BEWARE OF GOLDCAR

Amex is unpopular everywhere because of the high costs they impose for transactions. I have one for collecting Necatr points but there are many outlets here in the UK that won't touch them. B&Q have recently stopped accepting them too.

Just got my new terms and conditions today and foreign transactions are converted to US Dollars first, then to Sterling with a 2.99% fee to the cardholder as well.

Mark

scottebabe I have emailed goldcar and explained my situation I have also included the VISA guidelines of Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC). If other people do the same then maybe they will realise that there is a problem at alicante. As I said earlier the Torrevieja branch didn't do this.

the guidlines

DCC is an optional service. If you do provide DCC, the process must be completely open and transparent to your customers. They must be offered a choice – this protects the customer's rights and the reputation of all parties involved in the transaction.

FYI our car was rented from Murcia airport

I would presume that they do the same at all the airports. We are easy prey; tired, hot and in a hurry to get out of there.

The complaint address is customerservices2@goldcar.es  if anyone wants to use it

I have to say in defence of Goldcar that I have always found them reasonably priced and have never had a problem with them.

Gordon

It isn't the charges that are the issue here though, it is the fact cards are being billed in Sterling and not Euros.

I thought I was being helpful in explaining to a previous poster why the "charges" had appeared on the credit card statement.

As I said it's only a few cards which are "free" to use abroad and you should check with your supplier.  Or the website I quoted earlier.

If your cards is not one of the "free" ones then it doesn't matter whether you get billed in Sterling or Euros you will still get charged via a reduced exchange ra

Hi   I always pay with my spanish cc.   So there is no  exchange rate to worry about

I rented through DYS and was put with Goldcar, I was quoted in euros and paid the fuel in euros extra insurance was paid in euros, then noted that it was converted straight into sterling so fom the 26th August to the 7th September total was £402.

And yes I have emailed DYS in there general conditions it states that prices are in euros and its up to your credit card company that sets the rates. and as to date have not had no reply. to spot this you need to look on the contract left hand side it will say euros then sterling below,

 I always use a prepay credit card that you charge up with euro then you know exatct;y what you have and spent! As for hire car companies I always stick to the major names - I would hate to have an accident and find out that I did not have cover - not that all smaller companies dont carry insurance, just my paranoia! 

:-)

What a good Idea, never thought of that one pool man. where do you apply for these sort of cards?

I think our was through thre post office. But for the life of me can't remember, I just checked on money supermarket, the link is below. I love it because you have the security of a credit card but do not have the interest or ability to spend too much.

Sorry I have not made enought posts to put a link on. If you go to money supermarket and search for prepay credit cards it should give you a list of them and charges..

PM

I'll check it out, Thanks

I contacted Carjet who arranged my rental and they took up this currency conversion issue with Goldcar.  On my last booking the conversion meant I paid an extra £7.  On the right hand side of the receipt it says that I was given the choice of currency.  I complained that I had no option and had to pay in sterling.  They (Goldcar) re-affirmed that I can tell the desk staff which currency I want to use.

I also complained that my receipt showed I had paid 65 euros for fuel and 20 euros for deisel.  They confirmed that the deisel charge should not have been added and will be refunded.

Hi All

Yep, they did it to me (well my husband really) Because there was a long line of people behind he didn't read the contract he was given and we to were charged in sterling plus an extra €20 for he diesel car, we never asked for plus €75 for fuel (the tank only hold 50 litres) and an extra €56 for tyre isurance and something else, oh an €20 for an additional driver that was only staying for 5 days not the full 18!! in total our €540 care hire charge turned into £640 !!!!! Astonishing. Oh and there were no hi-vis jackets and triangles in the car and it was dirty inside too. There was a distict smell of vomit and the back seat was wet

 The staff at Goldcar were very very rude and couldn't have been more disinterested in our complaints.

I took it up with Carjet, who then e-mailed me informing that I would receive a €20 refund. I have replied. It doesn't go far enough I want the other issues dealt with as well.....watch this space.

It's a good idea that so many of you are complaining, I certainly won't be using Goldcar again

I too can only say NEVER hire a car from Goldcar, complete ripp off merchants and I am not a novice driving in Spain, been doing it over 30 years on and off!!

I arrived at Malaga Airport EARLY believe it or not on a pleasant flight from  Gatwick on Easyjet , arrived at 13 30 , then , the sight of a line of at least 65 people in front of me all waiting to get the car they had,  I assumed already paid for and Hired.

Now I do not wish to seem churlish , but when a car hire desk is faced with so many `clients` then one would assume more staff would be allocated, WRONG they just carried on as if the other 64 behing didn`t exist!

It did NOT occur to Goldcar to request all those who had already paid for carhire should go to another point at the desk to speedily get these `clients` on thier way , oh no we were all limped together , so a waste of bloody time booking the car online BEFORE you even leave home!!

When , some 3 hours later I was eventually seen to I was not offered an apology , even when I was told `, we have an `upgrade ` for you at no extra cost , when I asked what car this would be I was shown what can only be described as a Pope Mobile , or a glorified White Van !! I explained do I really look the kind of person who would drive such a vehicle( I was alone, no kids etc) to which I was informed `well we don`t have another car , and I will have to wait`, to which I very quickly replied I have already waited now over 3  1/2 hours I have no intention of waiting any longer, just give me a refund as you have accepted money a week ago online  yet  you have now breached the contract !

A quick flurry of phone calls and suprise surprise a car was found , I was then asked for extra payment for `extra Insurance `, this covered tyres ( which were on inspection way past their best and illegal in UK) dents, scratches etc etc, this came to an extra £123.00 on top of what I had already paid in UK , so a third was extorted from me at the Airport Desk!

When I had paid this I then said I would like some one to check over the car with me as I was not going to risk being charged for something I had not been responsible for, `OH , NO WORRIES ABOUT THAT , YOU ARE NOW FULLY COVERED FOR ANYTHING AND NO CHARGES ETC ! So I found the car myself with no one from Goldcar to go over the car before I took it!

I eventually found the car in the very dim, almost too dark a  parking area and loaded up and began my 1 1/2 drive to friends in Iznahar , its now 5pm , I landed at 13 30 !!!

Next day we all see a large dent in the boot , the parcel shelf doesn`t fit, the windcsreen has a chip in it, the car is covered in scratches and dings all the tyres on checking were ALL incorrect , one dangerously underiflated and the others well over what they should have been ! On the drive from the Airport it rained heavily , needless to say the windscreen had NOT BEEN CLEANED PROPERLY , the windscreen wash was only water so the windcreen wipers made it worse , stopped , found some tissues and cleaned the bloody windscreen , then the sun was out and lovely, trouble was the INSIDE of the car windscreen had also NEVER been cleaned inside so again I could not see out as the sun reflected all the smears even more , again stopped and cleaned the INSIDE !!

As you may imagine by now I am well and truly pissed off with this vile carhire heap of crap whic has cost me some £410.00 in total !!

The sunvisor over the drivers seat was broken so every time I used that it was a struggle to turn the thing and then it just flapped about !!

All in all I have NEVER experienced such a crock of shit as this car which cost me a lot of money, I was expecting a Corsa or `similar` in good condition , not something  looking like some boy racer had owned it before hand , in fact the details stipulate that one should return the car clean or a charge may be applied!! Bloody cheek , this crock was returned with the correct measure of tyre inflation , a CLEAN WINDSCREEN IN SIDE AND OUT , and overall a damn sight cleaner than I recieved in , so embarrassed I was to be driving such a wreck of a tired old Fiat Punto full of dents scratches chipped windscreensetc , oh , and no hub caps , just to finish off the touch of a knackered old banger !!

I had already made my mind up that there was no way this set up wre going to help themselves to my credit card  under ANY pretence so I had a stop put on it as they still . no doubt  had the details of it , and if they wanted to try and screw me for `damage` they were going to have a bloody hard time of it with me , I do not give up when crossed and if they even tried it they would regret it!!

So , if you all want a happy and stress free arrival at Malaga Airport and you DON`T  want to be turned over , treated with contempt from a set up called GOLDCAR who really don`t give a flying f... about you or anyone else than choose ANOTHER CAR HIRE COMPANY , do your homework and read EVERYTHING if there is a blog about any carhire  firm!!

By the way , when I did eventually leave the GOLDCAR desk  on arrival there were lots of families with children who were  tired, stressed and no where to sit while still  having to wait for the their turn ,(some 3 1/2 hours after we landed and still a few more added to the line as more landed ,  there were approx another 45 BEHIND me so Heavens knows when those pooor people eventually got out of there !!

I arrived at a time when I knew there would be no heavy traffic as I faced a long drive , thanks to GOLDCARS incompetence, indifference and down right rudeness I was faced with heavy rush hour traffic and darkness closing in , not good when you are not too sure where you are driving , the reason I arranged a flight to arrive at 13 30 !!! Doh !!

This message was last edited by Si`s partner on 19/10/2009.

Hi all

I always use carjet when I go to Spain and last time their choice was Goldcar, yes and it was the Popemobile. As I had also waited in line for a long time, I accepted the vehicle and drove off. Actually the car wasn't bad, a ? Belingo I think they call it in real life. I have booked again through Carjet and again they are using Goldcar. This time I paid up front (the conversion rate from £'s to Euro's wasn't bad) but compared to other hire companies it seems that the hire charges have come down.

Now wouldn't be good if some of the car hire companies that advertise on EOS come up with a plan for us forum users, giving us a deal for a car that would include all insurances and not rip us off at the airport for the extras because we are strapped for time? That way we could pick up our car and get on to our chosen destination hasle free.

Best wishes.

Tech

Si's partner,

I love your post it made me laught soooo much.... And I also agree with everyrhing you said.

Hi i like your post on the hire car.If you can collect your hire car the next day like i did in august as there was no cars available when i book it for the day i arrived.You have to collect your car from where you take the hire car  back to and you pay at there office  and you are on your way in 5 minutes no joke great service to Irene

We to went thro Carjet and were sent to Goldcar.  We arrived early and then proceeded to queue for over an hour in Alicante airport, with various nationalities almost committing murder when they saw what they were being charged.

Our car was a Berlingo (OK for what we needed to do)  but when we got to it it must of been the oldest model. Scratched and battered, wing mirror cracked and one side peppered with huge dents ( looked like it had been rubber bulleted)  The girls in the  kiosk in the car park  just shrugged and said "big tormentera"   some storm, that only affected the drivers side.

We have complained to Carjet and have also been  told that we should not have been made to pay the diesel charge so that will be refunded.  Not wholly happy, but won't use Carjet or Goldcar again  so, lesson learned.

PS  we took pictures all round when we picked the car up and the same again on dropping it off.  Fortunately, we have Insurance 4CarHire cover, so we don't worry too much about being charged for damage we haven't done.

The time is fast approaching when we seriously consider buying a cheap little car and leaving it out there; at 4 lots of 2 weeks per year it would soon pay for itself.

Hi Sterling , am glad my slagging off Goldcar made you laugh , it would have been a very succesful TV sitcom if a camera had been there , I felt like Victor bloody Meldrew that day , can`t begin to tell you what a vile and evil mood I was in when I finally arrived at my friends place , a lage G& T later and they too were rolling around in mirth wetting themselves as I recounted the saga !!

I will have my revenge on that wretched Company , you wait and see , never cross an old Queen , ESPECIALLY an old Queen !!! Ha HA!

Vee