Dishonest company and horrible experience

Dishonest company and horrible experience

This one star review is based on the service experienced around the rental. I rented a Ferrari 488 Spyder in Florence. The 24 hour rental period and car were fine. The issues are the events around the rental period:

Apex contacted me the night before delivery saying my card was declined, but there were no attempted charges on my card when I called my bank. This caused international charges in additional to time wasted and worry surrounding my plans collapsing. I got a hold of Apex, and they said that the charges can be completed with the rental company (as apex is simply a booking company).

When the car was picked up, the pick up driver was there early and pressured us to give up the rental before the time was up (we wanted to take a quick morning drive). He ultimately agreed to letting us complete our 24 hour period. When doing the final check, we noted marks on the side skirt of the car - rubber markings that easily rubbed off using my finger (similar to rubber markings on a basketball court from shoes). While I was cleaning these off, the man insisted I stop, regardless of the fact that they were all rubbing off. He then took a video as "evidence" of damage. He told me he was going to take the car to get buffed out and confirmed that this will not be filed under damage as he was able to see that the marks rubbed off easily with my fingers. I reluctantly agreed, but he was very pushy. I also did not receive my final paperwork or sign any documents that agree that there were damages.

Also of note, we were going to be 100 km over our prepurchased km. I called apex and confirmed a purchase for the extra km. Days later I receive an email saying there were almost 6K euro in damages and I was almost 200 km over my allotted km. The phone call I made was at 630 am, 2 hours before our pickup to purchase the additional km. I wouldn’t buy only 100 km if I was 200 km over. Additionally, the only evidence they sent regarding the damages were a removed side skirt and the car on a lift. No real evidence of damage (besides the video mentioned above) or of any work being done. Furthermore, the "video evidence" shows additional rubber marks on the door, but no mention of the door needing work, which is curious.

I tried to fix this with Apex who gave me the run around and said they are just the booking company, have nothing to do with the deposit and will to contact the rental company. Weeks passed and no updates. I felt out of options, so I went through my banks claims department.

I filed a claim with my fraud department, hoping they would investigate as to whether any repairs were made. The claims department is only interested in whether the charge was authorized by me. Since the charge (security deposit) was authorized initially, the case was closed and the funds were released on April 4th, 2019. My bank said that discussion would need to happen directly with the company.

Since April, I’ve tried to get a refund of my balance of the security deposit at the least. I have written off the false claims they have made and chalked them up as money I’ll never see again, but the balance of my security deposit should be refunded. It is almost 6 months now since funds have been released. I have inquired many times with apex and the rental company, who keep telling me that the funds have not been released and they will look into it. I email them monthly and get the same reply - “we will look into it and get back to you.” Nobody gets back to me. I send follow up emails that sometimes get responses and sometimes don’t.

I’m concerned I won’t see the balance of my security deposit either. I am writing this review to warn about the way that this company operates. Until I got the car, they were on top of responding. Once this issue started, I felt abandoned by Apex (who should be customer advocates to their rental partners). I chose Apex vs other rental agencies were because they had good ratings and offered the best price but in hindsight I wish I payed more upfront from a more reputable company because I would have saved a lot of headache.