If you don’t want to lose your money & have to experience absolutely awful customer service, then avoid using Argus.
We booked through their site for our holiday to Lanzarote last month. The rental company in question was TurisPrime, which is equally shambolic as this comparison site, Argus.
I made our reservation to collect the car at 18:00, not thinking too much about whether we would be a little after this time because of delays getting through the airport. I’m aware that rental companies will often charge you if you drop the car back to them after the allotted time slot, so didn’t give the pick-up time too much thought.
We arrived at the hire ‘desk’ (you cannot actually call this a desk, it was an unbranded shelter in the corner of the exterior car park) at 18:10 to be told by a representative from another company that had also had their desk set up in this shelter that TurisPrime close at exactly 18:00. Obviously very shocked to hear this, we then tried phoning the number provided by TurisPrime countless times but there was no answer.
Unsure what to do it this point, we eventually managed to contact Argus via an online chat who were not helpful in the slightest. Their best suggestion we make another booking through them on the spot, which we would be charged for! Needless to say we did not take them on up this, asked them to raise a complaint, organise our refund & we went in to the terminal & used one of the reputable companies that had a car available, which inevitably cost us a lot more money.
Over the course of the following few days, at the start of our holiday I then began email communication with Argus, stating clearly that I wanted my original booking refunded, I wanted to be compensated for the extra money we had to pay for being forced to hire a car on the day of arrival, & that I would appreciate some kind of goodwill gesture.
It took approximately 1 month for my refund to be agreed to, with no mention of compensation/goodwill.
I then responded to the representative I had been dealing to query the compensation (including screen shots of my credit card statement) but heard nothing back. Eventually after trying all avenues I could to keep escalating my complaint I heard back from someone who said they had reviewed my case but no offer of compensation would be made & they consider the matter closed.
I asked for this to be escalated to a senior manager, to which this person informed me they were as senior as my complaint could go.
On 3 separate emails I then asked this person, as a senior representative of Argus to confirm to me in writing whether they consider good & fair practice to offer a car hire collection at 18:00 & have the desk close exactly at 18:00, offering no back-up plan should you arrive late (i.e. the keys being left with another company, a phone number to contact where someone would actually answer etc).
Every single time this was ignored, & believe it or not when you search using the Argus website it continues to give you this option for future bookings.
I simply cannot fathom how something so illogical was allowed to happen & continues to be allowed to happen, & the icing on the cake being their truly awful attempt at customer service.
So my best advice is to avoid using this shambolic company at all costs, & stick with a more reliable/well-known brand.
Update to my review in response to the reply received from Argus;
FAO Ahlam - No, I can assure you that I do not understand your position on this matter in the slightest.
Now that we're in dialogue, perhaps you'd be so kind as to answer my question (at the 4th time of me asking). As a representative of Argus, do you consider it good & fair practice to accept customer bookings for 18:00, when the hire desk closes at exactly 18:00?
