GoldCar Rental
Reviews and Complaints

Date of pick up: 01/04/2017
Date of drop off: 04/04/2017
Contract number: [protected]
The story is simple, I got a parking ticket in Italy. I had to leave the city and couldn't pay the ticket anyway because the post office was closed. I left all the documents in the car. When i dropped off the car the office was not open yet. And I thought - they are gonna just charge me for the ticket - like in my friend's case. Nope, Goldcar charges for administrative costs of identifying the driver. Funny, cause I should be given money back for trying to contact the company on their webpage - all the email addresses I typed were denied because apparently they are invalid. When I go to FAQ and wanna see how to open an incident it forwards me to a page which cannot be found. This is outrageous how such a company treats its customers. No wonder that they make money on stupid fees then, taking advantage of their customers. I will never ever use this company anymore.

I went to treviso and was going to cross the border to slovenia so.I had to pay the cross border fee of 60e for 6 days. However they told me when i went to pick up the car that i had to pay 169e since I had to take the full insurance since i was going to cross the border. In the conditions there was never a mention of such condition! Really disgusted and not recommending your service!

Contract number: [protected]
Hire dates: 12 to 19 May 2017
I hired a car from Goldcar via Ryanair and collected it from Palma Airport on 12th May 2017. When I collected the car I was asked to pay a fuel deposit of 245 Euros. This car was hired on there Full-Full policy. I thought this was a bit high but I was happy to pay as I would return the car full.
I returned the car on the 19 May and received a refund of 109 Euros not 245 Euros
The fuel deposit was not only a fuel deposit it also included insurance. This was not explained at the time of completing the hire at the desk in Palma airport. The hire form is in Spanish and I'm English so it not clear that these charges have been added.
I would like a full refund of my 245 Euros as this was miss sold to me.

Dear Mr/Mrs,
I am writing you because I have very big complain towards your stuff. I just returned the car to the Verona airport and had the worst experience in terms of service in my life. I picked up the car in Malpensa on Friday 12 late in the evening. The problem was that I was waiting in the line for more then 1 hour to speak with your stuff and thus I had to rush to the apartment i rent because they wouldn't open it for me later then I stated I am coming. Because of this reason I was super rushing and I didn't check the car while taking it- which is 100% mistake that I have made.
Now when I was giving the car back I asked for the solution a woman at the Goldcar desk and she started to scream at me that if I leave a deposit of over 1000€ I have to check it. She was incredibly rude and aggressive like I have never seen before in my life. I kindly asked her why is she screaming at me and she started to be even more furious. I completely assume that I should have checked it but still she cant be behaving like this to the customer. I literally just wanted to sign the papers and wait for the check that will say it happened while I had the car or not.
In the end I asked her her name and she said I have to call the police to get her name because she wont give it to me. She just said that she is the head officer of this Verona stand.
For me it was extremely terrifying experience because I completely assume my mistake but still a company cannot be treating his clients like this. I am sorry but I will never ever use services from your company again.

I would recommend you to give your stuff more lessons about how they should treat your customers because I am sure I am not the only one that will quit using your services because of the bad behavior of your stuff.

Bests,

Mgr. Martina Smirova, MBA

Hello Goldcar. I´ve sent my complaint earlier via your direct mail addres. But i have not got an answer. I here by sent it again and hope that you will give me a positive answer. Unfortunately i cannot attach my original rental deal with you but the deal have the reference number: ES805131490
Under here you have the E-mail I sent to you the 9 maj 2017.

Hello Goldcar

I´ve just been on a visit to Malaga. And I did rent a car from you.

Cause to much activities the man that serviced me at the Goldcardesk Wednesday night – did not have the time to explain the costs at the receipt.

I have already by the time I rented the car through on-line service – payed for an insurance. But when I was standing there at the desk your man could not explain to me – in a way I could understand.

At last I decided to sign the contract so we could come further. But I still don't understand ?

I put a foto of the contract and the other things I don't understand :

“Costes operac” 25, 62 Euro
“C.Extra V. Diesel” 8, 26 Euro
“Cobertura Super“ 82, 60 Euro
“Entrega Fuera“ 33, 06 Euro

I dont understand all those things. I have payed for the rental through your on-line service and I off course – have a receipt on that. I am sure you now.

If there comes so many extra costs to rent a car, then your prices are wrong and miss-leading. This is not okay !

I do insist to get the to much charged refunded.

Yours Kim Nøhr

Denmark

I've recently rented a car in Spain through Goldcar. The car that I've received had an electric problem that's why I've phoned to the telephone number that was gently given to me at the desk.
After my return I've got the bill from my mobile provider for that call.
And now after one month another one as I called twice for another matter.
Both calls for cca 100 euros.
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I rented a car to the goldcar Larnaka airport agency from the 13th to the 17th of february 2017 and took an insurance. I returned it in time without any damages. Despite all my relaunching to the agency, the initial deposit which represent an amount of 1100 euros is still not refunded. Such things should never happen. I really need this money now, I hope you will act fast and do a commercial gesture.

My rental information are below :
Name : Armanet
Surname : Tanguy
contract number : [protected]
Client code : 9776569

Tanguy Armanet.

My name is Ioannis Paparas ([protected]@hotmail.com). I have rented a car from Goldcar(Contract:[protected], Client Code:9737182). I collected the car (licence plate:EZ722RY) on 01/03/2017 from Bergamo airport and returned it on 10/03/2017. When I received the car I paid the full insurance and a deposit of 120€ in case of the return of the car wthout a full fuel tank. Untill now only 70€ have been refunded and since I returned the car with a full tank and I am pretty sure that I didn't get any fine I can't explain the 50€ difference. I would like the company to provide me with a detailed invoice of every additional charge they did in my credit card without a previous notification. If it is about a police fine to provide me with the police notification or else to refund the full amount I paid.

Upon collection of the hire car from Alicante airport I was informed the car was in perfect condition. When I checked it there were clearly signs of damage. I alerted the Goldcar representative and highlighted the issues identified. She recorded the main one, a rather large dent in the drivers door, took a photo and amended the hire sheet (attached). She stated any other issues were not of interest and would not be recorded - and gestured to anything under 2" in length.
Upon return of the car the keys were passed to the assistant who simply wanted to know which bay the car was parked in. There were several customers returning cars at this time and I was told clearly that they had no time to inspect the car with me, but everything was 'fine'. The Goldcar receiving representatives were clearly not interested in making the effort to check the returning vehicles.
Subsequently I received a credit card charge for over Euro 600 for 'damages' that Goldcar claim were made during the period of the hire. This is complete fabrication. The 'damages' were clearly present before we took the car, the images of supposed damages are poor and we have no way of knowing if they were made after we returned the car, potentially by GoldCar employees.
I am sure this practice must be illegal under European Law as it is equal to theft. I hire many cars but have never experienced such underhand and deceitful behavior from a car hire company.
I note that the GoldCar CEO publicly announced in the Guardian on the 16th May 2016 that he was intent on eliminating such bad practice within the company. It looks like he is failing in this objective.
I have written to GoldCar, with documentary evidence of the corrected hire documentation (their documentation) and after an initial acknowledgement they are now not even responding. It appears legal recourse may be required to bring this company in line.
Date of hire: 11 Feb 17 to 18 Feb 17.
Reference: 1183233 / Bono Agencia: [protected]
Re: GAP Comentario : 1183233 / Bono Agencia: [protected] th d

Copy of correspondence as below:

simon king 1 Mar at 8:28 PM
To
Customer Services
Message body
Dear Tania, Gold Car,

Since my last communication on this issue I have not received a reply from you.

I require you to acknowledge receipt and to cancel your incorrect charge with immediate effect. Failure to do so will result in further action.

Yours sincerely,

Simon King

From: simon king
To: Customer Services
Sent: Sunday, 26 February 2017, 10:39
Subject: Re: GAP Comentario : 1183233 / Bono Agencia: [protected] th d

Dear Tania,

You are missing the fact that we identified issues with the car when we collected it from your depot, but your customer service assistant was only interested in recording the largest area of damage - please confirm that you have a record of this adjustment to the hire conditions upon collection. This was photographed and recorded and I signed to confirm. Again, you need to note that YOU did not want to bother with any other 'small' issues on the car (the gesture was anything under 2" or 50mm). I will also state for the record that YOUR customer service agent did not check the car upon return.

The damage you indicate was not sustained during my rental period with the car - it was clearly already on the car when we collected it. Your initial rental sheet indicated no damage, which was clearly inaccurate - identified at the point of collection.

I have attached the amended hire document which clearly illustrates the point of damage that your customer service representative was prepared to recognize, for which we issued a new report sheet and I signed. You need to consider that the car was 'perfect' on your report before I inspected the car. It was clearly far from perfect. The other 'marks' you have stated were not of interest to your service representative - so it is not applicable that you should try to charge me for the damage. As stated, I am certain this is illegal.

Therefore your attempt to charge me for such damage is completely false and not acceptable.

I require you to confirm, by return, that you have on record my adjustment to the hire of the car indiating damage upon collection. I also require you to confirm that you will be reversing this charge with immediate effect.

Yours sincerely
Simon King

From: Customer Services
To: "[protected]@yahoo.co.uk"
Sent: Saturday, 25 February 2017, 12:14
Subject: GAP Comentario : 1183233 / Bono Agencia: [protected] th d

Dear Customer,
First of all, we would like to thank you for getting in contact with us and for your comments regarding your car hire experience with us. Your opinion is important for us and helps us improve our services.
You have requested a clarification of a charge made to you. After reviewing your rental agreement, we wish to confirm that the charge of €590 that you refer to, corresponds to bodywork damage, detected in the vehicle, during a check carried out when it was returned.
After checking all the documentation relating to your case, we have verified that the charge issued is correct, as set out in the terms and conditions of your rental agreement. Therefore, this amount cannot be reimbursed.
Please find attached the inspection sheet for vehicle when it was collected, and on which you can verify that the damage corresponding to the charge, was not indicated, and, was therefore sustained during your rental period.
For more information about our services and conditions, you can visit our online help service at www.goldcarhelp.com. Likewise, we are at your disposal to resolve any query you may have.
Thank you for trusting Goldcar for your car hire needs.
Regards,
Tania

The stated damages were not incurred during my rental of this vehicle. Upon pick up I was told it was in perfect condition. When I checked it I found damage to the vehicle. The Goldcar office made an adjustment for the largest damage and issued a new hire document. This should be on your records. They were not interested to record ''small'' damages already on the car.. Upon return, the Goldcar representative was too busy to check the vehicle again with me (several people were returning cars at the same time). There was NO damage made to the vehicle during my hire and I expect a full credit to my account. I believe this action is illegal and I will take appropriate measure to reclaim my money.

Customer Services

Ctra. Valencia N332 Km 115 - Edificio Goldcar
03550 - San Juan San Juan
Tel: [protected] Ext: Móvil: Fax:
[protected]@goldcar.com www.goldcar.com

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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I rented a car from Gold Car Rental Malta Airport Office on Sept 10, 2016, which is a pre-paid rental. I returned my car on time, and in same condition. I was charged EUR 1350 deposit and it has not been refund till now. I have sent an email to [protected]@goldcar.com regarding my case and one of their colleagues replied me that the refund has been taken place on Oct 18, 2016, however, when I check with my credit card company this is not the case. Again, I still did not get a refund till now!

I usually travel a lot and always rent a car and it never happened before, but this time I feel like I have been robbed by an international car rental company.

I would like to warn everyone who think of rent car with Gold Car to do an internet search on complaints.

Below is my rental information:
Rental agreement number: [protected]
Rental location: Malta Airport
Pickup date and time: 2016/09/10 11:00
Return date and time: 2016/09/14 21:00

Yat Lung Lee
+852 [protected]
anthon.[protected]@gmail.com

I rented car in Gran Canaria airport in 29th October. In the place you find out that you have no coverage of damages regardless of reservation conditions in your voucher issued by dealer. You are forced to buy additional insurance which is several times higher then price of the rental. If you refuse you need to pay deposit 1100 EUR, which is the trick because you will never get back it in full amount - after you return home they always fabricate some damage and assign to you. Before I took car I got checkout protocol, which had marked damaged places. I checked car myself and I found many other scratches and small paint damages not marked in protocol. I told it to their employer in garage and insist on him to add them to protocol. He added them and he signed it so every part of the car was marked. When I returned car, nobody was present at the workplace during opening hours so I had to leave keys in box and went to catch a plane. Next day I received brief e-mail below from "noreply" address that I will be charged for 330 euros for some 2 scratches, which of course were there before my checkout. This attempt to assign old scratches to you is their common practise and this is all fraud. Then they purposely do not have any contact e-mail address, so you can only raise a query on their support centre and futile wait for answer.

My complaint is regarding a car rental I’ve purchased online on Goldcar website.
On the colection, I´ve received maybe the oldest car and in worst condition in the airport, comparing to all the others I've seen.
Overall in bad condition, specially the car direction and suspension, damaged in one door and full of scratches.
I didn't complain straight away because the scratches and damages were reported by their representative in the contract, I wasn't planing to use much the car and didn't want to spend more time waiting, going back to the reception, etc.
When I delivered the car, their representative mentioned that there was a new scratch in the bottom of the front bumper that wasn’t there when I received the car.
He said that I would have to pay 462.5€ for this damage, and this amount would come out from the 1100€ deposit that was blocked on my account at the reception. He also mentioned that the insurance would pay for this amount and I was going to be refunded on my account up to 4 days. This was a lie, there wasn’t any insurance and their representative continued to act in bad faith. There’s no way I would sign the receipt and gave back my credit card to their representative if I wasn’t pressured by knowing that I had a plane to catch. We knew that and he was even rude speaking to me, threating me that I would never see the 1100€ again if I didn’t sign it.
First of all, I don’t assume the responsability of this, as like I mentioned, I’ve used the car shortly and didn’t beat in anything or climb the sidewalk, etc.
Second, it’s ridiculous that a car full of much more visible scratches and damages, and their representative is complaining about a little scratch in the bottom of the front bumper. He is trying to find a customer to pay for all the scratches in the car.
Third, i was already upset for having this old and damaged car, but I acted in good faith, assuming that all this scratches and damages were reported on the contract. If you see the picture of the contract, you will see a lot of risks reflecting the scratches that this car has. I was also Goldcar customer for a while and already rented more cars with them. I assumed everything would run normally.
I'm claiming the money that Goldcar stole from me 462.50€. I’ve been told by their Customer Service that they are not going to refund it.
I have pictures from the car and contract to prove all I’ve mentioned.

I rented a car on the 1st of September until the 14th of September I was unable to pick it up because I lost my credit card I was left in the airport with 3 small kids very late at night if I would've had more time to look for my card but the car renal was about to shut, iam looking for a refund or I'll have to take the matter futher I paid with my bank card my names is james byrne deputys pass glenealy I look forward to hearing from you

Rented in November 2015. Today looking in the log of my credit card, the credit card had been charged twice ! Website to get in touch with customer service doesn't work even if I filled in ALL the field correctly ( contract number, customer number, birthdate, email... ) Now tell me what I can do. In the receipt everything was already covered, paid and in the same month one week after each other charged twice. How can I get in touch ?

After paying an initial £200 to hire a car for 2 weeks I was then hit with the following charges that were not made cleat during the quote process.
Extra £150 to drop car off at separate location
Extra £144 for tank of fuel and special fuel charge
They also wanted an extra £110 for excess insurance but was sensible enough to take that out before I travelled.
Car itself was fine and the 2 weeks passed without incident. The car was returned to the drop off point and despite some grumbling from the staff we signed the paperwork confirming there was no damage inflicted by us I was then shocked to see another charge appear for £560 on our credit card with no explanation.
I have been trying to contact them to get information as to why but a m getting fobbed off and advise that someone is looking into it.

The whole experience leaves a sour taste and I feel like I have been robbed. Rather than being one of the cheapest they have turned out to be incredibly expensive and I have no idea if additional charges are going to appear on my credit card.

Goldcar car hire (negative) review (August 2016 Majorca)
A rather nasty experience one would rather avoid directly at the start of a holiday!
Should have looked at review ratings beforehand – I am one of what is now evident to be a long list of unhappy customers.
Here’s my experience:
Arrived at the counter, a bit of a queue but that’s not unreasonable. Impersonal, drone like staff from the off. Cursory look at the booking and straight into insurance. I advised my own excess policy in place (cost me about £50 for the year from an online firm). Objections were:
- We will charge you 600 euro’s even for a small scratch
- We will take 2000 euro’s from your credit card now and return up to 60 days after the end of your rental period
- Trash talking ‘my policy’ down as unlikely to pay out in ‘their experience’..
Was ready for all that even if taken aback by the aggressiveness of it, so went for the cc payment. I do not have a cc but my wife does however they said this is not acceptable (despite my wife being fully listed as the second driver with licence details etc). I can pay by debit card but the money leaves the account for 60 days etc so not doing that. We had an argument. The guy was so laid back I can only imagine he goes through the same routine many times a day and is probably on a commission. Looked to my left and right and sure enough similar arguments ensuing along the counter!
Their position was either you pay by your debit card or you don’t get the car and your pre-paid rental is not returned because its your decision. So, what can you do? Upset wife and kids behind me, just want to get on our way – they wore me down and so I paid the insurance – sticks in my craw but they know this is the eventual outcome in most situations. £200 for 14 days. Insisted I paid by my debit card rather than cc – I suppose to avoid the 2% fee – not money grabbing at all!
Another nice surprise was the inability to return the car fully fuelled to avoid paying for fuel at ‘their rate’ because ‘even if you return full we will check and top up’. The reason for this I have discovered in the terms and conditions is that they charge a ‘refuelling admin fee’. I actually returned the car about 10 miles after fully refuelling and was eventually charged about 73 euros, of which probably about max 5 euros was fuel! Thanks Goldcar.
The car was a 2 year old focus and mechanically sound but bodywork had about 10-12 dents and scrapes of the ‘600 euro’ category! Did not affect the functioning but had I not had their insurance it would have been an interesting discussion on return as to which scrapes would have been my fault.
I have hired many cars over the years both for business and pleasure and whilst I am sure there are some reputable independents out there I have now resolved to pay a bit more on the web price by only using one of the large companies (I am nothing to do with this industry by the way) – they will be professional and courteous and whilst will all offer additional insurance, my experience is that they will politely accept that I have my own cover in place and it will not be a problem.
I rarely submit reviews, things sometimes go wrong and most companies genuinely try and sort things out, but I felt Goldcar clearly have such a reprehensible approach to prying unnecessary payments out of their customers when they are at their most vulnerable, e.g. just landed, need the car, family in tow etc, that I felt I needed to share this story. PLEASE AVOID!

Auto Europe took full payment from my debit card on behalf of Goldcar. Arriving at Bergamo airport, I was requested credit card for some fuel charge. I only own debit card. Staff of Goldcar told me they won't give me my car and they don't know how to help. After that they ignored me. Tried to call numbers on booking referrence - none of them worked. It was close to midnight and I was desperate, staff only response was to contact auto europe. I ended up booking another car with another company. Holidays destroyd on the very beginning. After arrival, they refused to issue me my refund.
Worst travel experience ever, avoid at all costs.

June 28th 2016.
I went to collect a car from Goldcar at Barcelona airport booked through Atlas choice online from the UK. This deal included their insurance.
On arrival at Barcelona we had great difficulty in finding the Goldcar transfer bus and ended up after asking around by getting a taxi to Goldcar on an industrial estate nearby.

Booking in they pressurised me into accepting their all inclusive package insurance. I explained that I already had insurance and this discussion went on for a time whereupon they said they would need to hold my card details in the sum of E1, 100 which I knew would have to happen. I entered my card three times and it was declined every time. the agent said that i had probably exceeded my daily limit at which i said i doubt it very much.
At this point I was stranded so ended up buying the extra insurance and the agent suggested trying another card reader. as if by magic the card was accepted so they took circa £180 for the insurance.

checking afterwards with HSBC I had no daily limit other than my max limit and there were no records of cards being declined. I have subsequently cancelled that card to prevent any follow up charges that Goldcar might like to invent as I have read more articles about this company's practices.

I rented a car with goldcar the internet at malta airport for 15 days with unlimited mileage collision damage waiver (Cdw) theft waiver (Thw) third party liability insurance (Tpl) airport surcharge taxes and even then i had to leave a deposit in value of 1, 350.00 euros for fines. It turns out that the car was returned on may 22, 2016 and to date more than 30 days the deposit i have not been returned. I am very disappointed with goldcar, i have already sent the complaint by the goldcar website but they do not give me infirm answer about the case. I usually travel a lot and always rent car and it never happened before, but this time i feel like i have been robbed is absurd an international car rental company do so.
I would like to warn all the people who think of rent car with goldcar to do an internet search on complaints.
Agreement 9762028
Customer code 8640764
Vehicle details number plate aqz838
Rental start 08/05/2016 at malta international airport
Rental end 22/05/2016

May/June 2016 Madrid Client booking number 8718694
Booking number ES [protected]
Don't use this firm. Appalling service. Need exposing and putting out of business quickly before other travelers are caught out. Just traveled to Madrid and this firm spoiled our holiday. We were left high and dry both picking up and dropping off the car miles from the airport terminal and the staff couldn't have cared less if we caught our flight or not. Mayya who was behind the desk in the Marriott Auditorium hotel needs to look for another job because if I have anything to do with it I shall be reporting her attitude at the highest level. Marriott hotels need to remove them from their premises and not have any associations with such a disgusting cowboy outfit.
We had already booked and paid for the car hire and insurance prior to traveling. Before we traveled we took out extra Damage Refund Insurance of £25.96 only to be told at the pick up desk that this was worthless and that we needed full Insurance so we paid 156.21 euros before we could pick up the car. We were then given the keys and told to go down into the dark car park to find the car. "Press the key fob and watch for the flashing lights" she told us. Great stuff we wandered around then looking for a black car in the dark late at night.
On returning the car we stood in the queue of people for 15 mins before being told that we should drive down a ramp to another colleague who would check the fuel. We then waited another 20 mins for the shuttle bus to take us back to the terminal. The bus drivers wouldn't let us on the buses and we were told to wait outside in the hot sun. We stood by the door only for the second bus to drive off empty without us. We were appalled as we had asked the driver 3 times when we could board the bus. After approaching the desk we were told to calm down as the next bus would be leaving in 30 mins. So we were then stood there for another wait until eventually the smug little bus driver opened the door of the bus for us to get on. The staff behind the desk were dreadful and we can honestly say that this kind of experience is not good for your health as we were in a real panic then trying to catch our flight. I repeat DON'T USE THIS FIRM.