I booked and paid for a car with Holiday Autos in the UK, to collect from from Mahon airport. They passed it to ATESA . ATESA said they didn’t have one for me and I’d have to rent(and pay) for one elsewhere!

I asked for the Hojas de Reclamaciones, but it was never forthcoming.

I’d presume that’s an even greater offense?

Any suggestions as to how I escalate it would be appreciated.

Dont know all of the circumstances obviously but it seems your complaint should be lodged
against Holiday Autos rather than ATESA.

ATESA are the rental and leasing branch of Citroen and a well respected organisation here in Spain.

Knowing the track record of Holiday Autos I wish you the best of luck…

Why oh why do people insist on using 3rd party agents for car hire; at best they are a bunch of sharks. Generally speaking the savings to be made are minimal and as your case seems to indicate when things go wrong you are left up the creek without the proverbial paddle.

Always, always, deal with the rental companies directly, and stick with the majors, talk to the organ-grinder not the agency hired bloomin’ monkey who is normally hundreds of miles away and interested only in getting as much commission as possible…

Sorry this is probably not what you wanted to hear, but it happens time and time again.

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Thanks for the reply.

I used Holiday Autos as I’d trouble with Spanish companies in the past and they had good reviews!

I’ve no problem getting my money back, my bank’s onto that.

I just wondered if it was worth reporting ATESA to the Spanish equivalent of trading standards (or whoever’s responsible) for not producing the Hojas de Reclamaciones when requested.

Speaking purely from a personal standpoint I’d be inclined to let it go; as I said I suspect your complaint should be against Holiday Autos rather than ATESA,

However, if you consider that the error was definitely on the part of ATESA, then independent Spanish Consumers Association might be worth contacting.

Take a look at

[ur]http://www.facua.org/es/english.php[/url]

and

http://www.facua.org/es/guia.php?Id=108

If your Spanish is not up to scratch then for the second item, copy / paste the url into google Translate specifying Spanish to English, click on the url translation and the page will be translated into approximate English.

Hope this helps.

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BT.. sorry to hear you arrived and no car!!!

If a co refuses to produce the hoja/libro.. then you are entitled to call the police - who will act as witnesses/ensure the book is then produced….

I am not sure how it works tho if the co originally booked with (and maybe the contract is with them??? Altho I know 3rd parties usually pass over the contract T’s&C’s to the final supplier).... Best get on Trip advisor and warn others!!!