I have never had a worse experience with a company :(. I am a person who isn't hard to please. I wanted to give my business to a local company, and honestly I am SO disappointed to have to write this review. I wish I could give ZERO stars.
I left 3 voicemails prior to my trip,trying to confirm my booking. I got no reply. I got an automated confirmation text the day before my booking, so I just hoped for the best that all was good. When I arrived to pick my car up, it was BLOCKED,by a big red truck, parked cross- wise in front of my car. I immediately called and texted the one number I had for Kauai Rent a Car. No response (as had been the case over the past 3 days). I ended up having to physically MOVE (with help from A kind stranger) A large and HEAVY tent structure, over about 2 feet to the left, which gave me *just* enough room to squeeze the car out from behind the truck that was in front of it. If I was not a super resourceful person, or just not physically fit enough to do this, I would have had to rent another vehicle at another company, which obviously would have cost me more money. So right there I would have been entitled to a refund, but I didn't even ask for one, because hey , I managed to get the car out,right? Like I said, I'm easy to please.
My negative feelings could have been assuaged at this point, however, it gets worse. When Elise finally texted me back, instead of being apologetic, she actually *scolded* me for the fact that it was "after midnight" and said she "doesn't answer emails or phone calls only texts" and she "turns her phone off after midnight". I picked up my car at 7:30 PM KAUAI TIME. She informed me she was on the mainland, for her father in laws funeral, and so she "wasn't answering calls".
A) how was I supposed to know she wasn't in Kauai??
B) She had not informed me, nor put up any kind of notification on the website that she would only be responding to TEXTS.
C) I absolutely sympathize for your loss (which I very kindly told her), but what kind of business doesn't PUT SOMEONE ON THEIR PHONE and EMAIL to answer customers, while they are away dealing with a family emergency? Especially a CAR RENTAL company where there can be mechanical breakdowns, emergencies etc??
I cannot tell you how Elise's replies disappointed me. She actually told me she "didn't appreciate (me) saying I was 'disappointed in the lack of communication' from her, and again tried to make me feel bad for disturbing her "after hours".
I was ready to let all this go,and just get on with my vacation. But then,we discovered that Kauai RAC had also given us the WRONG rental equipment. We had rented two SUP's from them, to do a river paddle on our last day in Kauai. We didn't notice that both the big bags in the back of our rental car,we're not both SUP's, until the last morning of our trip. Again - remember that when we arrived we had to deal with the utter chaos of trying to even GET OUR RENTAL CAR OUT, with the truck blocking it!! So being exhausted after all that, we just did a quick visual check that there were two SUP (we assumed) bags in the back of the car. But when we went to take them out the morning of our river paddle, we discovered that one of them was a large double Kayak.
I texted Elise to inform her that she gave us not two SUP's but one SUP and a double Kayak. I asked for a refund for both, because frankly, we are SUP people and we don't kayak. Also, my friend has certain mobility issues that make it hard for her to sit for that long in a kayak, that's why we both like to SUP. And that's WHAT WE ORDERED.
Elise responded to my request telling me that the kayak was "an upgrade", that it was better then the SUP,and that "we could've paddled down the river in the kayak,many people do It's faster." I don't care if it's an upgrade, I didn't order a double Kayak! I mean, the absolute lack of ANY accountability for mistakes that THEY made, was mind boggling to me. Elise proceeded to tell me there would be NO refund, even for the ONE SUP that we didn't get. I am floored. She said that "because we didn't inform them about the SUP's until the last day of your booking, we cannot refund you for the equipment". So basically - YOU gave me the wrong equipment, I did not get the second SUP that I ordered and paid for,but you can't give me a refund?? Because I didn't inform you earlier? This is absolutely ludicrous.
If you want a nice relaxing vacation, and you want to be sure you actually get what you paid for, PLEASE DON'T USE KAUAI RENT A CAR. Rent from another local company that actually cares about their customers, it just play it safe with one of the big rental car places. read more