Rotana Star Rent A Car — Attraction in Dubai

My husband booked a blue corvette stingray through this company, after being let down by another company a few days prior. We had spoken to Ashlem on the day who was lovely, and ensured us we would get a blue automatic roof corvette stingray for Saturday 28th September. She stated that they had 4 available and it would not be an issue at all. She had sent me a message confirming the booking drop off time at our hotel for 10am. I had also received a message from the company from another mobile number confirming the same. Ashlem charged us 1400 aed with no deposit, however I have since looked at the website, and they only charge 1199 aed for the same car, so appears I’ve been scammed out of 200aed.

On Saturday morning at 10am, my husband and I were waiting within the hotel lobby for a bit, with no show. At 1010 hours I messaged the company looking for an update. At 1030 I received a reply stating ‘Hello sorry for being late little bit, but you know traffic’. The company is only a 20 minute drive away from our hotel, and when I looked on Google maps there were no traffic issues, but I took this at face value. At 1047 hours, I received a message from the driver looking for the location of my hotel and he stated he was just on his way, which was confusing as I had been told 20 minutes prior that he was stuck in traffic when he clearly hadn’t even left yet.

At 1110 hours, the driver arrived….with a manual roof burgundy corvette. The driver explained that the blue corvette was not available, and that the person who had it previous had extended their booking. I’m confused why they would allow someone to extend their booking when one of their other customers (us) had already booked that specific car for this date. Surely they should be saying to that person that they are unable to extend their booking due to a customer booking for that date?

The driver, Ashraf, was nice enough, however stated that we were only booked for 200kph over a 24 hour period, when Ashlem had confirmed to me it would be 260kph, it seems no one can make up their minds. After we refused to sign the paperwork to accept the car, as this was not what we ordered, Ashraf stated he would contact the person who extended their booking of the blue stingray corvette and tell them they would have to return it to allow us to have it. He stated to us that he would be back in touch around 3 hours later to arrange drop off. This would have now been around 3pm. We had booked plans for the day, which would have been unable to be carried out had we accepted this offer, however we should never have had to have gone down that route in the first place. Not sure what happened to the other 3 automatic stingray corvettes Ashlem had told us would also be available for the Saturday?

Upon inspecting the car, I noticed multiple scrapes surrounding the body work. This wasn’t specifically an issue for us. The back left tyre had a big gash in it causing a tyre pressure warning to show on the car. None of this was told to us before the car being handed over, as Ashraf didn’t start the car or show us about it prior to leaving.

The only good thing was driving the car. It was lovely to drive, and we were given half a tank, which we left with same.

We agreed on the Saturday with Ashraf and I had messaged Ashlem, and confirmed pickup of the car at 11am at our hotel. This was agreed, and I confirmed to both that we had lunch booked for 12, and they NEEDED to be on time, and not as late as they were during drop off.

It is now Sunday 29th September, and again my husband and I are still waiting for pick up at 1130 hours. My husband contacted Ashraf, who stated that it wouldn’t be him that would be picking the car back up it would be someone else, and they would be here within 60 minutes!!! Why agree a pick up time if you are not going to stick to it at all!!!

Shame the amount of issues and loss of trust we’ve had, when we were told by Ashlem that their company was ‘the biggest car company in the middle east’, and it’s a shame that she hasn’t replied to any messages...

If I could give 0 stars to this establishment, I would. This will be a long one so sit back and read my horror story:

Booked on Yango for 3000 AED with the no deposit option of 500 AED (exotic car companies in Dubai are notorious for finding ways to hold deposits)

I was asked to immediately send my passport and license, which I thought was odd and didn’t respond back until the next morning. When I reached out to the main company’s WhatsApp number, I was told the car wasn’t available and was offered vehicles that were almost double and triple the price of my booking. I declined and went back on Yango to look for another option and booked a grey huracan which turned out to also be rented through them. I was told that car also wasn’t available. After speaking to Mariam (the original agent), we determined there was a miscommunication and that my BLACK huracan was still available as would be ready at 10am (with delivery to my hotel)

10am the day of the reservation arrives, I send messages to the company. I’m then told the car will not be ready till 12, then 11. I then offer to just come to the office to speed up the process as I already have a meeting to go to. At 10:45 I receive a message saying the car is ready. When I arrive, I swipe my card and I’m given blank paperwork to sign (red flag). I’m then told the car is being washed and will be ready in 10 minutes. They offer me tea and I sit down thinking “10 minutes is nothing”. 30 minutes later, Mariam then has me walk with her to the parking lot where I see a WHITE huracan being washed. Note there is no other huracan anywhere. At this point, it is about 12:30. I mention this is not the car I reserved and I’m just ignored. She then says that the car needs its tires replaced and it will take one hour to complete. At this point my friends in the other car are getting restless. They offer to give me a Urus to go grab lunch and come back and they promised that the car will be ready by 1:30. I agree, and after doing a walk around of this damaged urus with scratched all over we take off to grab food. At 1:30, I text Mariam for an update and she rudely says “you took the car at 12:47, it’ll be ready by 2”… well what do you think happened at 2? I arrived at 2;15 to no Lamborghini huracan in sight. I ask what’s happening and they say the driver is on the way and will be back in 30’minutes. At this point we are fed up, behind schedule, and we need to head to Abu Dhabi. At this point they offered other cars. I then asked to speak to the manager and said that if the car was not arriving in 5 minutes, I need a full refund: at this point the wheels stated turning and they pull the GPS and say “he’s 5 minutes away”. At this point me and my friends are frustrated. I wait exactly 5 minutes and once again, I demand my refund. At the exact moment I demand my refund, the car appears out of nowhere. The car had dirty seats, broken corner lights, and scratches all over. There was no fuel in the car as well. The airbag warning light, tire pressure warning light, and windshield washer lights were all on. Not wanting to wait around, we did not take the car and instead just left with the Tahoe.

The next day, I get a call saying that I owe additional charges. I said “that’s impossible, we never picked up a car from you”. Well apparently someone else rented that car and they were speeding in Dubai (which I wasn’t even in Dubai that day) and I went over in mileage. They charged me an additional $600 USD. For a car I never even got or picked up.

My advice to yall? Honestly, find another company to rent from. I will say that even though their vehicles are high mileage, their luxury cars APPEAR to be in better shape. But their...

WORST EXPERIENCE EVER!! I contacted Rotana Star about 1 month before I arrived in Dubai to rent an RSQ3. From the first contact at the airport it was a nightmare! I told Mazen where I was and waiting for him at the rent a car area and he didn’t even bother trying to get to me and I had to find where he was, low and behold he was literally the floor below me all this time and could have driven up to us! The car was presented horrifically, there was long scratches all over the car, all the alloys were scuffed, there was a hole in the armrest, rips on the side bolsters of the seat and a big gash on the dashboard on the passenger side where it looks like a women has had her heels on the dashboard and ripped it! The car drove brilliantly and there was no issues there, everything worked. My biggest problem was when we returned it. Our flight home was 9am and trying to organise Mazen to collect it again was a nightmare. He said he would meet us at the airport and then said he couldn’t. He asked to meet on what looked like an outer street from the airport even though we have 4 bags to carry. It was getting to about 6:15am and he still wasn’t there so eventually he said to leave the key on the car and my deposit will be returned to me within 21 days. 21 days had past and I received no refund. They couldn’t care less about giving it me back and after contacting them they just hoped i would give up, sadly mistaken. I had heard about this before in Dubai so I made sure to pay via credit card and I completed a charge back and received my deposit back. Customer service is just appalling and they don’t give a toss about you. How Dubai officials haven’t got a hold of this whole saga is beyond me as they’re basically trying to scam you out of your deposit! Will never rent a car through a private rent a car company again and if you’re thinking about driving fast and having fun, you will be sadly mistaken like I was. There are speed cameras EVERYWHERE!! You’ll find 3 of them in 1 mile stretch of a road you just can’t enjoy the cars unless you go along the palm or out in the sticks. Terrible...