"Record" car hire - a cautionary tale

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Pauly
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"Record" car hire - a cautionary tale

Postby Pauly » Thu Oct 22, 2009 3:50 pm

I picked up a hire car from Record at Malaga Airport that with a quick check looked ok. I had arranged wheel and tyre insurance with insurance4carhire.com as it's so much cheaper. Record clearly don't like this and have introduced a mandatory E300 deposit if you don't take out their insurance. Next day I had a flat tyre and took it to a repair place and they showed me that both front tyres were badly irregularly worn so as well as having to replace the punctured tyre at a cost of over E100 they quite correctly said the other tyre should be replaced as it was illegal. On contacting Record several times over 2 days they were not prepared to accept they should pay for the second tyre and said I'd have to take it back to Malaga Airport if I was unhappy. :cry: :cry: :cry: Pointing out that the tyre was illegal and asking what would happen if I had an accident/ killed someone/ got stopped by the Police cut no ice with them :shock: :shock: :x . So, I put on the spare so at least I had 4 legal tyres on the car but knowing I would get nicked if the Police did a check on the "spare". Also, if I had another puncture I would have had to put the illegal spare back on. I also took back the other blown out tyre so they could see it's condition. On top of that the windscreen wiper blades were absolutely shredded :shock: . So I was very anxious but had no other option and returned to Malaga which was a 5 hour round trip through a mountainous remote area. There, their rep at first denied the car was in an illegal condition - until his oppo actually looked at it and gave a good show :roll: :roll: of being appalled that this car had been issued in such a condition - despite the fact that 2 other people at exactly the same time were having cars replaced for various reasons relating to unfitness.

So, apart from the obvious risks and safety issues and the anxiety I spent 2 days of my holiday sorting it all out. Big complaints to Record and Doyouspain who was the agent are now pending!

As a warning to others take special care to check out the car at the airport before you leave and make sure you are happy to pay E300 deposit if you opt out of their insurance. Also, do you really want to use Record?
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frank
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Re: "Record" car hire - a cautionary tale

Postby frank » Thu Oct 22, 2009 4:16 pm

I use the same excess insurance, but I don't think Record are alone in charging the excess, but there are still some that don't. I had a similar problem once with Malagacars, had the usual cursory look around, tyres looked ok. It wasn't until I parked it several days later, with hard lock on that I saw the outside was fine, the inside was completely devoid of thread. There must be hundreds of hire cars driving around not only illegal, but in a very dangerous condition. Personally, I would never use Record, or any of those used by the like of doyouspin, carjet etc.
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Nimrod
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Re: "Record" car hire - a cautionary tale

Postby Nimrod » Thu Oct 22, 2009 4:43 pm

Just doesn't surprise me at all.
The last Record car i had had seriously underinflated tyres all round to the tune of 15-20 lbs.
You get what you pay for.

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Re: "Record" car hire - a cautionary tale

Postby scotty » Thu Oct 22, 2009 4:59 pm

Two words........... Helle Hollis ! I have no connection with them other than I have rented from them ten times in 2009. Every car was excellent. There was no delay greater than ten minutes in collecting the cars and the staff are great. As the other poster said you get what you pay for.

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Re: "Record" car hire - a cautionary tale

Postby Sandramay » Fri Oct 23, 2009 10:11 pm

Pauly, at least you had a spare wheel !!! Our last car from Record didn't, nor provision to inflate a punctured tyre, no jack, no triangle or viz jacket. On returning the car and complaining they said " We don't supply them" When we queried about driving illeagally and the possible subsequent fines they replied "We'll pay them" :lol: Complaints to "Do You Spain" also fell upon deaf ears.
Sandramay

JAWG
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Re: "Record" car hire - a cautionary tale

Postby JAWG » Fri Oct 23, 2009 11:59 pm

Five times now I have rented for a 3 monthy term from DragonCars ([email protected]). I have never had a problem. Contact David at DragonCars. He will solve your problems, reasonably.
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Re: "Record" car hire - a cautionary tale

Postby Trato Hecho » Sat Oct 24, 2009 12:37 pm

Most of us carry mob phones with cameras on these days,

the minute i find the car in the undergroud jungle i take four pictures at 45 degrees from each corner at about a 18 inches or so off the ground so u get the tyre treads, and the back&side, front&side panels etc

Another one from the front and one from the rear looking down showing most the panels and a general one of the inside. Takes less than 30 seconds.

U dont have to worry or ever look at them and i simply delete them after a month or so if not needed.

I only do this now as once a company tried to insist that i had scrathed the car when i hadnt. Had i not taken at that time a picture of a house we had stayed at with the car in it on arrival i dont know how i would have proved i hadnt as it wasnt shown on the so called inspection sheet. Most spanish hire cars have probably had the same damage paid for but never fixed several times. Several times diferent companys seem to have very diferent glasses on when they are booking them out to the ones they wear when booking it back in on our return but dont seem to interested in talking about it to much when you start looking at the pictures. :evil:

All said as above u get what u pay for. Beaten up, poor condition cars are cheaper because they make there money in other ways.Dont get caught out.

curatokid
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Re: "Record" car hire - a cautionary tale

Postby curatokid » Fri Oct 30, 2009 1:02 am

A friend of mine on returning his car to Record was told that the spare tyre and jack were missing, as he had not checked it on collection he had no alternative but to pay for them at great cost, maybe an idea to check when collecting, problem is usually the boot has all the cases in by then !! Be warned.

Pauly
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Re: "Record" car hire - a cautionary tale

Postby Pauly » Fri Nov 06, 2009 11:08 am

Well surprise surprise. I've received no response from either Record or the aptly named DoYouSpain. I got in touch with the Tourist Office in Malaga who provided me with 2 email contacts: [email protected] and [email protected]. No reply from them either. Does anyone know who else I can contact. Now it's not so much the dosh - it's not wanting to let the b***ers get away with it without any hassle :evil: :evil:
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Pauly
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Re: "Record" car hire - a cautionary tale

Postby Pauly » Fri Nov 06, 2009 4:29 pm

Apologies to the ECC Net Trading Standards Institute based in Basildon. They acknowledged by post today and have told me to expect a contact within 14 days - they point out they are an advisory and not an enforcement body.
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Pauly
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Re: "Record" car hire - a cautionary tale

Postby Pauly » Wed Nov 11, 2009 11:17 am

I received an email yesterday from Record to apologise and to offer 138 euros to compensate me for my inconvenience. :D Also a free upgrade next time I use DouYouSpain has been offered. :roll:

I do not know if this was as a result of any contact they have had from the Trading Standards people I mentioned earlier, but perhaps they have just done the decent thing.

Whatever it was (they say I should have payment in my bank account in 15 days) it's good news to me and shows that you can successfully complain if you are justified and persistent. Hopefully there will not be a problem in actually getting the money. :!:

So there you go - hopefully you will all have brill service from Record in future but if not there are ways to sort it out.
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Nimrod
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Re: "Record" car hire - a cautionary tale

Postby Nimrod » Wed Nov 11, 2009 5:35 pm

Well done.
i have just hired a car from DYS for January.
Always had a car from Record,countless number of times.
This time it's with SOLMAR.
Have DYS got the hump with Record and used someone else
Anyone else had a Solmar car....are they any good?
Thanks

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chrissiehope
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Re: "Record" car hire - a cautionary tale

Postby chrissiehope » Wed Nov 11, 2009 7:02 pm

funny - we've just booked for Dec - Jan with DYS - and it's GOLDCAR :?
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Re: "Record" car hire - a cautionary tale

Postby Colinm » Wed Nov 11, 2009 7:24 pm

In September it took 1.5 hrs to get to the front of the queue at the Goldcar desk. :evil: I noticed that there was no one getting a car from Solmar!

The Goldcar vehicle was a Fiat Linea Diesel, spotless, with aerial and water in the windscreen washers :shock:
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chrissiehope
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Re: "Record" car hire - a cautionary tale

Postby chrissiehope » Wed Nov 11, 2009 11:13 pm

hmmm, don't like the sound of that queue :(
but I'd heard from a friend that the cars were good from Goldcar :D
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mhic
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Re: "Record" car hire - a cautionary tale

Postby mhic » Thu Nov 12, 2009 9:21 am

I need to hire a car for 10 days, pick up Stanstead. So far Hertz seem to be the cheapest but does anyone know their fuel policy also anyone heard of Moores or the car rental center?

Mhic.

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Re: "Record" car hire - a cautionary tale

Postby Nicks » Thu Nov 12, 2009 11:50 am

We have used Record on a large number of occasions, mainly because they are reasonable and we get a discount each time we rebook.

BUT the last few times the cars have been really shoddy. We tend to book a Citroen Berlinger or equivalent (Renault?) as it fits in kids and luggage and is far more reasonable than a 7-seater. The last few times we have had problems with gears, tyres, struggle to get up hills - reasonable sized engine so we shouldn't. We thought the last time that it looked like they had taken on a fleet of ex-contruction cars with lots of problems with them - we saw they had replaced a tyre with the spare and not bothered to give us a new tyre. When we got back to the Record desk, 5 other people were also trying to swap the same type of car with similar sorts of problems.

I think although we have used Record for years, we may try and go with someone else now, as safelty has to be the most important criteria when hiring a car...

Can anyone recommend another car hire company which cann offer a fair price for well-mainteined cars? Have looked at Helle Hollis, but they don't have the Berlingers type cars we usually get (essential for space!)

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Re: "Record" car hire - a cautionary tale

Postby Laslomas » Thu Nov 12, 2009 12:22 pm

My daughter had a car from Record during the summer. She drove to Nerja with her baby in a car seat and the pushchair in the boot and the luggage in the car. As she got part of the way there was a really bad smell, she said she felt quite sick. When she arrived we found large areas of carpet were wet and some was actually missing. She parked in the sun for a day with the windows open. We went out that evening, keeping the windows open because of the smell, and when she came to take the pushchair out of the boot it was not just damp, but wet. On examination we discovered a pool of water a few inches deep in the spare wheel compartment. So we had to dry the whole car out. There had been no rain for weeks!
She was only staying 4 days so she sent a complaint by email so they would be aware when she returned the car - they were very apologetic but that was all. She has been twice since and still used Record as she has concessions with them from her company in UK, and both times she was upgraded and had lovely newish cars, so I think they have made a note on her details not to give her the c**p cars again.

Pauly
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Re: "Record" car hire - a cautionary tale

Postby Pauly » Sat Jan 16, 2010 5:45 pm

As I advised earlier Record in November promised me E158 compensation. It didn't arrive but I kept following it up with their customer services and at last I've received the dosh :thumbup:

I think it pays to chronicle the problems to them carefully and back it up with photos and to log a complaint with the ecc - I'm convinced that because that was lurking in the background it concentrated their minds more than might otherwise have been the case.

Incidentally they swore down that all their cars carry hi viz vests and warning triangles :lolno: and that they were 'reminding' their managers about this. It would be interesting to know if anyone has had these in the vehicle since. In future I've got a kit to take with me but it's a bind having to take it particularly as luggage allowances are falling - and they should provide them anyway.
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