Dickmanns rent a car

I used Dickmann's Murcia and their customer service is non-existent. Unfortunately, when you search for car hire, some companies don't show you which local co. you are using until you book them. At this stage, when it shows Dickmann's, cancel and get your money back. Before you regret it! They are THIEVING, lying ++++!

First they sold the car I had hired so wanted me to come back to the airport. Eventually they brought it to me (only 20 mins away but it was their fault!) and the petrol tank wasn't full, as per their T&C's. I telephoned them immediately. In fact, I telephoned them 11 times and emailed 12 times in the last 6 weeks. I have had 3 replies. All telling me the tank was full. I can read a petrol tank!!! And I can read your T&C's although Dickmann's obviously can't. They made sure I brought it back full though!!

The fact that they operate out of a rubbish ol white van in the airport car park is a clear sign of their 'quality'. RUBBISH!!!

There's a car hire thread somewhere, I suggest that this thread is incorporated into it. I can hire a Berlingo type estate for from €36 p/w, the tank is normally on emergency, no probs as there is always a petrol station close to an airport, you return the car as you found it, they are normally in a poor state bodily so park it as you will during your stay.

Their rep meets you at arrivals and escorts you to your wreck (sorry car) and you drop it off in an appointed airport car park on return leving the key and the car park ticket in the glove box, it always works for us.

There is also a thread somewhere about renting old cars where hirers have been stopped for no itv and insurance advising people to check the documents and state of the tyres etc before driving off It is the driver's responsibility in Spain to ensure the car is roadworthy 

Perhaps scubamike would be so kind as to check out Rentacarspain.com and let us know his findings.  

My comment was a general observation that cheapest is not always best With exceptions you generally get what you pay for 

 check out Rentacarspain.com

Well I just have to go to Spain on Monday....85.39€ 15 days...Renta wreck.

My regular company used for years....13.53€ 15 days....Good cars.

Well at €13.53 for 15 days, this beats anything that I've ever seen.  

Well at €13.53 for 15 days, this beats anything that I've ever seen. 

Had to check twice myself in case I made a complete balls up, but nope it was correct, booked and paid it just in case it changed, Ford Focus, something to do with this black friday thingy, have to wait now to see if it has wheels or it's a flintstone type of car.

Well rather than have a car park full of none rented cars they have given themselves the opportunity of making something on the back of insurance and their fuel policy.

My recommendation is that you do not do business with Dickmanns. There are plenty of other better companies to hire cars from. My experiences with them have been far from perfect.

On the first occasion I was pressured into buying their excess insurance under the threat of having to pay a refundable deposit and an extortionate fuel charge for a three day hire. The cost of the insurance was less than the fuel charge so I caved and bought even though I already had excess insurance from another company.

Stupidly, I had already booked a second rental with them and didn't cancel the booking. I thought I would be more prepared to deal with the high pressure sales but it didn't turn out as expected.

When I collected the car, I was informed that they would reserve a deposit of 950 euros for excess insuramce and 80+ euros for petrol. I specifically asked them to confirm that they were not debiting my card. They said it would not be debited and they would only take what was due on return. They lied. They debited my card for over 1000 euros on the day I collected the car.

When I returned the car and got back home I noticed that they had debited that card. I contacted them and asked them to refund the amount immediately. They said the policy was to refund only 25 days after return of the vehicle. The contract had stated (in very small print) that the refund would be made on return not 25 days later. They therefore held over 1000 euros of my money for over 35 days without permission. They cheated me out of the interest on this.

Finally, the contract was full/empty. They said they would charge an admin fee plus the cost of fuel used. They charged well in excess of the fuel used. They stole money for fuel I did not use.

The only plus point is that they didn't rip me off for non-existent damage like they have done with others.

I will never use Dickmanns again. I strongly advise others to avoid them like the plague. They are by far the worst car hire company I have had the misfortune to come across.

** EDITED - Against forum rules **

Hi ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, I have been victim of same for refunds and fuel refund too.  I was told it will be only deposit and will not cash in my deposit. Poor service. 

Same here. I rent out two properties near Murcia airport and used to recommend Dickams/doyuspain to mhy renters, but having just experience the most apauling service, surcharges and uncertainty about whether the credid card excess deposit will be refunded, I will from now on advise against using this company.

I'd agree with previous posts our last car hire through Dickmans at Murcia was fine but trying to get the insurance deposit back was a complete farce I had to ring Spain from home 5 times before the promise of the refund materialised, by this time I had incurred interest charges on my card. I'd avoid using.

As this extra deposit has to come out via a credit card, I presume you guys that have been messed about have spoken with your card company about this problem.

The card companies do seem to be very helpful with cases like these, and for sure the rental companies cannot afford to be removed from the credit card base....Worth a try.

Hi all......

We have used Dickmanns 4 times this year through hire cars in Spain, they are an English company from Southampton.  I would Reccommended to use them rather than booking direct to Dickmanns as they don't take a deposit, just block your card. The 3 times I went with hire cars in spain there was no problem, but the one time I went direct to Dickmanns they tried to sell me their insurance. When I told him I didn't need it he wasn't happy and said it would be 3 weeks before I would get my deposit back. It did take quite a while that time to refund my deposit, so I will still use Dickmanns but only if hire cars in Spain book this for me. 

Hi baz1946,

Yes, as soon as I received my credit card statement and noticed the debit I immediately contacted my card issuer in order to dispute the charge and also Dickmanns to demand an immediate refund. The credit card issuer advised that I should try to resolve it with Dickmanns first. Dickmanns were adamant they were within their rights to debit my card and hold on to the money for 25 days after I had returned the vehicle undamaged. I pointed out that what they did broke the rules relating to debiting credit cards for goods or services that had not been supplied but they weren't interested.

I then went back to my card issuer who asked me to fill in a form and they would investigate. By this time my card payment was due and I had to pay the balance or risk credit card interest charges.

Dickmanns subsequently refunded the money but by this time I had already paid the balance and after the refund, my credit card account was now on a positive balance of nearly 1000€. 1000€ that should have been in my bank account offsetting my mortgage interest payments. The positive balance stayed on the card until I used it up over the following month meaning higher mortgage interest payments for two months instead of me enjoying 56 days free credit on the credit card.

The point is that they absolutely assured me that they would only earmark the funds and not debit them. They actually debited the card and then took 35 days to return the monies despite their small print saying they would return it on return of the vehicle.

This breaks credit card terms of service as you are not allowed to charge credit cards for goods or services until they have been supplied. The fact is these costs related to excess repair costs that were never supplied and never would be. The car was not damaged and did not need repair. They should not be debiting funds but only earmarking them as a guarantee against possible further charges.

I have had my card earmarked many times before by hotels, car hire companies etc but have never before had to deal with a company carrying out such practices where they debit for services that were not supplied and then take a month to refund the debit.

The problem is that their card settlement processor is not the same bank as the many card issuers that they debit from. The card settlement processor is probably more than happy to take their cut on this practice via transaction charges and the multiple card issuers can't be bothered to act as they are getting extra interest on the transaction too as they have their customer's money in their hands for a month in postive credit card balances on which they pay no interest.

I suppose I could write to VISA and MasterCard but I suspect nothing much would come of it. The consumer protection laws involved probably cover at least three jurisdications: the merchant card acquiring bank (Spain), the consumer card issuing bank (UK) and the card payment processor (USA)

It is easier just to never use Dickmanns again and warn others of their extremely dodgy business practices.

Duncan.

Another case of how things are changing all the time then, but for them thats for sure.

I have had many dealings in the past with card companies and like I said found them on the whole to be on my side, once again as what is happening every day it seems, the small guys lose the bigger guys win.

Hopefully you have won now and like you say, best leave the rubbish renters alone.

Duncan

Would it not have been possible to transfer the positive balance from the card to your bank account? I haven't used credit cards for some time but I believe this was possible.

marcbernard,

It doesn't matter if your account is in credit, it isn't a bank account. T&Cs allow them to charge for cash advances. Some may waive the charge for small amounts but €1000 isn't small. Others will return the cash without charge but only to the source to combat money laundering. I would prefer that they didn't return it to Dickmanns tbh!

Bottom line is that a large fee like this taken from a credit card and then refunded a month later causes problems that people really don't need.

Avoid Dickmanns like the plague or they will do this to you too.