I was to rent a car from London Heathrow from EuropCar, but despite my confirmed booking they did not have the car I wanted.

I needed only that particular car but they simply didn't have it. So I had to hire another car from another company at a much higher cost.

Besides, I was fed lies and have faced an indifferent attitude from the company ever since.

I enclose below the letters I have written to them:


I am absolutely aghast at Europcar's actions.

Not only have you refused to acknowledge and reply to my e-mail (on 9th July, almost a month ago) below, not only have you not refunded one day's rental cost, but now you have charged me the full 4 days rental as per my latest credit card statement.

Please refund my money immediately, else I will be forced to take action against your company.


Harsh wrote:
> I would like to recount (in brief) my nightmare experience with Europcar:
>
> I had a confirmed reservation with Europcar rental starting 26th June 2009 from London Heathrow airport.
>
> However, when I reached there, my choice of car (Zafira) was not available despite me having a confirmed reservation.
>
> The lady offered me a Mercedez Benz, but it was of no use because I needed a 7 seater.
>
> I asked the lady (Tracey) to offer me compensation, but she said she could not because it was a Mercedes Benz - I fail to get the logic here. I wanted a Zafira, she gives me a car I had no use for and then refuses to compensate me in any way! A Ferrari, let alone a Mercedez Benz, was of NO BLOODY USE TO ME.
>
> So then I ask her if she would be able to deliver a Zafira to me in London the next day. She says this is not possible, and that I would have to come back to Heathrow to collect one if it became available.
>
> So then I asked her if she could call other car rental companies and ask them if they had a 7 seater available. She LIED TO ME and said that all other rental companies were shut (I know for a fact that this is not true) at the time. When I told her that it was not true, she said that she would not be able to call.
>
> So far so good.
>
> The next day, I was supposed to leave London in the morning but wasted half the day phoning other rental companies for a 7 seater, which I eventually managed to get. I then had to return the Europcar Mercedes Benz.
>
> If this is the level of customer service that you offer your customers, then all I can say is good luck to you. Your company doesn't have a prayer of surviving the tough market.
>
> In any case, I would like the cost of the one day rental refunded by Europcar.
>
> PLEASE do NOT offer me a voucher of some sort because I'm NEVER GOING TO USE EUROPCAR EVER AGAIN. So a voucher is of absolutely no use to me.
>
> If I get my refund back, I will end this matter. If not, then I will make sure that fellow travellers do not go through the same nightmare as I did by sharing my experiences with them wherever possible.