Dan Dooley Car Rentals DDCR Incident with Dan Dooley Car Rentals on: 14/01/2013, Internet

My girlfriend and I arrived at the Dublin Airport and immediately checked car with Attendant #1 (Robbie Murphy), returned our GPS and notified him of any issues we had with the vehicle. We then went upstairs to the airport, notified the Dooley attendant at their booth and proceeded into the dining area of the Airport. As we walked into the dining area, I realized I forgot my iPhone 5 in the center console of the car. I immediately ran back to the desk and spoke with the service woman from Dooley who was extremely helpful.

She directed me to proceed downstairs to speak with Attendant #1 (Robbie Murphy) to regain entry into the vehicle. However, when I arrived downstairs, the car was already gone and not a single attendant for Dooley in sight. I returned upstairs where the service woman called their depot to have the vehicle checked. Service woman #1 was on the line with service woman #2 at the depot when the vehicle arrived. Service woman #1 claimed she checked the car, top to bottom and there was nothing in the vehicle.

I insisted my iPhone 5 was in the vehicle exactly where I left it and requested to be brought to the depot to check for myself. I arrived at the depot after a Dooley van picked me up and was aggressively greeted by the Manager (Michael Murphy) along with Robbie Murphy and Derry Doherthy. I was informed that Robbie was not the individual that drove the vehicle back to the depot and that it was in fact Derry Doherthy.

Both of these individuals claimed they had no clue where my iPhone 5 was. I was then approached by the Manager. Michael claimed that him and his staff checked the entire vehicle and there was nothing anywhere -- he even explicitly stated that he himself, checked under all the seats and crevices to confirm the phone wasn't in the vehicle. After checking the vehicle myself (even under the seats),

I requested them to call the local authorities to help get to the bottom of the situation. Michael began raising his voice, becoming defensive and aggressively defending his employees authenticity. Shortly after I requested the authorities get involved, Employee #3 emerged from the back presents me with my iPhone 5 and asks, "Is this your phone?". Sure enough, it was my phone at which time I asked Where was this?, Employee #3 then responded with, "It was under the passenger seat".

I then turned to Michael and asked, I thought you checked under the seats and in every crevice?. He immediately began raising his voice even higher and took off his coat in an aggressive manner. I brushed it off, turned to Service Woman #2 and asked for their names and that I was going to report this to the authorities. All 3 of the employees kept insisting there was no need for the authorities, which make me feel more uncomfortable about the situation. 

What was odd about the whole situation, was that when my iPhone 5 was returned, it was very cold (outside temperature cold) and turned off. After our two hour drive from Limerick, then immediately being driven from the Airport to the depot, if it slid under the seat and was not disturbed, it shouldn't of been as cold as it was. Secondly, why was it turned off? I know for a fact that my device was turned on due to my girlfriend taking pictures of the scenery the entire drive back from Limerick. 

I'm going to assume that they removed my iPhone 5 from the vehicle, stored it somewhere outside in the garage depot and turned it off to not be tracked. Once I insisted the local authorities be involved, they realized that I wasn't going to walk away from the situation and immediately returned my device. Due to this entire situation of back and forth, I ended up missing my flight back to Boston, MA and had to dish out another $1159 on two plane tickets for the following day. I'm extremely unhappy with how I was treated by the manager and Employees during this situation. 

When I return to Ireland, I will (at all costs) avoid using Dan Dooley again. I would suggest anyone else interested in rental vehicles during their stay in Ireland look elsewhere if they are exiting and arriving out of the Dublin Airport. I will be posting this on any review website associated with Dan Dooley rentals going forward. 

http://www.dan-dooley.ie/car-rental-hire-dublin-airport.htm

Manager: Michael Murphy
Employee #1: Robbie Murphy
Employee #2: Derry Doherthy
Employee #3: No name (Male, Red hair, tall,  young)
Service Woman #1: Dublin Airport Attendant
Service Woman #2: Depot Attendant