Well this is my Royal experience:
We decided to switch to Royal from Hertz after they institued their daily airport tax and service also became an issue. First time with Royal, no real problems got an ok car but they were very pleasant and easy to deal with. Picked us up the airport on time. No problem. Second time we dealt with them, car wasn't available that we had ordered so they decided to give us a different car but the back seat was too squishy for our 3 tall sons. We agreed on another car and finally left the lot. Within 5 minutes this car was not performing properly, we called the office...no answer. We called the emergency number....no answer. It was HOURS until we finally got hold of someone. They came by our hotel and traded cars with us the following day.
Despite this, we still rented a car from them this past March but this is where I feel that our relationship may come to an end. We picked up our car and left. Upon arrival to our hotel we noticed that the price on the contract was significantly different from the price quoted via email. The person who did the quote was not available as we called right away. Finally after a few days we connected and were told that it wasn't a problem the original price would be honoured. This was done via email confirmation as well as telephone confirmation. Everything went well until it was time to drop off the car. DH phoned to find out if traveller's cheques would be treated as cash and was told YES. Off he went to drop off car (I was staying in Aruba longer without a car). First, no record of the contract change and the person we needed to confirm was not at work. Then when DH went to pay with Traveller's cheques they said they wouldn't take them. DH was furious as he could have cashed them beforehand but didn't as was told that they would take them as cash. They sorted what to do for the moment and he returned the car with the understanding that the credit card slip would be held and charged the following day when the appropriate person returned and paperwork would be dropped off to me at the hotel. To make a long story short, it took them 2 weeks to bring me the paper work (calling and emailing them every 2nd day to remind them). They finally dropped it off the day before I left. DH asked them to charge us the rate of cash not credit card due to the error of the employee. They agreed to do so but "forgot" to do it in the 2 weeks I was waiting for the paperwork. I have been emailing and trying to sort this one out since my return on March 20th. Numerous emails sent with no response. Finally, at the end of April, I got a response (sort of) as I ended my email stating I am not sure why you are not answering my emails, are you not interested in my continued business? I got a response that my emails were going to spam (after 2 years of doing business with this company and all of a sudden my emails go to spam???). Unfortunately, he didn't answer my enquiries about my refund. I sent another two emails plus send messages through their reservation form online.
You guessed it, no response in weeks!! This has not been resolved to our satisfaction. Although the refund is small it is the principle. I was reluctant to share this story as I had hoped this would have been resolved quickly and I could have continued to deal with them as a customer. However, this has gone on too long and really how can one deal with a business who just ignores the customer once they get your money. This last dealings with Royal has pushed us too far, regretably!
