I'm surprised they didn't offer me 7 donkeys. I might have actually accepted. We should have realized the company was cursed as soon as the car they prepared for us broke down in the first 5 minutes with what we thought was a flat battery. Admittedly, they were nice and offered us a 9-seater to replace our 7-seater (for our group of 7). While the extra room would be nice, extra room is not something the streets, roads, and villages of Sardinia have much of, and I did not relish having to squeeze a "bus" through mouseholes and turn it into a chess grater, so I declined their offer, and we headed off with what we thought was a charged battery.
We had a long drive ahead of us, so hopefully, the issue would be fixed. It wasn't. Over the following 2 days, it broke down twice more, and both times friendly tourists (not locals, who ignored us) came to our rescue. On the second breakdown, I phoned them again, and again they offered me the 9-seater, which I had already declined and unless we teleported to a new country obviously wouldn't work. They then offered me two cars, which I also explained wasn't actually a solution since I was the only driver, but apparently, they thought this was a good offer. Finally, they came up with a good idea: they would come to me and replace the battery. So, after playing tag with their repair man for an hour and then sitting in the sun, they informed me that, alas, they could not replace the battery at all, and would I like the 9-seater or the two cars. Getting quite frustrated now with the disruption to the holiday, the many hours wasted, and the apparent inability to understand why both wouldn't work, I said we would just have to carry on and do our best and hope the car wouldn't break down again. This is where I'm surprised, they didn't offer me 7 donkeys instead. Would have been an ok solution maybe. A Bit slow, but maybe more reliable.
Luckily the car didn't break down, and we made it to the airport and we dropped the car off. After all this, I tried to have a discussion with the company about an adequate refund for providing us with a car that wasn't actually up to the job of consistently transporting people around without incident. Surely some sort of refund would be appropriate and hugely appreciated.
Apparently not. They believe there is no reason for a refund at all. In fact, they responded:
"Good morning Sir, First of all, we've checked the car and everything is fine. About the problem that you had yesterday, instead, we spoke with our superior and a refund won't be possible because we offered you, from the first time (so since you were in our parking), to change the car. We proposed you a van or 2 cars and, in the end, we also asked our assistant to reach you to change the battery. So, as far as it was in our possibility, we have tried to do our best to ensure you the best solution, but it was your choice to keep the car."
I give them a 2 instead of a 1, purely because they managed to do this all without being rude, so there is that. read more
