British Expats - Goldcar

British Expats (https://britishexpats.com/forum/)

- Spain (https://britishexpats.com/forum/spain-75/)

- - Goldcar (https://britishexpats.com/forum/spain-75/goldcar-924753/)

I think this is common knowledge but Goldcar get a real slating in the DM today :

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ays-Which.html

We used them last week, absolute row over them insisting on extra insurance cover being taken out despite have bought the recommend one via Ryan Air. On return found yet another unexplained charge to our credit card. Advised that an explanation could not be given and an â€œincidentâ€ would need to be opened which can take up to 30 days to get a response. Total cost for 5 day hire has now reached â‚¬296.00!!!!!

Contact your credit card company. Tell them to refund the payment, they will. Write to the company in the strongest terms also.
they tried this with my brother in law, showed him a picture of a completely different car. Said he had damaged a wheel which had to be replaced. He responded with I will collect the wheel when I come in to pay for it. If Iâ€™m paying for a new wheel, the old one is mine. Lol.
they backed down. He got a solicitor to write to the company, denounced them and the courts paid him compensation as goldcar didnâ€™t turn up.

Goldcar and their brother Rhodium are devious types. I thought I had most of their angles sorted when I used Insurance4carhire to cover any excess charges but no, they then resorted to holding on to my deposit and avoiding furnishing me with a bill for the supposed damage caused to the car, as a result no bill = no payment from the insurance company. It took me three weeks and much effort to find my way through Rhodiums maze of a system and recover my deposit. Meanwhile they had moved the funds from euros to sterling and back again to their advantage.

So I said to myself I will avoid them in future. I have recently booked with carhire.ie and discovered that they are also affiliated to Europcar group which also owns Goldcar and Rhodium!
One of their demands is that I should provide a utility bill less than 8 weeks old when I pick up the car. These days it is increasingly common for people in the uk to have online billing but no, carhire.ie demands a copy that is sent in the post. Anyway to frustrate the renter and to levy unfair charges seems to be fair game to these companies that are the off-spring of Europcar group.

I agree with Lmj2018,

"Contact your credit card company. Tell them to refund the payment"

Thanks guys, payment has been cancelled. Sounds like we got away lightly though. How can a company getting away with operating like this nowadays!!. It will be interesting to see if they pursue it now, giving us a reason for the money allegedly owed!

I used them via a broker site a couple of years ago for a business trip in Galicia. I took photos before I drove from the rental area and then walked around the car checking it upon my return with a member of staff. They gave me a contract stating all was in order. BUT (you guessed it), one week later I received an email informing me Goldcar had taken â‚¬400 from my Mastercard to pay for "damages" to the vehicle. After sending my 'before and after' photos and a copy of the local office confirmatory contract the money was refunded. I can only presume their business model is to try this on, knowing that some folks would not take photos/obtain a document confirming no damage at the end of the rental period.