Tempest Car Hire Omdömen 

Atrocious customer service at JNB airport, on three counts specifically:

1- travelling with three suitcases I was assigned a bakkie with no canopy. How ridiculous; the suitcase would have gone missing at the first intersection. To be fair, the staff in the car park switched the vehicle without fuss.

2- the 'damage deposit' is taken as a purchase, rather than aa a sum to be 'blocked' against your credit card, as is the case at almost every other airport in the world. So you are left waiting for a refund and, as an aside, at the mercy of currency exchange rates.

3- as with other reviewers, I refuelled the vehicle to the brim only 3kms from Tambo. The petrol filler overflowed on to the bodywork. But I have been charged for refuelling, along with an admin charge. This always occurs at JNB and must be a lucrative little scam.

In summary, Tempest are awful, but I could write similar reviews of their competitors. One common complaint is unrelated to the individual rental firms, rather to Tambo itself. Without fail, there are always 'scam artists' operating in the vicinity of the car hire area/lifts etc. I've seen several elderly Europeans fall prey. Surely the firms and the police could deal with the problem?

Avoid at all cost!
1. Few days after my return I got invoice of additional admin fee despite I made a booking with full prepayment + insurance (means no add costs at the desk).
2. After many emails I got my deposit transfered back after 30 days and got another invoice for (what they call) traffic fine. It might be for everything as I have no further details.
3. The deposit was returned with contrubutions BUT they took much more, like 300% of the invoiced deductions.
4. Few days after they returned the deposit I see unauthorized transaction on my credit card. Made by Tempest, Joburg! That's funny as I took a car in Cape Town and at the date of the transaction was in my home country.

To sum up - don't go for any bargain with them. Avoid, avoid, avoid!!!

We had to bring the car back outside office hours, so we did. More than 10 days after bringing back the car, we suddenly got a bill for ‘damage liability’ (without any explanation, really nothing) although we were certain there was no damage to the car at all. I have repeatedly ask for an explanation, asked what was wrong with the car, asked for photo’s. I’ve never got a response, nothing at all. The bill that I got was just a part of the deposit I’ve paid, but I also didn’t got the rest of the deposit back. These thieves basically stole a small €350 from us. Never book with this company!

We hired a car from Tempest, Johannesburg airport recently for 20 days. I made sure to refill the tank, at the service station closest to the airport, as fully as possible before returning the vehicle to the office. I discovered they only charged a refuelling fee and made a charge for petrol on my credit card when back in the UK. Ongoing dispute, still have not had a refund. Awful company, very untrustworthy, if I could give no stars I would. Avoid like the plague if you want to avoid being ripped off. Many similar stories on the internet, it seems to be a recurring practice by Tempest rental in Johannesburg.

Returned the car with a full tank and was charged a refueling fee. Shocking

During the lease in December 2019, we received a fine, which was successfully paid. Also, the company charges a fee ( 295 ZAR) for making this payment. So, you can only pay for it by transfer using the bank details, which I did. And, attention, it's August 2021, they still can't see and can't find my payment! I sent the check, the bank kindly translated everything into English, but they don't want to find it!

Avoid this company. They will charge you for existing damage to their cars. Would have given 0 stars if I could.

If I could leave zero I would they have scammed me out of money and taken money without authorisation. I was told no charges would be made for the time I couldn’t return the car due to lockdown and they would check the tracker on the car. THIS WAS LIES they clearly tried to scam all foreign customers

Hidden costs. Staff were friendly enough at the airport but the customer service line was atrocious. I had to call twice, was promised a call back twice and I'm still waiting (I called mid December 2019 and beginning of January 2020, it is now the end of March 2020). Only getting two stars because the staff at the airport were friendly. I was also told that I could claim for the days I did not use the car (had to return the car early) by the staff which is apparently incorrect information.

1st time use and was given a poor unusable car. Got given a new car after complaining. So if you are quiet you lose out. They should mechanically test their vehicles after every hire. Simple logic. Also their communications is poor. With so much easy technology people just complicate things.

Poor experience with tempest car hire/ opodo car rental platforms
Very poor experience with tempest car hire TCTIA - Cape Town Intl. facilitated through opodo car rental platform which did not ensure direct feedback after rental period. Tempest provided malfunctioning cars (battery/ starting problems) and negatively affected 3 days of our holidays with substantive opportunity costs. On top of all, tempest then claimed costs for refuelling while the car was returned fully fueled and confirmed through fuel invoice. If at all I would have expected Tempest car hire to apologise for the circumstances and by no means claim fuel costs that were rendered, proved and verbally confirmed. Overall really annoying experience.

After 2 month they never released my deposit of 414€, i tried to contacted them by email and phone and they never reply

Dishonest car hire company.
Firstly, on collection, we were supposed to have a deposit amount kept on hold on our credit card in case of damage or loss, but instead they actually debited the charge (370 GBP). We had to push for a refund through the agent we had used (Holiday Autos), and when we eventually received it, we lost out due to currency exchange differences (20 GBP). And no apology or even a courtesy email - just a refund showing on the card statement!
Secondly, despite filling up 5 minutes before arriving at the airport, we were charged for fuel and refuelling fees.
All in all, it cost us 50% more than the original price. AVOID!