WARNING! CarTrawler / Argus Car Hire - PepeCar AVOID!

richardw

KaiserBill wrote: »

.....actually provided at Lisbon by Budget.....Did I have any problems - no. Did I have any trouble - no.

The whole thing was very smooth and easy....

.....because the provider was Budget, who can have very good deals when booking direct.

Themis_Themistocleous

People be careful of this company.....

Its a rip off. I tried to make a booking and their system wouldn't accept it. Then I had a second attempt and again it failed. Then on the next day all of a sudden it accepted my second one!!!! The booking was for a car for July 31 until Aug 7th. When the +ve reply came in i did not check the dates on it and why would I if up untill then their bookings were correct. When i got to Athens the lady at the desk couldn't find my reservation (ofcourse) and she found a reservation of mine from the 9th till the 12 of August!!!!!dates i wouldn't even be in Greece. But the odd thing was that the price i payed for 7 days was reflecting for only those 3 days. When i pointed this out to the desk people they couldn't do anything about it so i had to make a new booking with an extra cost of €157. I wrote a letter to argus car hire and they answered that everything was in order and that i should be at the airport on time on the 9th to pick my car!!!!!They didn't even bother to read what i was saying. After that treatment i was veeeery annoyed and i wrote to them again and again even on their facebook page. They kept on saying that it was me who did a wrong booking. I can understand if one would make a mistake once but 4 times is practically impossible. When i mentioned a lawsuit they immediately replied saying that everything was in order on their behalf but they would return my €30 front pay. When i told them that i need the whole extra amount they said no because the price i paid was correct for 3 days (even the most expensive company wouldn't charge that much) the man from agus car hire even made a booking to prove to me that the price was right and although he booked it for the next day, in order to be expensive, he couldn't really reach the price I paid but still they had the nerve to sent it to me (a screenshot) I immediately send them a propper booking with the correct 7 dates were THE PRICE WAS MATCHING what I paid......they never replied. Then i decited to take the to court and i asked for an address and an addressie. The address they send me but an addressie they never did, the reason being that probably somebody acted on his/her own and they couldn't pach it up to management. Now me and my lawyer are working on sewing the company and we are gathering all the facts. We also asked from other people who had similar experiences to contact us with facts amounts dates etc and -not surprisingly- they are a lot. (Who ever is interested please contact me)Having said that I have to tell you that they had a lady on facebook, named Sarah with no surname whom she tried to answer my questions and when I asked her questions back too.....she couldn't handle it and she referred to copy paste answers.
Please contact me in order to be included / new law suit with all the details, dates location etc.
What a company!

JP1978

Themis_Themistocleous wrote: »

People be careful of this company.....

Its a rip off. I tried to make a booking and their system wouldn't accept it. Then I had a second attempt and again it failed. Then on the next day all of a sudden it accepted my second one!!!!

Snipped most the post out.

Maybe it was your fault.... after all, you managed to post the same post three times on here on seperate days....

Just saying :rotfl:

PAbloZugasti

Argus Car Hire into jail

ibay

Beware Argus car hire insurance excess trick. I have used Malagacarhire for years without any problems and read about all the horror stories of car hire rip off and tricks and now I am a victim and feel completely cheated. Don't USE ARGUS and dont take out the excess waiver insurance policy because it means the car hire company will bill you the damage and then YOU have to take it up with Argus or their insurance provider Axa for a refund from them. That leaves you exposed to paperwork and at the mercy of a third party insurance company - good luck with that!. You are better off taking the excess waiver from centauro themselves on the day as that also include roadside assistance which Argus dont cover. centauro told us to take their and cancel Argus which is inferior. Of course you find this out on the day you collect car and Argus CONVENIENTLY dont offer cancellation within 24hrs of rental start date. So its a scam and they know it which is which you can't cancel on the day. I have been tricked so I called Argus on car pick up date because their website would not cancel insurance policy. Spoke to Elena in Dublin who refused to open a complaint, would not give a redress number, refused to give me email of a manager. I explained their trick but there was no process to complain until after the hire is completed. So i will now write to Axa and EU commission to add this experience to their list of complaints

bagand96

ibay said:

Beware Argus car hire insurance excess trick. I have used Malagacarhire for years without any problems and read about all the horror stories of car hire rip off and tricks and now I am a victim and feel completely cheated. Don't USE ARGUS and dont take out the excess waiver insurance policy because it means the car hire company will bill you the damage and then YOU have to take it up with Argus or their insurance provider Axa for a refund from them. That leaves you exposed to paperwork and at the mercy of a third party insurance company - good luck with that!. You are better off taking the excess waiver from centauro themselves on the day as that also include roadside assistance which Argus dont cover. centauro told us to take their and cancel Argus which is inferior. Of course you find this out on the day you collect car and Argus CONVENIENTLY dont offer cancellation within 24hrs of rental start date. So its a scam and they know it which is which you can't cancel on the day. I have been tricked so I called Argus on car pick up date because their website would not cancel insurance policy. Spoke to Elena in Dublin who refused to open a complaint, would not give a redress number, refused to give me email of a manager. I explained their trick but there was no process to complain until after the hire is completed. So i will now write to Axa and EU commission to add this experience to their list of complaints

With all due respect, you really need to take a moment to look at what you are purchasing and read at least some of the T&Cs.

Excess car hire insurance sold by Argus when you book is not a scam.  Whilst it's not very good value, it is not a scam.  It is a separate insurance policy that covers you for your excess liability.  It operates in the same way as nearly all separate excess insurance policies.  On the Argus website when they offer the excess insurance they have a statement stating "By booking with insurance I confirm that I have read the IPID document and policy terms and conditions and based on that information, this policy suits my needs."  The link to the document is a 2 page PDF that explains clearly how the policy works.  Furthermore underneath that, there is another link to "Insurance Explained" which again explains it all.

Of course you are free to take the zero excess policy at the car hire desk from the rental company.  This will be expensive.  And funnily enough Centauro would tell you to take their policy over AXAs, because they want to sell you their policy!

Separate excess insurance is a very common thing and works out as excellent value, this website even recommends doing it that way rather than paying through the nose with the hire company.  Like I said, the only thing Argus are guilty of is being not very good value - they cahrge around €10 a day, when it can be had for about £3 a day, or even less on an annual basis.

I'm sorry you bought a policy that wasn't what you thought you were buying, but you were not scammed by any stretch.  Good luck with AXA and the EU, but I wouldn't hold my breath.