Masterkings Reviews 53

Used Masterkings through Zest for the past 4 years and not had a problem at all. Cars have been relatively new (Ford Focus estate ST Line).
Staff very friendly and helpful, even very early in morning. Lol

I hired from this bunch of cowboys through Zest hire. They charged me €25 for the tolls transponder deposit. Fair enough, been visiting Portugal for 20 years and never use the toll roads so expected to have the deposit refunded.
After more than a month after my return there was still no sign of my refund. I contacted Zest who in turn contacted Masterkings. It’s now nearly two weeks since the initial contact, I had to contact Zest again for an update, Masterkings have said that the transponder was activated at Car Park 2 at the airport.
I’ve never heard of a transponder being activated at an airport before. I had to collect friends in the middle of my trip, I was in the car park for only a few minutes and they say I selected the transponder to pay instead of using cash or card.
What a load of bull, the driver has no control over the transponder. I was under the impression that for collecting passengers there was a 15 minute period allowed. When I got to the gate, the barrier lifted so I just drove out and never gave it another thought.
Be warned people, if you have to go to the airport at any time during your hire you may risk being charged !
They have your money and they know that you have no choice but to pay.
Dishonest company, oh and Zest will wash their hands and accept no responsibility either. A 1 starreview coming their way too!

I had a bad experience with this rent a car.
Frequently i use to hire cars when i came home in Portugal because my work with many work travels.
So i rent a car for 2 weeks but because my work I needed to return it missing almost more than 1 week to finish my rent contract, they were not flexible and return some part of the value left until the end of the contract.
One tire loss air pressure 2 in 2days.
The tires were old and slippery and i had almost one accident in the crossroad.
Not new car models .
I don’t pretend to comeback and i don’t recommend.

I had pleasure of dealing with this company at Faro Airport. The experience I had with them was exceptional. The gentleman I was dealing with couldn't be more helpful. He made my day, he was so friendly. Going on my experience I would definitely recommend hiring a car from them. I could not find fault.

Used Masterkings at Faro airport november 2022. The waiting time was an hour at the office in the parkinglot, because of a huge queue and paperwork which was not automated. They charged an extra €25,- for the highway toll box in your car, which I didn't use. When returned from my vacation I was happily surprised to be refunded for this €25,-. So it seems a very honest car rental company. Will book again next time.

Overall the whole car hire experience felt like I was being robbed. Hidden charges and very poor customer service. The customer reps kept on adding charges as I agreed to the last one. It felt like blackmail as they watched the stress build with myself and my young family. Awful. Car had little fuel in it and was old with many miles on it and lots of damage. The internal roof electrics kept falling down on my kids!!! Avoid!

Be very weary of this company. Video the car thoroughly before taking it. They might use distraction tactics such as leaving a childseat in the back that you haven't ordered and have to return, or call you back to give a forgotten signature. I fell for it and forgot to tape. There was a scuff when I returned. Definitely not caused by me. Max £50 to polish out but you lose your £300 deposit no discussion. My own fault for getting distracted. Be very very careful. I will now not think twice about Paying more for a reputable care hire.

THE WORST RENTAL COMPANY EVER!

Stay clear of these scammers!! Their customer service is appalling, their paperwork makes no sense, the car log for damage paperwork makes no sense and it is not specified which side is the left and which side is the right. When asked to have someone over to come and check the car with me on collection I was told it's all on the paperwork and they don't need to, which clearly wasn't... On return, the guy checking the car was rude, condescending and had no customer service skills whatsoever. APPALLING!!!

Also, upon collection the car was on reserve fuel.

If you want a hassle free car holiday rental avoid these guys at all cost!!! I would give them 0 stars if I could.

We booked the car, to be picked up at Faro airport, through Zest. Our plane was late but the Masterkings agent was wwaiting for us and it took less than ten minutes for us to drive the car away. We booked a guaranteed car, a brand new fully equiped VW, with almost half a tank of fuel. On return, we noticed that they had a fleet of cars all waiting for the arrival of customers from the next plane. All the cars were less than a year old and spotless. This is the first time we have used Masterkings as the firm we previously used have more than doubled their prices. We will use Masterkings again on our next year.

As frequent travelers we used Masterkings via a broker. Picked up the car, usual wait at Faro but that's to be expected.
What wasn't expected was that on reaching our destination a tyre pressure warning light came on. Sure enough the rear tyre was low. No problems topped it up with air. Next day same thing - same tyre. Took the car to Euromaster thinking we had a puncture. On removing the wheel, the inner rim was badly damaged causing the leak. This was old damage as confirmed by the professionals at Euromaster (it was showing rust). Contacted Masterkings, told to drive back to Faro for replacement car which we did (using the spare tyre). Euromaster confirmed the tyre could have blown at any time. Clearly the car had not been on a ramp for inspection before being hired out. Pre hire safety checks 0/10!
Then came the gauling bit, having agreed what to do with the office we returned the car (an hours drive). Were left waiting for 2 hours and then told we'd need to pay for the damage before a replacement was given. We had insurance for this but that was not the point so contested it.
We asked to speak to the manager who apparently has a policy of not talking to their customers (having seen other reviews I now understand why) and were cut off the phone. Ongoing Customer Care 0/10
Long sad story cut short paid up (on advice from British broker) and went away licking our wounds.
We've since tried to record our complaint in the company's complaints book knowing that this is a way of ensuring it is formally investigated. Suprise, suprise the web link does not work. We have emailed them as well as the UK broker to escalate this but there seems like little else we can do except warn potential customers that we believe that their lack of proper safety checks could put people at risk and that they do not care about anything more than maximizing their profits. Be warned!

Worst experience I have ever had ,I collected my Ford focus est at 11.30 am all was going well they said it needed fuel as less than a quarter tank so I went straight to garage at airport on the roundabout put in the gasoline 95 petrol as on sticker and got receipt for 60 Euros petrol, I proceeded on the A22 towards Louie were the cars engine management light came on and went into limp mode I was just short of the first service area so managed to keep going to get there engine still running but slow ,I rang Masterkings and spoke with Donna she advised me to ring breakdown number on paperwork to which I did they asked me if I put wrong fuel in the car to which I replied no I have a receipt for petrol I then sent her a copy on whattsapp as requested after two hours a tow truck arrived and a taxi to take me back to airport to collect another car , when I got back they then charged me another €2000 deposit on second car was not happy again only a third fuel in car so back to airport garage same fuel even same pump and all was well until the two days later I checked my visa bill and they have taken €2000 and they have said a very little amount of wrong fuel was put in car their ,mechanic said But no proof to me I work in the garage trade in uk I know the difference between petrol and diesel cars even pumps green for petrol black for diesel after loads of e.mails the stopped responding to me how do they not know if car was bought back by previous driver my have put a little diesel in it I certainty did not but they will not listen I would say avoid using them like the plague customer service is disgusting I have contacted visa to ask for help and Economy car rentals to who I used to hire car . Really not impressed.

I chose the provider for the price – fair enough. The car was quite old and had about 70,000 km on the clock which is very unusual for a rental car at this day and age. The rental booth was in a different location from all the other rentals, so it was quite tricky to find it late at night, dragging my suitcases. The tires had low pressures at the level that the car was giving an alarm, and I was concerned, it may have a slow puncture. But at the end of the day after reinflating them at the petrol station, it was fine. The worst part was the return. The electronic voucher that was on this website and in my emails stated the airport meeting point as the return side. I was doing doing rounds at the airport trying to find the designated spot when I received a rude phone call from the company stating that I am late. I responded. Yes I was late because I was struggling to find a meeting point and then the lady told me off for not answering my phone – I never had a single call. She then sent me to P2 parking. when I arrived to the parking, I received another phone call, trying to direct me somewhere else which at that point, I refused. They sent a man who I asked for an ID before handing over the car keys, which he refused. He pointed at the logo on his T-shirt and said "Master King doesn't sell sxxx". Then he asked for my contract and pointed at a handwritten scribble that his colleague wrote at pick up, apparently that was the offices address where the car should've been returned. He said like I should've known that they don't keep the cars at the airport. they keep them at the office. This would've been all fine if the emails and the voucher did not state a completely different return point. If I had a flight to catch, I probably would've missed it by then, luckily I was just meeting a friend and took a taxi back into town. I understand that this is not the experience with this website but with the provider themselves but because I haven't got any link to them, I hope this feedback can be useful here. Lesson learnt next time I will go with well-established rental companies with proper onside airport parking areas.

0 STARS

don't book with this company. They are cheap, but they will steal the 25 euros they ask for as a 'deposit' if you take the highway..."

On collecting our hire car at Faro airport we were advised that the car was low on fuel but had 50 kilometres range. We left the airport and set off on the A22 with the intention of fuelling at the first Gas station.
8km in the car literally ran out of fuel forcing us to pull onto a dirt track.
Needless to say we couldn’t get hold of Master kings
Finally after walking down the track we found a local man who despite not speaking English went out of his way to assist us, driving us to the nearest fuel station and helping us fuel the car.
2 hours wasted of our time and a very stressful situation of which we had no control.
Absolutely appalling standard to hand a car over to a tourist with zero fuel.
Reading the reviews below it appears that this is Master Kings Standard.
They may look attractively priced but if something appears to good to be true it invariably is.
Lesson learned.
Avoid Avoid Avoid

I have been renting from Masterkings for ten years our second visit coming up soon this year, rented three times last year excellent company to deal with , all these hire companies are busy at times be patient and they will sort you out always very pleasant and courteous regards Brian

We have booked our long term car rental from MasterKing for the last 3 years and each contract with them was better than the last.
They are both courteous and extremely professional. Mario and Philippe were most helpful.
Jack T

Scammers - be careful - they take a 25euro toll deposit and never refund it - i have had several bookings and chased endlessly with no luck. They also debited 40 euros randomly from my card weeks after I had returned a car with no problems. They are cheap. Their cars at Lisbon are decent. But too much hassle. Zest, who I rented through, were not interested so I will get a chargeback from my card company

Hi
I booked a car with Master Kings and was duped when I returned it. They have an out of hours charge of Euro 30 if you return before 8am which I was informed of when I picked up the car.
I booked for an 8am return so turned up at their kiosk before 8 to return at 8 to avoid late return fees. This sounds sensible.
A rep from MK arrived early for work and after dealing with another customer in the queue he approached me at just before 8 so I returned the car.
I have now been charged an out of hours charge and the contract I signed has been updated with an incorrect return time. Needless to say MK are not budging so I have been duped.
You need to sign a contract to get the car but the return time etc is obviously left blank until the return so they have your signature but you do not see how they finalise the paperwork.
I am also still waiting for a toll refund - 40 days since my return.

BEWARE !!!
they charge my credit card for 538€ with a false claim, saying that the keys of the car were “rusted”. Impossible !!!
They are crooks !!

I have rented cars in Portugal and always had a positive experience, so I guess I was due for a terrible one. Master Kings succeeded in delivering that beyond any reasonable expectation I could have had. With the exception of the fellow who collected the car from me, the three other representatives I dealt with were consistently rude and combative, almost like they'd been trained to it. I paid about 250 E to rent the car through Enjoy car travel and I purchased comprehensive insurance. When I showed up to collect the car, I the M.K. guy told me that they "don't care" what Enjoy said, the car is theirs and they do not recognize the insurance. To get the same coverage, I was asked to pay 20 e per day, which more than doubled the cost of the rental. The vehicle was fine, but when I called the night before returning it to ask about the return of the vehicle, (they currently have no office at the Lisbon Airport), I was told that if I returned it any EARLIER or LATER than the appointed time, I would be charged an extra 50 e. When I said that I did not think it was right to be charged for returning the car an hour and half earlier, the phone rep started to berate me and got hostile. I finally asked her to watch her tone as she was speaking to a customer, and that made her worse. She said she was working while I was vacationing and that if I returned the car any earlier without going their through THEIR return procedure, they would call the police! At that point, I actually started laughing and asked her how that would go...sticking the Portuguese police on me for returning their car earlier. Then she really lost it and started to insult me. The whole thing was a joke. Stay away from this outfit. They deserve to go out of business, and Enjoy car rental is foolish to associate themselves with this company.