# Thinking of renting to drive? Don't use Maven Gig!



## Alyssa bird (Feb 13, 2018)

Thought I would put in my two cents about Maven Gig Australia as I have had a pretty disappointing experience with them in the last six months. In the beginning I thought they were pretty good, simple, easy to use, staff were helpful. Actually I signed up because of their primary Sydney rep Ryan, who did do everything he could to make it as easy as possible. 
Since he's been gone (I got the impression fired) it all went down hill customer service wise. 

My biggest frustration with them, even when Ryan was there, was the excess on damage. Considering all the damage endured by the cars I had (3 in total) was not my fault and were extremely minor; if you didn't have the person at faults details then you get charged $1000 regardless of the cost of the damage. They say they refund you if it costs less but considering how minor the damage was I highly doubt they actually do. There is no option to reduce excess. This in turn effects your own premiums if you choose to get your own car and purchase insurance. All the damage incurred by the cars I would never have bothered to place a claim for as they could have been repaired for less. Even the damage that I did get details for were so minor that I would've told the guy who did it not to worry about it but still that claim counts toward my claim history.

Their invoices are all out sync.
You try to email them about a concern and they can take up to 2 weeks or more to respond if they respond at all. They usually never respond.
When I had a discrepancy with a bounced payment which I had ensured money was available for they never answered calls and I wouldn't even bother leaving a call back message because they won't call back for two days if at all. 
I had to send like 8 emails or more over 5 days and call multiple times before they resolved the problems while they still charged me late fees, which they eventually gave back. I even contacted the American branch and they were 10 times more helpful and respondent even though they couldn't resolve the issue and eventually they gave me the fees back but after saying they wouldn't happily discuss what went wrong and call me at a requested time I had no response. Not even another email 

Now today after two weeks of nothing coming out of my account for insurance excess repayments they replied to an email I sent on the 2nd of January regarding my request for invoices of these payments and the payment plan. Because the staff when I returned my car were incompetent they didn't even show me the payment plan and actually barely gave me eye contact and the guy who did seemed like he didn't really know how to do much yet. 
So now they have decided that I owe $400 and will be taking it over the next 3 weeks when I have not budgeted for this. 

In the first 6 months of using Maven I probably would have recommended them but now I say steer clear, their a plenty other options out there for sure!

I'm pretty patient but I hate bad poor customer service for not good reason and being cheated out of money unjustifiably!
Thanks for reading the rant if you got through it.


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## Who is John Galt? (Sep 28, 2016)

Alyssa bird said:


> .....My biggest frustration with them, even when Ryan was there, was the excess on damage. Considering all the damage endured by the cars I had (3 in total) was not my fault and were extremely minor; if you didn't have the person at faults details then you get charged $1000 regardless of the cost of the damage.


Another member, Smileyface11 wrote* here about the $1K excess* on hail damage, which I think is different to your issue(s), but he couldn't understand why he had to pay.

Certainly the excess is $1K, that is known upfront. I am also not totally comfortable with that amount, and tried to negotiate it prior to commencement, but to no avail. So, it is what it is. As a fellow Maven renter, I am kind of intrigued as to why you might pay $1K if you didn't have to. What I mean by that is, if you had minor damage to the vehicle, particularly if it was cosmetic, why wouldn't you 'shop' the repair cost as a private job and get it fixed yourself, rather than let it flow through to Maven (or any other company for that matter).

Just as an aside, it sounds like you have been shabbily treated. I wouldn't sit on that type of treatment, and I would definitely follow up with John Kett, General Manager of Maven Australia, and if you receive no satisfaction contact Anthony Riemann, Urban Mobility Director for GM International.

BTW, how is your degree going?
.


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## Uber_BoutsBangAU (Nov 26, 2017)

Alyssa bird said:


> Thought I would put in my two cents about Maven Gig Australia as I have had a pretty disappointing experience with them in the last six months. In the beginning I thought they were pretty good, simple, easy to use, staff were helpful. Actually I signed up because of their primary Sydney rep Ryan, who did do everything he could to make it as easy as possible.
> Since he's been gone (I got the impression fired) it all went down hill customer service wise.
> 
> My biggest frustration with them, even when Ryan was there, was the excess on damage. Considering all the damage endured by the cars I had (3 in total) was not my fault and were extremely minor; if you didn't have the person at faults details then you get charged $1000 regardless of the cost of the damage. They say they refund you if it costs less but considering how minor the damage was I highly doubt they actually do. There is no option to reduce excess. This in turn effects your own premiums if you choose to get your own car and purchase insurance. All the damage incurred by the cars I would never have bothered to place a claim for as they could have been repaired for less. Even the damage that I did get details for were so minor that I would've told the guy who did it not to worry about it but still that claim counts toward my claim history.
> ...


I would never go to Maven.But it's very fine your points here and extremely valid.Lessons to be learnt for the new ants.


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## Alyssa bird (Feb 13, 2018)

Who is John Galt? said:


> Another member, Smileyface11 wrote* here about the $1K excess* on hail damage, which I think is different to your issue(s), but he couldn't understand why he had to pay.
> 
> Certainly the excess is $1K, that is known upfront. I am also not totally comfortable with that amount, and tried to negotiate it prior to commencement, but to no avail. So, it is what it is. As a fellow Maven renter, I am kind of intrigued as to why you might pay $1K if you didn't have to. What I mean by that is, if you had minor damage to the vehicle, particularly if it was cosmetic, why wouldn't you 'shop' the repair cost as a private job and get it fixed yourself, rather than let it flow through to Maven (or any other company for that matter).
> 
> ...


I did know about the excess in beginning and I wasn't happy about it but they just said that's just what it is. After the first time I had to pay the excess I, the mechanic down the road I was sent to for a pink slip told me that I should bring the next car for a quote before returning for repair because he didn't trust Maven would return money if it was less than the excess.
The second time round I was extremely time poor and just had no time to get it to someone, so I was screwed by my own schedule. Of course both times the car got damaged it happened just before I was about to return the car. 
They put the fear in you that if you get it repaired elsewhere and they are able to tell then they charge the excess anyway and I was worried about that. 
Yet again the American branch responded to my complaint (as above) on facebook and said they have escalated the complaint and will be in touch. Of course the AUS side has failed to respond to my email replies but I have little faith they will get back to me. They'll just try to take the money when they have told me they will. Waste of time because the money will not be there. 
Are there direct contact details for managing directors? I would guess that they are part of the reason their company is failing miserably at providing an efficient service.

Degree is going slowly but well. Is that you Ryan, lol?


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## Max Arnold (Mar 24, 2017)

Alyssa bird said:


> Thought I would put in my two cents about Maven Gig Australia as I have had a pretty disappointing experience with them in the last six months. In the beginning I thought they were pretty good, simple, easy to use, staff were helpful. Actually I signed up because of their primary Sydney rep Ryan, who did do everything he could to make it as easy as possible.
> Since he's been gone (I got the impression fired) it all went down hill customer service wise.
> 
> My biggest frustration with them, even when Ryan was there, was the excess on damage. Considering all the damage endured by the cars I had (3 in total) was not my fault and were extremely minor; if you didn't have the person at faults details then you get charged $1000 regardless of the cost of the damage.


What was the damage to the 3 cars?
How come you had to pay the 3x$1,000 when you say you were "not my fault"?
Surly you would get the at fault persons details when it happened? That is why they put the card in the glove box.
Ryan is no loss as 2 of the 3 cars he gave me were sub standard in cleaning etc. The first car I returned was put though the Star Car Wash at a cost of $65 and Ryan gave me a car that I had to get washed on the way to FUber before picking up Pax when activated.
Your experience is the exact opposite to mine. Sure I hate it that they send the invoice a week late, but I account for it when doing my BAS etc.
Reading what you said it seems you are using a Debit Card when you should be using a dedicated Credit Card for Business.
Maybe I am lucky to have a CC with a decent balance available, but using the CC I pay no interest as it is all paid off by the due date. Not once has a charge being declined etc.


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## Alyssa bird (Feb 13, 2018)

Max Arnold said:


> What was the damage to the 3 cars?
> How come you had to pay the 3x$1,000 when you say you were "not my fault"?
> Surly you would get the at fault persons details when it happened? That is why they put the card in the glove box.
> Ryan is no loss as 2 of the 3 cars he gave me were sub standard in cleaning etc. The first car I returned was put though the Star Car Wash at a cost of $65 and Ryan gave me a car that I had to get washed on the way to FUber before picking up Pax when activated.
> ...


First incident was a bike rider who hit me while I was parking and rode off. 
Second one I didn't pay an excess on but still had to file a report as I couldn't trust they wouldn't charge me for the scuff marks from a collision where a car couldn't stop in the rain but just bumped me. He gave his details. Doubt they repaired it. 
The third incident happened when my car was parked and they left no details, hit it and left it. 
Both incidents I paid the excess for were scratches that went to metal with a slight dent. 
Yeah, the second car I got was cleaned pretty poorly considering how well I cleaned mine on return. 
You are right I probably should have business credit card, I suppose I just want to avoid having credit cards. I think I only ever had to pay one late fee, other than that my payments were on time. The reason it got declined the time I could not get hold of anyone to resolve it was because instead of sending an outstanding toll as a seperate email like they usually do they added it to my weekly invoice. This was when my etag stopped working and they always sent the tolls in seperate email. 
I'm mainly pissed off about their ever declining communication and customer service. I have left Maven.


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## munchiecat (Apr 13, 2018)

I have driven Maven for 7 months, and I have no complaints.
I had to return the first car after another car reversed into me. After taking the car out to their approved panel beater for an assessment, I took it back to Maven. They did a straight swap into a brand new car on the spot.
I had to pay a $400 deposit whilst the insurance companies worked out what had happened and who was at fault. I got the $400 back two weeks later after a quick phone call to Melbourne.
There were a few marks on the car that I thought I would get dinged for, but Maven ignored them.
As regards hail, I'm pretty sure I received an email from Maven earlier this week advising that the terms of their agreement have changed, and from now on the $1,000 excess for hail damage will not be charged.
Ryan went months ago. In my experience the replacement people are courteous, well trained, and capable.
Like I said, I have no complaints.


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## Crucix (Jan 26, 2018)

Having a brand new sexy holden will attract more single mums . So it's a win win, no brainer


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## BuckleUp (Jan 18, 2018)

Crucix said:


> Having a brand new sexy holden will attract more single mums . So it's a win win, no brainer


Holden. Hahaha. Attract bogan 18 year old single mums, yep. Park outside the local pub, they'll be flapping to get in.


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## ST DYMPHNA son (Aug 10, 2017)

BuckleUp said:


> Holden. Hahaha. Attract bogan 18 year old single mums, yep. Park outside the local pub, they'll be flapping to get in.


...your post has nothing valid to contribute to this thread...I would ask you to complain to the mod but probably he has enough of yours complains already...


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