First Car Rental is the WORST Car Rental

If there was a -10 star rating, that is what I would rate First Car Rental.

I had an experience from hell this morning, trying to get a car that I had booked from this company through Bookings.com. Bookings.com charged me a certain amount for the number of days I was going to need to use the car for, and at no point were all the additional hidden fees and charges displayed when this purchase was completed. The only price that was displayed in big and bold was the amount that I had to pay, and not the hidden costs that I was ambushed with when I arrived at First Car Rental at Lanseria International airport to pick up my car this morning.

Mind you, I made this booking the night before I was meant to pick the car up, and there was no option of cancelling otherwise I would’ve forfeited the payment I had already made. When I arrived at this First Car Rental, I received the shock of my life when a R12,000 deposit was demanded from me… As well as a R3000 petrol deposit. All in all I had to yank R15,000 out of my ass, for an entry-level car that does not even fill up with R1000 worth of petrol. These deposits were conveniently hidden behind multiple hyperlinks on my booking confirmation email, which First Car Rental’s staff themselves were struggling to find while they was scrolling through my phone to find them for me… As if I’m an idiot that doesn’t know how to read! This goes against the TCF requirements of the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008, and to say that I was treated unfairly is a ****** understatement! It took two whole hours of my morning to sort out this nonsense, and I was anxious to get to work and start my day!

To add insult to injury, this car rental company refused to take credit card details without the plastic card being physically present, refused to accept a virtual bank card so that I could tap this entire ludicrous amount and get the hell out of there, and I was stuck having to call my bank and fiddle around with my banking appto increase my POS transactions limits so that they can get their R15,000. Who still uses plastic cards in this digital age???

First car rental is the worst car rental company I have ever dealt with in my entire existence, and I am never using their services for as long as I live!

Members of the public, be warned!!!