S'pore couple left stranded in JB without rental car after dispute with rental company, both sides file police report

What was supposed to be an ordinary national day weekend getaway to Johor Bahru turned into anything but for a woman, Nadia, and her husband.

Face with what was apparently an air-conditioning issue with the car they had rented from a Singapore business, the couple subsequently found themselves in a dispute regarding a rented car.

The couple were then left stranded in Johor Bahru after the car was taken away and they had to figure their way back home to Singapore.

Trusted

Nadia, 34, and her husband had rented a car from RentMyCar SG, as they had done so before without issues.

The company, according to Google Maps, is at A'Posh Biz Hub in Yishun.

It was a company they “trusted”, the couple said.

"We collected the car on Aug. 8 at 10:30am, eager to enjoy a short escape from Singapore,” Nadia told Mothership.

Their getaway was planned for Aug. 8 to 9, but the rental was booked until the morning of Aug. 11 as they had other plans.

Air-conditioner apparently not working

After collecting the car, the couple noticed that the air-conditioner was “faint” and “barely blowing cold air”.

Not wanting their holiday plans to be affected, they decided to press on and hoped it would not amount to much.

Causeway heat

At the Causeway, the couple got stuck in the public holiday traffic jam for “two to three hours”.

Baking under the hot sun, the aircon issue apparently worsened as it started to “blow hot air”.

"Imagine being trapped on a highway in 35°C heat,” Nadia said.

The couple immediately messaged the rental company to inform them of the aircon issue, hoping they would offer to "swap the vehicle" or "fix it later".

She also requested "some form of compensation".

“Instead, we were told to drop by a workshop to go and fix the aircon problem,” Nadia said.

Not wanting to let the precious hours of their short holiday slip away, they informed the rental company that they would forgo visiting the workshop and hoped the issue would resolve itself.

According to Nadia, they did not hear back from the rental company that day.

Missed messages and call

The next day, on Aug. 9, the pair drove to Angsana Mall for lunch, shopping and a two-hour massage.

They were there from 1pm to 7:30pm.

Nadia said she and her partner were not attentive to their phones because of these activities.

They also did not have international SIM cards, and could only receive messages when connected to a wifi network.

They later discovered that the rental company had been trying to contact them when they were in the mall.

A WhatsApp message sent to Nadia's husband by a representative from the rental company at 5:20pm said personnel were at the car and that the aircon "seems to be working”.

They also asked for a return call from the couple within five minutes as they will be bringing the car to the workshop.

Following a missed call, the representative informed the couple via messages that they will be bringing the car to the workshop since there was no response.

The couple was at a massage at the time.

At 6:42pm, the representative messaged Nadia's husband and said they had done a check on the car’s aircon.

The representative said the aircon was "working as per normal”.

Repossession

“As you’re refusing to answer our calls and also refused to have the air-con checked at our workshop, we will be repossessing the vehicle immediately,” the representative informed Nadia's husband.

The representative also informed them that they would remove the items in the car and put them where they last parked the car.

A police report will be made, the rental company said.

"Inside the vehicle were all our groceries, shopping bags, valuables, and personal belongings,” Nadia shared.

They replied a little over an hour later at 7:52pm.

Nadia claimed she felt intimidated and that the phone calls were filled with "contempt".

The representatives “refused to let us finish a sentence” and every explanation offered was treated “as an excuse or lie”.

Confrontation

Later, at 9:05pm, the company representative and the couple arranged to meet at the car park of 1 Tebrau Residences, a condominium along Jalan Seri Setanggi.

The couple still had plans that would require a car, and was hoping they could get it back.

"We were expecting a straightforward, professional handover. Instead, what we got was a scene straight out of an intimidation playbook,” Nadia claimed.

Instead of one person, the couple met with three men.

Nadia described the men as “hostile” and there was no one else around.

One of them asked for the keys to the car from Nadia's husband.

Her husband refused.

"Without provocation, one of them stepped forward and physically shoved my husband against a wall,” Nadia alleged.

"Afterward, he shouted and said we won't be allowed to leave," she also claimed.

The man allegedly told Nadia to make a "police report", and accused the couple of wasting their time the whole day.

Nadia said: "At that moment, all I could think was: 'What if this turns violent? What if they don’t let us leave?'"

"It was late, we were in a foreign country, and help was not nearby,” she added.

To avoid further escalation, she told her husband to hand over the keys.

Lost deposit and damages claimed

The couple were left “dragging bags of groceries and personal items” in Johor Bahru, trying to get back to Singapore.

"Eventually, a Grab driver took us to Larkin, where we hired a car to return home. We were shaken, exhausted, and furious,” she shared.

According to Nadia, she never got her S$100 deposit back.

On top of that, the company asked for S$3550 in damages.

Her rental cost S$490.

She has since reported the incident to the Singapore Police Force (SPF) and the Consumers Association of Singapore (Case).

Responding to Mothership's queries, Case President Melvin Yong confirmed that a complaint has been received against RentMyCar SG pertaining to the rental of a car for a trip to Malaysia.

"We are currently assisting the consumer," Yong added.

SPF confirmed with Mothership that the couple had lodged a police report.

Feedback

Nadia told Mothership that they signed a contract for the rental, but it was done so on the rental company's iPad at their office in Yishun and they did not receive a copy of it.

She wanted to share their experience as a cautionary tale.

She was upset about the car getting repossessed by the company without waiting for their reply.

She was also frustrated that the company appeared unwilling to explore other means of recourse prior to escalation, repossession and confrontation.

"We were simply giving sincere feedback about the car," she said.

RentMyCar's version of events

RentMyCar SG has also lodged a police report and said the matter is under investigation.

RentMyCar SG told Stomp that the "customer in question claimed" the aircon for the vehicle they rented was "blowing hot air”.

The company also said they called the customer immediately, provided a workshop to get the aircon checked, but was met with a request for compensation.

"We called them several times on the first day, but there was no response at all," the company said, according to Stomp.

According to the company, the customer claimed to have gone to the workshop on the second day, but did not wait due to a long queue.

"We checked our GPS and they had not visited the workshop at all," the company said.

In total, the company claimed to have tried to reach the customer more than 20 times to no avail.

The company's breakdown team then went to Angsana Mall with a replacement car at around 5:20pm that day.

After taking the rental car to the workshop, the company said they found no issue with the vehicle.

After not hearing back from the couple since the day before, the company suspected something was amiss and thus proceeded to repossess the vehicle.

They chose not to leave the couple's items at the mall's parking lot as it was "likely their items would have gotten stolen”.

At 8pm, the company got a return call from the couple.

Both parties then agreed to hand over the items at a "confirmed location", the company told Stomp.

The couple refused to hand over the keys after the car was cleared, and were told to collect the keys at the workshop.

"As we have had encounters with hirers like this before, we went ahead and lodged a police report the next day on Aug. 10," the company told Stomp.

Top image via Nadia