Goldcar have got me....
Gilbs
Posts: 25 Forumite
As mentioned in a previous thread, I’m currently on holiday with a goldcar rental. I picked up the car last night and let’s just say it’s not been plain sailing. Yes, I know they’re well known to be terrible and in hindsight I wouldn’t have booked with them, however this is the situation I’m currently in.
When picking up the car early this morning I was asked if I wanted the insurance, I declined it. (I have my own CDW policy). They used the typical scare mongering tactics to try and bully me to take it, however I politely refused. This was all while every other customer at the counter either side of me was in a full blown argument with the respective Goldcar rep. It was rather entertaining to be honest.
I went to use my NatWest MasterCard credit card to make the payment for the deposit and it got declined. Tried it again and same thing happened. I thought this was strange as I did the exact same thing last year with no issues what so ever. Either way I thought it must be because it’s an unusual transaction. I called NatWest and queried this, only to be told that they had released the payment for Goldcar to accept it, however it was being blocked by Goldcar. They didn’t have any information other than that.
I came off the phone to tell the Goldcar rep this and he just put his hands in the air saying that “it’s declined sir”. After much deliberation it came to the point where unless I took the insurance on my debit card, we would be stuck in the airport without a car at 3am. So I had to do it. This was about £325 for the rental... an absolutely criminal amount of money.
Now I need to figure out how I can get this back. My bank have evidence that the payments were released and that they weren’t accepted by Goldcar. What chance do you think I’ll have taking this to them to explain? And do I have the option of cancelling the policy and it being refunded as it was only take out yesterday?
Cheers
Sam
When picking up the car early this morning I was asked if I wanted the insurance, I declined it. (I have my own CDW policy). They used the typical scare mongering tactics to try and bully me to take it, however I politely refused. This was all while every other customer at the counter either side of me was in a full blown argument with the respective Goldcar rep. It was rather entertaining to be honest.
I went to use my NatWest MasterCard credit card to make the payment for the deposit and it got declined. Tried it again and same thing happened. I thought this was strange as I did the exact same thing last year with no issues what so ever. Either way I thought it must be because it’s an unusual transaction. I called NatWest and queried this, only to be told that they had released the payment for Goldcar to accept it, however it was being blocked by Goldcar. They didn’t have any information other than that.
I came off the phone to tell the Goldcar rep this and he just put his hands in the air saying that “it’s declined sir”. After much deliberation it came to the point where unless I took the insurance on my debit card, we would be stuck in the airport without a car at 3am. So I had to do it. This was about £325 for the rental... an absolutely criminal amount of money.
Now I need to figure out how I can get this back. My bank have evidence that the payments were released and that they weren’t accepted by Goldcar. What chance do you think I’ll have taking this to them to explain? And do I have the option of cancelling the policy and it being refunded as it was only take out yesterday?
Cheers
Sam
0
Comments
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Given you will have entered your PIN at the machine and accepted the deal you have no hope at all.
Every airport I've been to has a whole row of car hire kiosks. Why didn't you go to the next one along and see what deal they had?0 -
At 3am, shopping around for deals at the airport wasn’t at the forefront of my mind. Also, because I had already paid for the booking itself that I couldn’t then get back.
This is all done now and I’m looking for advice for what can be done in this situation.0 -
Given you accepted the deal and drove off in the car I would say your chances are nil.0
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I'm off to Spain at months end and have avoided Goldcar at all costs due to 1000's of tales similar to this experience. At least your situation is a fair warning to others, I see from your other thread every other poster said "don't do it"- I won't.
Good luck getting some resolve with this! Jim.0 -
It looks that way doesn’t it. Either way I’ll fight tooth and nail to get something back.0
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Enjoy your trip.
When you get home talk to your bank.
Avoid all car hire companies owned by europcar.Posts are not advice and must not be relied upon.0 -
Sounds like a clever scam where someone was pressing cancel at the same time as it was processing. You should have called them on it and insisted.
With excess insurance in place, there is no need to get ripped off by the likes of Goldcar. You just need to make sure you go into it with your eyes wide open and not be an easy mark.
If you're bullish enough you'll be the person who's cheap car hire is being subsidised by those who don't fight the charges.0 -
At 3am, shopping around for deals at the airport wasn’t at the forefront of my mind. Also, because I had already paid for the booking itself that I couldn’t then get back.
This is all done now and I’m looking for advice for what can be done in this situation.
You'll likely get nothing and the reason is thus. You could have walked away. But you chose to throw good money after bad. There was no attempt to mitigate your losses by at least checking to see if you could get rental for less than £325.
I'm sure that I warned you, on your other threads.0 -
Why did using your debit card mean accepting the insurance?0
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If you are in Spain you ask for the "complaints book" which you can fill in in English.0
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