Anyone used Record bar rental in Mallorca recently?

itm2

FunTime wrote: »

Why should you care about their stupid tricks? That's why you buy standalone insurance. Just make sure they give you an invoice for any claimed damage.

It's the thought of heated exchanges with stroppy reps at the desk that's making me think twice - not the ideal way to start (or end) a holiday. Plus the possibility of spending weeks trying to recover spurious charges after I return.

I have already taken out separate CDW insurance (which is cancellable at this stage), but their terms require detailed paperwork to be provided by the rental company before a claim will be settled, and it seems that the chances of RecordGo providing such paperwork are pretty remote.

Here's a sample of one punter's RecordGo story from a TripAdvisor forum:

"When i returned the car they would not give me the extra 600€ back and pretendend not to understand what i was talking about. After about 15 minutes discussion they fetched the car and two very annoyed staff (even though there was a long line) checked every inch of the car. After about 10 minutes they had managed to find two small marks on the rear bumper. They were both approximately 1mm in diameter and hardly visible. I cannot say if the spots were there when we picked the car up since i could hardly see them in Daylight and would surely have missed them in the dark garage when we arrived.

The staff now said that they would send pictures to their mechanic to get a cost estimate. They would then charge me for the repairs and send a bill to my e-mail. The difference between the repairs and deposit would not be charged.

After 3 weeks there is no bill for the repairs. What they have done though is charge me 600€ on my credit card. Im still hoping that Auto Europ! will refund the charge...

When returning the car and insisting that i get my refund or at least some sort of documentation that i had not gotten it back, the staff was very rude, acted appallingly and refused any sort of documentation.
"

richardw

Btw like Goldcar, Record also have their car stickers on the back of their cars which identify the car as a hire car, you may/ may not want this.

FunTime

itm2 wrote: »

It's the thought of heated exchanges with stroppy reps at the desk that's making me think twice - not the ideal way to start (or end) a holiday. Plus the possibility of spending weeks trying to recover spurious charges after I return.

I have already taken out separate CDW insurance (which is cancellable at this stage), but their terms require detailed paperwork to be provided by the rental company before a claim will be settled, and it seems that the chances of RecordGo providing such paperwork are pretty remote.

Here's a sample of one punter's RecordGo story from a TripAdvisor forum:

"When i returned the car they would not give me the extra 600€ back and pretendend not to understand what i was talking about. After about 15 minutes discussion they fetched the car and two very annoyed staff (even though there was a long line) checked every inch of the car. After about 10 minutes they had managed to find two small marks on the rear bumper. They were both approximately 1mm in diameter and hardly visible. I cannot say if the spots were there when we picked the car up since i could hardly see them in Daylight and would surely have missed them in the dark garage when we arrived.

The staff now said that they would send pictures to their mechanic to get a cost estimate. They would then charge me for the repairs and send a bill to my e-mail. The difference between the repairs and deposit would not be charged.

After 3 weeks there is no bill for the repairs. What they have done though is charge me 600€ on my credit card. Im still hoping that Auto Europ! will refund the charge...

When returning the car and insisting that i get my refund or at least some sort of documentation that i had not gotten it back, the staff was very rude, acted appallingly and refused any sort of documentation.
"

In that case they simply needed to dispute the charge with their CC provider. No invoice, no charge. My CC provider has no issue with reversing the charges on unscrupulous providers.
Unscrupulous companies live off people's ignorance.

Ignore richardw, he is still spitting his teeth out after making a fool of himself on another thread. So he's following me around the forum trying to spoil threads.

richardw

FunTime wrote: »

In that case they simply needed to dispute the charge with their CC provider....

That's hassle, they just want car for a holiday.

itm2

FunTime wrote: »

In that case they simply needed to dispute the charge with their CC provider. No invoice, no charge. My CC provider has no issue with reversing the charges on unscrupulous providers.
Unscrupulous companies live off people's ignorance.
.

Maybe not that simple, in that there would indeed be an invoice for the 950 Euro deposit - I would need to sign up for that when I take the car. If there's a dispute over getting it back, even when I've done no damage to the car (which several people have reported over at TripAdvisor) it becomes a potentially long drawn out case. Obviously I'll take before/after photos, but if the rental company behave as others have experienced it may not reduce the hassle factor much.

So it seems I have 3 choices:
(a) Risk it with a cut-price operator like RecordGo or GoldCar
(b) Pay treble the price for a pukka operator like Europcar, Avis, etc.
(c) Use a taxi service - £140 round trip from/to the airport, plus any other journeys by taxi.

I can't really justify the cost of option (b), as it's unlikely to be less than 350 Euros, so it looks like I'll need to think very carefully about how much hassle I'm prepared to put up with if I have the same experience as many others.

antenna

Get the bus,from around 8 euro each way,or a coach transfer 15euro each way....and if you realy want a car then rent in resort 25 euros a day.

itm2

antenna wrote: »

Get the bus,from around 8 euro each way,or a coach transfer 15euro each way....and if you realy want a car then rent in resort 25 euros a day.

That's an interesting idea. Does anyone have any recommendations for a coach transfer company, and a car rental agency in Cala D'Or? (or maybe I should ask a question in the relevant forum?)

FunTime

itm2 wrote: »

That's an interesting idea. Does anyone have any recommendations for a coach transfer company, and a car rental agency in Cala D'Or? (or maybe I should ask a question in the relevant forum?)

Be careful with this. Make sure that any car you rent there has full insurance for everything with no excess, on anything. Because you probably will not have purchased car hire excess insurance beforehand.

antenna

In most..not all....car hire can be far cheaper in resort....but as suggested check them out fully.......Also Google Palma Airport to Cala D'or bus.

FunTime

itm2 wrote: »

Maybe not that simple, in that there would indeed be an invoice for the 950 Euro deposit - I would need to sign up for that when I take the car. If there's a dispute over getting it back, even when I've done no damage to the car (which several people have reported over at TripAdvisor) it becomes a potentially long drawn out case. Obviously I'll take before/after photos, but if the rental company behave as others have experienced it may not reduce the hassle factor much.

So it seems I have 3 choices:
(a) Risk it with a cut-price operator like RecordGo or GoldCar
(b) Pay treble the price for a pukka operator like Europcar, Avis, etc.
(c) Use a taxi service - £140 round trip from/to the airport, plus any other journeys by taxi.

I can't really justify the cost of option (b), as it's unlikely to be less than 350 Euros, so it looks like I'll need to think very carefully about how much hassle I'm prepared to put up with if I have the same experience as many others.

No, you are overcomplicating it.
Let's say they ringfence the 950€ and then steal your deposit without providing you with any kind of invoice. There is no need for a drawn out case. You simply open a dispute with your CC provider. They will immediately freeze the payment on your bill. In other words you will not be required to pay that part of your CC bill.
No need to waste time and energy with the car hire company at all.

Unless the car hire company can show an invoice for the damage, your CC company will be going after them. None of this will affect you.
If the car hire company do subsequently come up with an invoice and you are required to pay, you can then submit that to your insurance company.

Remember, all of this is currently only in your imagination. It hasn't actually happened. It just pays to be prepared. Don't panic. Don't stress. Take it in your stride.

But if you don't really need a car, don't bother.