Stay away, they’ll charge you extra
My girlfriend and I rented a scooter for two days (April 28-29 – 2018) at Azorescar in Ponta Delgada. The scooter was only EUR 19 per day and on top of that you had to choose between paying a deposit of EUR 200 or daily insurance of EUR 7,5. We chose the daily insurance which should turn out to be a wise choice. The customer service was initially fine. Together with the customer service assistant we checked the scooter and did the paper work. We were told the insurance would cover theft and damages. Then we were off and enjoyed rides around the island.
We did not experience any damages or malfunctions and on Monday April 30 I returned the scooter and thought everything was ok. Only now, the customer service assistant checked the scooter meticulously and found scratchmarks on the black bottom dirt board of plastic. These scratches were located so far down that they were only noticeable when lying on your knees or running your hand along the underside of the scooter. You would NEVER have noticed them by just standing in an upright position and, unfortunately, we had not noticed them when we did the initial inspection or taken any photos for that matter. At the initial inspection, the scooter was also parked the opposite way so that the side with scratches was just next to a window giving little space for closer examination.
Suddenly, the assistant had difficulty speaking English and got a colleague to translate and she told us they would charge us EUR 90 for the damages. We were chocked since we were absolutely certain that we had never hit anything on the road and also the scratches never would affect the function of the scooter. Now, we were trapped in a situation where we wanted to enjoy the last day of our holidays but had to pay an exorbitant amount to get away. We were told the insurance did not cover the charge as the damage cost were below the excess of EUR 1000. Also, the shop assistants were unable to realize that the scratches were placed where you would expect scratches to occur under normal circumstances. They were obviously determined to have us pay. We were even threatened with the police if we did not pay.
Annoyingly, we were not able to talk to the boss, but after some complaining they offered to lower the charge with EUR 20. This was kind of ridiculous, since the scratches were not made by us at all. After one hour of debating we gave up, paid the EUR 70, and walked away. By then I was just happy I had not paid the EUR 200 deposit, as they would have claimed this sum without hesitation.
This is certainly part of their business model; offer cheap vehicles, do poor initial inspection, upon return make thorough inspection and blame and charge the customer for insignificant scratches which were not noticeable at first glance. So, stay away, this is a fraudulent business.
9 de maio de 2018
Opinião espontânea