Goldcar hire firm to stamp out out mis-selling after Sunday Times investigation
New boss: "We definitely have to do a much better job"
THE SPANISH budget hire car firm Goldcar has pledged to reform its business after a Sunday Times investigation uncovered widespread mis-selling that spawned a flood of complaints from dissatisfied customers.
Goldcar’s new operations director Michel Kasfaludi told the newspaper he will put an end to the rogue practices that have rocked the car hire company’s reputation. Examples include charging customers for damage they didn’t cause and not handing over keys to vehicles unless customers pay extra for unnecessary insurance cover.
After being shown a dossier of complaints from Sunday Times readers, Kasfaludi said: I’m kind of overwhelmed. We have to be better.”
He added: “Some of our employees were taking initiatives in ways that are wrong and unethical. For me, what is not acceptable is to become aggressive with the customer, to refuse to hand over cars.”
To reform the business, which operates in Europe and Morocco, staff will undergo a new training programme on acceptable conduct. All Goldcar branch managers will attend a training day at the company’s headquarters in Alicante, Spain later this month, and Kasfaludi told the Sunday Times he wants all staff to be retrained in time for the peak holiday season.
Additional changes include ensuring all contracts for British customers are written in English, ensuring good service from staff with incentives, adding a complaints form to the Goldcar website and using “new video technology” so that customers can document the condition of their hire car when they collect it.
