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“BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN USING THIS COMPANY”

written by nrjh on 04/08/2015

I booked a "BMW X3 or similar" (a 4 wheel drive with ample luggage space) as advertised on their website and subsequently received a booking confirmation referring to "BMW 3 series or similar". I emailed the company three times to obtain clarification that this was a BMW X3 but got no reply. A few days before departure they told me that the car was a 3 series saloon (which isn't a 4 wheel drive and doesn't have room for 4 suitcases) but that they would refer the matter to "the manager". When we arrived to collect the car, the woman behind the desk said that there were no cars of the description that we'd ordered, and that the manager wasn't around, wasn't contactable by phone and she had no idea when he would return. She nevertheless suggested that we should step out of the queue and wait for him. When we asked what the chances were of the manager being able to provide us with a car similar to that which we'd ordered, she refused to answer the question and then became extremely rude. When we asked for her name, she simply laughed in our faces and walked off. We then spoke to one of her colleagues who was equally unhelpful and also walked off. In the end, we had no alternative but to take the car that had been allocated to us (at the price at which the more expensive car had been advertised), despite the fact that we couldn't fit our suitcases into the boot and it was wholly unsuitable for the trip that we had planned.

Furthermore, while we were there, we heard two sets of returning families arguing with MalagaCar about dents and scrapes that MalagaCar said were down to the hirers (and which fell within the excess under the insurance policy) but which the hirers said had been there from the start. I have no idea whether they were telling the truth but it was certainly enough to persuade me to take out additional insurance to reduce the excess (3000 euro!)to nothing as I felt sure that if I returned the car with any damage at all, MalagaCar would charge me the full amount of the excess without regard to the true value of the damage. In the end, therefore, I ended up paying over £1,200 for a car which was unsuitable for our needs and which I hadn't ordered. What an unpleasant start to a holiday!