Car hire - Nadi - DO NOT USE SHARMAS CAR RENTAL

Hi all,
Just a word of warning after a recent experience I had in renting a car from Nadi airport. After emailing around the various car companies to get quotes for a 3 day hire from Nadi airport (we were traveling in a group of 4 to Nananu-I-Ra), I decided to go with Sharmas car hire, as they offered the cheapest hire at the airport (240 FJD for 3 days). I emailed the office back to confirm our booking for 3 days, and got a reply saying that the booking was indeed confirmed. However, upon arrival to the booking office at Nadi airport on the 30/12, we were rudely told by the receptionist that our booking had not been forwarded from the head office, and thus they did not have a car for me. We were then told that we could either hire a tiny 2 door car for $200 / 3 days, however this was much to small for 4 adults with all of our luggage. The other option I was told was for a Nissan pulsar for $300 / 3 days. I tried to explain to this receptionist that we had a booking with them, and that they should honor the price that they quoted on this booking (as it was their error in the first place), however she flat out refused to do this, telling us that them only option we had was to pay $300 for the larger car. I was infuriated and tried several other car rental places, but alas they had no cars available. So we were forced to pay $300 ($60 more than our booking) for the car. When we returned it , we were running a few hours late. After all the mistakes that Sharmas had made with our booking we thought that they might waive the extra cost, but no, they charged another $40 for 3 hrs! Terrible, rude & extremely unhelpful employees!
I have since emailed head office with my complaints & requesting a refund, but they did not respond - surprise, surprise!
Anyway, moral of this story is if you are looking to hire a car, go with one of the larger international car rental companies. Since my experience, I have heard many other horror stories about Sharmas car rental - avoid if possible!!!

I have always found that Avis is very competitive - usually only a few dollars more than the the others, if that. Vwery reliable, vey friendly , honest and will listen to custimers (partly due to Head Office watching them, I suppose). I often get an upgraded car if my "booked" one is not available for soem reason.

I had a Sharmas-from-hell experience back in the early '90s. After the fact I was told by all and sundry, including the mechanics I had to take the car to, and the Tourist Bureau, to never deal with them. The hotel I was staying in, in Nadi, pulled all the Sharmas' brochures off the rack and a few people were dissuaded from renting from them, but that didn't last long, they're still in business.

Stay away from Sharmas!

But in contrast - we have rented from them at least 5 times and have never had a problem.

I found Sharmas car rental very helpful compared to the other bigger car rental companies. They were the only company that went out of their way to provide a car for us for a week, at a very reasonable cost. The bond they hold is also much more reasonable. Quotes they provide include insurance, so there were no surprises once it was all calculated.

We rented a ar from Sharmas online. We needed the car delivered to the hotel in Suva. They reluctantly agreed and was delivered on time. The odd thing was it had 1/4 tank of fuel and had to be returned with the same which is unusual as others deliver it full and is returned full. The car despite it's hard life dodging road pot holes did a good job. The deal was to return it to Nasouri Airport. The Sharmas representitive had to be picked up at their Samabula deport and taken to Nasiouri Airport (they don't have an office there). The car had 1/4 tank of fuel and before arriving he asked that the tank be topped up. He said that he need to return it to the Samabula depot. This was refused and we suspect that this is a common trick they play on customers. Next time I will be going elsewhere as their conduct is unprofessional when compared with their industry peers.