Auckland

I reserved the car for 19:30 and thought there would be some paperwork to do, so I arrived at the pickup point a bit past 7 PM. It was already dark in New Zealand, and the place was very poorly lit. There was a locked gate outside, and I had to call them. They told me to wait 15 minutes, and I said okay. After a while, an Indian man (same accent as on the phone) arrived, but he didn't have the key to the gate. He made another call and said he had a key to the office and would try to crawl through the gap under the door to find the gate key. I told him to be careful. He brought a bunch of keys and handed them to me to try opening the gate. Eventually, one key worked. After getting inside, he pointed to a four-door car and said it was mine. I was shocked because I had booked and paid for a twelve-seat Hiace. He then pointed to a white Hiace by the roadside and said that was it, but it hadn't been cleaned. I was very upset and asked about their service quality. He told me to take photos and file a complaint, but it was too dark to take clear pictures (I later managed to take a few). Inside, the vehicle was very smelly and dirty with lots of trash (which I cleaned myself). The fuel tank was only 3/4 full. I showed him, and he said I could return it with 3/4 fuel as well. However, he wouldn't let me go and insisted on a 3500 NZD deposit because I hadn't bought full coverage insurance. I told him I had basic insurance, but he kept pushing me to buy additional coverage, asking at least three times. Despite the poor service, he was still trying to make money. He then offered an option to pay 10 NZD per day for two days, reducing the deposit to 2500 NZD. I was very mistrustful of the company by then and asked for other options. He said I could buy full insurance for 25 NZD per day (totaling 50 NZD) plus a 500 NZD deposit. I went with this option and signed a handwritten note about holding 500 NZD cash for full insurance. Two days later, I returned the car at 7:30 PM. He checked the car (same guy), then pulled out a car inspection form and said he forgot to inspect it when I picked it up, asking for my signature. He then returned the 500 NZD deposit and had me sign another note confirming the return. This was so unprofessional. I've never experienced such poor service from a car rental company before. I asked him who to complain to and he said the booking website. I said fine and left, never to use this car rental service again. Terrible experience.