AUTO URBANEK e.U.
in Wien

Very bad experience with Mr Urbanek, renting out a faulty item putting us in danger!!!!

Very bad experience with Mr Urbanek, renting out a faulty item putting us in danger ont he highway and forcing the customer to pay!
I rented a dachbox for four days to go to the mountains with my family. I received all the instructions from Mr Uranek’s son: do not load more than 75 kg, do not drive more than 130 km/h and fast the items in the box with the belt. Gotcha.
Happy and excited to go on our first little trip outside Vienna with our five week old baby daughter I pack the roof box following Mr Urbanek’s instructions. We leave in the early evening, unfortunately in very windy and snowy conditions, but I drive carefully knowing I am carrying a very precious load. Only 30 min after leaving Vienna I hear a weird noise while driving on the highway… it turns out that the roof box has cracked open! I can only assume that it was already partly damaged from before or had some kind of manufacturing error so that it was not able to hold the wind pressure. Luckily all items stay inside (I had fastened them) but the situation puts my family and myself in danger as I have to immediately stop the car on the emergency shoulder (covered in snow) and fasten the roof box with a rope that we luckily had in the car. The highway is full of heavy traffic and given the snowy, windy conditions we feel very unsafe. I drive slowly back home (avoiding the highway) and leave the broken roof box in the basement. We finally arrive very late at our destination, without the items we had planned to bring in the roofbox.
Monday morning I go to Auto Urbanek and tell Mr Urbanek’s son what happened. 15 min later the manager himself, Mr Urbanek, invites me to inspect the roof box together. I am in complete disbelief as he points out some scratches on the box and accuses me of having broken the box by entering a garage with a too low ceiling. Basically he tells me that I am a liar, that I have made up the story from the highway, and demands that I pay the box! Note to Mr Urbanek: I really invite you to at least listen to your customers PERSONALLY before making a judgment and accusations based on your own assumptions! Imagine this situation: you just had your newborn daughter in a extremely dangerous situation because you had to stop on a highway, in dark, windy and snowy conditions to somehow find a way to close the broken roof box you just rented and you are accused my the company of lying….. Mr Urbanek, many thanks for your complete lack of empathy and shame! I would have expected an apology for putting us in danger, and instead this!
Although I followed all the instructions given by Mr Urbanek’s son, the situation gets very uncomfortable, with Mr Urbanek refusing to listen to what happened and threatening to go to court unless I pay for the damage. I am a foreigner with limited German skills so .to end the terrible situation and not have to deal with him anymore I end up paying what he demands: half of the box 360 EUR (he claims that the box was bought for 720 EUR two years ago). Of course the fee for renting the box was not refunded! I approach the reception with the intention to pay and the lady decides to reinforce the horror of what just happened by raising her voice and banging her fist against the table: "you broke the roof box and now you pay!" I could not believe what was happing……
Lesson learned: STAY AWAY FROM AUTO URBANEK!!!!!!