When I made and modified a car reservation in June, 2007, I was accidentally charged three times for one rental. For the next 8 months I tried to get this money back, but no-one at Europcar cared. At every little step, I had to wait, beg, wait again, beg again, wait again, and beg again. Only one person cared, Kosana Arsic in the Europcar Serbia office, but she could not solve the problem by herself. She forwarded my emails to other people. It was impossible to find out who was at the bottom of this, even what office. After seven months, Carole Hesry, a customer service rep at Europcar France, got the word. With Ms. Hesry again I had to beg at every step of the way. On 8 February, 2008, I finally got an email from Ms. Hesry that the bank transfer was made, but my bank said there was no transfer and no request for transfer. The details in Ms. Hesry's email to me were not clear, and my bank wanted details so that they could make sure their information to me was correct. I sent Ms. Hesry emails clearly saying that I need clarification of the details of the transfer, but she didn't answer my questions. She ignored these emails. All afternoon on Feb. 14 I tried to call her on the telephone, but she didn't answer her telephone; twice someone answered her telephone saying simply, "Allo?" and when I said "Carole Hesry?" she hung up.
The telephone robot gave a number to call if we have any comments about the quality of service. Sounds helpful. Of course the customer pays to call this number and it is very expensive. I called it and got Frederick. Although I was polite, Frederick wouldn't listen to my request for help and wouldn't connect me to a manager as I asked. This was no help. On 19 February I got a wire transfer. The amounts I was charged but never used (the amount I was overcharged)
totaled $980.92, as stated by Carol Hesry and also as
they appear on my bank statement. But the wire transfer
to me was only for 965.92. I pointed this out to Ms.
Hesry but she ignored my email again. In addition, my
bank charged me $12.00 for the wire transfer. Can you
believe Europcar charged me the $15 for the wire
transfer? So to this day, they have not returned all the
money. Plus I had to change my plans many times because
of not having 1000 dollars that I was expecting. And I
spent a ton of time and stress trying to motivate
Europcar employees. I have received no appologies, no
interest for the time they kept my money, and nothing to
attempt to make up for this problem. Nothing to show that
anybody cares, except for Kosana Arsic's words. I told my friends early in the ordeal that they should never use Europcar. I guess they have enough customers
that they don't care about a few serious mistakes. But no-one should have to go through this. No-one should run the risk. No-one should use Europcar.

Now I know Europcar France was at the bottom of this. When I booked this car rental online I used europcar.com rather than europcar.fr, and I paid with a U.S. bank card with a U.S. billing address. The only reason my booking went to Europcar France was that I was in France when I made the booking. I don’t know if booking physically outside of France is safe or not. The guys in the Belgrade rental location were nice, but they were not the ones who charged my card and they could do nothing about it.

I was patient and polite for 8 months. Europcar wouldn't respond to me and Europcar consistantly doesn't care. With its attitude, Europcar doesn't deserve to have any business.

My group was renting a car at nice in France. Europcar rental were at desk my travelling partner was asked for a 1500 euro security charge on her visa card she could not afford it. This meant i had to use my card for the rental security deposit. Without my consent the complete rental was moved under my name.
In the end it was asked if we wanted the full tank option and i stated that i would return it full.

On return a lady took our keys .. turned on the engine and checked fuel and mileage. It was full. Filled twice.. once along the way and then topped up at the famous airport petrol station (expensive).

A week later i was amused to get a letter from Europcar stating i had been charged for fuel. I rang the irish Europcar rep and they stated it was normal and they would refund it. 5 weeks later my credit card bill has arrived and i have not had a refund. I am in the process of mailing them and asking for a refund. What are my options if i dont get a refund?
Thanks in advance.
Graham Tobin

After renting a car from Europcar for a week in May the car stalled on the next to the last day. We tried for 5 hours to talk to somebody in the roadside assistance department. We were continually hung up on or put on hold. Finally at 1 a.m. a tow truck picked us up. When we got to the tow truck drivers shop europcar told us they were not responsible for anything. It would be up to us to get back to our villa. We took a taxi for 200 euros back to our villa. The next day europcar laughed at us when asked how we were supposed to get back to Rome. It took us 400 euros to get back to Rome. It cost $300 in phone calls to deal with roadside assistance. When we arrived that afternoon at the Rome airport europcar office we were told it was Saturday and nothing could be done. We filed a complaint and wanted our taxi fare refunded plus the 8th day charges of the car rental since we didn't have the car for the 8th day. I have tried repeatedly to contact Europcar. They do not answer e-mails and will not answer the phone. A couple of weeks after returning home Europcar took money out of my credit card account for the tow truck, gas, and special fees. They have the worst customer service. How they can say on their website that they will take care of you wherever you are. And every Italian we met told us never to rent a car with Europcar.

FYI:
Since Easyjet launched I have used the airline numerous times for both leisure and business travel and having a career in the travel industry have favoured and recommended the airline. However, after my car hire experience in Cagliari, Sardinia on the 29th May 2009 my opinion has changed.

On arrival at the Europcar rental office at the airport I was informed by both of the employees at the desk that there were no available cars. Please find the attached back up of my confirmation with their handwriting and stamp on the top right hand corner.

There was no solution given to me by the two men at Europcar. All car hire rental companies had no extra cars and it would not be possible for me to have a car at any time during my 4 night stay. The reason given was cars that were supposed to arrive on a boat from Iceland had not arrived in time. They also informed me that Easyjet was informed of this issue three days prior to my arrival.

This completely affected our holiday as I had planned a driving tour of the southern part of the Island with different stops on each night. A car was an essential part of our holiday.

We did ask at the other car rental companies and were told they only had enough cars for their own clients.

As we were without a car and our first hotel was over 60 kilometres away we were advised by Europcar staff that the only solution was to travel to the resort by taxi and to reclaim the expense of all taxis we used during the four days.

Page 2.

Enclosed are the receipts for taxis:-

27th May 2009 Cagliari, Sardinia to Tanka Village Resort 100 euro
1st June 2009 Tanka Village Resort to Cagliari 90 euro
2nd June 2009 Cagliari to Cagliari Airport 22 euro
TOTAL: 212 euro

On arrival to the Tanka Village Resort, I noticed that the resort had its own Europcar Office and I asked the man who ran the Office if they had any cars available. I was told that there was a big conference on the island and Europcar had known for some time that there would be a shortage and he had only just managed to cover his booking list.
Again, there was no available car under my reservation.

At the hotel Reception, we discussed our three day driving route and the Assistant Manager of the Resort was very helpful but said that without a car we would have to pay 100s of euros to get between locations and also it would be impossible to get taxis to take us to some of our planned locations. Due to this, instead of one night at the Resort, we had to extend by a further two at a cost of 464.80 euro. The hotel invoice is enclosed.

We also had to cancel two of the hotels we had booked for the nights of the 30th and 31st May and I am still waiting to see if the cost has been refunded to my credit card but believe I will be charged non arrival charges.

As you can see, my not being able to pick up the rental car I booked on May 7th via the Easyjet Website had serious repercussions on both my holiday plans and financially.

I would appreciate you giving this matter your urgent attention to my satisfaction. My confidence in booking a car through Easyjet has been severely compromised due to the above experience, and I really am not sure that I can reliably use and recommend the service in the future.

Europcar.. stay away at all cost. We got the rental car from the Melbourne airport and returned the car about a week later. My husband noted the scratch on the rear fender when we received the car. The car was wet when we received the car, so any obvious scratches would be missed. When we returned the car, the inspector went over the car with a fine tooth comb and measured a scratch in
the paint on the back door panel. When we paid the guy at the desk, he charged us $150 Australian for the scratch. When my husband complained, he said "well I could charge you $2750 Australian". So we paid the $150. Now about 10 days later we get a charge for $1000 Australian for the same scratch. BAD NEWS.
DON'T USE EUROPCAR UNLESS YOU WANT TO BE ABUSED.