Gary L.

Car rental at Heraklion airport - Crete - Caldera car rental company. I ordered the car through EconomyBookings.com. When ordering the car on the internet, I requested to return the car at 7:00 AM. No additional charged were requested. At the car pick up, the Caldera representative told me that they open up at 8:00 AM and if I wanted that a Caldera representative will check the returned car at 7:00 AM I will need to pay an additional 25 EUR. Otherwise, he offered me to pay full coverage insurance of 100 EUR which will allow me to leave the car without being checked. I had my own insurance, and I also remembered that on the Economy booking website the insurance cost around only 60 EUR. So I paid the additional 25 EUR.
Later, I called the local main office and told them I was requested to pay an additional 25 EUR. The office told me that I should receive the 25 EUR back when I will return the car. I gave them a notice that I may return the car a day before and they agreed to that. They said the person at Calder will know to give my back the 25 EUR.
I returned the car a day early. The Caldera representative was the same person who gave me the car at pick up. I mentioned to him that they owe me 25 EUR. He said he knew nothing about it and that in any case he does not have cash and will not give me from his own cash. I called the local main office who spoke with the Caldera representative, after which he, very reluctantly paid me the 25 EUR, saying that he has only 30 EUR and if I do not have 5 EUR change he will not pay.
Other than the above annoying experience, there were other problems:
I ordered a five-door car and received a 4 door car; that is the baggage compartment did not open all the way up like in a 5 door car. The Caldera representative argued that any car is a 5 door and so is mine.
Another problem was that I specifically asked the Caldera representative what is the 24-hour road assistance phone number. He pointed at a number that turned out to be of the main office which is open between 8:00 AM 11:00 PM.
Additionally, the car's driving did not feel smooth. It seemed that the Peugeot car was with fair condition in terms of the automatic gear performance. Perhaps it was the car's original performance and perhaps it was because of being a rental car. Either way, it felt not so much worth the money paid.
Also, Economy booking are also hard to get on the phone.