Comments on: more car [hire] trouble…

By: Ashley

Ashley — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 02:11:12 +0000

I recently had a troubling experience in Ireland. I rented a car from the Dublin airport, a VW Golf, and it was acting funny from the start. It stalled when the clutch was almost fully depressed and the gears would grind even when the clutch was fully depressed. At first I dismissed the stalling as learning a new cars behavior. But after only driving the vehicle for 9km, the clutch burnt out leaving me stranded. Keep in mind I have years of experience on a stick shift as it was the first car I learned how to drive. I filled out an incident report and was told I would be contacted within days if there were any issues. I left Ireland for the USA 16 days later. 6 weeks after THAT, I received a bill in the mail. They had already charged my credit card $1801.13!!! This was over 160 euro to tow the vehicle from Dublin to Galway (apparently there are no car shops in the country’s capital?) along with 520 euro for 8 hours of labor, plus parts (another few hundred euro), an a “loss of car hire” fee (88 euro) plus VAT. Even insurance companies get to assess damage before paying. Why wasn’t I afforded this opportunity? I was never given a copy of my statement or given a copy of the investigative report that apparently concluded I was at fault. I was never even notified I was being held liable until after my credit card had been charged. There is no way I burned out a clutch in only 9 km and there is no way it should cost almost $2K to repair. I’m stuck because I can’t fight an international battle. Budget of the U.S says they have no jurisdiction and I’ve called the Ireland Budget HQ directly to no avail. I’ve filed a complaint to the Better Business Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission and have sent certified letters to the car agency. I have also sent two unanswered emails to Emma Curley of Budget in Ballygar, Ireland. For the last month I have been raving about how wonderful Ireland was. So beautiful and everyone was so nice. I even had my coworker convinced she would retire there (she retires next month). People need to be warned of these scams. This has completely ruined my impression of the country and of Budget. To them, $1800 is less than they will lose from my office not renting from them anymore… but to me, $1800 is everything!

By: Kirk M

Kirk M — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 17:05:28 +0000

If this is the same Budget Rental we have in the States it’s about the same thing here. Advertise a rent-a-car for $29.95 per day and you end up paying $75.00 after all is said and done.

As far as this so-called “legal office” is concerned, I’d tell them to go pack sand. I read your car rental post and there’s nothing in what you wrote that suggests slander…just the facts. Unfortunately, unless more folks like yourself start making noise about this particular brand of rental business practice nothing much will change about it.

By: Ireland Land of Shit « Unstranger’s Blog

Ireland Land of Shit « Unstranger’s Blog — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 17:39:43 +0000

[...] http://blog.doneganlandscaping.com/2009/02/11/more-car-hire-trouble/ [...]

By: TheChrisD - Rant Central » Rants » Random Shit - 13th February

TheChrisD - Rant Central » Rants » Random Shit - 13th February — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 17:23:19 +0000

[...] will Internet morons learn that you can’t exactly send a fake e-mail telling someone to take a post down and expect them to [...]

By: Budget Car Rental Deny Threatening Customer–Bock The Robber

Budget Car Rental Deny Threatening Customer–Bock The Robber — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 16:57:39 +0000

[...] Peter wrote about this here, a full year ago. And then, a few days ago, he received a very intimidating call from somebody purporting to be a lawyer acting on behalf of Budget Car Rental. This individual gave Peter 48 hours to take down his post, causing him great worry and distress in the process. He wrote about it here. [...]

By: nick

nick — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 13:47:26 +0000

And now thanks to Grandad and the legal office the world and her husband is reading your blog and finding out exactly what greedy, deceitful little toerags Budget Car Hire were on this particular occasion. My next car rental will absolutely not be from Budget.

By: Head Rambles » Blog Archive » Budget Car Rentals and a case of inflation

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 12:10:27 +0000

[...] So why is he now receiving threatening phone calls? [...]

By: It’d Drive You To Blogging… « The Pointy Adventures Of Jean-Claude Supremo

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 12:06:16 +0000

[...] Drive You To Blogging… The latest in Peter D’s saga continues today as the story is taken up [...]

By: Darragh

Darragh — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 10:49:44 +0000

Peter, have you got the name of anyone in Budget that’s responsible for web? I have no problem giving them a call for you. Give me a shout.

By: Are Budget Car Rental ireland A Bunch of Gobshites Or Not? Time Will Tell.–Bock The Robber

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 18:07:31 +0000

[...] man who hired the car is Peter Donegan, a landscape gardener. Visit his site and see what you think. Well done to Rick for [...]

By: Bock the Robber

Bock the Robber — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 17:37:46 +0000

I love it. Another crowd of arrogant gobshites trying to intimidate people with empty legal threats.

Love it!

Keep up the good work.

One of our people has sent the following email to Budget.ie and I’ll keep you informed of any replies, if I receive:

We are one of the most widely-read websites in Ireland and we intend to run an article about your company in the coming week, ridiculing your stupidity.

As part of our continuing series on companies issuing empty legal threats, we’re preparing a piece on the legal threats that have been issued to Peter Donegan Limited for complaining about your pricing policy.

We are now offering you an opportunity to supply a comment in advance.

Best wishes …

We’ll see what they say. Gobshites.

By: Not Today « The Pointy Adventures Of Jean-Claude Supremo

Not Today « The Pointy Adventures Of Jean-Claude Supremo — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:19:30 +0000

[...] Peter is being threatened over a post he’s written [...]

By: Budget Car Rental - Say hello to my little friend | Joe Scanlon

Budget Car Rental - Say hello to my little friend | Joe Scanlon — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 13:59:49 +0000

[...] wait, yesterday Peter received a phone call demanding that the post be taken down within 48 hours. They’ve gone all mafia like over in Budget Car Rental don’t ya [...]

By: Paddy

Paddy — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 12:43:19 +0000

Hey man… Sorry the trouble. Well… All I can say is… I’m willing you some support…

Paddy

By: donna m

donna m — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 00:28:05 +0000

i posted at twitter but i think you missed it.. is there not a local newspaper or tv station news person who does consumer reporting? we have one here – a watchdog they call him, and often when people are hassled or ripped off by stores and shops, they get him on the story and things are resolved quickly. Companies hate negative publicity.

just a byline – this sort of advertising is 100% common here in North America and we just accept it as being wrong – good on you for not!

By: Susan

Susan — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 20:04:59 +0000

That’s funny–I’d forgotten all about that post and now here it is with attention drawn to it again, by themselves! Oh good job.

But there’s nothing untrue in your previous post, and many commenters experienced similar problems with that company, so what grounds to do they have to ask you to remove it? That’s crap. I’d be tempted to tell them that if they threaten me, I’ll go to the newspapers.

If the rental car company has a problem with people feeling ripped off, they should advertise more carefully. As you made clear in the original post, charging €78 isn’t a problem: but IT IS a problem when you’ve advertised “€30″.

Well good luck. Did you reply?