Bad Cars, Worse Service

Woodford was by far the worst car rental experience I've ever had. I wish I could give it zero (or even negative) stars.

The problems started from the get-go. Even though I pre-paid, they charged me for the full price of the reservation when I arrived at the counter. Luckily I caught it and called it out. Because of the generally positive reviews, I gave them the benefit of the doubt here - everyone makes mistakes.

But when we got to the car, the representative at the lot was rude and aggressive saying our luggage wouldn't fit with the car we booked, and insisted that we upgrade. Was it complimentary? Of course not! They just wanted more money. Guess what? It all fit.

The car itself was fine - had a bit of a musky smell inside but we put up with it. After driving it for a day, the next afternoon the car wouldn't turn over/start. All the dashboard lights turned on so a dead battery was ruled out. When I called for assistance, instead of sending someone to help right away, they had me troubleshoot the same thing over and over again, even though it clearly wasn't working. They eventually agreed to send a new car, but that took several more hours. Nearly 5 hours had passed from the time I initially reached out for help to the time I got the new car. Luckily I was parked at the hotel garage, but what if I was out somewhere? Would they have stranded me in the dark for 5 hours? Once the new car arrived, I didn't bother taking it out since it was already late. It gets worse.

The car that took 5 hours to get to us the previous night? It had a flat! They replaced a car that wouldn't start with a car that had a flat tire. Unwilling to wait another 5 hours, I drove this one to their City Centre branch. Initially they wouldn't exchange the car because they didn't have the same car available, but eventually they obliged after sensing how incensed I was. As I said to them, they were single-handedly ruining my vacation.

The rest of the trip went without a hitch (thankfully) but after I returned the car, I asked for a partial refund to make up for the defective cars and awful service. At first they would only offer a voucher for future use (as if I would want to use their terrible service again) but when I declined they offered a feeble 10% refund which I accepted. Fast forward a month, I still hadn't received the refund so I followed up, and it turns out they can't process the refund because I booked through a third party - even though they were able to refund me for the mistake charge from the first day.

You would think after giving me two defective cars they would be more helpful, but nope - somehow the customer service was even worse than the cars. Woodford was easily the worst part about my trip to Cape Town - AND I HAD FOOD POISONING!