Dedicated customer service"Please do not worry. We can go step by step, okay" This was the first thing support said to me when they called me about my car in Porto. I was traveling alone and I thought renting a car would be easy. A few days before, I booked the car on QEEQ and I just wanted to pick it up at Porto airport and go. When I got to the counter they asked me to pay extra money. I was confused and also nervous. I was afraid my English was not good enough to explain.
I stood there at the rental office and called customer service. I explained that I was charged more than I expected. In my head I was thinking that if no one helped me I would be in real trouble. The person on the phone kept listening to me and asked simple questions. I did not feel ignored. I was a bit lost and they told me to speak slowly. They reminded me to keep all the charge records and slips. At that moment I felt I was not facing this alone.
Later I sent them the proof of the charge and they asked me again what happened when I arrived at the airport. I travel by myself so I am always worried when there is a problem in another country. I am scared that I cannot explain things. Support kept giving me small updates. They told me they were checking with the rental company. I did not know what they did in the background but I could feel that my case was moving forward and not forgotten.
During the next days with the car there were also questions about tolls and other fees. I contacted them again. I was worried they might feel I was too noisy. They were still patient with me. They let me tell the full story first then they helped me sort it out step by step. They told me which part of the money was normal and which part needed more checking. For someone traveling alone like me this help made me feel much more calm.
After all this my main feeling is that I can always talk to them when something goes wrong. I do not have to fight with the rental desk all by myself. Some things still need time to confirm but every time I start to panic or feel confused someone is there to catch me and tell me what might happen next. For me this feeling of being looked after is even more important than just saving a bit of money.
Price Drop ProtectorI still remember the picture in front of my computer. It was at night at home and my kid was playing with toys next to me. I was checking flight info and at the same time opened QEEQ to book a car in Lisbon in Portugal. I wanted a small car because I would be with my kid so I picked a Peugeot 208 from GOLDCAR. It was automatic and with four doors and five seats. It looked just right for us. I planned to pick up the car around ten in the morning on about August 18 and drop it off around the same time on August 24 in Lisbon. I was doing the math in my head. Flights, hotel, car, food. When you travel with a kid every part costs money. When I clicked confirm I was a bit nervous and worried I might pay too much.
Then I remembered that at the start I saw a service name called Price Drop Protector. I felt it was kind of cool. It said if the price went down they would rebook for me and give me the difference back. In my mind it was like an auto discount watcher that keeps an eye on the price for me. I did not think too hard about it. I just turned it on and thought that if it saved money that would be great and if not it was also fine. I did not need to do extra work anyway.
Some days later I was in the office during lunch break. I picked up my phone and opened my email. I saw a message about my booking update. For a second I thought there was some problem and my heart jumped because I was scared it might change my plan with my kid. When I opened it I saw that my booking was rebooked automatically and the price was lower and the difference would be sent back to me. I stared at it for a moment and checked the old price. It was really a bit cheaper now. The first thought in my head was that this was like free money and I did nothing to get it.
At that moment I really understood what Price Drop Protector was doing for me. It felt like someone was watching the price all the time in the background. I could focus on work and on my kid and on other plans. I did not need to go back and refresh the price every day. I also remembered that night when I booked the car. My kid was asking me to play with him and I was holding him with one hand and using the computer with the other hand to pick the time and the car. My eyes were tired and I was also worried that I might book it at a bad price. Now I see that I had already given this price problem to them without thinking much.
Later I checked the booking details again. The car was still the same group like Peugeot 208. It was still a small automatic car. The pick up and drop off place were the same and the time was still around ten in the morning on August 18 and around ten on the 24. So my plan did not change at all. For a parent with a kid this is very important. I hate changing my plan just to save a little money because that can break my kid's routine and make everyone more tired. Now it was different. Nothing changed in my plan and I still saved some money quietly. I did a small calculation in my head. The few euros I saved might not look like a lot but together it is enough for one more lunch or maybe a small toy for my kid.
I also told my partner about this. His reaction was very real. He said that I saved money without doing anything and that it was kind of amazing. We almost never have time to watch price changes all the time. Work and the kid already take all our time. Most of the time we just see a price that looks okay and we book and that is it. It is hard to keep checking every day. Now this service does it for me. It feels like someone behind me is saying hey the price went down and I already saved it for you.
When I think back to the start I remember that my budget pressure was pretty big. I was thinking about fuel, parking and rental cost for driving in Lisbon for several days. I was not sure if I should wait a few more days before booking because maybe it would be cheaper later. But as a parent I cannot wait too long because our plan has to be fixed early. Many things must be arranged in advance. After I saw that the price went down and they rebooked it for me I felt less worried about booking too early. Even if the price moves again they will watch it for me so I do not need to fight with myself about which day is the best day to book.
For me this feeling is like being quietly taken care of. It is not a huge shock. It is more like a small surprise in daily life when I notice that I saved a bit of money and did not have extra stress. As a parent I care a lot about having less mental burden and more certainty. When I look back at this booking with QEEQ what I remember most is not how new the car is. It is that Price Drop Protector took the price change problem off my to do list. My kid can be noisy next to me and work can be busy but at least this one thing I do not need to worry about anymore.
Price Drop ProtectorI was standing on the balcony of my hotel in Lisbon and looking at the street. I opened my banking app on my phone and saw some money came back to my account. My first thought was simple. Where did this money come from. Is it really what I think it is. Then I started to think about the whole booking.
How did I book the car at the start. It was very normal. I went on QEEQ and chose a car. I planned to pick it up around the afternoon on the fourteenth of August and return it at night on the twenty ninth. I just wanted an easy plan. The price looked okay at that time. In my head I kept asking myself. Should I wait a bit. Should I compare more sites.
In the end I still clicked to book. Why did I do that. Because I saw a service called Price Drop Protector. The page said that if the price goes down later they will book again with the lower price and send the difference back to me. I asked myself again. Will this thing really save money for me. Or is it just some words on the screen. I felt it was worth a try because I did not need to do extra work and I did not need to watch the price every day so I turned it on.
What happened later. One day at home my phone showed a new booking for the same trip. That was how I saw they really changed my booking to a cheaper one. My first reaction was simple. Is this a mistake. Did I lose something in this new booking. Maybe the car is worse. Maybe the time is wrong. I opened the order and checked the details. Pick up was still on the fourteenth of August in the afternoon. Return was still on the twenty ninth at night. The car group was the same and what I needed was still there. I asked myself again. So what about the price difference.
The answer was very clear. They really sent the price difference back to me and it was a bit more than thirty euros almost forty. When I saw the number I felt a bit shocked. For me this is enough for a few good meals in Lisbon. I did nothing special. I just made a normal booking and waited to travel in August. I never watch car prices all the time. I would not check them every day and compare. For me this felt like extra money that just showed up.
Then I started to think in another way. What if I did not have this Price Drop Protector. I would just pay the first price and never know the price went lower later. I would not feel that I lost money but I also would not get anything back. Now they changed the booking for me and returned the difference so it felt like I won a small prize for free.
So when I stood on the balcony and saw that extra money in my account my brain went through it again in a simple way. Did I change the booking by myself. No. Did I call anyone to ask for a discount. No. It was only because I turned on this service when I booked on QEEQ and they did the rest. For a visitor like me coming from another country and not wanting to study prices every day this kind of automatic saving feels very nice. Everything happened quietly in the background while I was just getting ready for my trip and now I have a bit more money to spend on other things. I really did not do anything and I still saved some money.
Price Drop ProtectorLet me complain first. For a parent like me, booking a car is already a headache. In the end it was the price difference that really shocked me. When I saw the new booking price I just stared at the screen. It was more than eighty euros cheaper than my first booking. It felt like free money. For a second I thought something went wrong.
I booked the car on QEEQ because I wanted to drive with my kid in Ponta Delgada in Portugal. The plan was around the end of July to early August. I remember picking up the car around the afternoon of July 30 and returning it around the afternoon of August 6. I was not looking for a fancy car. Just a small Opel Corsa manual from ABBYCAR. Four doors and five seats are fine. We are two adults plus one kid and one child safety seat so it fits well. When you travel with a kid you carry so many things. I was checking the map and thinking about luggage and at the same time looking at the price and worrying about the budget.
When I booked the first time I already spent a long time comparing. The price looked okay so I just paid. In my mind I told myself it is fine. When you travel with a kid you should not fight with yourself too much. Later I got a new confirmation email. The amount looked much lower than what I remembered. I checked the old and new price and the difference was more than eighty euros. That is enough for several good meals in the city.
Then I noticed I had chosen Price Drop Protector. This service watches the price for you. When the car price goes down they make a new cheaper booking for you. I did not need to do anything with the old one. They just give you back the price difference. For me it felt like I just booked once in a normal way and then one day I suddenly found extra money saved.
For a parent traveling with a kid this feels really nice. I still got the car I needed and the child safety seat was arranged. At the same time my budget did not break. I planned to use that saved eighty plus euros during the trip with no guilt. When I arrived at Ponta Delgada airport to pick up the car I was still thinking about it. Without this price protection I would probably still feel bad about spending too much. This kind of automatic saving is much better than me checking prices every day and it also saves my time and energy as a so called careful dad.
Dedicated customer serviceIt started with that extra 50 euro at the counter and I was really confused. I went to pick up my car at Lisbon airport on April twenty sixth in the afternoon. It was a bit after two. I was traveling alone in Portugal and I thought it would be a simple pickup. The staff at the counter told me I had to pay a holiday fee and he sounded very sure. I checked my voucher again and again and I did not see this fee. I felt upset and also worried that if I argued more I might not get the car on time.
I still paid the 50 euro in the end but I felt very uneasy. I contacted the customer service of the platform right away and told them what happened. I sent them photos of the receipt. What made me feel calm was that after that it was not a new person every time. The same person kept following my case. When I did not understand something I asked and they explained in simple words. I did not feel ignored.
It actually took quite some time. A few times I thought maybe nothing would happen and the money would be gone. Every time I started to worry again I sent another message. Each time I got an update. They told me they were still talking with the rental company and told me not to worry. I could feel that someone was really watching this for me and not just leaving me there.
In the middle of May I returned the car in Lisbon. It was on May third around two in the afternoon. The return was smooth but in my mind I was still thinking about that 50 euro. Some time after that the customer service reached out to me and told me that the holiday fee could be refunded and asked me to confirm how I wanted to get the money. I felt so relieved at that moment.
The most important part for me in this whole thing was that there was one person following my problem from start to finish. I was traveling alone and I am not very confident with the language but talking with them was easy. They reminded me what proof I needed to keep and told me in advance that it might take some time. The wait was a bit long but I always felt that someone was taking care of this for me and that means a lot to me. As a user who booked with QEEQ I did not feel thrown to the rental company. I felt that someone was really on my side.
One-Dollar FreezeAt the start I was kind of complaining about myself because I had my Portugal Cascais trip locked in early April but my credit card limit was really tight. I wanted to rent a car but I did not want to pay a big amount in one go. I finally booked through QEEQ and saw a payment option called One-Dollar Freeze. I thought I would just try it since it was only one dollar. When I think back to that booking moment it feels pretty easy. I only paid 1 dollar first. It showed that the rest would be taken from my card automatically before the pick up date. So I stopped thinking too much about putting all the money in at once. In the next days I was still spending on other things like food and tickets and some bookings. The money on my card was quite tight but since the full car rental fee was not taken yet I felt less pressure and I did not need to count every cent all the time. Around April twentieth the weather in Cascais was really nice with strong sunshine. I walked with my luggage to the Guerin counter to pick up the Renault Clio and on the way I was thinking if the money was really taken or not and if they would say I did not pay. I felt a bit nervous. Then I checked my phone and saw the payment record. The rest of the fee had already been taken a few days before. The amount was the same as the price I saw before and there was no extra charge at all. I felt calm and just did the paperwork at the counter and took the key. I felt I planned this part pretty well. The whole booking process was simple. The main point for me was that I only paid that 1 dollar first which made my credit card pressure much smaller when I was getting ready for the trip. I did not worry about suddenly having no limit for other things. For a young person like me with a tight budget who still wants to travel in a relaxed way this payment style fits me really well.
