Never use this company, unless you are a masochist.

Never use this company, unless you are a masochist.

Hello all,

Just recently I had the pleasure of starting off my holiday with a lot of frustration, anger and an emptier wallet than expected. All thanks to everyone’s best friend Goldcar (and Rentalcars.com).

I’ve never before taken the time to write a public review, positive or negative, about an organization or product I’d just had the experience of working with. However, the sheer amount of sh*t that clearly functions as the foundation of the car rental company Goldcar changed my mind. This company is lackluster of any form of ethics and customer service. They do specialize in ripping you off, that is a quality they have in spades.

Via rentalcars.com I’d rented a car well in advance of my holiday to Olbia this July. Goldcar was the cheapest and on rentalcars.com they received generally positive reviews. I’ve successfully rented a car via rentalcars.com 4 times before (never Goldcar), so I was reluctant to read all of the many pages of fine print. Which in hindsight is the only, but important, stupid thing I can be held accountable for.

After I’d paid the fee for the car rental I received an e-voucher necessary for picking up my car from the Goldcar office in Olbia. In that e-voucher there was a line that said a deposit of €1000,- excluding taxes and other deposits would be required in order to complete the transaction with Goldcar. My credit card has a limit of €1000,-, so that deposit would become a point of debate. Besides that, a deposit of more than €1000,- for a used Fiat 500 (or any other small car with low value) is quite ridiculous and up for debate in my opinion, but let’s not make that discussion the focus of this review.

When I arrived at the Goldcar office in Olbia there were long queues. Since I had plenty of time to observe the customers in front of me I noticed that most of the people were arguing a lot and left with a temper. Finally it was my turn to be “helped” by a Goldcar employee. I showed him my e-voucher and he got the papers and files needed for my reservation. Being aware of the exceptionally high deposit I asked him if it could be set to €1000,- or spread over 2 different credit cards, given my card limit. The employee showed zero flexibility and told me that it was not possible. However, if I paid €180,- for some shady, vague and mostly not needed “super relax” package, no deposit was required and I would receive the car keys. If I had to believe the employees at the desk a “super relax” package was a very good deal for me. They were all very enthusiastic about it, not so much about leaving the deposit. I told them I did not want the “super relax” package as I’ve got great insurance as is. They kept telling me it was not possible to lower the deposit, spread it over 2 cards or use my debit card for the deposit. Furthermore there is also a deposit for fuel. When you return the car you must fill up the tank or they will withhold an amount from your fuel deposit. This deposit is another magical number, seeing as how the deposit in option A (see below) was €145,- (apparently a Goldcar Fiat 500 uses liquid gold as gasoline) and in option B “only” €117,-. After discussing with them for 45 minutes they told me I should call rentalcars.com to ask them if they could lower the deposit. Naturally I was on hold for 25 minutes there until I gave up, because all I really wanted was to have a pleasant start of my holiday.

Simply put, this company forces you in a stalemate position:
A) if possible you accept a ridiculously high deposit, get zero insurance and are thus likely to be required to make later additional payments. They will hate you if you choose this option and will fight till their last breath to stop you from choosing A. (Company policy will probably keep raising the amount to deposit so only millionaires with limitless credit cards can even choose this option).
B) You pay them a random extra amount of more than €150,- for a “relax” package. You are now insured/covered, even though you also are without this package (depending on how you are insured of course).
C) You don’t get a car, your holiday as planned ends at the start of it, you have to fight rentalcars.com to get your already prepaid money back.

Let’s combine our forces and spread the message that this company is corrupt. Let’s not stop until they file bankruptcy, it’s the sole destiny Goldcar deserves. Goldcar is cancer and we must stop it from further contaminating the globe.

Regards,

The voice of an average Goldcar customer.

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Zwakke punten
Pretty much every negative in the official and urban dictionary