Dukey

Kristen

I am certain your taking the time to post all of this information will end up being just as helpful to people as some others are.

In a way it is just as interesting to read this sort of thing as knowing about someone's fabulous "bomba suprise" dessert they found in that cute little restaurant out in where God- Lost-His-Shoes, France.

Yes, you are important and no, you haven't done/not done anything a lot of the rest of us haven't also done/not done...we just weren't as willing to admit it.

nanabee

Your cautionary tale is exactly why I use this Fodors site in the first place!! This is the kind of imformation we need to discuss because we can't get it reading guide books. Word of mouth is extremely important.

fopgolf

I have to readily agree with Kristen...DO NOT USE DAN DOOLEY!!!

We booked our vacation through DooleyVacations...and were coincidentally given Dan Dooley as our car rental company...yes they are associated. Our time in Ireland was great, fantastic, no issues except...dealing with the rental car company. Upon arriving in Dublin after a long overnight of travel, we were greeted by a less than helpful agent. To make a long story short, we did not purchase the extra insurance since our original vacation was booked with a Capital One Mastercard. It was pouring down rain when we got our car, so if the "nick" in the windshield was there when we got the car, we didn't see it. We noticed it either later in the day or the very next day...anyway since it's not a big deal in the states we didn't fret it. When we returned the car, we were advised that the windshield would have to be replaced! Believe me, this is one of those small nicks caused by a pebble flying up or whatever that here in the states, they fill and iron out for about 50 bucks. But according to Dooley, the entire windscreen has to be replaced and guess what? The CDW does not cover "windscreens" and even if we had purchased the extra coverage would STILL not have covered it. The cost...800.00 US Dollars!!! Imagine...had we played pinball with cars and walls and driven off a cliff...no problem you're covered...but that little nick in the windshield, no way! Calls to Dooley Vacation customer service (and I use that term lightly) were less than helpful...I received a lot of "you should have done this..." and "didn't you do that..." and "when I rent cars I always...." What happened to "i'm sorry this happened...let me see what we can do.." After paying thousands of dollars for a vacation package, a compromise of some sort would have been nice. Anyway, we are hopeful that MasterCard will come through with the coverage, but from a customer service standpoint, I do not recommend Dan Dooley Rental or Dooley Vacations for that matter.

janisj

sorry you had such a bad experience -- but saying &quot;that isn't the way we do things in the States&quot; really isn't relevant. In fact, tires and glass usually aren't covered in Ireland. That is why it is VERY important to know what your insurance coverage is <u>before </u>heading off in the car.

Something similar could have happened w/ any car rental agency in Ireland since the coverage is pretty much the same from company to company.

daveesl

I thank Kristen for this post. So what if she registered to tell us about this. She went into great detail and even accepted much of the blame.

Thanks Kristen, reviews are important and as always people should consider the review and the reasons behind it, whether good or bad.

dave

janisj

my last post was directed to fopgolf who topped this older thread . . . .

Micheline

So far just in this post 3 people have had problems with renting from Dan Dooley. Thanks for posting Kristen.

easytraveler

Kristen: thanks for posting this warning. Last time, which is several years ago now, I was thinking of renting from Dan Dooley, but now reading your post, am grateful I didn't. Car problems just are magnified when in a foreign country.

Otherwise, I'm with PalenQ on this one: it's one thing to give a customer a bad car in the beginning, but it's really inexcusable not to try and make things right AFTERWARDS. The follow-on customer service is probably even more important than the initial rental.

I always try to ask for a car with low mileage. Don't care what car model they give me, so long as it has less mileage, the fewer the better.

Last time that I took a rental car with close to 60,000 miles on it (&quot;nothing else is available&quot was a couple of months ago out in the Southwest. Halfway to Tucson, the engine started behaving weirdly and funny noises started, increasing in volume the more I drove that car. I went to change the car at the Tucson agency and was given all sorts of excuses. So I just sat there and said: &quot;No way am I going to drive hundreds of miles in the desert at night with THAT thing.&quot; After about a couple of hours of mock phone calls back and forth when I'm convinced that the two agents, one at the agency that had rented the car to me and one at the Tucson end, were pretending to try to take care of my problem, they finally relented because I started making phone calls on my own and started calling as high up as possible. Gave me a beautiful new car!

Car rental companies should really realize that renting out poorly functioning cars is a lose-lose proposition all around.

janisj

Kristen hasn't been back on Fodors since june 12 - doubtful she is seeing your messages . . . . .

johngerard

If the car with the chipped windscreen is still being used then everyone who has used it since or before you may be getting billed for the same fault. This ploy has been highlighted on TV on numerous occassions. It is hard to drive in Ireland without getting chipped.
I'm not sure how you could check on this short of having their books investigated - a fodor sleuth could maybe drive by on the off chance the car was there to check for you.

tower

Kristen:

Although I have rented from Dan D, three times, and had complete satisfaction each time, I understand your dilemma...and yes, of course it is quite helpful to report these disasters on Fodors..everyone will make up their own minds on it anyway.

The only time we were happy to have a wreck of a car was on our first visit to Morocco. Driving on dirt/gravel roads, and up into the Atlas mts. we had windshield chps to add to the many that we were already there...we had made a note of all the flaws before we left Fes and the agent gave us our copy..he laughed and said..&quot;you will bring this car back with many more dents and window cracks&quot;..he was right. It, too, was a Renault with 50,000kms, and on the spot the agent reduced our rental agreement by 25%. It behaved quite well throughout the 2,000 kms we drove, and I must admit, there was a certain peace of mind to it all.

Stu T.

tower

P.S. the agency was Budget.

fopgolf

For janisj...

The information I was giving was for information purposes to be forwarned. I understand why tires (You could run over something avoidable) or mirrors (you sideswipe something) are different but a chip in the windshield is hard to blame on the driver...which is why regular insurance companies cover this as COMPREHENSIVE at $50 or $100 deductables. Should be the cost of doing business for the rental companies.
My major complaint is with the customer service provided by Dan Dooley rentals and Dooley Vacations....the latter of which is based here in the states, by the way.

samandjessie

Actually, after reading this ladies post, I think she is full of crap. The facts just don't add up, or she was so jet-lagged she didn't need to be renting a car in the first place.

easytraveler

This thread is five years old.