My family flew in from Poland for New…
My family flew in from Poland for New Year's and I booked a van through Economy Bookings with full insurance. We picked it up from Cheaper Car Rentals on January 2nd.
The car was unsafe from the start. At pickup, the engine warning light was already on. We were told it had been checked and was fine. It wasn't. The car kept going into limp mode, would stall, the steering shook under braking, and other drivers were honking at us. We contacted the manager the same day. He offered a replacement the next day, but since my family was only here for a short visit, we couldn't afford to lose another day. We agreed to return the car, get a refund, and rent elsewhere — which we did, at our own additional expense. We left the car at Robina Town Centre because we were genuinely scared to keep driving it.
The manager acknowledged the car was faulty. On January 8th, after claiming nothing was wrong with the car initially, they texted: the car died on them twice and it was not our fault. They also confirmed the insurance person would handle it. I agreed to have the $385 insurance excess deducted from the refund for minor curb damage that happened while we were distracted by the car's unsafe condition.
Then the runaround began. I followed up on Jan 12, Jan 15, and Jan 20 — no replies. On February 3rd, the manager finally called and confirmed by phone the $200 bond would be returned and the case was closed. I asked him to confirm this in writing via text — he never did. Instead, he asked to call later, said he was driving, and then stopped responding again.
I drove to their office in person. On February 8th, after being ignored repeatedly, I went to their location at 2/7 Leonard Parade, Currumbin Waters. I spoke with Sebastian, who was helpful and left a note for the manager. The next day, the manager's response was to claim the Privacy Act prevented them from speaking with me because I wasn't the named renter on the contract (my family member Rafal was). He then demanded I bring a document witnessed by a Justice of the Peace before they'd discuss anything further. He also threatened to call the police and have me trespassed if I came back.
On February 10th, they finally said they'd spoken with Economy Bookings and the refund would come through within 7 days, and they'd also emailed Rafal. I apologised for being frustrated and thanked them. I thought it was resolved.
It wasn't. By February 22nd — neither Rafal nor I had received anything. I messaged again. On February 23rd, they asked if we'd contacted Economy Bookings ourselves (we had — no response from them either). On March 3rd, I sent another message with a screenshot of the original $1,592.14 charge. They said they'd forward it to their manager. On March 12th, they said they were still waiting for Economy Cars to reply. By March 20th — silence again.
As of late April 2026, nearly four months later, we still have no refund. The card I used to pay has since expired, making recovery even harder.
To sum up: they rented us a car with a known engine fault, acknowledged it was their fault, verbally promised a refund, went silent for weeks at a time, used the Privacy Act as a deflection tactic, threatened me with police when I showed up in person, then gave us the runaround between themselves and Economy Bookings until we gave up. I paid $1,592.14 and got nothing — no working car, no refund, just months of frustration during what was supposed to be a family holiday.
I run a business myself. When I make a mistake, I fix it at my own cost because that's what you do. This company does not operate that way.