AVOID DoYouSpain car hire company

simopco

This is what Eduardo sent yesterday.
My name is Eduardo from DouYouSpain.

I saw your comment on Trustpilot and I'm here to help you. I reported your case to the IT department.

Unfortunately they cannot use the screenshot as that only shows that there was a refundable booking with INTERRENT for the same price, which is unusual but happens.

However, they are checking the system to see if there was any data exchange error.

I'll contact you back as soon as I have more information.

Regards,

Eduardo

DoYouSpain.com

eskbanker

simopco said:

Paid up front end of August, good price and contract stated FREE cancellation and amendments

Not sure I'm following what happened - was there definitely an agreed contract (as opposed to an online quote) that stated free cancellation?

simopco said:

This is the screenshot I took of the quote page after I had been sent the confirmation email that stated No Cancellation.
Price was exactly what I paid. I was very careful at the time of booking that I wanted a refundable contract.

If a confirmation email contradicted your expectation of free cancellation, to the extent that you were concerned enough after receiving it to take a screenshot of a quote, then surely the time to challenge and resolve the discrepancy was back then?

simopco

I simplified chronology of situation.
Checked quotes offered by DoYouSpain.
Booked using quote that stated FREE cancellations, this was very important to me so was very sure to check.
Received confirmation email stating 'special' rate not including cancellation at 12.41.
WHAT? I thought that's not right.
Went back and did a brand quote search same dates .
Took the screenshot of this quote as proof that quote I'd been given had FREE cancellations 12.43.
Quote page clearly states FREE cancellations. There was no subsequent page before payment telling me this was a 'special' rate and this was not the case.
Yes, in retrospect I should have queried there and then BUT decided not to hoping that situation regarding travel would have settled by now and trip would go ahead.

simopco

fryderykchopin said:

I'm sorry you had this bad experience. In Spain we have a 'Consumer Office' (Organización de Consumidores y Usuarios, OCU) where you can submit complaints when you are not satified with a service. I have never used it but my understanding is that the problem is usually resolved quickly when the company is contacted by OCU. 
I think it's only in Spanish but many web browsers can translate automatically, hopefully that should work. You can also try to contact again the company and tell them if you don't hear from them you will submit a formal complaint to OCU, in some cases they may take you more seriously as it is bad for them when OCU is aware of a company's bad practice. Hope this helps.

Unfortunately it seems that unless you have a valid Spanish telephone number, I am a UK resident and don't, you are unable to use the services of OCU.
I just tried to register and any UK tel no. I input is considered invalid.

simopco

It would appear that with some back and forth between myself and Eduardo the customer service rep, that the situation has been resolved and a refund has been issued.
He claims he still doesn't understand  why the problem arose.
I believe the root of the problem is probably with the actual rental car company InterRent/Goldcar.
THIS company really do have a truly terrible reputation, I have had a previous problem with them on pick-up of a car where they charged me for something that was already included in my contract.
A quick reacquainting myself with the said contract and questioning why I had been charged again resolved the issue on return of the car at the time.
They seem to try it on any way they can, a quick search of Goldcar on TripAdvisor exposes how bad they really are.
Thanks all for interest and suggestions.

Westin

Goldcar does generally have a very poor reputation. It also however often has headline grabbing rental rates which normally draws in cheap seeking punters like a moth to a flame.

Glad you and DoYouSpain have reached a satisfactory conclusion.  Will you be adjusting your 1* rating?