra charges are applied when you collect the car and could more than double the original hire cost, as they did for me.


When you try and complain, DoYouSpain do nothing. In 6 weeks I have had one email stating they will request a breakdown of the invoice from the local hire company (RecordGO). And I've not heard anything further. Customer service is non-existent.


Avoid like the plague. Or make sure you read the small print and add on every single hidden charge so you know what you will be paying - it is NOT the price they quote to you - you pay a LOT more.

timar

Hello

I hired a car from do you Spain a couple of weeks ago. ( not for the 1st time)
This time the supplier was del passo car hire.
I wont go into the farce at the airport or the queing for a bus, then the long queues at the shed they hire from, or the awful service they serve up. or all the people who were complaining about being ripped off for all sorts of things.
I will explain about my problem. I drove my car around for 4 days then got stopped by the police at a roundabout for a spot check. low and behold my car had no ITV certificate (Spanish mot)
They issued a 200 euro fine ticket and told me they could seize the car but because it was a hire car they are aware I was unaware of no ITV so let me keep it. . after numerous calls to DYS and del passo they finally agreed to swop the vehicle the next day. so I lost a day of my holiday . I was told constantly despite my protests to keep driving the original car as it was no problem . so the fact having no ITV cert invalidates my insurance was of no concern to them. so what about our safety in a car that wasn't legal or probably fit to be on the road.
I wonder how many more cars are not fully legal in their fleet.
Being unable to contact anyone now from dys or del passo means I don't even know if they have paid the fine and if I might be liable to it next time I go to Spain in January. I wont be hiring from these companies again.
So if there is a dys rep answering these reviews maybe they will reply to me and give me an answer and an explanation. we will see.
I have since instigated a claim against my credit card company to refund all the costs and I am going to insist they stop allowing people to hire from a company who hires out illegal cars.
Alan

AlexMac

Bob_the_Saver wrote: »

Two first posts! mmmmmm

That's a bit harsh Bob?

Anway- the OP should maybe count themselves lucky that they got away with a relatively small unexpected added cost despite having omitted to do the basic obvious thing of checking Google or the Tripadvisor search bar prior to booking with these two companies.

After all, you wouldn't buy a dishwasher of visit a hotel or restautant without looking at reviews?

Pump GOLDCAR into Google and you get a quarter of a million sad tales of gried and perceived rip-off; not all from one-post wonders.

And on Tripadvisor there are upwards of 20,000; so many that Goldcar have a full-time respondent with the intruigingly respectably Regal pen name of "Victoria R" who responds to almost every complaint with a few facile reassurances that "she?" will sort it!

I alway use AVIS or their "BUDGET" subsidiary, often via their chap tie-in with BA. Before that I did use a broker; Carhire3000. Never got ripped off, fuel scammed, insurance-pressure-sold or lost money to invented dmage in over 40 rentals.

So do due diligence next time. Just cos' I'm paranoid don't mean the bad guys ain't out to get me!