Terrible experience!
Terrible experience while renting a car with European Luxury Services.
May 2024 we rented a Lamborghini Huracan STO through ELS (European Luxury Services) in Bologna. Since ELS is only a “Rental car broker “ ELS does not provides the cars themselves, but only arranges the rental car owned by another local company.
The process prior to rental was pretty smooth and everything seemed well arranged.
The rental car was dropped off at our hotel and we used the car 24 hours until pick up the next day at our hotel again. Overnight we reserved a safe spot at our hotel to park the car, avoiding any damages.
The pickup was delayed multiple times by the rental company, so awaiting in our hotel room we notice a couple guys circling around the car and touching the car all over.
Meeting them downstairs we figured these were the guys pickup up the car.
Three local employees, started by pointing out multiple damages, these damages were already exciting upon delivery but they were now trying to blame them on us.
Fortunately, I took quite a lot of pictures upon delivery of the car so I could prove our innocence quite easily.
Last but not least the pointed out a small stone chip in the windshield. Since the car was dropped off in rainy conditions, the windshield was completely wet while inspecting the car.
No attention was given to the windshield whatsoever, and no picture prove of existing stone chip due to wet windshield.
We explained that we did not cause any damage to the windshield and had not noticed any stone chips noises during our rental period. It seemed like they understood the situation but did not agree on who to blame.
Arriving back in our home country, we received an email of ELS stating that we had caused quite a lot of damages to the car. All damages discussed in bologna with the local employees were now again blamed on our use of the car… Unbelievable!
Going back and forward over by emailing and calling the UK ELS office to prove our innocence with pictures and our timeline story. Now days later all the damages discussed on location in Bologna were free of blame again.
Too good to be true lasted only a short while, when after 5 days we received a picture of a cracked windshield. ELS together with the local rental company now blamed us for a cracked windshield due to the stone chip noticed on our return of the rental car.
No explanation was given and an amount of €6300 was deducted from our 10k deposit and leftover send back to our account.
Completely shocked by this crazy amount of money and the fact that this is blamed on us, we started a second wave of emailing and calling with ELS and the local rental office in Bologna.
ELS now felt the need to appoint to the terms and conditions of their customer service, where it states that they are not responsible or in some way connected to the service of the companies they provide for supplying their rental cars. ELS is now out of the conversation and does not reply to our emails or answers our phone calls anymore…
The last resort now was for us to contact the owner of the rental car in Bologna and try to resolve this ridiculous situation of our money being kept for a damage not caused by us and even worse, a cracked windshield not existing upon returning the car after our rental period.
Now, 5 months later, we are down the line with a lawyer to get to a fair solution for this criminal behavior of ELS by keeping our money with no funded reason. We will not stop pursuing until a fair solution is achieved.
We could not be more disappointed in a company providing “luxury services” than leaving the costumer hang to dry like this.
Never rent with ELS!
Reply from Europe Luxury Services
Thank you for sharing your experience. However, we feel it is important to clarify the situation for future customers who may be reading this review. As is often the case with negative reviews, the issue stems from damage caused to the vehicle during the rental period. In your case, the damage was a cracked windshield, for which you were liable under the terms of the rental agreement that you signed upon taking delivery of the car. The terms clearly state that the renter is responsible for any damage that occurs during the rental period, regardless of weather conditions. The video that was taken of the vehicle on delivery clearly demonstrates that the stone chip was not present when the car was given to you.
We understand that no one likes to incur unexpected costs, but blaming us or the local office in Italy does not change the facts. The deduction from your deposit was made to cover the repair costs, and this was communicated to you promptly and clearly through follow-up communications. Furthermore, the claim that we were “out of the conversation” or not responding is inaccurate. We addressed your concerns directly, and when the situation escalated with your threats of negative online reviews, the matter was referred to a legal representative. This is standard procedure when a client refuses to accept responsibility for damages and begins making threats against our business.
We value transparency in all our dealings, and we stand by our actions in this case. We are committed to providing exceptional service, but we also have an obligation to protect the integrity of our business and ensure that damages to vehicles are paid for in accordance with the rental contract. We encourage all clients to take photos of the car upon delivery and return to ensure clarity in the event of any issues. But ultimately, damage is damage, and our terms are non-negotiable when it comes to liability.