Too long a wait at the counter and when getting and dropping off the car

The sign at Bordeaux Airport for ACE car rentals was a tiny A4 piece of paper with no other directions. Wait time at the desk was 10minutes yet took over 3hrs to get all the cars for my party! Was given 3 different cars, the children seats I had pre booked weren't available and as a result was pulled over by the police which was a horrific experience for my 18month old daughter. We were asked for a 1,400 Euro deposit each for each car which was news to us. Having finally paid everything and gotten our cars after multiple changes and a police stop (they wanted to make us get taxis for the kids) we were on our way. 2 out 3 cars we didn't fill up on return and were fined 50 euros per car atop the petrol cost. 1 car was filled up but apparently 4 euros short of a full tank and an additional 50 euro charge was placed on our card a week later (having agreed at the drop off the tank was full). Bottom line is this was the worst experience of my life and thing ACE and all their staff should be ashamed of themselves.

Waited over an hour to pick up the car. When we got to the desk there were 5 customer service people on duty but one by one they left leaving only one person to deal with the last three customers. They clearly don't care.

ACE was dire. The pick up took over an hour. After a flight with a 6 month baby and a 5 year old, this was far too long to wait to get to the desk to be served. English was poor, and it was a battle to convince them of the insurance I had already paid for with AXA via Easyrent. They even tried to con us out of 20 Euros for petrol to fill up saying the nearest petrol station was over 30km away from the airport. I had been to the airport several times and the petrol station that was 5km away has always sufficed.

It was not clear Ace was part of Goldcar. Felt completely mislead, that we had booked a car for a certain price, but when we got there we had to either put down a deposit over €1000 on a credit card (that we couldn’t do) or pay insurance of over €120. We were told by the rude desk staff that it was in the small print and we should read them better. It was mis- selling and we will never use you again. I actually want compensation as I’m so angry and it ruined our trip.

The collection desk was much improved from the previous occasions and there was not too much up selling and threatening by hard selling the extra insurance for damages. I have already bought my own annual insurance for this at a fraction of the price charged by Easy cars and others. The car was ready but a bit frustrated that I had to get marks added that were not shown - makes me suspicious. Also marks of the inside was 'not included' which didnt sound right . The gent at the handover was top class and very helpful - a credit.

Didnt use