Beware Prima Rent a Car

Our cruise-ship was to dock in Malaga, Spain from 8am to 7pm on January 24, 2013, and the only practical way to visit the Alhambra Palace 130km away in Granada was to rent a car for our party of 4. I booked the car on the Prima Rent a Car website, and also called them later to confirm that they had the reservation. In addition to the 64 euros for the car, I was to be charged an extra 20 euros for pick-up and drop-off at the seaport. I also ordered a GPS for 8 euros. I wanted to take every precaution so that we could visit Alhambra and make it back to the ship by 6:30pm. We scheduled the car pick-up for 8:15am, and expected to be met by an agent holding a placard with our name on it. To our consternation there was no agent, nor was there anyone manning the Prima Rent a Car kiosk in the parking lot outside the ship. After several frantic phone calls with the help of a very kind tourist hostess at the seaport, a Prima agent finally showed up at 9:15. He said that he had not been informed about our reservation and had to start all the paperwork from scratch. The agent's helper programmed the GPS for Alhambra per my request. It was almost 10am by the time we set out for Granada, anxious that we might not make the 12 noon time-slot for our scheduled admission to the palace. The drive was beautiful, but imagine our surprise when we arrived in Granada and were suddenly directed by the GPS to turn left and go 70 kilometers! We wasted another 15 minutes driving around Granada and getting help from the locals to reach Alhambra. After a lot of anxiety we arrived breathless at the palace with barely 5 minutes to spare. Needless to say, the GPS was worse than useless on the way back, costing us extra time and gas money. I complained to Prima Rent a Car and they refunded the 20-euro surcharge for the seaport pick-up and drop-off. They said they would refund the 8 euros for the malfunctioning (?incorrectly programmed) GPS, but 6 weeks later I have still not received the refund, despite at least 3 long-distance conversations during which [name removed] , apparently one of the owners, repeatedly promised to make the refund. All-in-all, our experience with Prima Rent a Car was nerve-racking and disappointing.