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Illegitimate Business/Scam Artists
Illegitimate Business/Scam Artists (warning: please read before considering to rent from auto union) I rented a van and two other cars from this company by making a reservation online. When I picked up the vehicles at the airport the renter gave us the keys to the van without doing a proper inspection. The individual also failed to explain that the person who was signed on the contract as the primary driver of the vehicle was the only person who could return the vehicle and failure to do so was grand violation of the law. These details didn’t seem relevant upon pick up but was later used as a point of contention later when we dropped off the vehicle. We returned the Van at the airport the following Monday. When I parked the car and exited the vehicle an individual who I had never met yelled at me demanding that I give him the keys. This is a person who I had never seen before and it was not clear that this person worked for auto union. Disgruntled, I was adamant and told him I did not know who he was. He continued to yell at me and then another woman (who I assumed was his wife) sternly demanded that I forfeit my “yellow paper”. She was referring to my carbon copy of the contract that listed the details of my rental. I was very uncomfortable with her demand because I have rented many cars before from many different companies and in different countries and that request had never been asked of me. In the end, this company charged me $250 in “damages” to the side bumper that was non-existent. When I refused to pay, they threatened to call the police because my name wasn’t listed as the primary driver. I told them that upon pick up of the vehicle they never explained to me that was important even though I had driven the other cars and I was the person who initially made the reservation. He responded that the people at Auto Union didn’t have time to tell every single person about this rule. I retorted by stating that if this rule is important enough to have to police called then every customer should know. After I made my point, the auto union worker became very angry and his threats became more harsh. He started yelling and screaming stating that he would make it so the police would be very harsh to me. The reason why they wanted my copy of the rental contract or the “yellow paper” was because they failed to do the inspection and failed to sign the part of the contract indicating where the damages were. If I had forfeited they could have forged any details on it and use it as leverage against me. I took pictures of the car after I dropped it off and took extra pictures of the side bumper and it is very clear that there are no damages there. The only reason why I complied to paying this ridiculous amount of money for no damages was because my newly wedded wife was crying and wanted to leave rental lot and enjoy our last days in Santorini instead of arguing with the Auto Union employees. All in all, I will say. DO NOT USE AUTO UNION. They are scam artists and they will suck out all the money out of you. If you DO NOT PAY they will make your time as stressful and as miserable as possible.