Stressful!

Counter staff tried to pressure me to buy additional insurance which I had already purchased in the uk. I was also told that if the car broke down or I was involved in an accident there was no breakdown or recovery included in the rental. In her words ‘ you are on your own’. The car had a lot of dents and scratches and the interior was dirty. The woman in the pick up cabin was not interested in helping me to identify all of the damage on the car bodywork when I collect the car.

Terrible service, car picked up at night, dirty, staff not even willing to show us where the car was ( used the key and light car to find it), won’t go back!

ACE in Bordeaux is Gold Car, a company I avoided, despite being cheaper, due to its very poor reviews. It took over 2 hours to collect the car. Car received had class 1 damage, with very few panels not damaged. Drop off took around 15 mins. Gold Car have offered compensation for delay, before I have complained, of 1 days rental. However, my final invoice has shown no credit. We shall see.

The wait on arrival was excessive, I don't expect to wait over 90 mins in a queue for a pre-booked car. The woman at the drop off was rude and unhelpful when I asked about the excess I had but on my card. ACE would not accept American express for the final payment or the excess ( I had a separate insurance for this) and I had to put it on my debit card which cost me money and I have to wait 8 days to get it back but that was difficult to find out as they told me it would be sorted out when I returned and then they were rude at the drop off when I asked about it and I had to go back into the terminal desk. There was a queue and I had to get a flight but the girl just said I had to wait till they pay it back.

The booking platform was fine

The sign at Bordeaux Airport for ACE car rentals was a tiny A4 piece of paper with no other directions. Wait time at the desk was 10minutes yet took over 3hrs to get all the cars for my party! Was given 3 different cars, the children seats I had pre booked weren't available and as a result was pulled over by the police which was a horrific experience for my 18month old daughter. We were asked for a 1,400 Euro deposit each for each car which was news to us. Having finally paid everything and gotten our cars after multiple changes and a police stop (they wanted to make us get taxis for the kids) we were on our way. 2 out 3 cars we didn't fill up on return and were fined 50 euros per car atop the petrol cost. 1 car was filled up but apparently 4 euros short of a full tank and an additional 50 euro charge was placed on our card a week later (having agreed at the drop off the tank was full). Bottom line is this was the worst experience of my life and thing ACE and all their staff should be ashamed of themselves.