Sol-Mar

Booked a ford focus through economybookings only to be told a few days ago Solmar have gone bust...Economy Bookings offered us a smaller car a Corsa for more than we paid and more than they were offering on their website..Charlatons..with 24 hrs to go we're left with little option than to pay it..if anyone knows the legal options we have please let me know...we are UK based family.

1- they were extremely late to pick us up from the airport: they said it was the traffic but there was no traffic at all! It took them 35 minutes and there is 5 min trip 2- the manager is extremely rude and impolite. He claims himself to be the boss there and if you're not happy you get the f. Out of here as he is not going to rent you any car. 3- there was a problem with our booking and not only he couldn't find any good solution but he said the only way was to pay 200euros extra for a double insurance. 4- from 15 days rental you need a flight ticket as apparently some people take their cars, my mother is leaving in barcelona so she doesn't have any flight ticket as she wasn't going anywhere!! I was the one flying back and they didn't accept!!!! 5- they didn't want to do any modification, change, refund or give us an option 6- we had to leave the place without a car and all the luggage which was heavy enough, they didn't want to call any taxi service after asking them 7- the car we booked was a golf 7 or similar, they wanted to give us at the beginning a kia ceed which was also scratched on the sides 8-the clients in front of me where saying: " stop taking my money and give me a car after 1 hour waiting" 9- another client had to check the car as they were some scratches whitch didn't appear on the contract! Such a rip off!!!!! 10- the place is a container in the middle of nothing with no premium brands at all! Be aware of these people, there are a lot of complaints, don't let them seduct you by their prices

Booked reputably thru Expedia (and they have been very good with this sad experience so far) On my manifest it said that the car would be delivered to the airport door at Gerona, Es (interesting seeing as airport security informed me that this was not allowed!) Rang the direct contact number after waiting 1 hour in the blazing Spanish heat and was then told to collect the car myself from their compound on the other side of the airport. Tried to sell me the whopping insurance package and I said "Non" then told me that I'd get a free upgrade to a luxury model (I still said "Non") and then rather coincidentally, my pre-booked car wasn't available. As the clerk proceeded to complete the hire documents for my un-booked Corsa, I asked for an inspection of said car. It had been previously vandalised, was covered in graffiti which looked offensive and I genuinely thought she was joking (she wasn't.) When I said that I didn't like the car and would go for the upgrade, that offer was declined. (Easter Sunday,stuck at the airport and no car - already paid for mind!) I could go on with this saga but I'm getting angry writing this so my advice is as per the title box.

we used solmar for the first time having recently had a deposit return issue with dickmans Alicante, big mistake! on arrival we were asked to use companys own insurance and declined as usual for us, we were then surprised to see the clerk with a bomb search mirror check the car over and as such we pointed out as many marks and scratches as we could find please bear in mind these were numerous. On return same clerk avoided office and phone until back up arrived then proceeded to check car until finding mark not listed even though definetly pointed out on our inspection, this mark was on passenger side door handle and the size of a grain of rice, she then stopped searching and headed to office to charge us £110 for repair bill bearing in mind the amount of marks on car it was obviously a ploy to rip off people awaiting a plane. These (un-allowed word) merchants need to be avoided only given 1 star rating as couldn't give zero

Everything began with the booking through the internet. We took full insurance for the car just to be sure that there will be no problem during holidays in Spain. Full insurance is an extra service, so we had to pay extra money. When we came to Solmar office at Barcelona Airport, employees of Solmar said that we have only normal insurance, about extra payment they do not know anything. When we tried to get an information how it could happen, they were so rude and angry with us: they tried to shut us up and then even did not talk with us. We called a number in our contract, it was customer service office in London (extra money for this phone call!!!), where very kind woman explained that with Solmar we don' t have full insurance but a third company insured us completely, so we do not have to worry. why??? Why this information was not written anywhere??? Why Solmar staff could not explain this to us? - we are sure that they knew it because customer survice woman told that it is not for the first time with Solmar.

The second thing was while checking the car for damages to put them to the contract before we took it. Solmar just did not want to do this. They gave us clean paper and said that there is no damages! Really? When we checked we found 15 points to put to the contract!!! 15!!!! And if we did not do it, they would ask for a big money at the end! - one little scratch costed already 300€.

The third thing was when we returned the car. If at the beginning they did not want to check anything, than at the end they looked even under the car!!! Solmar was checking the car around one hour and tried to find something. But they did not and we were happy to say goodbye to them and never see them again!

We returned home BUT after 2 months from our bank account Solmar took 80€! Can you image???? Just took without any notification! The day after we got a letter that to their address came a bill for wrong parking and we have to pay it: the bill was for 25€. We sent an email to Solmar with the question why they took 80€ and which right do they have to take something from our credit card but of course they never answered.

So, RUN run away from Solmar and never even talk to them!

We hired a car from this rip off merchant. When we arrived at their office we had to wait an hour before being attended to. We were asked to pay 1,178 euros, even though we had paid rental cars on line for the car. We explained that we had already paid on line and after discussing this with her colleague she said ok only 1,000 excess plus their insurance. We said we were fully covered by insurance taken out by rental cars but she said this didn't count!

We paid the 1,000 euros and looked round the car. We did not look behind the wing mirrors unfortunately, because when we took the car back we were told after scrutiny that there was a tiny scratch on the back of the wing mirror! and would cost us 107 euros to be repaired!. We had to pay the money. I took a picture of the tiny scratch with my camera. We are hoping to get the money back from rental cars.

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. If I could have given them -1 I would have on the rating. DISGUSTED.

Having used sol mar Alicante many times in the past it appears they too are resorting to dirty tactics to take your money. I like many other people nowadays have annual hire car excess insurance so decline the hire companies extortionate 'super cover' Their latest sham is to try your credit card to block the insurance excess but cancel the transaction mid flow and say that your card does not work and that you can only use a different credit card than the one that car hire was booked with if you pay the extortionate extra insurance. Even if your partner has their own card on the same account they will say that the booking was not in their name so you must still pay the extra insurance! This of course is a lie to take more money from you.

I have now added solmar to the dishonest list along with dickmanns and firefly who I will never use again.

Arrived after 11pm at night. I recorded everything on my iPad upon picking the car up and upon returning the car back. Ok, so the guy at SOLMAR checked the car in the pitch black. I asked him to check underneath the car with a mirror. He point blank refused. I had him write on our paperwork not checked. As if any damage we did not want to be held responsible. So he wrote not checked with mirror underneath. So that was fine, signed for the car. 1 month later we returned the car. Now bare in mind I had made a video before. A different staff member at this company went straight to the back on the car and said yes damage I am charging you. He went to the front of the car and checked underneath and said yes damage. I said I made a video before accepting the car. Please watch it, He wasn't having none of it. Bottom line is he charged nearly 300 euros. The second I stepped in the office I was recording everything on my iPad just in case. Once I told him I was recording for my records after he said he was charging me for the damage, he lunged at me and tried to snatch my iPad off me. If you want to be attacked and ripped off use this company. It's as simple as that. If you rent a car after my review you are making a mistake! First and last time I will use this company. I have my video evidence which I have now put the amount in dispute with my bank. I am really annoyed with the guy. He wasn't listening and didn't want to know what I had recorded when picking the car up. Once my bank sorts it out I am posting the 2 videos on YouTube. I'm going to name and shame these fools. Do not use this company!!!!! Avoid at all costs. Oh and the car had a lot of damage on it already!

After using SOLMAR quite a number of times, I recently had the misfortune of being ripped of by them. All because I didn't take out their insurance, I picked up the car and a new employee OLGA gave me the paperwork and highlighted there was some very minor damage/scratches to the vehicle, I checked the car over and identified other damage which I brought to her attention and she amended the paperwork. On returning the vehicle which had no further damage she proceeded to scrutinise the vehicle and insisted there was additional marks on the car, which clearly there was not. During this time another customer who had just collected his car and was checking for damage before driving off and she was shouting at him. Her embarrassed colleague quickly left. As I had a plane to catch I took photos of the vehicle but had to pay for damage that she insisted was there and clearly was not. Any reputation this company had will soon be dragged down by this employee. I do not intend to use this company ever again, would not recommend it to anyone and would strongly advise others not to it.

Have been hiring cars in Spain for 12 years. Never experienced anything so frustrating and criminal as using Solmar. They run a sham to make you take their extra insurance (which is not necessary). This works by refusing your credit cards saying your bank has rejected them. You are then asked to pay using a debit card but this requires taking their extra insurance. The result is you pay almost three times the amount you would have paid had you been able to use your credit card. Couple this with the rude and ignorant staff, the location of their pick up and drop off points( which are not within miles of the airport) and this becomes the most unpleasant time consuming experience. So for anyone thinking of using this company, please do not. You will regret it. This company doesn't deserve the privilege to serve the public and are constantly ripping innocent people off. When we returned home and spoke to our bank, they confirmed our credit cards were good and should have been accepted. The banks security department are now looking into the our transaction with this company. BEWARE!!!!!!!!